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Fasching, Fastnacht, Karneval - Let's Party!

Fasching is just around the corner! Fasching is also known as Fasnacht or Karneval in German-speaking lands, but you may be more familiar with the terms Mardi Gras (New Orleans) or Carnival (Rio de Janeiro). Originally it was celebrated as a way to prepare for Ash Wednesday, and the fasting required during Lent. Now it is one [...]

January 28th, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Book reviews, Culture, Holidays, Music | Leave a comment

Review: Mitmach Buch

If you are like me, you have times you wonder how much German your children are actually processing. Sometimes when it looks like their eyes are glazing over and they respond with “Ja” or “Nein” a little too much, I like to pull out the Mitmach Buch I recently purchased from Alphabet Garten.

This is such [...]

November 23rd, 2012 | Tags: , , , | Category: Book reviews | 2 comments

Review: tiptoi® Interactive Learning System from Ravensburger

The tiptoi® digital-audio learning system from Ravensburger is one interesting find from our recent visit abroad. We’ve had a number of requests for interactive books, so we took a closer look. After several days of play we’re still very happy with the tiptoi® system, so we’re bringing it to Alphabet Garten. We will be stocking [...]

August 10th, 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , | Category: Announcements, Book reviews, learning to read | 2 comments

Wickie und die starken Männer DVD

Hey, hey, Wickie, hey, Wickie, hey….

Most Germans will instantly recognize the title song for the animated series “Wickie und die starken Männer”, and the majority will launch into singing the irresistible Ohrwurm, whether they want to or not.  The animated series, its characters, and the title song are fixtures of the German cultural landscape even [...]

May 26th, 2012 | Tags: , | Category: DVD reviews | One comment

A puzzle book for Christmas

Ein besonderes Kind: Die Geschichte von Jesu Geburt
This is a book you want to study the cover layout closely before presenting to your child, for the cover harbors the puzzle pieces which makes the book “Ein besonderes Kind” a very special book as far as my three and five year old were concerned.

 

The story itself is [...]

November 21st, 2011 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Book reviews | Leave a comment

Cards in a can

Meine erste Lernspieldose: Spielen und Schreiben

It had to be fun, coming out of a tin can!
Colorful, easy to hold and many of them is a preschooler’s definition of fun cards. Housed in a tin box, there are about half a dozen different ‘types’ of the 50 cards to correspond to various degrees of [...]

March 5th, 2010 | Tags: , , | Category: Book reviews | Leave a comment

Preschool Activities in a Package

My youngest son turned 3 last week and one of his presents was Das grosse Vorschul-Paket. I needed something to keep him busy while his brothers are doing schoolwork and I thought this might do the trick. I’ve not been disappointed. What fun we’ve had! I took lots of pictures because you really [...]

February 3rd, 2010 | Tags: , , | Category: Book reviews | 2 comments