These days you can order just about anything online and have it arrive on your doorstep in a matter of days, anything from clothes to laundry to furniture! What's more? There are services you can sign up for that will have a box of goodies sent to you every month, automatically! These subscription boxes are pretty cool, and I've reviewed a couple on here already: Sparkbox Toys, Bella Gravida (maternity wear), and Preggonista (clothes, accessories, and beauty products for moms-to-be) to name a few. But I recently got introduced to a new one which is quite different and really exciting!

Kids' Candor provides bilingual educational kits that have children (and their care givers) playing and learning in English and Spanish! You can purchase single kits ($45 each, with themes such as travel, feelings, counting, animals, and shapes) or a subscription (from $25 per month). **50% off discount code below!!**

While my family is focusing on English and Japanese for our children, our 3 year old is actually picking up a wee bit of Spanish from TV. Just yesterday we were on the elevator and he looked up at me and asked why the couple next to us was speaking Spanish! I doubt he understood what they were saying, but to know they were speaking Spanish, I was quite impressed! Kids are unbelievable sponges, so I'm really excited to start introducing Spanish to him a bit more formally through Kids' Candor.

​We ordered the "Body Parts & Senses" set for our first kit, mostly because I knew my toddler would go nuts over Mr. Potato Head and all the stickers (as predicted, he did)!

As with any subscription box, it's incredibly exciting to receive it in the mail and open it up to find all of the fun stuff packed nicely inside!! Kids' Candor includes instructions (in English and Spanish) for all of the games inside, which makes it nice and clear how to all of the items, how to pronounce the key words, etc.

In a nutshell, here's why we're loving Kids' Candor and think you will, too:

• help your child (and yourself) learn through play (in English and/or Spanish)
• pick up great new educational game ideas to play with your child
• receive educational toys and books that will last for years
• great birthday/Christmas/Hannukah gifts

Get 50% off your first Kids' Candor purchase with code "KCJAPANFAM"!! 

So what do you think? Are you hoping your child will be bilingual (or trilingual or more)?! What steps are you taking toward that goal? Share in a comment below!

My son is 19 months and starting to speak English, he even knows a few letters of the English alphabet (O, P, B, C). It's all very exciting but at the same time a little sad that he's not doing any of these things in Japanese yet. It's no surprise as my workaholic husband does not even have a fraction of the amount of time with Kenzo as I do, as a work at home mom. So, I've been trying to find ways to supplement his Japanese exposure with none other than... YouTube! Ha!

**update!! We have 3 kids now and I have adorable videos of them all learning this song embedded below from our YouTube channel!!

So, this post will start my "Learn Japanese" series in which I'll recommend a video, book, or product that I love that helps kids and/or adults to learn Japanese in an easy and fun way.

Japanese does not have an official alphabet song, as we do in English. They have do have a specific order for their 46 phonetic sounds (visually you have to learn two sets: one set in Hiragana and one set in Katakana, which makes 92 characters to memorize, not to mention the Kanji characters, of which you need to know at least 1,000 before you can read a newspaper, sheeeesh!). 

We recently came across a really adorable YouTube video that showcases a fun song for the Japanese alphabet. We LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and so does our son. He already tries to sing along. He always howls along with the dog at the end "Wa-O-N" part! So cute!!! Here's the video, with the Hiragana/Katakana chart below if you are interested!

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RELATED GUIDE:  Family Travel to Japan

Our first child, Kenzo:

Our twins, Emi & Mia:

No, a public Japanese-English bilingual school doesn't exist in New York City... yet... but could be in the works!! Just saw this posted in one of my Facebook groups:

We are in the process of gathering a list of families that are interested in being a part of the first ever Japanese dual-language program in a New York City public school. If the idea of your child learning and speaking both Japanese and English from K-5 is appealing to you, please fill out the information below for our list. This list will help us in getting support from the Dept. of Education and other organizations that we are looking to partner with in making the program a reality.

