Eimmies Blog

Eimmie and her friend learned about ancient Egypt today in school. As soon as they got home they knew where they were heading on their next imagination adventure! The girls imagined themselves to Cairo, Egypt’s capital, first. Their teacher had talked about the Egyptian Museum which was in the heart of the city. This museum had royal mummies, statues and gold treasure from tombs and even an exhibit on King Tut. King Tutankhamun was a boy Pharoah (what ancient Egyptians called their kings) whose tomb is very famous. Eimmie’s teacher told them all sorts of stories about the discovery of King Tut’s tomb almost a hundred years ago. The girls took a few minutes to explore the busy city and museum before imagining themselves on a camel ride. They rode their camels towards Giza, home of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx. (Most tourists nowadays take a car or bus, but the girls had always wanted to hop onto a camel and ride into the desert and an imagination adventure means you get a wild camel ride!) The pyramids of Giza were every bit as breathtaking as they appeared in pictures. In fact, Eimmie snapped a selfie on their adventure because she wanted to wave to all her friends from Egypt. The girls joined a tour and were able to enter some of the corridors within the Great Pyramid. They learned that, until skyscrapers, the Great Pyramid was the largest man-made structure on earth. They also learned about Ancient Egyptian religion and burial traditions, including how mummies were made. Eimmie and her friend trekked across the valley to visit the Great Sphinx of Giza. The Sphinx is a mythological creature, a lion with the head of a human. The Great Sphinx is a limestone statue that sits on the west bank of the Nile, watching the entire Giza valley and pyramids. The Sphinx is almost 240 feet long, which is about the length of two football fields and was built about 4,500 years ago! The girls drank water from their imaginary canteens because the dry, hot desert air was beginning to make them thirsty. They decided it was time to imagine themselves home: the homework on ancient Egypt was going to be easy to work on after this adventure! Stay tuned for more #EimmieAdventures, fueled by imagination. Follow Playtime by Eimmie on Facebook to stay updated and for contests and prizes as well!

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Eimmie loves bedtime reading. Her Mom and Dad read her stories all the time and Eimmie also likes to read to herself now that she’s learning. Last night she read all about vacation and travel and had dreams of airplanes, beaches, and oceans! Eimmie’s Aunt loves to travel and she gave Eimmie books and magazines about all the glamorous and fun places she wants to go. Eimmie read about the beaches of Bali. She imagined herself swimming in the turquoise water while her Aunt paddled by on a surfboard. The next morning Eimmie asked her Mom to help her find Bali on a map and learned the island is part of Indonesia, north of Australia. Eimmie also read about people backpacking in the Swiss Alps. She imagined the feel of backpack straps on her shoulders as she climbed a mountain. Eimmie looked at pictures of Paris, she looked at pictures of France. Eimmie thought to herself, “I will have to tell Auntie that my friend and I had an imagination adventure in Paris last week!” Next, she read about safari adventures where you can watch lions, giraffes, rhinos and more. Eimmie flipped through the last magazine her Aunt had given her. It had pictures of temples in Thailand and Eimmie began to imagine herself there….zzzzz…then Eimmie was asleep for the night. What books do you read to yourself, or with your family, at bedtime? Share with #EimmieAdventures on our Facebook page to win Eimmie T-shirts and prizes!  

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Eimmie had an adventure today with her Aunt at the science museum. Eimmie loves taking day trips with her Aunt: they call them mini travel adventures. The science museum in the city had so many different exhibits to look at. Eimmie had a hard time choosing! There were natural history exhibits that had skeletons of dinosaurs, blue whales and tons of other animals. Eimmie felt tiny when she stood under the skeleton of a prehistoric (this is museum language for really old) shark that was the size of a school bus! Auntie said she was glad the giant shark wasn’t around anymore.   Astronomy There were displays about the stars and planets and even a planetarium. The planetarium was a small theater where you could sit in chairs and watch the stars projected onto the ceiling. The stars moved through their orbits before Eimmie’s eyes and a Professor talked to the audience throughout the show. They got to see star constellations and hear the myths about each. Did you know there are two arrangements of stars that look like old-fashioned spoons? These were the stars Eimmie’s Aunt used to look for when she was camping as a little girl. The constellations are called the Big Dipper and Little Dipper and Eimmie thinks she can find them again in the night sky. All she has to do is find the super bright North Star and play an imaginary game of connect the dots to line up all the stars in the Little Dipper constellation–it really does look like a spoon with a really long handle! Crystals The last exhibit they had time to look at had so many crystals, some larger than Eimmie! The display explained the story of how crystals and gems form over thousands of years. Eimmie learned that crystals are a special kind of solid material whose molecules fit together in a repeating pattern. These patterns cause the material to form all sorts of unique shapes. Crystals often form after molten (or really hot liquid) rock begins to cool down. This is how many gemstones, like diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, form. Eimmie and her Aunt found so many cool crystals in the display cases to look at. They started imagining stories about the most unique ones and were startled when a guard told them the museum was about to close. Keep in touch! Share your favorite day trip adventures with #EimmieAdventures on our Facebook page to win Eimmie T-shirts and prizes!

