Strut your stuff and sing your heart out

In Boogie Superstar, you compete in the Boogie Star Show to become the next boogie superstar. First you pick your character, which you can customize to look a bit like yourself if you want. Goldie was able to change her character’s name to her own, which she loved.

In Boogie Superstar you can dance, sing or do both. The song list features nearly 40 popular tracks in the pop, urban, and electrodance genres. Goldie isn’t allowed to listen to rap, so she mostly played pop songs that she knew like “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne (one of Goldie’s favorites) and “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis.

There’s also a drama feature, the character of Vickie. You can turn her devilment on or off. She likes to say rude but G-rated things about your performance and cover up the lyrics when you’re singing. It was cracking us up!

Goldie gives Boogie SuperStar an A+

We would definitely buy this one. Hours of entertainment.

    – Maria, mother of three daughters ages 10, 6 and 5

Goldie, her mom and her two younger sisters loved it! They have Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour and Boogie Superstar blows it away with superior graphics, song list, and depth of activities. Goldie played it for five hours straight (I’m not exaggerating) and didn’t uncover many of the activities like the “dance academy” feature where you can record a routine then use during a competition.

After struggling with Pet Pals: Animal Doctor (see my review of Pet Pals for the Wii here) Maria and I were glad to see that Boogie Superstar gave kids a chance to practice and learn the moves with a tutorial before they started competing. And once they did start playing, the game “learned” and got progressively harder. Each time a player competes – either against a friend or against the game characters – they earn points to change their look or get access to more songs.

How does it compare to similar games?

After reading the reviews for Boogie Superstar, I see people comparing it to American Idol, Guitar Hero and Dancing With The Stars . I don’t think it’s a fair comparison because this game, like Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour, is for younger kids. Goldie’s younger sisters, ages five and six, were able to play with a little help from their older sister. Teens and adults should stick to the more complicated games if they want a real dancing and singing workout.

This would make a great slumber party game and will appeal to girls more than boys. However, there are two males characters for the fellas out there wanting to compete. Also, the microphone is the same one you get with other sing along Wii games, so if you own those you can buy Boogie Superstar without the mike.

(This is a Parent Bloggers Network review.)

If you’re like most parents, you want your child to ask permission before they get a snack or ride their bike to a friend’s house. So why shouldn’t they ask permission before visiting any site on the Internet? With Glubble, kids have to ask your permission to visit sites on the Internet.

What’s Glubble?

Glubble is geared to families with children under 12. Think of it like “Internet training wheels.” Glubble offers a safe online place for families where parents can be involved with their children’s Internet usage. By doing this, Glubble hopes parents can teach kids the how to use the the Internet in a positive and safe way.

Also, children are going online at a younger age. My five-year-old is constantly coming to me with requests to go to www dot something or rather and watching Sesame Street videos on YouTube with her dad. With Glubble, parents are able to choose web content for their kids the same way they choose books, television shows, clothes and movies. Glubble makes it easier for parents by packaging over 2500 kid-friendly websites like Discovery Kids or Sesame Street into “glubbles.” Parents can add to this list by easily adding sites they like.

Finally, you can see what Google search terms your children are using. What they’re allowed to search on can be filtered based on parent created lists as well. It’s also a way to find out what they’re researching for school. Think of it as a conversation starter, “So tell me more about your Greek mythology paper. Who’s this Zeus guy anyway?”

How Glubble works

First, you sign up for a FREE family page at Glubble.com and email all the adults you want to participate – mom, dad, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Then like other social networking sites, each adult creates an online profile including screen name and picture. Then the adults adds their children and create a profile for them.

Once the family page is set up, you need to activate the kids’ profiles, by installing the FREE Glubble for Families software. If you use Firefox® as your default web browser you can download the Glubble for Families™ extension for Firefox. If you do not use Firefox® as your default browser we have a conveniently packed Firefox® 3 with Glubble for Families™ extension. (It works for Windows, Linux and Mac based computers.)

You then switch it into kids mode by clicking on the Glubble Lock icon in the browser toolbar or clicking on a child’s profile in your family page. The browser then switches to a full screen mode where your child will not be able to access any other part of the computer without you putting in your family password that is only know to you. Now it’s time to let your child drive.

