Thursday, November 19, 2020

Trolls World Tour LEGO Kids Review Giveaway

Toys

Trolls World Tour LEGO Building Sets Review + Giveaway

MBE Partnered with LEGO for this campaign. This post contains affiliate links

Who has Trolls World Tour lovers or LEGO enthusiasts in the house? If you have kids, chances are good that you probably have fans of one or both of those popular family-friendly entertainment brands.

LEGO Trolls World Tour Pop Celebration Tree House Building Set

I've got some exciting news for you which combines the best of both worlds. Following on the tails of the first-ever LEGO Music Video for DreamWorks Animation's Trolls World Tour released earlier this month, a new collection of LEGO toy building sets inspired by the hit animated children's film has launched in time for the holidays.

The new collection features six LEGO Trolls World Tour building sets in all, including the LEGO Trolls World Tour - Pop Village Trolls Treehouse 41255 Set which is my favorite. Suitable for ages 6+, this building kit comes with 380 pieces.

Kids will have a blast building everything pictured on the box of this fanciful Trolls-inspired treehouse by following the classic LEGO step-by-step directions. The set comes with five Trolls mini figurines to assemble, including exclusive characters Guy Diamond and Tiny Diamond. There are also lots of assorted mini accessories to keep things and entertaining. Plus boys and girls can put things inside the two open-and-close treehouse room pods the set features, hanging them on the 8-inch tall tree for even more fun and imaginary play.

To extend the fun and creativity, LEGO enthusiasts who are feeling even more adventurous, have endless options to create original designs limited only by their imaginations by combining this set with the other LEGO Trolls World Tour building kits as well as same-sized LEGO blocks already in their collections.

LEGO Trolls World Tour Pop Celebration Treehouse Building Kit

LEGO Trolls World Tour Building Kits
Now Available Online & Instore

With such a fun new LEGO Trolls World Tour collaborative toy collection now in stores, I'm excited to announce that the brand is providing the prize for a giveaway exclusively for MBE's audience. Keep scrolling to find out how you can enter for the chance to win the LEGO Trolls World Tour Pop Village Celebration Tree House building set (ARV $49.99) for a special child or maybe even yourself.

GIVEAWAY

LEGO Trolls World Tour
Pop Village Celebration
Tree House Set

MBE Giveaway
on Instagram

Thanks to LEGO, ONE (1) lucky MBE giveaway participant will win the fanciful LEGO Trolls World Tour Pop Village Celebration Trolls Tree House Set. For this giveaway Mommy Blog Expert is hosting visit this MBE Instagram post to enter. Contest is open to US residents and qualifying winner will be selected at random. Hurry, this giveaway ends December 14, 2020 at 11:59 pm EST. LEGO is providing the prize and is responsible for delivery to winner.

Good Luck to Everyone Who Enters to Win!

About the DreamWorks Trolls

The DreamsWorks Trolls entertainment empire emerged in 2016. Ever since, fans around the world have been touched by the Trolls' joyful, funny, singing and dancing frolicking adventures. So far there have been multiple family-friendly feature films such as Trolls and Trolls World Tour, TV series, a prime-time holiday special, original digital content, video games, and a range of licensed merchandise. Trolls have also inspired live-entertainment touring shows, Universal Studios Parks' attractions, and a variety of pop-up experiential events for kids and their parents to enjoy together. The first-ever DreamWorks Trolls World Tour LEGO Music Video which recently debuted on the Peacock Kids YouTube Channel and the fun, new LEGO Trolls World Tour building sets are among the latest new offerings to enchant young and old.

About The LEGO Group

The LEGO Group was founded in Billund, Denmark in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen. The company name comes from two Danish words LEg GOdt, which together translate to "Play Well." The LEGO Group continues to remain family-owned in Denmark and its products are sold around the world in 140+ countries.

About Universal Brand Development

Universal Brand Development (UBD) leads the expansion of NBCUniversal's intellectual properties, franchise, characters, stories and more. In addition to franchise brand management, UBD is involved in consumer products and more created by Universal Pictures, Illumination, DreamWorks Animation, and NBCUniversal TV and Streaming. UBD is part of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

DISCLOSURE: We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program that allows our site to earn compensation for including referral links within our posts to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Friday, November 13, 2020

Smart Train Kids STEM Toy Review + Giveaway

Toys

MBE partnered with Intelino for this review and giveaway and this post contains affiliate links

2020 Year of The Smart Toy Train

For decades, kids have been enchanted with trains large and small. As a Baby Boomer I know trains sure did fascinate me as I recall the book The Engine That Could which my parents read to me and the elaborate Lionel electric model train table village my Daddy built in our basement for our family and friends to enjoy. Then when I became a mother, we raised our foursome with the help of Thomas the Tank Engine as well as visits to children's museums dedicated to the history and fun of real and toy trains, and a family vacation train trip via the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Denali National Park.

Photo Cred Balazs Busznyak

The Classic Toy Train Reinvented for Modern Kids

Fast forward to 2020. There's a new, ultra modern futuristic smart train speeding down the tracks, approaching the station and pulling into the hearts and homes of boys and girls just in time for the holiday shopping season. Meet the Intelino J1 Smart Train, the classic train toy retooled for a new generation, which has been selling abroad for a year and is now also available across North America in the US and Canada.

A special thank you to my nephew and niece's darling children for test driving the Intelino J1 Smart Train Starter Set they received from the brand, sharing with you our loyal readers how much fun they're having with this intellectually stimulating toy and what a great holiday gift idea other kids will likely appreciate.

Rooted in the nostalgia and traditional toy train playing experience of yesteryear, the Intelino Smart Train incorporates the latest robotics technology. Even better, it is expandable and designed to grow with your child as their fine motor abilities and STEM skills emerge and develop.

For a child as young as a 3-year old, thanks to the simplicity of the train's design, no technical ability is required. As a child's first train set, a preschooler can enjoy screen free amusement with a modular train track that is easy for little ones to click together to assemble, ready for hours of train playing fun.

To make things even more exciting, little ones can even snap on different color tiles to the track which impact the way the train moves. Out of the box, the engine comes with 17 snap-based actions built-in to the train. So even without the app, the smart engine's color sensors are continuously scanning the track while the train is in motion, responding to each of seven tile colors with different actions. An added plus for the younger set is that the Intelino train included in the starter set is compatible with the ability to run (with a few limitations) on most major brand wooden tracks made by BRIO, IKEA and others.

Expanding Kids Minds As They Grow

Later, when paired with the free app that's included, older boys and girls are able to interact with the toy on a more complex and sophisticated level. Elevating the train's functionality to new heights using a smartphone or mobile device, the Intelino Smart Train grows with kids, expanding into a smart train featuring advanced robotics which will engage new STEM skills as youngsters grow, learn, control and interact with the train.

"First we went through the instructions together, learning about how everything works," the kids' mom recalls. "Then my six-year old easily assembled the track on his own in about 15 minutes while I downloaded the app onto a smartphone. The next thing I knew, my son and his younger sister, who is in kindergarten, were off to the races having a blast together, saying things like 'Oh my gosh, Mom, look at that train go and Vroom and off we go!'

"As a parent I like that the Intelino Smart Train is not only educational and helps to build STEM skills, it is also small, compact, making it simple for kids to put together and take apart for storage. Best played with on a wood, laminate or other smooth surface floor, the train, tracks and app are all easy enough for boys and girls as young as 5 or 6 years old to use without any adult involvement. This is a fun activity to keep my kids occupied for an hour or two while I'm preparing dinner, especially on hectic school nights."

How Intelino Works With the App

The smart engine is powered by a 32-bit ARM microcontroller via Bluetooth wireless connectivity, while the MCU controls the train’s sensors, running its software algorithms and communicating with external devices. It also enables firmware updates and user programmability features. But don't let all that technical jargon about robotics scare you because the Intelino train "brain" is hardwired to offer a host of really fun features which older kids can easily tap into and leverage.

In addition to a multi-function button to turn the engine ON and OFF and start and stop it, kids will appreciate all capabilities they can control such as traveling speed, sound and light effects. For example, the built-in speaker makes it possible to change the sound of the train from a city express train, to and police transporter and more.

Similarly, LED feedback lights on the train engine illuminate via color LEDs -- customized by the user by programming within the app -- which varies as the train starts, stops, moves forward or backward, or goes slower or faster traveling up to 3.3 feet (100 centimeters) per second. It even has a mileage odometer which tracks and records how far the train has traveled.

Additional cool features include the electro-magnetic wagon coupler in the rear of the engine which can also be controlled via color senor inputs or through the app, dropping off the attached wagon on demand. The included Lithium Polymer battery delivers 100+ minutes of continuous play time and is rechargeable via a micro-USB port.

Intelino Smart Train Kids Educational STEM Toy

The Intelino J1 Smart Train Starter Set

The fun begins as soon as the box is opened. Inside, kids will discover an unboxing experience like none other as they check out what's inside each of the nested boxes.

What's Included

Smart Train Engine and a Wagon
20-piece Train Tracks Set
40 Color Snaps Controlling Train Actions
Sheet of Decals to Customize Train Cars
USB Charging Cable
Quick-Start Guide

As you've seen by the images throughout this post, my 5-year old grand niece and 6-year old grand nephew gave this train set a thorough test drive, ultimately giving the Intelino Smart Train Starter Set a thumbs up kids seal of approval. Their mom and dad also agree and they look forward to many hours of family fun together watching their kids playing together while increasing their STEM skill smarts through interacting with this innovative train set.

Today Show Names Intelino to Hottest Kids Holiday Tech Gift Picks

According to https://t.co/QI0YNHeDFf, intelino smart train is one of the hottest gadgets and tech gifts for kids 2020https://t.co/hxQl6CL7L7
— intelino (@intelino) November 6, 2020

With such a popular kids tech toy now available in the US and Canada, we could not be more excited to be announcing that thanks to the brand we are hosting an Intelino Smart Train Starter Set Giveaway exclusively for MBE's audience. Read on to learn how to enter for your chance to win this fun and educational kid- and family-friendly prize valued at approximately $100 USD/$130 CAD.