Thursday, November 1, 2012

Holiday Toy GIVEAWAY: Mama May I Shop

I was first introduced to Mama May I's shop in 2010 when my friend Abbie at Greening Sam and Avery posted about her toys and held a giveaway. I was so drawn to Jessica's handmade products with their bright rainbow colors! I've admired her toys ever since! FINALLY,  now that my son is two and a half and I have a good idea of the kinds of toys that intrigue him, I bought three sets of her toys! I'm so excited for him to receive them at Christmas! He LOVES stacking things like blocks. He loves setting toys up and knocking them down. He will find toys not necessarily meant to be stacked or set up (ie: plastic bolts from our Design and Drill set are his FAVORITE!) and play with them multiple times a day.

As soon as I saw If a Tree Falls in the Forest, I knew he would LOVE it!!

 You can stack them!
 You can sort them by color and size!
And you can just simply play with them however you like!

Along these same lines, he likes to balance things so the Balance Set was another natural choice for him.
And finally, I purchased the Colored Cups and Balls set for him to work on his fine motor skills.
Do you see anything in common with all of these? They are beautiful! Aren't they?? Who wouldn't want to play with these? Also, they could all go together if you wanted in a color sorting way. Or you could sort them by size. Jessica's toys appeal to sensory play with their bright colors and smooth wood feel. You can add them to sensory bins either rainbow themed, or if you are doing a certain color theme like red and green for Christmas! Or they are absolutely wonderful to just set up for open-ended play and see what your child comes up with. She has several sets that would appeal to any child but also to little budding artists!


I have my eye on this Little Details Set too!
I think it would be really fun to have my girls create their own "sculptures" and then ask them to make line drawings of them! And my son could match the objects up with the cards provided. This set would be great for all three of my kids.

Here's a little blurb about Mama May I from her website:
Mama May i's handmade learning toys blend the best of developmental psychology and design to offer a unique learning through play experience.
Founder and principle designer, Jessica Perkins, has been creating for as long as she can remember, originally helping her mama with her handmade toy store over 20 years ago. With the birth of her children, and all the new little people in her life, Jessica found herself searching for toys that met her educational and design standards.


Inspired by these little explorers, and her understanding of Montessori and Waldorf methodologies, Jessica Perkins began making all of her creations with the belief that children make sense of their world through sensing their world. After years of making, creating, and gifting her creations to friends and family, Jessica decided to start selling her goodies. Since the launch of Mama May i in 2009, Jessica's passion for artistic expression through toys has blossomed into a business supported by mama's and papa's all over the world.


With this learning through play philosophy in mind, Mama May i encourages kids, both big and small, to dive in, make a splash, a scribble, or an inquisitive fiddle on the memories we share together.
While we don't follow the Waldorf or Montessori methods of play to a tee, I think some of the ideas based in them are really great. I have been trying really hard to add meaningful toys to my children's holiday wishlists this year. We have had the fad toys. We have had the toys with bright lights and loud sounds. I am tired of all the toys around here that my kids only use for five minutes after Christmas. I believe these toys fit the bill for fun, open-ended play and can be used for quite some time. Mama May I has toys ranging from newborn to grade school.

Now, here's the exciting part! You can win some of Mama May I's toys yourself! I have a set of If a Tree Falls..., a Balance Balls set, and a Colored Cups and Balls set to giveaway! There will be three winners; one winner for each set.

Use the form below between November 1st and November 23rd (Black Friday!) to enter. There are multiple ways to enter. Only US and Canada shipping eligible. And even if you don't win the giveaway, head over to Jessica's website to shop for some fun handmade, quality toys for your little ones for the holidays! Jessica has graciously offered a coupon for everyone! Use coupon code: ARTCORNER for 15% off your order. It will be active for 1 full week from the time the giveaway ends. 

Edited to add: Please copy your comment for the Rafflecopter form...in the post comments as well so everyone can see what items you love! Thanks!!!

***All images provided with permission from the Mama May I website.***

a Rafflecopter giveaway

10 comments:

  1. I was thinking the comments from the entries would show up here. Please comment here as well with your favorite items from Mama May I's shop.

    Here's Carolyn's comment from the giveaway entries: I am in love with this shop. What a great find! I love the story starter game for my four year old and the cups and balls for my babies.

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  2. Story starters. I really want to use them!

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  3. Love the shop, found it a few months ago and have my eye on a few things for Xmas. Love Little Details Set, Colored Cup and Balls and the toys for the littlest ones are adorable to :)

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  4. There Once Was A Crooked Rainbow is amazing. I also love the stacking cups. What a great line of products!

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  5. I love the Family Box and the Fairy Friends. Lovely!

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  6. I love the Mama May I shop! My favorite toy is the Sensory Color Sorting Playset, but it's followed by about 50 others as near-faves too! :-)

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  7. Rainbow Village--Love those houses!

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  8. Ladybug Learning Play Set, it's adorable!

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