Use Glubble as a family gathering place

Glubble has features that introduce children to social networking. There’s a calendar to remind them of important dates. And there’s a way to leave each other short messages – sort of like a family-only Twitter site. (Remember, you’re monitoring all activity, so if siblings start squabbling you can put an end to it, even if you’re online in your office. It’s also a great way to share pictures with extended family members like out of town relatives.

Glubble’s social networking features aren’t very advanced. The calendar section uses military time, for example, which could be confusing to kids. It’s fun to leave each other messages, and it’s a good introduction to IMing. However, it’s the monitoring and permission giving features that make Glubble a fantastic tool for parents. So, open an account, set up your family page and get your kids using Glubble TODAY!

More Groovy Girl activities

Besides playing with the dolls, there are lots of groovy things to do:

• Your child can read from a whole line of Groovy Girl books.
• There’s a terrific Groovy Girl website with all sorts of online fun especially if your doll has Groovy Girl RSVP codes.
• Since having your child online all the time isn’t practical – mom needs the computer, too! – you should look into the Groovy Girl offline activities, too. There are downloadable scrapbooking pages, coloring pages and journal pages to print out.
• Parents can sign up for an email newsletter with money saving deals and the latest news on Groovy Girl dolls and accessories.
• There’s even a recipe for Groovy Girls Sugar Cookies (downloadable PDF).
• She can keep a journal in her Groovy Girls Lock & Key Diary.
• There’s also Groovy Girls Secret Keeper Treasure Box & Stationery Set and a Groovy Girls Sticker Tote to play with.

Way too much Groovy Girl fun.

Earlier this month, I reviewed the educational children’s DVD series Global Wonders at Global Wonders: teaching kids about world culture. The first four DVDs are being released on Amazon, and through Target and Toys “R” Us TODAY!

Global Wonders is offering a discount coupon for $2 off your purchase of any Global Wonders DVD. Click here to download a coupon.

When you’re on the Global Wonders website, don’t forget to register on to receive updates and promotional offers on a future library of titles covering cultures from around the world, too.

Global Wonders was created by Rashmi Turner, a working mother and former executive at The Walt Disney Company who previously led educational productions, product development for media lines of businesses, marketing, and communications, for The Baby Einstein Company.

Learning about world cultures

With Global Wonders, children can gain a more enlightened view of the world around them. It’s also a great way to start a dialogue about different cultures if your children are the type who ask embarrassing questions like, “Why does that lady have a red dot on her head?” or “Why do those people have dark skin and talk funny?”

My children know people from India, France, Sweden, Mexico, China, Taiwan and Napal. We enjoy shopping at Asian markets and Mexican carnicerias, and frequently dine out at restaurants that serve Vietnamese pho, Chinese dim sum, Pad Thai, Japanese sushi and Baja Mexican seafood dishes.  So learning about other cultures isn’t new to our children at all though as parents, we do get our fair share of embarrassing questions.

The Global Wonders series

Coming to Target, Toys “R” Us and Amazon on October 21, 2008, the first series of DVDs include:

• Global Wonders: Around The World
• Global Wonders: India
• Global Wonders: Mexico
• Global Wonders: African-American

Recently, the children and I watched a sample of the Global Wonders series. Nathan, being eight-years-old, didn’t care for the video. Basically, he’s too old for it. These are much better videos for the preschool, pre-K and kindergarten crowd like five-year-old Lucie who enjoyed the program immensely. She sang along with the music and repeated the foreign words and phrases when prompted.

I enjoyed the animation. It’s similar to Disney’s Little Einsteins, which isn’t a surprise since Ed Wexler is the animation director, character designer, and art director. He’s an Emmy-nominated, 20-year veteran of Walt Disney Animation and worked on Little Einsteins. (Click here to learn more about the Global Wonders Creative Team.)

I also liked how they approached world culture. The Global Wonders series puts an emphasis on what cultures share rather than differences – everyone celebrates birthdays, children like to play sports, and we all enjoy music.

I appreciated that they showed grandparents and an African-American dad who is a college professor, too. Other positive role models include families who spend time together and children who like to learn, sing, be outside, and play sports.

Lucie and I give Global Wonders a thumbs up.

Take a Global Wonders moment

Here’s a sample from Global Wonders: Mexico about Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead: