LITTLE PIM BLOG
Little Pim Launches New Language Learning Video Player Apps for Kids
Now, your little ones can learn a new language with Little Pim on-the-go with our new video player apps on iOS, Android, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and AppleTV!
If you’re currently a subscriber or have access to a language volume set, you can login to “unlock” your videos and start watching anywhere, anytime. Click the links below to download the app for your device:
NEW TO LITTLE PIM? WELCOME, BIENVENUE, BIENVENIDO, WILLKOMMEN...!
Millions of young children worldwide have been introduced to their first words in a foreign language with Little Pim’s award-winning series. You can learn more about Little Pim by browsing our website or if you’re ready to get started, try it free for 3 days by signing up for our unlimited subscription.
App Features:
12 foreign language options including Spanish, French, English & Mandarin!
Our Entertainment Immersion Method® makes language learning fun & easy for kids ages 0-6
Videos are segmented into 5-minute episodes to accommodate a young child’s attention span
Teaches your child 360+ words and phrases
Keeps your child fully engaged as they learn a second language with Little Pim
Kids respond enthusiastically to Little Pim’s combination of animated and live-action videos
Simple sentences are broken down into easy-to-understand parts and are reinforced through repetition by native speakers
No Foreign Language Background Needed (companion guides and scripts available at littlepim.com)
If you have any trouble accessing your videos or login information, please contact us via live chat during office hours, via email: help@littlepim.com, or send us a message on Facebook. Thank you and best of luck on your language learning journey!
Little Pim's Language Learning iOS App for Kids
At Little Pim, we believe all children deserve to learn a second language. Our language learning series makes learning a foreign language easy and accessible to all kids–at the age they learn best, from 0 to 6 years. Now, your little ones can learn a new language with Little Pim on-the-go with our new iOS app!
If you are a recent customer of Little Pim (as of Nov 2016), you can download the app to watch Little Pim on your iPhone or iPad. Simply follow the steps below to setup your iOS device to play our videos for your little ones at home or on-the-go. If you purchased Little Pim prior to this update, please contact us and we’d be happy to create a new account for you upon proof of purchase.
Download the free Little Pim app so you can watch all of your Little Pim content purchases.
Logging in to the Little Pim app:
Open Little Pim app on your device.
- Click the "I Already Have An Account" button
- Enter the email address you used and password you created to purchase Little Pim’s video content. If you need help with your account, please email us at help@littlepim.com.
- Click Login
- Your "unlocked" or previously purchased videos will load on the screen and you're ready to watch!
Watching videos
- Once you’re logged in and your library has loaded, tap the thumbnail image of the video you want to watch.
- You can also choose to turn on the subtitles in the app by tapping the subtitles icon.
- You can also print out our companion guides and scripts on our website to follow along.
If you have any trouble accessing your videos or login information, please contact us via live chat during office hours, via email: help@littlepim.com, or send us a message on Facebook. Thank you and best of luck on your language learning journey!
New to Little Pim? Welcome, Bienvenue, Bienvenido, Willkommen...!
Get started on your child's language learning journey by downloading our new app. Please read below about more information on our iOS app and the volumes you can purchase using your Apple ID. You can also purchase your 3-pak digital set on our website to login via the steps above.
