Have you heard about iPieces from Pressman Toys?  If you haven’t this is something you are definitely going to want to check out!!  iPieces are SUPER fun!!  They are the games we know and love…  that use your iPad as the gameboard!

There are 5 awesome games to choose from:

• iPieces™ Fishing
• iPieces™ Snakes & Ladders
• iPieces™ Air Hockey
• iPieces™ Pool
• iPieces™ Game of Goose

We we lucky enough to review both iPieces™ Fishing Game and iPieces™ Air Hockey!  Our iPad is the original version and this worked perfectly!!

The install was done by my 8 year old… it’s that easy!  Just pop over to the App Store on your iPad, we searched “fishing game Pressman” and clicked install, and we were ready to play!  It took less than a minute to set up (a definite bonus when the kids are crowded around eager to start).

The first game we played with the iPieces™ Fishing Game!  It was me vs. my 8 year old daughter.  It’s super easy to play…   the object is to catch your fish and move them to your bucket.  This game has a couple of added challenges to watch for (like the stork coming along and stealing fish out of your bucket).

The fishing game is that it can be 1-4 players which is great because kids can play by themselves or if you have 3 or 4 kids they can all play at once.   Both my 14 and 8 year old daughters found this game super fun but younger kids could easily play this!

The little fishing rods themselves are sturdy and easy to hold for both big and little hands.  The part of playing piece that touches the screen is smooth and after playing for 45 minutes straight there were no marks left on the surface of the iPad (we do have Ghost Armour on our iPad).

The second game we played with the iPieces™ Air Hockey!  This time we all took turns playing. It’s super easy to install and play….  There are different modes you can play with the iPieces™ Air Hockey game including tournament & quick battle.  You can choose how long you’d like the game to last as well.

The Air Hockey Game has only a 2 player mode so this isn’t a game that your kids can play by themselves.  However, this was a great family game.  We all had a chance to play it, my 16 year old son included (and he never plays games).

This game was fun because it really got everyone going…    We had a little family tournament and it was just a blast.  All of the kids (8, 14 and 16 years old) loved it!  These games would be great for travel because the pieces all pack up in little sturdy boxes which makes them super easy to pack along.  Both games have amused all ages in our family!

iPieces are available for purchase at Toys“R”Us, Barnes & Noble, K-mart, Radio Shack, Learning Express, and BJ’s Wholesale Club stores nationwide. They are also available online at Amazon or Toys “R” Us.

With the holidays coming, these are perfect gifts!  I am going to be getting a couple of sets to give to people who we exchange “family” gifts with for the holidays this year!

Watch for our giveaway starting November 12, 2012!!

Movie Review: Disneynature Chimpanzee

We recently were lucky enough to receive a copy of the new Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Pack of Disneynature Chimpanzee!  My girls and I were so excited to watch this!!  Both girls (age 8 and 14) absolutely loved this movie and so did I!  You can’t help but fall in love with little Oscar, the sweet little chimpanzee star of this movie!  Tim Allen was a great narrator and the language was simple enough that even my 8 year old was able follow everything with just a few questions!

Chimpanzee is an amazing glimpse into the life of baby Oscar and his mother Isha as well as the rest of their “family”!  It was absolutely heartwarming to watch the bond between Oscar and his mother as she nurtures him and teaches him how to survive in the jungle!  He is such an adorable playful little guy and just so much fun to watch!  I loved watching my girls giggle… and constantly rewind and re-giggle at this little guy!  There was one scene where Oscar is trying over and over to break open a nut with a stick… the girls were laughing so much!  I read on Disneynature Chimpanzee’s site that some chimpanzees eat up to 270 nuts per day!

The dynamic between the chimpanzees within their own tribe as well as with other chimpanzee tribes is really fascinating!  There are a couple of intense scenes between Oscar’s tribe and another nearby tribe.  They were loud but I wouldn’t consider them to be too scary for younger children and they were not violent.  I didn’t realize that chimpanzees are so territorial and I had no idea that they were meat eaters!

Oscar suffers a tragedy in in this movie when he loses his mother at a very young age!  He has a difficult road ahead of him as he doesn’t yet have the survival skills he needs to carry on.  Eventually he is taken on by the alpha male of the group, Freddie, which is amazing and very rare.  The alpha males are not nurturing so this was really quite extraordinary to see (you might want to keep some tissues handy just in case).  In fact, at the end of the movie, this new bond is the one thing that the whole crew found to be the most amazing part of this experience!

We actually found it quite remarkable the resemblance in mannerisms to humans as well as the way they interacted!  My 14 year was amazed at how similar these species are.

At the end of the movie, there were some bloopers which we loved!  It was SO fascinating to see how some of the footage was captured and just how passionate the crew was about the production of this film and all of their “stars”!  They would spend hours to capture only moments of footage…. the filming of this movie took over 3 years!

Disneynautre Chimpanzee is a fascinating view into the life of chimpanzees and will amaze you!  This is a great choice for a family movie (my daughter watched it 3 times this week ).  I would say a must see for all ages!  There is so much to learn about these guys… This movie will make laugh, cry and warm your heart all at once.

Disclosure:  I was not financially compensated for my review of Disneynature Chimpanzee.  I received a free sample for review purposes which in no way influenced my opinion.  All opinions in this review are my own based on my personal experience.