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Today’s imagination adventure has Eimmie and her friend in Paris, France. They had to stop by the Eifel Tower first of course! They did imagine themselves a nice french baguette to munch on while they walked to the tower. Eimmie took a selfie in front of this iconic structure to share with you before they climbed to the observation deck. It was quite a climb but the girls were able to look across the Seine (the river that wanders through Paris) to see all of the city. Next, they visited the Louvre museum that holds some of the world’s greatest treasures. The museum is pretty neat: visitors enter through a huge glass pyramid at street level and then walk down many stairs. The girls had to go underground before walking up to ground level again to see all the art. They imagined their way through all the lines of tourists and were able to see the famous Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is a portrait of a young woman painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. Eimmie’s friend has heard the Mona Lisa’s eyes follow viewers as they walk by the painting. Eimmie wasn’t so sure…the painting seemed pretty normal to her! The girls finished their Parisian day by visiting Notre Dame, a cathedral. (If you want to sound like a world traveler, pronounce it: “No-tra Dom” like the French do!) Cathedrals are very large stone churches that are full of stained glass windows, sculptures and more. Ask your parents or teacher for more information. Notre Dame was built on a little island in the middle of the Seine River, right in the center of Paris! This meant that the girls walked across a huge stone bridge to reach Notre Dame. It was so quiet inside the cathedral even though several hundred people were also there to see the wonders! Eimmie and her friend had just enough time to see sunlight flow through thousands of pieces of colored glass, when bed time came and the girls had to imagine themselves home. While brushing their teeth, the girls both agreed that Paris was a great adventure and they would have to imagine themselves back there soon. They hadn’t had any French hot chocolate after all! Stay tuned for more Eimmie Travel Adventures, fueled by imagination. Follow Playtime by Eimmie on Facebook to stay updated and for contests and prizes as well!

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Eimmie loves to go on imagination adventures! Today she and her friend imagined they were in London, England. They stopped by to see Big Ben (and for Eimmie to take an imagination snapshot for you!) and visited Parliment while they were in town. Eimmie and her friend stopped by Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the Queen’s guards and even rode the underground. The underground is a train system that runs underneath all of London so that people can travel all over the city quickly. Next, they dropped in for tea and rode one of London’s famous red double-decker buses. They sat on the second story of course and had the best views of the city! It was almost time for dinner back home, so the girls decided they would get chips (what the English call french fries) wrapped up in a newspaper cone next time they imagined their way back to London. Stay tuned for more Eimmie Travel Adventures, fueled by imagination. Where will she go next? Follow Playtime by Eimmie on Facebook to stay updated and for contests and prizes as well!

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Almost 150 people joined the Club Eimmie Team earlier this month in Cleveland for our first casting call. A great group of girls, from 4 -12 years old, attended with their families. They brought a spirit of adventure and fun to the photo shoot! The group had fun! They: Colored at the art station Rocked the selfie station with tons of fun props like photo booth mustaches, hats, and glasses Danced to tunes off and on Struck pose after pose with their rock star guitars and microphones at the glam photo station Played with Eimmie, her furniture and accessories while professional photographers and videographers snapped and filmed away The girls’ favorite companion (after Eimmie of course!) was the unicorn. They all had to give him a big hug and play with his rainbow tail! Their favorite activities in the photo shoots were brushing out Eimmie’s hair and dressing her in pajamas. Thank you to all our brand ambassadors for their great work at the first Club Eimmie casting call. A big shout out to all the parents, siblings, aunts, and grandparents who joined us as well! Stay tuned for more pictures from the event and to learn more about adventures delivered monthly by Club Eimmie. The Club Eimmie Team would love to hear from you: share your kiddo’s favorite school adventure with #EimmieAdventures on our Facebook page for fun prizes!