Features
: 12 languages to choose from: Spanish, French, English, Mandarin Chinese, German, Italian, Russian, Hebrew, Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic, and Korean Entertainment Immersion Method® makes language learning fun & easy for kids ages 0-6 Videos are segmented into 5-minute episodes to accommodate a young child’s attention span Teaches your child up to 360 words and phrases Keeps your child fully engaged as they learn a second language with Little Pim Kids respond enthusiastically to Little Pim’s combination of animated and live-action videos Your child will love following along with Little Pim, the adorable cartoon panda bear who serves as the “teacher” Each of our educational videos has a unique child friendly theme, such as eating, playtime and feelings Simple sentences are broken down into easy-to-understand parts and are reinforced through repetition by native speakers No Foreign Language Background Needed (print out our
on our website to follow along)
Our Story
: Inspired by her own bilingual childhood, our founder
(daughter of Dr. Paul Pimsleur, who created the Pimsleur Method), wanted to give her young son the same opportunity to learn a foreign language.When she discovered that there were no high quality education materials for teaching toddlers a foreign language, she set out to create them herself. She was uniquely qualified given her background as an award-winning filmmaker, language teacher and mother.Pimsleur sought to create a program that would delight and teach young children a foreign language at the same time. Working with leading neuroscientist Dr. April Benasich, educators and native language experts, she spent several years developing the Little Pim language program. Not only is it the first comprehensive at home program, it can be used effectively by parents even if they don’t speak a foreign language.
Little Pim’s program supports foreign language learning which multiple studies have shown improves memory and analytic abilities and strengthens problem solving skills. The program helps children acquire a new vocabulary and a near-native accent. Our unique Entertainment Immersion Method® immerses children completely in a foreign language.
How It Works:
- Download the app to watch a free trial in each language. Ready to start learning? In order to get access to the series, you will need to create an account to purchase a volume set:
- Volume 1 offers 3 themes (Eating and Drinking, Wake Up Smiling, Playtime) broken down into a 21-episode set for your child to learn more than 180 basic words and phrases: $34.99
- Volume 2 offers 3 themes (In My Home, Happy, Sad, and Silly, I Can Count!) broken down into a 21-episode set for your child to learn more than 180 basic words and phrases: $34.99
- Your "unlocked videos" will appear when logged into your Little Pim account so you and your little ones can watch Little Pim ad-free at home or on-the-go across devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch).
This app is only available for iOS devices, but customers can also watch online via any browser on our website or by requesting access on our Vimeo/VHX website (the email address you enter must be associated with your account). We are currently working on an Android version to release later this year. Stay tuned!
Code or Let Language Learning Programs Implode?
“He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Whether coding courses should be offered as an alternative to foreign language classes in highs schools’ core curricula is the subject of great debate among legislators. To make my position undoubtedly clear early on in this post, I urge our leaders to vote against a bill that allows coding to substitute foreign language learning. As an intern at a foreign language learning company, my bias is evident. However, I will present irrefutable support to my position on the matter to show you I don’t speak out of self-interest but rather popular interest.
Before I delve into why I vehemently disagree with the proposed course of action, I must qualify that I understand the motives behind the bill. With our president using Twitter as his own media outlet, Facebook allowing cute images of puppies and simultaneously devastating snapshots of war and terrorism to reach millions in seconds, and posting videos to YouTube becoming a career path, I do concur that our world grows ever more dependent on technology. I also understand that this dependency on technology implies a demand in the global economy for individuals educated in engineering and computer science. With only 4% of people graduating with a bachelor’s degree in engineering in the US, compared to 31% in China, for example, it logically follows that other global superpowers are fulfilling this demand in the job market. To become more competitive in the job market and contribute to technology-related fields of the global economy, US citizens must be better educated in the associated areas of study. For these reasons, I understand the desire to integrate coding into the core curriculum.
While I recognize the need for coding classes, I do not understand how they can be viewed pedagogically as comparable to foreign language classes and therefore be offered in lieu of them. Java and C++ are languages in that a combination of good diction and syntax allow for expression. However, these coding languages
- Only consist of approximately a hundred words (Little Pim can teach you 250 more in the foreign language of your choosing)
- Are not spoken
- Don’t underpin a society’s rich cultural history
These qualities that differentiate coding languages from foreign languages may seem unimportant to a decision about the proposed education bill, but they are actually the very reason we must say no to the bill!
