Kids games on the Iphone are really starting to get going as we had a previous post about Elmo Monster Maker.  Today we learn about Learning Colors with Vegetables that is based on the Mother Earth’s Children book by Elizabeth Gordon.

I love the fact that my Itouch will be able to provide the new baby we have on the way, entertainment and learning.  It sure makes packing my diaper bag a bit easier.  If you use it so that you baby can look at and not touch, I think it is a great idea.  The problem with that is, how many times have you known a baby to not want to grab on to something.  The same even with a toddler, if you are trying to show them something they want to have it in their hand.  We shall see how it goes though.

Each vegetable illustration is followed with a photograph, and then a color chooser to help the child learn both their colors and the names of healthy vegetables. These Richly illustrated children’s stories bring timeless tales to life for children of all ages.

Early 20th-Century illustrations and simple melodies help enlarge children’s imaginations while immersing their attention in a fun, easy-to-use app that blends hi-tech with high art.

Source: Chipchicklets.com

You will get to see a little bit of extra special during the season finale of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  Demi Lovato will be doing an impromptu performance for the Williams family as they went on a ski vacation in Colorado, while their home in Pine Mountain Valley, GA was being totally renovated.  After skiing, the family including Jacob who is suffering from Spina Bifida, and their father who has Lou Gherig’s disease were surprised by Demi with a show.  The Williams daughter, Josie, knew it was Demi right away when she saw her, and was super excited.

While the date of the show is not yet known, I think that is really awesome of Demi and makes me feel even better being a fan.  I am sure it was not only a great experience for the Williams family but also for Demi.   I have actually not seen a Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show in a while, but I know I will be tuning in for this one.

All across the BSC Empire we love the Big D, and that goes double over here at BSCkids! Today we are very pleased to be able to offer 3 chances to win a copy of Disney’s latest, The Princess and the Frog, which was last year’s return to classic animation!

HOW TO ENTER – All you have to do is be a BSCkids Twitter follower or our friend on Facebook–that’s it! If you are already so at BSCreview, you are already good to go–but if you’re both you get two ballots, doubling your chances of winning!

To enter, send an email to admin@bsckids.com with the title Disney Fan. Include whatever information I need to ship the item to you if you win and the applicable Facebook or Twitter name/handle (both if you are also with BSCreview). I will name a winner on March 19th–best of luck to all!

You can also check out our review of The Princess and the Frog over at the BSCreview, and check out all of our content (including clips and featurettes) leading up to the film’s release.

Disney’s Newest Princess Makes her Debut in a Rollicking Musical Adventure from the Creators of Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

Critically-Acclaimed Animated Feature Premieres March 16, 2010
on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD

Burbank, Calif., January 26, 2010 – Tiana, the ninth and newest enchanting addition to the legendary lineage of Disney Princesses, makes her home entertainment debut in a rollicking Big Easy-style fairy tale when The Princess and the Frog arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD on March 16, 2010 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

A timeless heroine in the tradition of Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine and the rest of the beloved royal sisterhood, Tiana comes to life with classic hand-drawn Disney animation from the revered team of John Musker and Ron Clements (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid) and a jazz-infused musical score from Academy Award® winning composer Randy Newman (Best Original Song, Monsters, Inc., 2001).  A royal procession of exclusive bonus features, including games and specially- created featurettes, take viewers on a once-in-a-lifetime tour of the storied French Quarter of New Orleans and into the magic-steeped bayou for hours of can’t-miss family entertainment.

The Princess and the Frog transports audiences to glorious, glamorous New Orleans as Tiana, the first African American Disney princess meets her frog prince and gives him the fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical, magical bayous of Louisiana. The Princess and the Frog’s colorful cast of one-of-a-kind new characters joyfully raises the roof, with voice performances from stars including Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose (Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, 2004,“Caroline, or Change”), Keith David (Crash), Jenifer Lewis (“Strong Medicine”), Jim Cummings (“Mickey Mouse Clubhouse”), Michael- Leon Wooley (Ghost Town), Bruno Campos (“Nip/Tuck”), Peter Bartlett (The Producers), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), Jennifer Cody (Broadway’s “Shrek: The Musical”), Oprah Winfrey and John Goodman (Monsters, Inc.).