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An open ended question is a question that can be answered in many different ways. They’re great for kids because these type of questions:   Stimulate language use Acknowledge that there can be many solutions to one problem Affirm children’s ideas Encourage creative thinking You might be thinking: that’s great but this all sounds very complicated! It’s really very simple. Ask a question that requires more than a one-word answer. Just remember to listen and allow children to have time to think and respond fully. Here’s an example of how to incorporate open ended questions with the kiddos in your life. Say you would like to organize a family vacation or just want to stimulate imagination around the idea of travel. Ask your child open ended questions about trips they imagine taking or different aspects of travel adventures. Have fun and watch their memories and imaginations take flight! Open Ended Travel Questions Tell me places you would like to visit What would you pack for this trip? What is the difference between a plane trip and a car trip? Who would come on this adventure?   Name some… (cities, countries, types of adventures for example) What trips have we been on before? How can you tell the difference between a fun trip and a boring one? What would we do if we went to… (use a place they have heard of or you’ve been like New York, or Grandma’s) What would we eat on the adventure? What’s another way of saying that? (This is a good comment/question that keeps their imaginations flowing and stimulates language development.) Now that you’ve learned that your small traveler would like to eat mac ‘n cheese on the moon with their entire family, what’s next? Stay tuned for future open ended play and question blogs. Follow Playtime by Eimmie on Facebook to stay updated and for contests and prizes!

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Do you know what September is? It’s National Library Card Sign-Up Month! Eimmie’s Aunt found Instagram posts about the campaign and wanted to share the adventure with Eimmie. Eimmie was very excited: she’s never had any type of official card, let alone a library card of her very own! Eimmie, her Aunt, and Eimmie’s toy bear went to the local public library today to start the process. The librarian was super nice. She had Eimmie, with her Aunt’s help, fill out an application. Eimmie had to know so many things! Her name, address, age, and more. Once that was done, the librarian made Eimmie a card and even took a picture of Eimmie with her first library card. (You can see it in this post; we think her Aunt shared it and hashtagged it already!) They explored the children’s section of the library together and Eimmie chose a few books with the help of her bear and Aunt. One was all about pirates (Eimmie and her bear might have pretended to be pirates while looking through it) and one was about a girl and her pets (Eimmie and her bear imagined the adventures they would have with a new pet). Eimmie checked the books out on her new library card. Now she just has to remember to bring them back on time! Do you have library adventures? Eimmie wants to make new library friends and would love to see pictures of other kids on their library adventure, with their cards, or with their books at home. Share with #EimmieAdventures on our Facebook page to win Eimmie T-shirts and prizes!       To learn more about National Library Card Sign Up Month click here.

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One of the most popular topics in early childhood education and parenting is open ended play. The term sounds complicated, right? It’s not. Open-ended play means letting kids develop their own play without any preset limitations. There are many benefits (and we will explore those in future blog posts), but for now let’s just say it gives kids time and space to develop their own ideas through imagination. Sounds good, right? Here’s one example of open ended play for kids who love school time and want to play teacher at home: Eimmie wants to be your child’s first student when they play classroom at home! You can ask an open ended question about what Eimmie would like to learn today. Or, you could leave Eimmie’s school desk out and allow teacher and class play to develop naturally. Eimmie can sit at the front of the class and answer every question her new “teacher” asks. This means children develop their own lessons in an open-ended play environment and explore topics of interest to them. Eimmie will set a good example for those teddy bears and unicorns sitting at the back of the class who giggle during the lesson too! Role playing is an important part of childhood development and Eimmie is there to help and have fun. Parents, Aunties, and Grandmas can participate in school playtime by asking open ended questions to the “teacher”, allowing children to think and share naturally.   The Club Eimmie Team would love to hear from you: share your kiddo’s favorite school adventure with #EimmieAdventures on their Facebook page to win fun prizes!

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Screen free activities keep kids active and creative, rather than sitting in front of a TV, computer, or phone. The Club Eimmie Team has some great activities to share as Eimmie loves to play and pretend–no screens needed! One of Eimmie’s favorite things to do is color. She loves the smell of a new box of crayons! The only thing better is sharing art time with a friend. Eimmie hopes her new best friend will join her and has a special new coloring sheet to share. At our recent Club Eimmie event we had many little girls creating their art with special Eimmie coloring sheets. You can see their smiling faces below! You can download the Eimmie coloring sheet below for a screen-free activity–don’t forget that Eimmie wants to play too! Please share your child’s art on the Playtime by Eimmie Facebook page to win a Club Eimmie T-shirt! Eimmie Coloring Cowgirl Screen Free

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