Eebee's Mix and Mash Adventure Review & Giveaway

Every Baby Company cooks up another innovation with eebee’s Mix&Mash adventures in the Kitchen for Baby & You. Every Baby Company , creators of the multi-award winning eebee’s adventures TV, DVDs, toy and book series, announces the release of eebee’s Mix&Mash adventures, the first ever cooking-with-your-baby book, published by Sterling Publishing, Co., Inc.

The First-ever cooking-with-your baby book from eebee’s adventures combines nutrition, play and family time.

“Mix&Mash is an “organic” extension of eebee’s everyday, everywhere approach to celebrating the magic in a baby’s day to day experiences,” says Stephen Gass, president of Every Baby Company.

Baby mealtime just got easier, smarter, and a lot more fun. 

Inspired by the idea that if you can mash it, smash it, oosh it, goosh it, shake it, coat it, or stir it, your baby can participate in the process of preparing meals. With eebee's Mix & Mash Adventures, parents of babies and toddlers can play a game, build nutritional skills, and have story time -- all during mealtime!

This oversized baby board book features six nutritious and simple hands-on baby food recipes, playful rhymes on every page, and richly photographed pictures of its lead character, eebee, and real babies actively engaged in a range of tasty, tactile, and interactive "cooking" experiences with real food.Eebee's creator, Stephen Gass, divulges about the story behind this creative feast in an interview with MomLogic!

How does it all work?

Stephen Gass: In general, if a recipe calls for mashing, smashing, ooshing, gooshing, shaking, coating, or stirring, then, with your help, the baby can participate in the process.

As to the messiness factor, we suggest a few tips in Mix & Mash: for example, if you're mashing/smashing an ingredient such as an avocado, potato, or banana, put it in a zip-top bag, seal the bag, and mash and goosh away! If you want to coat an ingredient with oil, herbs, or a crunchy coating such as wheat germ or crushed cereal, help your child to dump the ingredients into a container that has a tight-fitting lid, snap on the lid, and shake, shake, shake.

 What can parents and children gain from cooking together in the kitchen?

Stephen Gass: In addition to being a rich, playful, interactive, and practical activity, cooking with your baby creates a powerful platform for exercising a broad range of skills and introducing an array of concepts, including:

• the language you use to describe the colors, textures, shapes, sizes, smells, and your process;
• the "baby science" of transforming an ingredient from, say, something solid to something soupy;
• the "baby math" involved when you "divide" one whole ingredient into pieces, count ingredients or steps, or describe amounts ("little pinch of cinnamon," "lots of rice kernels," "full," "empty," etc.);
• the motor skills used to shake a container, help to pour ingredients from one container to another, or mix, mash, or assist with a spoon;
• the social skills of turn taking;
• the logic skills of following a process.

What is your favorite recipe from the book?

Stephen Gass: I'm a foodie, so I don't really have a favorite ... I like them all. In particular, what I do like is that each recipe is simple, nutritious, uses fresh ingredients, and reflects the growing trend of feeding babies "real food." I also love the idea of using herbs and spices to make the food more interesting. Flavorful food helps to develop a broader palate early on. For example, our rice dish mixes rice, bits of banana, a little coconut milk or yogurt, and curry powder; the "guacamol-ee crunch" recipe (mashed avocado and crushed cereal) suggests adding a little chili and garlic powder -- even babies enjoy a good hors d'oeuvre!

How did the idea for Mix and Mash develop?

Stephen Gass: eebee's award-winning line of books, toys, DVDs, and TV programming are informed by a research-based play curriculum and the simple idea that babies learn through interacting with the people and objects in their environment. In our adventures, eebee and babies play with water, paper, light and shadows, laundry, pots and pans ... everyday items.

Taking the "adventures" into the kitchen was a natural extension of our hands-on approach. It also satisfies our goal of not only engaging the baby, but inspiring parents with practical and playful ideas.

About a year ago, as part of a parenting series on Parents TV, in which we demonstrate simple baby games and activities, we tried out a cooking activity: mashing bananas and yogurt together. The response was phenomenal, and Mix & Mash was born ... or should I say, "cooked up."