We have been very lucky to have found two possible partnership schools in District 14. At this point, it is paramount that we show them in person just how much interest there is in starting a new dual-language program in Brooklyn! This vision is not just to benefit families interested in studying Japanese; dual-language programs have been known to transform school communities. Our efforts to bring more dual-language programs is part of a larger effort to improve and provide for more high quality choices in our very own public schools. Our decision to move forward with Japanese in D14 is because 1) Williamsburg and Greenpoint has the 2nd largest Japanese population in Brooklyn and 2) how is it possible that Japanese dual-language programs do not exist in all of DOE?

If you have time to come (with or without your wee ones) either tomorrow / Friday of this week to PS 147, we urge you to please come! We would love to have your support in droves! If you can also come next Wednesday to PS 196, they have invited Councilman Antonio Reynoso to address our wishes for schools in our district. What an opportunity to let decision-making folks know now what we want for our kids in the near future!

OPEN HOUSES (General, not just for the J-E Program):

Thursday and Friday, 3/20 & 3/21 at 9am PS 147 325 BUSHWICK AVENUE
BROOKLYN NY 11206 Map Phone: (718) 497-0326

Wednesday, 3/26 at 9am PS 196 207 BUSHWICK AVENUE
BROOKLYN NY 11206 Map Phone: (718) 497-0139

Finally, fill out this Google Docs form if you'd like to be kept in the loop by the movement's organizer, Lanny Cheuk! If you're like me and have no idea what school district you're in, you can find out here!

I can't say I'm not terribly bummed they're pushing for District 14. I mean, Williamsburg/Greenpoint is like another state when you're way down in Bay Ridge!!

Are you raising your child bilingually in languages native to you and your partner? Did you study a language and want your child to learn it as well? Do you only speak English but want your little one to have an additional language under his or her belt? Do you want to have fun learning a language together with your child? If you answered YES to any or all of the above, I have a totally awesome company to introduce you to... Little Pim!!

Founded by Julia Pimsleur Levine (daughter of Dr. Paul Pimsleur - created the Pimsleur Method), Little Pim is a language learning system geared toward children ages 0-6 (the prime time for language acquisition). It's a complete at-home program (DVDs, books, flashcards, and CDs) that helps children acquire a new vocabulary and a near-native accent!

You can choose from the following languages: Spanish, French, Chinese, Italian, German, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian,English, Portuguese.

My husband is Japanese, but works a LOT so we worry that my son doesn't get enough Japanese exposure. My Japanese is conversational at best, but I don't want to use it with him much because I don't want to pass along my bad grammar and accent. Suffice it to say I was SUPER excited to try out Little Pim's Japanese pak.

I know I know, the AAP recommends no screen time before 2 years old. And for the most part I adhere to that. But I have 2 exceptions: 1) when mama is REALLY sick (i.e. flu, mastitis, etc), and 2) when it's for the purpose of having foreign language exposure! So, Little Pim certainly falls into this 2nd category! We've been watching it together, as it's done in a way that gives you time to repeat the words and phrases and engage your child. It's really fun! But for the sake of taking pictures, he was on his own for a while and look how into it he is!! I promise you, it's not just because it's TV. He couldn't give a rats you know what about Baby Einstein or the nightly news! haha!

Now that you have fallen in love with Little Pim as much as I have, enter to win a 3-pak dvd set below (language of your choice)!!

If you can't wait, or if you don't win (boo-hoo!), you can get 20% off all products on the Little Pim website with the promo code "LPHOLIDAY" (hooray!!!). You can also find Chinese, French, and Spanish Discovery Sets in Toys R Us nationwide.

Oh yeah, did I mention what an AWESOME Christmas (or Hanukkah) gift this would be!?!?

Follow Little Pim for news and promotions (FYI, these are included for extra entry points in giveaway)!
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Without further ado, the GIVEAWAY!! (Enter in the Rafflecopter box below, US Residents over 18 only please)

**Disclaimer: Although I did receive this product free of charge, I was not compensated in any other way to do this product review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and completely unbiased.