Bonus Features

The single disc DVD comes with these exciting bonus features:

Deleted Scenes

Audio Commentary by John Musker and Ron Clements (co-writers and directors) and Peter Del Vecho (producer)

“Never Knew I Needed”- Music video by Ne-Yo

Games and Activities:

What Do You See: Princess Portraits — A bayou-style quiz tests viewers’ knowledge of all of  Disney’s beautiful princesses. Ray’s firefly family creates twinkling portraits of each princess and if  the player correctly identifies her, they can enjoy a tongue-cheek mini re-telling of that character’s  story.

The Blu-ray Combo Pack edition comes with additional bonus features, including:

Backstage Disney
Magic In The Bayou: The Making of A Princess — Co-writers and directors John Musker and Ron  lements take a freewheeling, behind-the-scenes look at the making of Disney’s newest animated  film as it grows from an initial concept to a lavish animated film set in the enchanting world of New Orleans and the surrounding bayous.

The Return To Hand Drawn Animation
The Disney Legacy
Disney’s Newest Princess
The Princess and the Animator
Conjuring The Villain
A Return To The Animated Musical
Bringing Life to Animation with an introduction by John Musker and Ron Clements.
Deleted Scenes introduced by the filmmakers
Art Galleries — A collection of storyboard art traces the visual development of The Princess and the Frog’s rich gallery of characters and settings.

With extravagant musical numbers, stunningly realized settings and gorgeously rendered costumes, The Princess and the Frog serves up an experience Richard Corliss of Time calls “A start-to-finish delight.”

Magic, music and romance are waiting around every corner of the legendary Big Easy as Disney’s newest princess sets out on an exciting adventure through a magical  new world. Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) is a beautiful and hardworking young woman determined to fulfil her father’s dream of owning an elegant New Orleans supper club. When Naveen (Bruno Campos), a handsome prince arrives in town looking for romance, the evil Dr. Facilier (Keith David) hatches a nefarious plot and turns Naveen into a frog. A kiss from Tiana should return him to his true form, but in a hilarious twist on the classic story, she is instead transformed into a frog herself! The pair must travel into the heart of the mysterious Louisiana bayou with only a trumpet-playing alligator and a love-struck firefly as guides to find the priestess who can reverse the curse in order to find their “happily ever after.”

The Princess and the Frog on Blu-ray is priced at $39.99SRP (US), and $44.99 (Canada) and on Blu-ray Combo Pack is priced at $44.99 SRP (US) and $51.99SRP (Canada), and the Single Disc DVD is priced at $29.99 SRP (US) and $35.99 SRP (Canada).

About Disney’s Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD + DisneyFile in a single package):
To provide consumers with unprecedented quality, value and portability of their favorite Disney movies, in 2008 Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (WDSHE) pioneered the Combo Pack – a Blu-ray Disc™ plus a DVD and a DisneyFile digital copy of the film in a single package.  Current WDSHE branded titles available as Combo Packs include, Bolt, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Up.

STREET DATE: March 16, 2010
Direct prebook: January 19, 2010
Distributor prebook: February 2, 2010
Pricing: Blu-ray and DVD Combo Pack: $44.99 (US), $51.99 (Canada)
Single Disc DVD: $29.99 SRP (US); $35.99 SRP (Canada)
Feature run time:  97 minutes
Rated:  G
FastPlay™:     FastPlay enabled
Technical specifications may only apply to feature.

Blu-ray Disc  -
Aspect ratio:    1.78:1
Sound:    English 5.1 DTS-HD
Languages:    English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles

Single Disc DVD -

Aspect ratio:    Widescreen (2.35)
Sound:    5.1 Dolby
Languages:    English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, a recognized leader in the home
entertainment industry, is the marketing, sales and distribution company for Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista product, which includes DVD, Blu-ray Disc™ and electronic distribution.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is a division of The Walt Disney Studios.

Brand new featurette from Disney featuring Julie Anne Robinson, the director of The Last Song, and Nicholas Sparks, the author of the novel that the film is adapted from. The latter reveals that he wrote with Miley Cyrus in mind, and the former adds what Cyrus brings to the table as an actress. there is also movie footage here that I haven’t seen in any of the clips we’ve previously noted here at BSCkids. In January we posted a previous featurette which was presented by Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. We’ve also had a sneak peek via some promo stills from the film.

Miley also has a music video for the The Last Song, and we posted the video for “When I Look at You” earlier in the week. The release date for the film is March 31st (remember it has been bumped back up after being moved back!). Cyrus is joined by co-star Liam Hemsworth, and includes a supporting cast of Greg Kinnear, Kelly Preston, and Bobby Coleman.

