Welcome to Bluebee News
Here you can find current reviews on educational apps and resource for learning disabilities
Who Are The Bluebee Pals Appropriate For?
I think any child would enjoy this interactive learning tool. Children with special needs (e.g. Autism, ADHD, Social Communication Disorder, etc) could benefit from this interactive tool because of the various goals that I targeted below. What I found most effective with the Bluebee Pal was the ability to use it for role playing for a child with delayed or disordered pragmatic language.
Bluebee Pals an Assitive Technlogy Tool at Green Acres Elementary School in Oregon
The first time the students met the Bluebee Pal Leo the Lion was during a Story Time where Lindy was holding Leo and introducing the book. As soon as Leo began reading, the students were silent. They did not take their eyes off of him. They sat quiet during the entire reading of the book.
That has never happened before. One of the students ‘Sarah’ who has a very difficult time remaining at Circle Time, was totally captivated by Leo the Lion as he read the story and then sang some of the students favorite songs with them. Sarah’ was calm as she got closer and closer to Leo and rocked back and forth as he read the story. She smiled and laughed during a time when she was usually screaming and crying. If the Bluebee Pals did nothing more than help ‘Sarah’ remain calm and happy during Circle Time, then they were a success.
The iMums Christmas Gift Guide 2015 & Bluebee Pals
As the holidays draw near it is time to start thinking of Christmas Shopping. Santa is busy checking his list to see who’s naughty or nice, but what is on your shopping list this year? The iMums have 12 great gift ideas for the children on your list from tots to teens. We have included educational toys and games that get children thinking, creating, reading and moving. For the older kids we have included products to teach them about electronics, robotics, STEM, as well as affordable cellphones and gifts for the Minecraft fan and music lover.
Bluebee Pals Earns a Fall 2015 Academics’ Choice Brain Toy Award
Academics’ Choice Awards™ help parents and educators validate claims such as “critical thinking” and “educational toy” with a qualified, scientific and objective approach to evaluation. Academics’ Choice Awards™ bring recognition to the best thinking-based products in the industry. Our mission is to help buyers find the best brain-boosting material on the market. We help parents and teachers distinguish between “class-time fillers” and genuinely effective learning tools that stimulate the mind, and provide potential for the student to fully develop higher order thinking skills.
Academics’ Choice is the only international awards company designed to bring increased recognition to publishers, manufacturers, independent authors and developers that aim to stimulate cognitive development. A panel of highly qualified academics, parents, teachers, homeschoolers and children evaluate products based on educational benefits such as higher-order thinking skills, character building, creative play, durability and originality. Only the genuine “mind-builders” are recognized with the coveted Academics’ Choice Award™.
Apps and Ideas for the Holiday Season
Holidays are full of family gatherings that include family meals, games and traditions. To encourage greater participation of children with disabilities in these activities, you can take screenshots of the various app menus, then enlarge, print, and cut them out, as appropriate, to allow for easier choice making. If your child is able to use switch scanning and external switches then you can turn on those features in the iPad settings and allow them to choose their options themselves. If your child uses a communication device with voice output make sure to add appropriate phrases or even links to songs so they can participate in the voice recording options as well. In addition, the switch settings in the iPad allow for switch control of the camera so children that use switches can also participate in taking family photos. Using a mount or stand that keeps the camera lens clear gives the child even more independence if they can’t hold the iPad themselves.
Bluebee offers help with teaching your child’s language skills.
When our 13″ Bluebee Pal arrived he brought with him an operation manual and a USB cord for charging him up. It is recommended that the Bluebee Pal is fully charged before playing with it. It was easy enough to pair the Bluebee with my tablet, and find a communication app. On the Bluebee Pals Web site they give an extensive list of apps your child can enjoy.