1. Word Count
Learning the thousands of words of a foreign language requires the brain to become flexible and switch between vocabulary, grammatical structures, and accents. These skills developed to speak foreign languages are believed to be responsible for bilinguals and multi-linguals divergent thinking, or creativity. The fact that coding languages have significantly fewer words than foreign languages means the skills required to jump between languages, skills that translate to divergent thinking and improved creativity, are less developed. Why should you care? Coding is integral to a successful career in technology-related fields, but creativity is equally imperative in technological innovation. Steve Jobs may have been able to program Apple software, but he also needed the creative mind to come up with product ideas and marketing strategies. Without this creativity, he wouldn’t have been as successful. Thus, foreign languages, in cultivating creativity, are just as important in training people valuable to the tech space as coding classes. Moreover, creativity is appreciated in many other fields, too. Thus, to deprive children of foreign languages, effectively limiting their creativity, is detrimental to the US’ position among tech powers, like not having coding classes at all.
2. Spoken Word
Coding has become important, because our society is so technology dependent. Accordingly, many of us have grown more screen-facing than people-facing in our jobs and daily lives. Changing the foreign language requirement to permit coding in place of foreign languages only reinforces this screen-facing culture, which endangers the quality of our face-to-face interactions and children’s people skills. Tech companies might need coders to build products, but they need to know their consumer in order to create desirable products. Surveys and stats are only so telling of consumer response. Face-to-face interactions, where you can see body language and hear intonation can be far more informative. Thus, successful tech companies also require people-facing individuals. These people skills are acquired through conversation, like those had in foreign language classes. Once again, foreign language classes are as necessary in properly educating individuals to enter the tech space as coding.
3. Cultural Awareness
There is a horrible stigma surrounding Americans that we are culturally unaware and self-centered. With English as the language of business, we are rarely forced to accommodate others linguistically. This unaccommodating nature has leaked into our service industries, like tourism, and beyond, tainting our global image. Foreign languages force students to acquaint themselves with a different culture. The AP foreign language examinations offered to high school students who have taken the course test both language and cultural knowledge. Having taken AP French, I can say that the curriculum truly does touch on culture too. We read French literature, discussed historical events, learned of famous chefs and characteristically French dishes, compared the French educative system to the American one, and more. The class taught me a lot, but most importantly that language is merely a window into culture. With this in mind, coding keeps the curtain over that window, bolstering the negative perception of Americans’ cultural awareness. Furthermore, in a globalized economy, cultural awareness, achieved through foreign language classes, not coding, is more and more important to potential employers, including tech companies.
“…allowing coding to replace foreign languages may create more programmers, but runs the risk of letting those programmers be less creative, less congenial, and less culturally aware.”
The fact that coding languages have fewer words, aren’t spoken, and don’t lay the foundation for a society’s cultural background may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Yet, these aspects of coding entail that coding languages don’t heavily improve creativity, don’t better interpersonal skills, and don’t make coders more culturally aware. Foreign languages, unlike coding, enhance all of these qualities, which are desirable to tech employers and all employers, in fact. Therefore, allowing coding to replace foreign languages may create more programmers, but runs the risk of letting those programmers be less creative, less congenial, and less culturally aware.
“In trying to find a solution to the fact that America is behind other countries in the tech space, the proposed bill creates more problems in the form of less well-rounded graduates.”
Moreover, if the same amount of money is allocated to foreign languages while coding classes, which involve very expensive equipment, are included under that umbrella, even less money will go towards foreign language classes. With smaller budgets, foreign language classes will likely have higher student teacher ratios, potentially less enthusiastic teachers, and less immersive curricula. Studies, (like the one in the following article: https://www.thespec.com/news-story/7460958-a-way-to-teach-babies-second-language-if-parents-only-speak-one/), have shown there is a direct correlation between these qualities of foreign language classes and students’ mastery of the language. Effectively, passing the bill wouldn’t only result in less creative, less congenial, and less culturally aware programmers but also less creative, less congenial, and less culturally aware foreign language students, meaning all students suffer. In trying to find a solution to the fact that America is behind other countries in the tech space, the proposed bill creates more problems in the form of less well-rounded graduates.