What about picky eaters? How do you think this book applies to them?

Stephen Gass: According to pediatricians, one way to defend against a baby fussy eater developing into a fussy eater throughout childhood is to avoid placating him/her with naturally satisfying salty and fatty foods. Start early with a healthy and varied diet. Try different fruits and vegetables. If your child says "no" once, try that food or taste again at a later date. Involve your baby in the process of eating; when they are ready for finger food, play a little! Creating a healthy relationship with food and eating can start VERY young and have lasting effects.

Mix & Mash is all about helping parents to help their babies to develop a strong, healthy, and positive relationship with food.

Explain the importance of exploration and development through food.

Stephen Gass: As the research on early childhood development says, a child's first few years of life are critical for laying the foundation for just about everything: language skills, motor skills, reasoning skills ... and even "nutritional intelligence," a natural, if not intuitive, awareness of and appreciation for positive, reasonable, and healthy eating habits.

Given the childhood obesity crisis in our country, it's so important that we do as much as we can to help parents and children get off to the best possible start in building strong nutritional skills. As we say around the Mix & Mash kitchen, it's time to "SQUEEZE THE MOMENT!"

Each recipe is designed to encourage playful interactions, as well as set the stage (and table) for rich language-skill building exchanges.  For example, in the “Guacamol-ee Crunch” recipe, babies help to mash/mush/moosh fresh avocado and crushed cereal together in a sealed plastic bag which naturally leads to a “discussion” about colors, textures, and sounds.

Mix&Mash also includes a DVD, co-produced with Parents TV, which features Parents TV anchor, Juli Auclair, eebee, and Kristy Glass, eebee’s play partner in the popular eebee’s adventures series, demonstrating and discussing the learning opportunities and nutritional benefits of each recipe.  Activities such as these, called “eebee moments,” are also currently featured on Parents TV. 

 “Mix & Mash is another eebee publishing breakthrough.  This fresh and playful book is as practical as it is unique.  A first in its category of cooking-with-baby books,” says Jason Prince, publisher of Sterling Publishing. 

ABOUT EVERY BABY COMPANY: 

The Every Baby Company was founded in 2004 with a simple yet essential mission to be a catalyst for rich play experiences. It began with the award-winning and critically acclaimed eebee’s adventures, an innovative, character-based DVD series, for infants and toddlers. It is the first infant media property effectively based on the most recent research in early learning as well as the use of creative media. Today, eebee’s adventures programming is available On-Demand in over 30 million homes as well as on eebee’s adventures has received 20 national parenting awards including Parents’ Choice Awards, Parenting Magazine’s “DVD of the Year” Award,” Creative Child Magazine’s Preferred Choice Award, NAPPA GOLD award, the National Parenting Center Seal of Approval, iParenting Media’s Outstanding Product Award, and the Mr. DAD Seal of Approval.

Buy It
You can purchase eebee’s Mix&Mash adventures in the Kitchen for Baby & You online at Eebee's shop for $12.95 or on Amazon  , I noticed that the current price there is $10.36.
 

The giveaway
Thanks to Rebecca, from Flair PR, one  lucky  Multiple Blessings reader will win their own copy of the Eebee’s Mix&Mash adventures in the Kitchen for Baby & You book & DVD

How to Enter the Giveaway
The Mandatory entry MUST be done accordingly before all other additional entries will be considered valid, because I will be checking, thanks in advance! If you do not have a blogger account with an active email on file, please leave your email addy in your comment, (like this: Twincere(at)gmail(dot)com--it prevents spam bots from picking it up). If I can't contact you, how are ya gonna know you won? Winners will be notified via email  and have 48 hours to contact me, or risk forfeiting the prize and another winner will have to be chosen. Good Luck! Deadline to enter is 11:59 pm EST on Saturday, December 19, 2009 ! Winner will be chosen via Random.Org 








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*I received my own copy of eebee's Mix & Mash adventures  for the purpose of this review.I was not monetarily compensated for this post. The opinions expressed herein are my own*








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