My grandson and his cousins had a lot of fun listening to stories and singing with the Bluebee Pal. It’s now one of his favorite buddies, whom he affectionately calls EO. Why, I’m not sure. Maybe that was the sounds that came to him when he was playing with his Pal. He will be 2 December 31st and cannot yet communicate except for blue or a version of it and the word “more” in sign language. I truly believe his Bluebee Pal will be such encouragement to him. The plush 13″ character is nicely made and works well. I think any child would get tons of fun out of the Bluebee Pals, and importantly not just fun but learning as well.
Julie Fox and Soldier Creek Elementary School are using Bluebee Pals to support their students with special needs
Our classroom has just begun using our new BlueBees. The kids love using Storytime Online having books read to them. Before the BlueBees the kids liked the stories but since we have added the animals they sit up and pay much better attention.”
As a speech pathologist, I have also used BlueBees with the app Language Acquisition through Motor Planning, LAMP, it is an augmentative communication application. I hook the BlueBee up and have the animal talk to my student via the app. The kids really take to the animal and interact with it more than they do with me. There is something less threatening I guess. They love it!
Bluebee Pals Plush Bluetooth Learning Tools
In case you are not familiar with Blueebee Pals. Bluebee Pals are plush talking educational learning tools that sing, reads and answer phone calls. How amazing is that? I was sent a lion and I was simply blown away at the features.The lions lips actually move by lip synchronization while you’re reading storybooks, engaging in learning apps or singing songs.
What I really love is the fact that Bluebee Pals is partnering with various therapists, teachers, app developers and organizations to provide a “tech companion” that can contribute to your child’s educational development. Bluebee Pals are instrumental in classroom settings and home environments and considered a leading “Assistive Technology Tool” that supports with learning.
Life of a Busy Mom Blogs about The Bluebee Pals
As you know my son is Autistic, so a gift that he thinks is just a toy, but is a learning tool for him, well that makes us both happy! Let me share a little about Bluebee Pals with you.
This is an awesome tool for any parent, but especially for parents with special needs children. My son has speech issues, and is in speech therapy, so this is such an awesome tool to have to help continue working on his speech at home.
Bluebee Pals inside December’s issue of Creative Child Magazine
Creative Child Magazine is a national monthly digital magazine that provides parents with the latest information on how to nurture their child’s creativity.
They believe that every child should have the opportunity to discover and explore their creative abilities. Studies have shown that children who are given this opportunity often will exhibit a greater ability to learn in other subjects such as math, reading and writing.
Children whose creativity is nurtured at a young age are also often found to have more confidence as they mature and develop through their adolescent years.
Gravity Bread reviews The Bluebee Pals plus speech and language goals
After reading the manual for a couple of minutes, I was able to connect my Bluebee Pal Lion to my iPad. My children and I had a great time having “Will” (that is what we named him) sing, read and talk with the communication apps on my iPad. The next day I brought the Bluebee Pals to a school that I currently work in. I wanted to see how the children reacted to him during both structured and unstructured activities. The children that played with my Bluebee Pal were engaged, intrigued and consistently requesting to play with him. One student consistently requested specific songs that she wanted to hear. Another student with special needs “took care of him” while engaging in dramatic play.
The NAEYC Annual Conference & Expo in Orlando Florida
The NAEYC Annual Conference & Expo is the largest gathering of thought leaders, classroom teachers and faculty, administrators, researchers, and other critically important practitioners and contributors in early childhood education. Whether you are a newcomer to the field or an experienced professional, the Conference is a great opportunity to help advance our shared work on behalf of children during their most critical period of development and learning!
In November 2015, educators came from across the country and around the world to participate in hundreds of well-planned workshops, seminars, and presentations on the latest research and information on early childhood development. They also come for the exciting Exhibit Hall, featuring the best materials, services, and ideas for early childhood teachers, administrators, and programs.
Children’s Books on Diversity and Acceptance of Self and Others
Have a child, grandchild or student who is not coping well because he feels different from his friends and classmates? So often children feel they are “different” than their peers. Whether it is a perception or a reality that one doesn’t fit in, it can be a painful experience. These children must be listened to and supported and discussing the following books would be very helpful.