Works Cited:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
learning-a-priority_b_6801296.
https://www.mondo.com/foreign-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
How to Watch Little Pim on Your iPhone or iPad
If you are a recent customer of Little Pim (as of Nov 2016), you can download the VHX app to watch Little Pim on your iPhone or iPad. VHX (a Vimeo company) powers Little Pim's streaming platform so you can watch our award-winning language learning series anytime, anywhere. Simply follow the steps below to setup your iOS device to play our videos for your little ones at home or on-the-go. If you purchased Little Pim prior to this update, please contact us and we'd be happy to create an account for you upon proof of purchase. Downloadthe free VHX iOS app so you can watch all of your Little Pim content purchases.
Logging in to the VHX iOS app, no password needed!
- Open the VHX iOS App on your device.
- Enter the email address you used to purchase Little Pim's video content. If you need help with your account, please email us at help@littlepim.com.
- VHX will send you an email with a sign in link.
- Open your email app on your device and click that Sign In link.
- Your device's web browser will load and let you know that you are logged in!
- Head back to the VHX iOS App, and your purchase library will load.
Watching videos
- Once you're logged in and your library has loaded, tap the thumbnail image of the video you want to watch. To watch in full-screen click the fullscreen button in the lower right of the video.
- You can also choose to turn on the subtitles in the VHX iOS app by tapping the subtitles icon.
Thank you for your Little Pim purchase and best of luck introducing your little ones to a new language! If you have any questions or need help setting up your app, please contact us via live chat or email or comment below. For more information about watching Little Pim via the VHX app, visit their website.
Little Pim Unboxing with Shonduras
We were so excited when Shaun McBride, aka Shonduras, a Snapchat celebrity and popular YouTube daily vlogger who was recently listed in Forbes Top 30 under 30 and his wife, Jenny McBride accepted our request to send Baby Adley (his adorable daughter) Little Pim language learning products in Spanish. Since Shaun spent some time in Honduras, hence his nickname of 'Shonduras,' and learned the Spanish language through immersion, we felt that he would want to the same for his child, and we were right on! Baby Adley already knows a few words in Spanish and is excited to learn more with the help of Little Pim. Check out Baby Adley opening her custom Little Pim package in Shonduras' daily vlog below:
The contents of her custom care package included:
- Little Pim Spanish (Vol 1 and 2) on an Amazon Kindle Fire Kids Edition
- Little Pim Trilingual Board Books
- Little Pim Spanish Words and Phrases Flash Cards
- Custom-printed Little Pim Coloring Book with Crayons
- "Say Hello" Poster
- Little Pim Plush Panda Bear
Order Your Spanish for Kids Complete Set to Start Learning Today!
Pokémon Go Guide for Parents with Young Kids
Everyone is going Pokémon crazy with the release of Nintendo's new app, Pokémon Go. As a parent of little ones, it's important to learn about the pros and cons of this app before letting your kids dive in on the fun. We've been playing for almost a week - for research purposes only, we promise ;) - and have seen the big phenomenon hit the streets of Manhattan and across the country. You've probably heard the news regarding the potential dangers of playing the game or perhaps you've downloaded the app yourself and can't get enough. We've compiled some great tips about how to make Pokémon Go a fun, safe, and educational game to play with your little ones.
Protect Your iTunes or Google Play Password from Your Kids
Pokémon Go is free to download, but there are in-app purchases to buy PokéCoins for different items in the "Shop." These purchases require you to login to your iTunes or Google Play account, so be sure your kids are not able to do so by disabling in-app purchases or keeping your password safe to avoid getting a huge bill at the end of the month. You and your family can still have all the fun for free as long as you play wisely to collect more items from PokéStops.
This app requires cellular data
Like many mobile apps, playing Pokémon Go will require use of your cell phone's data, so hopefully you have an unlimited data plan or else you'll probably start receiving texts from your carrier warning you that you've used a majority of your data this month. If you're hitting the max data allowed per month, you may need to have your data turned off until the cycle restarts. Also, this app will do a number on your battery life. Make sure you're fully charged before you head out the door or carry a charger with you.