I am an admitted fan follower of American Idol and catch every single DVR’d minute of the show after my husband falls asleep.  Well good news to Idol fans and book readers, oh and those fans of David Archuleta.  We have the cover art for the May 4th release (you can pre-order) of Chords of Strength from Celebra Hardcover.

While I may have had another favorite that season, David Cook, who took home the Season 7 crown, David Archuleta could sure sing!

A runner-up on American Idol and successful music artist, David Archuleta was named one of the “breakout stars of 2008″ by Forbes magazine and landed the number two spot on the Billboard charts.

In Chords of Strength David shares his unexpected and inspiring journey, including how he overcame vocal cord paralysis to achieve his dream of being a singer. He reveals insecurities he felt about his voice-before he realized that he loved the way singing made him feel more than he disliked the way he sounded. In this personal memoir, David opens up about the strength he draws from his unshakable faith and unyielding family. He pays tribute to those who continue to inspire him and through their example help him believe in himself, his talent, and his abilities.

Intimate and uplifting, Chords of Strength allows a unique glimpse of the man behind the music and offers hope to anyone with a passion and a dream.

Pictureka! made its way to family game night a few weeks or so ago and “Find it fast, find it first!” is a very good decription of how the game works.  Kudos to the marketing department over at Parker Brothers on that one.  The call of “Pictureka!” echoed throughout our neighborhood on Thursdays, which happen to be family game night at our house.  The game lends itself to yelling pandemonium, in a good way.

To get started, you arrange the game tiles in a 3×3 square and that becomes your gameboard.  You then separate the 3 different color cards into their own decks, shuffle them, and place them facedown somewhere near the gameboard.  We always let the youngest player go first, and while the game has the stated ages of 6+, our 4 year old got to go first.  You roll a die and draw a card from the deck that matches the color you rolled on the die.  Those 3 different color decks are actually mission cards and you do something different for each one.  In addition the colors on the mission cards some of the mission cards have action symbols that will cause you to switch the location of tiles, flip tiles, or rotate tiles.  Remember that Pictureka! is all about finding things, so mixes the tiles around can throw you off a bit on your turn.  First player to win 6 cards, wins the game.

The Green and Blue Cards are the easiest to understand.  If you draw a Green Card it is a personal mission card.  That means you read the mission aloud and then you roll the die with numbers on it.  To win this card you have to find the number of objects you just rolled.  Wait though, there is a timer!  So if you find enough of the objects before the sand runs out of the timer you get to keep the card.  We had a fun time teasing the person with the green card by saying, oh I see them, oh I see one of those, etc…  In a fun way, and we all laughed. 

The Blue Card is a find it first card, where everyone gets to play.  You turn the card faceup and everyone needs to find the object the quickest.  The player who finds it first yells “Pictureka!“, points out the object and keeps the card.  The Blue Cards are the favorite with our children.

The Red card is the outbid card, where the highest bidder gets to take the turn.  Without looking at the card, you decide how many of the objects you think you might be able to find before time runs out.  You either bid or pass.  The player to your left can either bid higher or pass and this continues until each player has made a decision.  The highest bidder now reads the mission and has to find the number of objects they have bid before the timer runs out.  If they do not find them, you place the card out of play and the turn is over.  The way that I read the rules that means that you can bid as high as high as you want and really you do not have a penalty.  So we added that you lose a turn if you are the high bidder and do not find the number of objects, this stops people from over bidding.  We could just be reading the rules incorrectly, but I am never against house rules.

After speaking to my parents they decided they wanted to try a few rounds with the kids while they were over our house doing a bit of baby-sitting.  After they played a few games, they decided to take it back to their house to play with some of their adult friends.  I was told that they enjoyed it as well. 

We have played a bunch of times and still have no idea where everything is, so the game has replay value.  A fun game for the kids and it sure is fun trying to find what is on the card before everyone else.

Please note:  Our review copy of Pictureka! was provided by Hasbro.

Just got this release. and the G.I. Joe Con that we’ve been talking about is being invaded by Cobra! Not even Mr. Potato Head is safe! That image was exclusively given to us by Scoop, who just got out unharmed!

Cobra Commander also issued this statement via Tele-Vipers:

Cobra announces CobraCon 2010 in Providence, Rhode Island

Cobra Island – February 26, 2010 – Today, Cobra Commander has announced that Cobracon 2010 will be held at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island from April 29^th to May 2^nd. Cobra wants to make sure that the fans of Cobra do not confuse this show with GIJoecon 2010, also being held in Providence, Rhode Island from April 29^th to May ^2nd. No, CobraCon will be FAR more exciting!!!

