Worm-Vue Wonders review and $25 GC #GIVEAWAY to Heirloom Wooden Toys {US only}

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Heirloom Wooden Toys! I worked with Kitty, owner of Heirloom Wooden Toys in the past when I was given the opportunity to review Melissa and Doug's Fold and Go Barn!
Awhile back I saw a post on Facebook from Heirloom Wooden toys about a new product they were going to carry called Worm-Vue Wonders. It looked amazing! It is a kit that allows you to see how earthworms live. Being that it's summertime here and all the kids are out of school... does not mean that the learning needs to come to a halt! My boys are not in school yet (though my oldest will be going to preschool this fall) and I am a mama that strives to create a learning home environment. Heirloom Wooden Toys is the perfect place to shop for ALL THINGS EDUCATIONAL! One of my favorite things about Heirloom Wooden Toys is the fact that every item they sell is educational in one way or another. It could be a wooden block set that helps with fine motor skills, or encourages imaginative play! It could be a play-kitchen that inspires the little chef! You will find what you are looking for at Heirloom Wooden Toys! I also love the fact that the items being sold at Heirloom Wooden Toys, are NOT your run of the mill plastic toys found on every Walmart shelf, but are unique toys and things that are well made, non-toxic and one of a kind!
When I saw the Worm-Vue Wonders kit I just had to try it out.

You see, I grew up in a small Oregon town. One hour from the coast and one hour from skiing! I grew up with 3 siblings, two older brothers and an older sister. We were always going to the Trask river to go fishing! We had a 'worm farm' in our backyard in a small plot of dirt. Really, it was just a square sitting on top of the soil near where my parents had their vegetable garden. We 'grew' the worms to use as bait for our fishing trips. As I grew older (and wiser) so did my thoughts about worms. You see, worms are not just these little things that dig their way underground. Worms are very important! The more worms you have in your soil, the more nutrient-dense it is. This is especially important if you are growing veggies in that soil.
I was so excited when Kitty agreed to send the Worm-Vue Wonders here for my review.
This is what I received:

The kit came with some really neat posters and charts to explain the life of worms!

The kit comes with all you need to get your worm-vue started!

Two sheets of plexiglass, the case and some tomato seeds (that we forgot to plant) :/

All you have to do is send in the postage-paid postcard along with $9.95 to get your worms, the soil and some food (alfalfa) sent right to your doorstep:

Once the worms came, the boys were so super excited to set up the kit. The first thing we did was remove the blue plastic from the plexiglass. Then slid the plexiglass down into the Styrofoam u-shaped holder. Next we took some paper grocery bags (because we didn't have any newspaper) and tore it into strips to place at the bottom:

Then you take the dirt 'pellets' and put them into water and mix until the water is absorbed:

Next we sprinkled the pear lite onto the soil:

Then added the worms:

Then you cover the Worm-Vue and let the little Worms rest for 24 hours from their journey! After 24 hours you sprinkle about a tsp. of the dried alfalfa on the top of the soil to feed the worms!
We check on our baby worms daily. You simply slide the black protection cover up to reveal the worms (I did not know until I received this kit that worms don't like light and they will squirm away from it as quickly as they can)! My 2 yo especially loves these worms:

This has been a great project and we are really still enjoying watching these little worms squirm and grow. You can purchase this Worm-Vue Wonders kit directly from Heirloom Wooden toys for only $32.95! It is a great project and I'm sure your littles will enjoy it! Heirloom Wooden Toys offers free shipping on all orders over $99.00 and a flat rate of only $5.00 for all orders under $99.00!

Kitty has graciously offered one LWML reader the chance to win a $25 GC to be used towards anything on her site!

To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below! You may have to click 'read more' for the Rafflecopter form to fully load!

Good Luck and Have fun!!
~Mama of the Littles~

Disclosure: I received the item(s) mentioned above in exchange for my review. This is my completely honest opinion and may differ from yours. No monetary compensation was received by me in exchange for this review!

"Birthday Blessings Bash" Heirloom Wooden Toys / Melissa and Doug Fold and Go Barn review and $40 GC Giveaway {Heirloom Wooden Toys} US only

If you have kids, chances are you have toys! We used to have a plethora of toys (mostly plastic) and after learning about dangers of BPA and other chemicals in plastic (which you can read more about here and here), I decided to slowly weed-out plastic toys altogether. It has been a challenging process and yes, there are still a few plastic toys in our home! While searching the Internet for CHRISTmas gifts for the boys, I stumbled on Heirloom Wooden Toys! The name caught my attention, since trying to make the switch to all wooden toys!

