Muse Reviews » Apple season is here!

Apple season is here!

It’s October. Apples are everywhere. Roadside stands are brimming with these red, green and yellow jewels of autumn. During September and October, we’ve been trying to incorporate all-things-apple when it comes to our preschool at home. I have a super cute product to tell you about that is a hands-on tool for learning fractions….and it’s apple-themed, too, of course!

Take a look at this Magnetic Apple Fractions set by Learning Resources. See? Told you it was cute!

Learning Resources, long since producer of stellar educational toys, games, and tools for children and educators, has won me over once again with this product. I didn’t expect the apples to be so substantial in size and weight — they are hearty and sturdy, not flimsy or light.

Each apple represents one of the four basic fractions: Whole, 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4. The pieces of all but the whole apple are held together by internal, hidden magnets, but are easy enough for the smallest of children to pull apart (yet the apples hold together well and have flush edges when assembled). An unexpected detail was the inside of the apples: They are just the right color and have painted-on seeds!

We not only use the Magnetic Apples Fractions set for learning and practicing early math skills, but we also love to use them in the play kitchen. The kids love “cutting” apart the apples with their toy plastic dinner knives, cutting, dicing, and “cooking” just like I do!

A side bonus is that these can be used to teach unselfishness and sharing, teaching children to divide up the apple pieces and distribute them among their siblings or friends….evenly or not (both options provide a good lesson).

Learning Resources includes a handy activity guide along with this kit. This toy/educational set is best suited and most helpful for ages 5-7, kindergarten and first grade age groups. (But ages 3 and up would love to play with them, too!)

These Magnetic Apple Fractions retail for $24.99. You can purchase them directly from Learning Resources’ store, where right now there is a special flat-rate shipping promotion going on! You can also find this and other Learning Resources toys at these fine retailers.

Win it! Courtesy of Learning Resources, one of you can win this set of Magnetic Apple Fractions for your family! Just tell me, in a comment below, another item you’d love to have from Learning Resources that would meet a particular need/sharpen a certain skill in your child(ren) right now! I’ll close the contest next Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 11pm EST. Sorry; US entries only. Good luck!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Congrats to #11, Dale, the winner of this set!

47 Comments so far
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I like the teaching cash register.

Pizza fraction bingo looks neat!

My children would love using the link and spell letter set. What a fun way to spell words!

The Time Tracker Visual Timer & Clock would come in handy for my two kids…they love to be times in tasks, it seems to motivate, this would help!!

I think the “A Bee C Buzz” game looks really neat! My two kids would love playing this on family game night

The Time Tracker Visual Timer and Clock would be useful for us!!

I think we would really enjoy the Let’s Tackle Math!™ Patterning & Sequencing Set – W knows all his colors and counts well, but I think sorting would be a great thing for us to practice more. thanks!

I like the Over & Under the Sea™ Mat

I would love to get the pretend and play snack shop. Thanks for the great giveaway.

I think my little boy would like the Smart Snacks Trail Mix and Match. I hope I win!

I like the healthy foods play sets.

The Safari Undercover game looks like fun!

The Healthy Foods Play Set would be perfect for our little nephew.

These look like a great teaching tool! The Lowercase lacing letters would be perfect for helping with fine motor skills and letter recognition for my little one.

Lets pretend play brix would be great for Jack

ABC Chalk Talk!® Electronic Learning Chalkboard looks great!

I really like the Geo Safari Talking Globe!

I think the ABC Chalk Talk!® Electronic Learning Chalkboard could help with letter practice around here.

I would love the “got it reading and math game”. I am a teacher and most of my students struggle with either math or reading so, this would be very useful.
Harborlad@optonine.net

My 5yo would LOVE TetraTrax! He likes to play tetris, and this would improve his game…oh, yeah, and his hand-eye coordination!

“Let’s Tackle Math – patterning and sequencing” would be a great activity for my curious, bug-loving 4 year old!

My girls would love the A Bee C Buzz™
for them to work on their spelling!!

Fun giveaway! Thanks!
I like the Over & Under the Sea™ Mat for my little one because he is just over 1 years old so it maybe a little advanced but he really enjoys music so it would be fun for him to explore.

The Lets Tackle the ABCs

Wes would like the smart snacks ABC Lacing Sweets.

Keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed!

Alphabet Marks the Spot would be great to get my little bookworm moving and jumping.

I would like the career hats for my son. It is so hard to find dress up for boys!

Smart Toss Bean Bag Game

We also really like the Jumbo Forest Animals. Thanks for the giveaway.

The learning cash register would be great for my kids.

I would try the Gotit reading and math game.

I love the jumbo magnifiers.

I’d love to get my daughter the ABC Chalk Talk!® Electronic Learning Chalkboard.

I would love the GeoSafari® Quiz Phone. It looks like a super fun way to help my kindergartener with his reading skills and more!

I like the USA Foam Map Puzzle, my 3 bigger kids love puzzles but somehow we don’t have any map ones yet. The apple magnet set is perfect for my 4 kids to do together, I love how it would work for different ages.

I like the Spanish / English Calendar, Seasons & Weather Puzzle Cards to learn some Spanish words

I would love to have the Smart Snacks® Counting Fun Fruit Bowl for my niece

The FoamFetti kit

Oh my gosh, it’s so hard to choose – I love Learning Resources products!! I’ve been wanting the visual time tracker for a long time, so I think I’d go with that, but I could make a LONG list!! The visual tracker would help with my kids who seem to procrastinate until it is too late.

I like the Spanish / English Calendar, we’re really trying to teach or daughter a little Spanish – and it’s time to expand beyond Dora

I would love to get the Let’s Pretend PlayBrix. We had those as a child and I loved them!

I like the Alphabet Bingo.

Please count me in. A Bee C Buzz would really help with reading and spelling.

The let’s pretend play bricks would be great for the girls. They love to make forts and build with things. These would make a great fort for them

We would love the Smart Snacks® Stack & Count Layer Cake™

This would be great for my 4th grader:

Get the Picture™ Reading Comprehension Game

My daughter would love the camping lanterns!

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