Unlike last year’s convention (apologies again for the unexpected exposure of mind control gas at the Saturday Night Dinner event), this year’s CobraCon promises a smooth and relatively danger free show, complete with a special appearance by Black Major and his trusty comrades, the Red Shadows. Along with special guests, art contests, an invasion of Hasbro’s headquarters, panels and seminars featuring Hasbro and other Cobra supporters, this year’s convention is THE show to attend!

So what are you waiting for! Just head on over to our convention site now and sign up for the Cobra event of a lifetime. NOW! Cobraaaaaaaaaaa! www.CobraCon.com. Be sure to click the page to see our latest CobraCon video!

About COBRA:

For over 25 years, Cobra has been the leading international criminal organization, offering the whole of humanity the finest in criminal espionage, homicidal clones, doomsday scenarios and an alternative to the decadent and foolish governance of so-called ‘democracy.’ Located on Cobra Island and any number of small towns near you, Cobra reaches more people than any rival organization; with attacks on G.I. Joe and the many countries they help defend such as Japan, Great Britain, Brazil, Australia and Canada. For more information visit our convention site. To view our competitors site (which we recently “acquired”) visit www.gijoeclub.com. Comments? Please direct email to Tomax.

Over at BSC HQ, we have exclusive another look!

We’ve been talking a lot of G.I. Joe through the BSC Empire this month, talking about this year’s G.I. Joe Con set - Vacation in the Shadows – (and updating that when the Red Shadows Trooper figure was released). I went more in depth about both at Vogue Immunity.

We also showed you another figure – this one the Collector’s Club free membership figure – Big Lob! I had a lot to say about Big Lob–LOVE it!

Saw this over at Upcoming Pixar, and thought it’s short, you know at BSCkids we love everything Pixar, especially if we are talking Toy Story! Even double, it involves the Sarge and the Green Army Men! They that this was reportedly viewable at a Swedish Toy Story 3 portal. regardless, it’s a 12-second look at the boys about to enter the breach, dear friends, once more! Oh..sorry, but you know if the Sarge is involved, it’s heavy!

February has been a great month for Toy Story 3 news, as we’ve been introduced to a whole bunch of new characters that we – and Buzz, Woody and the gang – are going to see soon! We’ve met Trixie, Buttercup, and got more on Lotso! My birthday month also brought us a brand new trailer!

Toy Story 3 will be released on June 18th, brought us in 3-D by Disney and Pixar! Tom Hanks is back as Woody, Tim Allen is Buzz again, nad Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, John Morris, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger and Jodi Benson are all back, while adding to the cast Timothy Dalton (Mr. Pricklepants), Michael Keaton (Ken), Kristen Schaal, and Blake Clark.

The official tracklisting for Justin Bieber’s second album, My World 2.0, is now out! You’ll be able to go out and buy the album next month, come March 23rd, but now you can can check out what’s joining “Baby”, his first single off of the album which features Ludacris. We’ve talked “Baby” quite a bit, posting the official music video, the behind-the-scenes featurette, and him performing the song at the Super Bowl Fan Jam.

Reportedly, “Never Let You Go” will be the second single released.

1. “Baby” feat. Ludacris
2. “Somebody to Love”
3. “Stuck in the Moment”
4. “Smile”
5. “Runaway Luv”
6. “Never Let You Go”
7. “Overboard”
8. “Eenie Mini” feat. Sean Kingston
9. “Up”
10. “That Should Be Me”

Earlier this week we told you that Justin will be appearing on Saturday Night Live to perform–and don’t forget, he’s has a cameo in Nick Cannon’s School Gyrls (see the trailer!).

New trailer for Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon! Just last week we brought you come cool promo stills and now we get a full (our third) full-blown theatrical trailer! This may be my favorite because we are starting to see some of the faster movement and action that I like to see in animation. We talk a lot about Pixar here at Kids, but don’t forget that Dreamworks brought us Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, and Madagascar. We are talking Vikings and Dragons in 3-D, voiced by a cast that includes Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller.

How To Train Your Dragon is adapted from the book by Cressida Cowell of the same name, and hits theaters on March 26th.

What’s it About?

Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, the action comedy tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn’t exactly fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccup’s world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges he and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.