Tag Archives: Music

Television

It Is Time to Use Your Imagination With Kazoops

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This post is part of a sponsored campaign for Kazoops. I received compensation for my participation, but my review and opinions are my own.

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Andrew and I watched the first episode of the new Netflix show, Kazoops. It was adorable. The show is for children ages 3-6. It is bright and colorful and there are some cute songs, which did not get stuck in my head, so that is great. I’ve watched so many kids shows in the past 10 years that I am grateful to ones that have solid songs that you can enjoy, but not find yourself absentmindedly singing. The show follows the adventures of six-year old Monty and his best friend, Jimmy Jones, the family pet pig. Monty has a mom, dad, grandmother and older sister also in his family. Monty uses his vivid imagination to challenge preconceptions about life such as “you have to wear matching socks” or “all games need rules” and, in doing so, demonstrates the value of critical thinking and creative play.

You can watch the official trailer on the Kazoops YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWdf8VLC8sjQ0D0-aI8_59A

Creative is an excellent way to describe the show. From the episode I saw it was a nice show with some creative animation. There are moments in the show when Monty closes his eyes and tells his pig, Jimmy Jones, “just imagine”. It is then that the animation changes from a 3D sort of animation to a more 2D animation. Those moments the animation has a real paper feel to it. It is quite beautiful. You just know that Monty is in his creative zone during those moments of imagination. Monty is a kid who is so full of life and curiosity. He’s looking for ways to accomplish things, but in his own unique way. The problem solving is also more subtle than other kids shows, it does not hit you over the head with the message. Kids pick up on the message without hearing it over and over. Continue reading It Is Time to Use Your Imagination With Kazoops →

App Alert, Music, Photo-A-Day, Review, Toys

Review: Compose Yourself by ThinkFun


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We received a copy of the new game from ThinkFun called Compose Yourself to play with and review. Our opinions are our own, 100%. We enjoyed playing this game for quite a while right out of the box. It is very simple but requires that you have either an internet connected mobile device or are using a computer to play. It is pretty great because you get to hear the song that you make as you play. Then you can change it around and see how else it can sound.

The idea is brilliant and was invented by world-famous composer and cellist Philip Sheppard. The story is that he was working on composing some music and that he was using transparent paper to put down his notes. Then he thought, what if I flip the notes upside down, or mirrored vertically, or horizontally. He experimented with how that changed the music and the idea for Compose Yourself happened. Philip worked with ThinkFun and created the game and then with an orchestra behind him he composed all the pieces of music that are used in the game.

Wide view of Philip Sheppard conducting the orchestra
Wide view of Philip Sheppard conducting the orchestra (Photo Credit: Tom Bowles)

Right out of the box kids can start making their own music. There are very simple rules to play. Lay out 4 cards. You can flip them over, mirror them vertically or horizontally and on each side in the top left corner is a number. Enter that number into the Compose Yourself site to pull up that piece of music. Once you have laid out four cards you can start the music playing to hear what you made. But that is not all you can then add three ore lines of four cards of music together and make a longer song. When you play it back you can then send it out via Social media or e-mail it to yourself. I emailed a couple of songs out to Allison so she could hear them.

Eva’s song – Second Shot – Continue reading Review: Compose Yourself by ThinkFun →