Make it Fun AND Educational
Playing the app can be rather simple once you understand what to do. You're playing as the Pokémon trainer who collects Pokémon (cute, little "pocket monsters" with unique traits and skills) outside. The app connects to your GPS to show you your location and the whereabouts of Pokémon in the wild, nearby PokéStops, and gyms where you can virtually battle other players. At the end of the day, you and your kids could be walking miles on this virtual scavenger hunt while discovering local landmarks and small businesses that you'd normally never visit. This provides a great opportunity for kids to get outside and explore, with your supervision of course.
When you get to a PokéStop and it's a historical landmark, spend time with your little ones to read about the landmark and start discussions about the history. Playing Pokémon Go during summer vacation can be a fun way to teach your kids about your local surroundings and to provide incentives to take trips to the library or museum for more typical summer learning. You can even use family trips to a local gym or PokéStop as an incentive for finishing a desired task or summer reading.
Always Be Aware of Your Surroundings
According the the AppStore and Google Play store, the recommended age to play is 9+ years due to a warning for "Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence." Our biggest concern is having little kids roaming the streets while looking down at their device ("distracted walking") or being "lured" into a dangerous area, which is why we recommend that a parent or guardian is always present to supervise your children, especially your young ones when playing this app. Recent reports mentioned that players are using the "lures" (a feature used to lure more Pokémon to a location) to plan a robbery or to lure children. Always look up when walking and hold onto your kids when crossing a street or intersection. We recommend playing this game at your local park or an area where there is little traffic.
Another part of the game involves eggs that hatch into new Pokémon. When you collect an egg, you can incubate it by walking a certain distance (2 km, 5km, 10km) to make it hatch. We love that this feature gets you and your whole family outdoors walking instead of indoors on the couch. Different types of locations have different varieties of Pokémon, so you will have plenty of opportunities to explore fun spots with your kids, for example, when you visit a body of water such as a lake or river, you will see more water Pokémon.
It's a Great Way to Make new Friends
Parents playing the app with their little ones will quickly notice they aren't the only ones. When walking to a PokéStop or local museum or library that put out a lure to gather people for an event, you will most likely make a connection with another family. Since school is out, now's the perfect time to get out there and meet other parents and children who have similar interests. It's also a great opportunity to connect with your local area's small business owners and support them by buying the family ice cream or a delicious pizza pie!
Due to the game's diverse players, you're probably going to meet a bunch of families who are also raising bilingual children. This gives your kids a great opportunity to practice speaking in their second language with other children their age.
Language Learning with Pokémon Go
Here at Little Pim, we're all about making language learning fun, easy, and effective for young children. We thought of ways to tie in language learning into the game to keep their brains active all summer long.
Counting
You can have your kids count the number of steps to catch the Pokémon in the foreign language they are learning. If the Pokémon is further away, help them out with the bigger numbers and eventually they will learn all the numbers in the new language.
This app also forces you to learn the metric system as the distance to walk to hatch your eggs is in kilometers you can convert them to miles. A recent article by MentalFloss pointed out that according to Google Trends, searches for “how far is 2 km” and “how far is 5 km” spiked after July 6.
Vocabulary
Create your own flashcard set with a Pokémon Go theme. Choose vocabulary words that you encounter while playing the game, i.e. street, library, tree, ball, catch, throw, as well as all the related animal names you can think of. If you're child is learning Japanese with Little Pim, teach them the 1st Generation Japanese and English Names:
[iframe id="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8_gjbvAYhzw?rel=0" align="center" autoplay="no"]
Explore New Cultures
Here in New York City, we have an extraordinary mix of different cultures present within walking distance. For example, you can take a family trip over to Koreatown with your little language learns to get a glimpse of the Korean culture and enjoy the delicious cuisine at an authentic restaurant. Perhaps you'll run into a nice family of native Korean speakers that are also playing the game to spark up a conversation so your child can practice speaking in Korean.
