Tiny Planets - Science and Space Exploration

Tiny Planets websites are a complete learning tool for 3-5 year olds and an exciting enrichment experience for older children.  Co-created by Sesame Workshops, the producers of Sesame Street, and endorsed by Montessori Centre International, Tiny Planets uses games and safe social interaction to provide an engaging science and space exploration experience. 

Tiny Planets encourages stewardship of the earth as children adopt and care for their own planet, rid the universe of trash and go on space missions with their alien friends Bing and Bong.

After I set up my Parent Account, which manages all child accounts and purchases, we began to explore the websites.  The Tiny Planets Books and TV shows offer preschoolers gentle lessons in social and emotional development, such as fear of the dark.  Other episodes treat weather cycles, patterns, music and shapes. The companion books are designed to be read online by parents and early readers.  Lesson Plans on Tiny Planets Learning tie TV and Books together along with critical thinking exercises, games and art and craft projects.  It also includes printable worksheets for letter and number recognition, as well as online puzzles and printable craft project directions.  

My seven year old son went straight to My Tiny Planets to begin his missions, get his own spaceship and adopt a planet to design and care for.  He can name his planet, grow oxygen-releasing plants to keep it healthy and choose landscapes, buildings and scenery to make it attractive.  More games are available on Tiny Planets Labs, where new content is created and tested.  Tiny Planets Fun has puzzle games, coloring books and comics for all ages to enjoy.

I enjoyed the Tiny Planets Blog, where more detailed postings cover such subjects as the planet Jupiter, Mirrors and Math, and making a Winter Scene under a clear plastic drinking cup.  I also like that Tiny Planets is designed to be a "safe" online experience for children.  There are no ads to distract from the desired content and "accidentally" click on.  All "chats" are through pre-set blurbs, programmed into the games.  Most of the content is free, although with the purchase of "keys", 10 for $1.95, parents can allow children to "buy" extra television episodes of Bing and Bong, as well as extra features for their games.

See what other Homeschool Crew members are saying about Tiny Planets:  Homeschool Crew

No compensation was received for this review.

Worksheets on Demand - KBTeachers

Looking for a fun way to reinforce that grammar lesson?  Math activities for your pre-reader?  A fill-in body parts identification chart?  Teachers, homeschoolers, parents, KBTeachers offers worksheets, workbooks and clip art to supplement almost every subject.

KBTeachers has seasonal themed worksheets and acitvities, changeable elementary math worksheets, English worksheets plus manuscript and cursive practice pages.  There are printable charts showing the American Sign Language alphabet for letters and numbers, as well as decoding charts for Morse Code letters and numbers.  We really like the ASL chart, as we're trying to incorporate ASL into our schoolday.  My son is getting interested in codebreaking, so I can see Morse Code coming into the school room very soon.

Other printable worksheet and workbook subjects include astronomy, geology, weather and climate, and biology.  We just did a study on tears this week, and the printable eye anatomy chart (simplified) came in extremely handy.  The social studies section is geared primarily for middle to high school level students and includes ancient civilizations, medieval Europe, the cold war, and much more.  We're touring the continents this year and are currently studying South America.  I've just printed out the Map of South America as well as a research chart to compare and contrast three of it's countries.

To get unlimited access to all this great stuff, KBTeachers offers a FREE 10 day trial.  If you like what you're getting, you can continue on for just $29 for one year, or a discounted $49 for two years of premium membership.  You can't lose with KBTeachers' 30 day money back guarantee.

As if all of the above weren't enough, you can sign up for KBTeachers' free newsletter, which notifies subscribers of updates to the site, featured seasonal themes (fall, halloween, Christmas), special day worksheets (Veteran's Day, National Sandwich Day, Daniel Boone's Birthday), and new offerings.

Many worksheets can be customized and revised to use over and over and unlimited printables mean more fun for students and less work for the teacher.  Did I mention that worksheets are extremely helpful when you're on the go, carschooling, or overwhelmed?  High-fives for KBTeachers, which is turning into an awesome resource for our homeschool classroom this year!

See what other Homeschool Crew members are saying about KBTeachers.

We received a free one year membership to KBTeachers in exchange for publishing our opinion here.  No other compensation was received for this review.

Digital Frog - Luring Children Into Science

Digital Frog is a Canada based company that produces award winning CD's using virtual reality software.  The name derives from their first project, a virtual frog dissection.  We received their Digital Field Trip series to review and were, words fail me, delighted.  According to Digital Frog, "Our computer-based LEARNing tools:  •Lure the user into the subject
                                                   •Encourage inquiry, exploration and discovery
                                                   •Actively involve students in meaningful learning
                                                   •Reinforce with positive feedback
                                                   •Nourish a lifelong love of the subject." and they sure do a good job of it. 

We tried running the programs off the CD, but the pictures were very pixellated and we did not get the audio.  So we installed the CD on our hard drive and then proceeded to run the program and were quite pleased.  The program is user friendly and full of features.

Our first virtual Field Trip was to "The Wetlands".  This fit right into our Tour of the Continents, as we are currently studying North America, and the wetlands we toured was at Cloud Lake, in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada.  We were able to study the maps and geographically locate first Canada, then Ontario, the park, and Cloud Lake.  Once at the site, there were numerous "posts" to navigate and explore.  We could click on almost any word in the "field notes" for definition, and on blue highlighted words for expanded information.  Some screens have snapshots of plants, wildlife and landscape to click through, others have videos to watch.  The part with the wolf had a wolf howl audio that had us howling with delight!  We clicked on pictures to see larger versions.  In addition to each field trip, there are games and other activities.  We played the "Bog Food Game", which reinforced learning about the food chain and interdependence.  My second grader was able to come back and review his favorite parts of the field trips independently, so I venture to say that an average seven year old could enjoy each field trip with very little assisstance.  I found them so interesting that I really enjoyed sitting and doing some navigation myself. 

The Digital Frog Website also offers a FREE "Frogger Club", whose members can get free demos, discounts and extra printables, in addition to other goodies.  The Frog Blog, also freely available at the website, features additional pictures, posts, videos and more.

At $60 each or $125 for all three field trips on CD, this series is a bargain.  Each field trip can be a Unit Study in itself, with a little math supplementation.  They can be adapted for all ages kindergarten through high school, using more of the features for older children and less for younger.  Each field trip has loads of pictures, descriptions, videos, animation, interactive games and field notes.  They can be used year after year to add depth and breadth to your student's studies.

Other products available from Digital Frog are the frog dissection CD, Digital Frog 2.5 for $85, and Science Matrix: Cell Structure and Function CD for $40.  Keeping their focus on biology and ecology,  it's likely that Digital Frog will continue to make science addicting for students for years to come.


We received one CD with all 3 field trips for no charge, in exchange for publishing our opinions.  No other compensation was received.

See what other Homeschool Crewmates are saying about this product:  Digital Frog - Homeschool Crew

Review: Travel the World!

What better way to spend the long, hot summer than to "Travel the World"?!

We're still on summer break, but as we gather things together for our school year, we can't resist taking a peek inside.  This is my first review as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew, and luckily, I am familiar with the format of this unit study, having used one in this same style last year.

  This is an excellent mini-unit study that provides an introduction to world geography. It starts with basic information about maps and the globe, explanations of longitude and latitude and compass orientation. Next the student is oriented to the continents and oceans, and finally there is a brief study of each of the continents in turn. This mini-unit study comes at a timely moment, as my second grader will be "touring" the continents this year as part of his geography/social studies curriculum. We had just started experimenting with lapbooking at the end of last year, so we are looking forward to the lapbooking activities included and exploring new ideas for our lapbook for this study.


Designed for grades 1-8, Travel the World also includes an additional high-school expansion section, to make it suitable for all ages. Links in the text connect to websites for further explanation of new terms and concepts, such as equator, axis, Australia, Africa as well as games and activities related to the content. Printable activities include a Word Scramble, Fill in the Blanks, puzzles, and acrostic. Two printable lapbooking activities are included, with links to helpful info on completing a lapbook, even if you've never made one before. Numerous coloring and copywork pages are built in, both manuscript and cursive. Recipes are included for kitchen learning, also answer keys and additional resources.

Although this can be used as a "print and plop" unit study, we have found in using other works by this publisher, that the internet links, which include videos and various educational websites, can be quite helpful and enriching, providing a break from typical seatwork.


Travel the World can be used as a stand-alone substitute for your regular curriculum, as it covers nearly all the required subjects. You may still need to use your regular math book, unless you are particularly talented at putting together related math activities for your student. Also, music and foreign language are not built into this particular unit study. Bible quotes are liberally dispersed throughout the pages, but aside from that, there is no specific religious objective, so parents can tailor further religious connections to their own beliefs. Reading, spelling, writing, and language arts are covered through the text, links, and printable worksheets. Science and history are fulfilled in the text and links, and art in the printables and lapbooking activities. Needless to say, this is primarily a geography study, so the social studies/geography requirements encompass the entire unit.

This e-book can be purchased on it's own to supplement the Old Schoolhouse Planner.  The planner is not necessary to use this unit study.  Other modules available include Let Freedom Ring-June 2009 module, Let's be Scientists-December 2008 module, and many more.
 Read the Homeschool Crew's blog on Travel the World

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC

The SchoolHouse Planner - Travel the World! (June 2010 Module)
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/

$7.95 per module

Disclaimer:  This product was received free of charge for review purposes.  No other compensation was received for this review.