Here is some information behind Heirloom Wooden Toys (taken from Heirloom Wooden Toys Website):

At Heirloom Wooden Toys, we believe that children thrive when they play with simple, earth-friendly toys that inspire the imagination and spark long sessions of creative play.

We are a family-owned business and we love what we do! We always felt good about giving our kids natural, simple toys that were designed to withstand years of active play. We’ve been able to hand many of them down to nieces and nephews, and if we’re lucky we’ll get to hand them down to grandchildren someday because they’re still going strong!

Natural toys are better for kids and better for the environment. Providing natural toys to your kids is just one way you can help limit their exposure to toxic chemicals, while helping them connect with nature and develop their own sense of play at the same time.
Kitty and Alan are the owners of Heirloom Wooden Toys:

As you can see, they have two beautiful children (which I'm sure inspired them to open Heirloom Wooden Toys) :)
I LOVE that Heirloom Wooden Toys strives to sell earth-friendly (non-toxic), natural toys that inspire creativity in children!
When I was growing up, we were allowed one hour of television a day... and we had to split that hour between the four of us! So if we didn't agree on what we wanted to watch (was usually a toss up between Little House on the Prairie, He Man, or The Brady Bunch) we didn't get to watch anything at all. I know, I'm going way back now for some of you huh? Today's word is different. Kids have hand-held video games and computers and so many electronics that kids hardly ever make it outside! I believe that there are educational electronic games/tools that can be used *if monitored correctly* (you are the adult and in my opinion, you should set the time limits on how much time your child(ren) spend with electronic devices). After all there are some really good electronic devises that are very educational! That said, I do strongly believe that children also need to spend time outside and vitally need to be able to play with toys that inspire creativity and let them use their imaginations.

This is where Heirloom Wooden Toys comes in!
I contacted Heirloom Wooden Toys regarding this event. Kitty very kindly agreed to sponsor the event and ask me what she could send for my review! This is what I chose (in thinking of a gift for my just turned 2 yo son):

It's called Fold and Go Barn by Melissa and Doug!
Here is a look at the inside:

This is what it comes with:

This is such an adorable toy:

It is made really well too!
The one side is held together with a sturdy metal  hinge:

There are two chunky wooden handles at the top, which make it very easy for little hands to grab on and tote this toy from here to there:

And I love that the big red wooden doors on the front slide open and closed:

So we celebrated my 2 yo's Birthday on a Saturday and had a few friends come over.
Once the barn was unwrapped, all the kids swarmed around it to play:

This is a picture of my 2 yo with his newly unwrapped barn:

Here are both my boys (ages 2 and almost 4) peacefully sharing the barn:

They LOVE this barn! It is such a great toy that really allows them to practice hand-eye coordination and imaginary play (which my almost 4 yo is just really getting into)! I think the next thing I will be buying for him is some sort of super hero cape :)

You can purchase this Fold and Go Barn from Heirloom Wooden Toys for $48.95!
Heirloom Wooden Toys also sells an enormous selection of other awesome toys, arts and craft items and more!
Here are some of the other items on their site that caught my eye:

Heirloom Wooden Toys is your one-stop-shop for all your toy, arts and crafts and decorating needs!
They have an awesome 90 day guarantee which let's you decide (within 90 days) if you love the item you bought of not! All orders over $99.00 ship for free and if it's under $99.00, it's only a $5.00 flat rate shipping fee (within the US)!
They have fantastic prices, and awesome customer service!

As a sponsor of the "Birthday Blessings Bash" event, Heirloom Wooden Toys has generously offered one LWML follower a $40 GC to be used towards the purchase of anything at Heirloom Wooden Toys!!

To enter, simply use the rafflecopter form below, you may have to click on "read more" to see the rafflecopter entry form!

This giveaway is open to US residents only!!
Good Luck and have fun!
~Mama of the Littles~

Disclosure: I received the product(s) mentioned above in exchange for this review, thanks to Heirloom Wooden Toys! No monetary compensation was received by me. This is my completely honest opinion above and may differ from yours!