Head over to Little Italy to catch some Pokémon and practice your Italian by pronouncing the various food and restaurant names. Enjoy some delicious Italian cuisine when in the area.
Learn more about NYC's ethnic neighborhoods from BusinessInsider to begin exploring this summer whether you're a local or just visiting.
Have Fun and Be Safe
Outdoor play and social interactions for kids is great, but can also present risks. As a parent of little ones, we recommend you supervise your child's cellphone use and play this fun game by their side. Make it a family activity and take the opportunity to teach your kids about "stranger danger" and the risks of "distracted walking." We hope you enjoyed reading this guide and wish you the best of luck in "catching them all!"
If you have any other tips for parents playing Pokémon Go with their kids, please comment below. Don't forget that you can also take Little Pim with you during summer vacation with our digital downloads available in 12 languages. Your kids will be speaking a new language in no time with our unique approach. Learn more on our website or contact us during business hours. Enjoy the rest of your summer and stay safe!
Low-tech and high-tech toys at Toy Fair 2015
Toy Fair 2015 in New York showed off new toys of all kinds, from the simple and familiar to the edgy and technological. There were toys for kids of all ages and for kids at heart. Toy Fair brings out the best in toys, from books to dolls to learning tools to plush toys. Check out the highlights of this year's convention.
There were new twists on familiar toys like basic blocks and stacking toys. Toymakers added new functions to products like rattles and crib toys but kept them simple enough for the youngest customers to enjoy.
Some toys bridged the gap between technology and old school fun, like Toymail, a cute physical mailbox that lets family members leave kids WiFi voice messages through free phone apps. For parents who travel, children can hear friendly voices and encouraging messages - without having to stay in front of a laptop. They can play and respond to the messages when and where they want.
Take a hint from Little Pim the Panda and leave your kids a voicemail message using the words they’re learning in a new language. Hearing your voice saying some of their new vocabulary is a great way to send a caring greeting and help them learn new words in Spanish, Chinese, or French!
Augmented reality made books and other toys come alive through interactive, easy-to-use apps. When you point your phone at the right spots in a book, for example, your phone shows hidden features and games to play.
A redesigned View-Master and a talking, “smart” Barbie that connects to the cloud were also attention-grabbers.
The Little Pim booth welcomed everyone interested in children’s language learning.
iPads Improve Language Skills in Kids with Autism
A new study has found that using iPads can help children with autism improve their language skills, CBS News reports. In the study, 61 kids, ages 5 to 8, were given speech therapy for 6 months. Half of the children were given access to iPads, while the other half were not. All of the kids involved in the study were "minimally verbal," meaning they had a vocabulary of fewer than 20 words.
The researchers found that the children using iPads doubled the number of words in their vocabulary, compared with those who did not use the device. The kids using iPads also showed much faster improvement in their language skills during the course of the study.
Dr. Connie Kasari, a professor of human development and psychology and psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles who helped to conduct the study, said that children benefit from using tablets because they allow for repeated practice, and the visual stimulants encourage verbal response. Using device like an iPad can also help clarify words the child is struggling with and may even alleviate the pressure to communicate, she explained.
This latest study is particularly interesting to us at Little Pim. We've heard from many families of children with autism who have expressed how much our program helped their kids communicate better in English, their native language. Parents have told us that their children with autism are drawn to the colors and sounds of our videos and that they've improved their language skills significantly using Little Pim.
We embrace the way technology can help children learn. That's why made our immersive language program for kids available both on DVD and in digital form, so that kids can use tablets or other devices to learn languages. And our mobile apps are another great way for kids to learn languages while having fun at the same time.
If you have a child with autism, using an immersive language program like Little Pim on a tablet can be a great way for your child to improve his or her language skills. Our videos provide kids with visual and aural stimulation while encouraging feedback and repetition to help kids learn.