Are you working with children and would like a resource to help them understand the hurt they cause when they tease or shun another because of a physical difference, a personality difference, or a disability?
Tillywig Toy and Media Holiday Gift Guide 2015
Pairing a Bluebee Pal with a smart device takes just a minute or two. Once done, pretty much anything you can play on your device – apps, music, educational software, story books – can be streamed via the Bluebee Pal. Incoming calls to your smart phone can be answered with the touch of a button, turning Bluebee Pal into a wireless speaker phone whose lips move with the caller’s words. The tactile, visual, and emotional elements Bluebee Pals brings to these activities enhance children’s attention and recall, making for vivid, memorable play and learning experiences. Blubee Pals are currently available in five cuddly animals – lion, dog, lamb, zebra, and teddy bear.
Cozi presents The 2105 National Parenting Publications Awards list of top toys and gifts!
We’re proud to present the National Parenting Publications Awards list of top toys and gifts – newly updated for 2015. Use these parent- and kid-tested products as your go-to holiday shopping resource!
30 Great Gifts for Giving
Cozi Blog The latest news, stories, and offers from Cozi. Cozi is excited to partner again this year with the National Parenting Publications Awards. Their list of top toys and gifts – newly updated for 2015 – is your go-to holiday shopping resource!…
Toys + Technology + Talent = Bluebee TeeVee
I am always looking for an opportunity for Jonathan and other talented autistics, which is why I approached Laura Jienke with an idea. Laura is the CEO of Kayle Concepts and creator of the Bluetooth®-enabled Bluebee Pals plush toy companions. (The Bluetooth connection inside the plushies allows each Bluebee Pal to move its mouth in sync with a song, app or voice coming through a mobile phone.)
“What if Geek Club Books could produce a series of entertaining educational video shorts with the Bluebee Pals about autism and, most importantly, use autistic talent to write, perform, voice, film and edit them? Think a modern-day, quirky Mr. Rogers having a chatwith his Bluebee Pal,” I said.
National Parenting Publication Awards Guide To Holiday Gifts
Just as every kid is unique, so is the thought behind holiday gift giving. With one in 20 kids having a disability, the chances that you know (and might be shopping for) a child with special needs could be higher than you think. Here are some tips and ideas to help you march into the mall this holiday season and walk out with the perfect present sure to give glee!
Jessie Baker School and The Bluebee Pals: A Lesson in Assistive Technology
Teaching Outside of The Box: As part of The Bluebee Pals Project, Bluebee Pals were donated to The Jessie Baker School in Elk Grove, California. The project was created to provide the teachers and teachers aides with Bluebee Pals as an assistive technology learning tool to support and enhance the education of special needs children in the classroom. As a result, an amazing documentary was produced detailing how the teachers and students reacted, interacted and learned from the application of tablets, learning apps and their Bluebee Pals.
Bluebee Pals has teamed up with Wikids – The Talking Encylopedia for Kids
Wikids, The Encyclopedia That Talks To Kids!
Nearly anything can be explained to young kids in 80 words (30 seconds in a friendly voice).
Wikids features text, narration, images, and sounds, presents knowledge in context and is designed for independent discovery.
Let your kids explore the fascinating world of outer space, the human body, musical instruments, and much more! Each of the 120 entries provides a satisfying and enriching experience that broadens children’s horizons and keeps them interested.
How a plush bear named Sammy made my son eager to learn
This is a post by Dina Kyle, mom to six-year-old Aiden. This post was featured here on The Bluebee Pals Blog as well as Autism Speaks. The family lives in New Hampton, New York.
Aiden was watching Sammy’s eyes and mouth move as the story went along. As I happily watched, Aiden began to laugh and talk to Sammy, asking him questions I would normally ask him. Aiden stayed sitting for what seems like hours without getting up once…high five Sammy! We are going to try sight words next so stay tuned!