And if you have a child with Autism who's been helped by Little Pim, we'd love to hear from you! Email us at info@littlepim.com to share your story.
5 Trendsetting Toys from Toy Fair 2014
Last week, Team Little Pim gathered at the Javits Center in New York City for four days of pure joy at Toy Fair 2014. Imagine a football field full of the latest toys from classic companies as well as some exciting newcomers. Now try to wrap your head around the fact that the Javits Center holds roughly 10 times the square footage of a football field. In other words, there were a LOT of toys to play with. An emerging theme at this year’s Toy Fair was customizable toys: toys that kids could build and change themselves. As you might imagine, many of these toys had a digital component, but some of them were simply classic toys with a twist. Here are five of our favorites:
1. Potatoyz – It was only a matter of time before your kids would be able to design and order their own toys online, but who would have thought that it would be as simple as pressing “Print?” Potatoyz begin as little blob-like avatars in the Potatoyz app, where kids can add colors, patterns, facial features, and custom drawings. Within the app, the Potatoyz can play in a variety of different environments, and if your kids really fall in love with their custom characters, they can order a figurine to be 3D printed and shipped straight to your door!
2. DIWire – While 3D printers have yet to become a common household appliance, wire printers are just about to hit the market. A fellow Kickstarter success, DIWire can bend metal wire into complex, detailed sculptures that you design on your computer. It's especially cool for older kids looking to expand their toy horizons. Check out this video of DIWire in action at Toy Fair.
3. Tiggly -- Little kids love to play with iPads, but finding interactive games that teach at the same time they entertain is always a challenge, especially if you're looking for a physical element that allows them to look up from their digital realms. This fun game is just the ticket: it lets kids play with shapes that they hold in their hands that combine with an iPad app where they learn and explore new concepts. We also love how portable it is; perfect for long car rides and other travel.
4. Stuffies – Who needs another stuffed animal? You can hardly get your kids to clean up all their toys as it is! Stuffies aren’t your typical stuffed animal, though. With up to seven hidden zip pockets, they provide a place for your kiddos to hide their favorite toys. Kids have a special spot to keep their things, while you have secretly won the clutter battle!
5. Ugly Doll – They might be less functional than Stuffies, but we don’t really care. Just look at that face. The latest “bad hair day” Ugly Doll sports a tuft of sculpt-able hair that your kids can style and restyle according to their mood. It’s a simple, but effective update of the classic troll doll. It’s also 100% less creepy than the classic troll doll (okay, maybe 99%).
4 Surprising Infographics about Bilingual Education
Did you know the most commonly spoken language on earth is Mandarin? Or that students who studied a foreign language for at least 4 years scored an average of 140 points higher on the math SAT than those who didn’t? We found these fascinating facts and much more as we explored language learning and bilingualism Infographics around the web. We’ve collected a few of our favorites here. Click through to see the full graphic.
1. Second Language Acquisition By The Numbers
(credit, Huffington Post)
The facts and nothing but the language facts are the focus of this Infographic, including the most popular language to study in the United States (Spanish) and where scores improved on the SAT when students studied a second language (actually, they improved in all three sections!):
2. 50 Awesome Facts About Languages
(credit, UIC London)
If you’re looking for biggest, best, and most unusual language facts—from the number of world languages (7,000) to the easiest foreign language for English speakers to learn (Frisian, only spoken in parts of the Netherlands) this Infographic is for you:
3. The Benefits of Being Bilingual
(credit, BlueData International Institute)
What are the benefits of bilingualism? This Infographic links speaking a second language to improved concentration, boosted brain function, and increased creativity just for starters. Find out more:
4. Languages of the World
Finally, check out this Infographic from our friends at Pimsleur (which was created by Little Pim founder Julia Pimsleur Levine’s father, Dr. Paul Pimsleur) exploring the perceptions and realities of language learning in the United States.