Learning Expressions

The Panini NFL Sticker Collection: Toy Review and Competition Announcement

Greetings, Learning Expressions Readers!

This week, we will be putting the spotlight on the 2011 NFL Sticker Book and Sticker Sets from Panini America. I will be making use of the Learning Express 3Fs of toy quality (form, function, and fun) as well as letting you know why I (and more specifically my husband) think they are just. so. awesome.

Indulge me for a moment, and let me take you back to the second grade. Mr. Bell’s class. Room 306. The Ray School. I was the proud owner of not one but FOUR sticker books containing every variety of sticker that a young girl could dream of. I had fuzzies, oilies, and shinies galore—I had pages devoted to scratch n’ sniff stickers, still others featuring the casts of all my favorite cartoons.  After school I would beg my mom to take me down to the local university’s school supply store – where hoards of youngsters would push aside college students and count out their allowance for sheets of stickers (and later where mothers would stampede each other in hysterical attempts to obtain the latest Beanie Baby). My friends and I would spend countless hours at recess and on the school bus trading, haggling, and coveting each others’ stickers…circa 1992 we were true sticker aficionados, and life was good.

Until a couple of days ago, it had never really crossed my mind that my husband might have collected stickers growing up—I just assumed he collected sticks and dead bugs and that sort of thing instead. That all changed when I brought home Panini America’s NFL sticker book in the hopes of getting some work done one evening. I expected Chris to merely feign interest while I explained to him all about the latest, hottest trend in toys – how wrong I was.  

                                                        While sports team sticker books in America are a fairly novel item (Panini only began distributing theirs in the US in 2009), in the United Kingdom Panini has had a devout following since 1978. Little did I know that while I collected pink stickers that smelled of strawberries in New Hampshire, my husband was collecting football (soccer) stickers in a small town outside of Edinburgh. As it turns out, the annual Scottish Premier League Sticker Book and Sticker Sets from Panini were one of his all-time favorite toys from childhood.

When he saw the NFL sticker book come out of my bag it no longer mattered that he didn’t know a thing about American football (he still thinks the Miami Dolphins are an aquarium attraction in Florida) – his face lit up with glee, and he immediately ripped open my sample sticker packets with all the relish of an over-excited five year old. Seeing my astonishment, he explained that these kinds of sticker books had been a staple of his childhood – and just because something was new in America didn’t mean it was necessarily a revelation for everyone else. Touché, husband, touché. 

So now you know I have first-hand knowledge of the kind of enthusiasm and devotion these little stickers elicit, let me tell you a little more about them.

Form:

There are two essential components here: the sticker album itself, and the stickers you put inside.

Album: The 2011 NFL sticker book album is 72 pages long and retails for $2.00. Each of the NFL’s 32 teams is represented by 13 stickers (including rookies) and takes up two pages in the album. There are 494 available sticker slots in each album.  Each album also includes the 2011 football schedule, and lets you write in which teams make it to the various stages of the playoffs. We love these albums because they are fun, interactive, and visually stimulating!

Stickers: There are 494 total stickers available to collect, 354 of which are glossy “base” stickers, 100 of which are holographic foil stickers, and 40 of which are micro-etched stickers. Sticker packets each contain 7 stickers and retail for $1.00 each. On the back of each sticker is a number that tells you where it goes in the album – simply find a match, peel, and place!

Function:

The functionality of these sticker albums is pretty simple: collect, share, complete. They encourage kids to work towards the long term goal of completing the album, and also foster peer collaboration as kids trade and share the stickers with friends. They also have the added advantage of teaching kids (and Scottish husbands) all about the NFL teams and their players.

Fun:

In and of itself, the Panini NFL sticker album is a ton of fun. However, Learning Express Toys has just made it a whole lot more awesome.

In conjunction with Panini America, Learning Express is offering 50 autographed items of NFL memorabilia to the first 50 Learning Express shoppers who complete the sticker book! All you need to do is bring your completed sticker book in to your local Learning Express store, and the store owner will call up one of our friends at Panini and see if you are among the first 50 completers! Your prize will then be sent to your Learning Express store, and you will pick it up from there. Awesome, right?

And the fun doesn’t stop there.  One lucky Learning Express store, somewhere in the country, will also win a visit from an NFL player sometime in late December/early January! We don’t know yet which store that will be, but I’ll be sure to let everyone know as soon as we get word.

Winners will be selected on a first come, first serve basis so remember DON’T DELAY – START COLLECTING TODAY!**

**If you see a 6’3” Scotsman trying to redeem a prize for his completed sticker book, be sure to remind him that (in accordance with the terms and conditions of the competition) family members of Learning Express staff members are not eligible to win.

Talk to you again soon!

The Jeopardy Competition Results Are In!

Greetings, Learning Expressions readers!

Last week, we had the pleasure of announcing the winners of both of our Jeopardy! promotions: The California Dreamin Sweepstakes and the My-Wonderful-Teacher Essay Contest. While Lisa Park and a friend will be jetting off to a live taping of Jeopardy in Los Angeles in the near future, three young Learning Express customers have already enjoyed the fruits of their essay-writing labor (in the form of $200 shopping sprees!) at their local Learning Express stores.

Just who are these bright young essayists, you may wonder. Well cogitate no more, readers! I was equally as curious (who doesn’t love a human interest story, after all) and today I am delighted to feature two of our three winners: Jake G, age 7 (a Learning Express of Glen Ellyn, IL shopper) and Madison M, age 10 (a Learning Express of Baldwin Place, NY shopper).

Inspired by a very special kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Carapella, and a ridiculously entertaining 5^th grade science teacher named Mr. Crivelli, Jake and Madison took up their pencils – both determined to convince us just how wonderful these teachers of theirs really are. Needless to say, we are convinced! Take a look at some selections:

Jake:
I had never gone to school before and I was so upset because I missed my mom. Mrs. Carapella put her arm over me – I don’t remember what she said to me, but she made me feel like I was at home and safe with her. The second day of school, I didn’t even cry. She read to us every single day and I really enjoyed when she would play the piano and we would practice the school song or the song of the month.

Mrs. Carapella became like a second mom to me and I still stop to see her every chance I get. I can’t wait until I’m older and can help shovel her driveway and mow her lawn. She did so much for me, that’s the least I can do for someone as special as her.

Madison:
“Move closer to the fulcrum!” The boy became as light as a feather as he teetered to the middle. “It’s a lever!” We all cheered. You have now entered the wondrous world of my 5^th grade science teacher. Mr. Crivelli has a very fun, hands-on teaching style that helps students learn, understand, and remember. When he teaches you something it sticks to your brain like gum on a shoe!

After he announced that we were going to be studying simple machines, in my head I thought borrrrrring. Boy was I wrong. Simple machines turned out to be the best, and I mean the absolute best, thing I’ve ever learned in science. We went outside, used our bodies, did experiments, drew on the smart board, went to the computer lab, played games, and watched videos. Mr. Crivellis’ teaching skills and sense of humor have made an impact on my life. They will be with me forever, like a handprint on my heart.”

Both Jake and Madison were thrilled to find out they had won the competition. Jake felt “spectacular” when he found out that his essay had been selected and told me he “fell on the floor in shock!” Madison’s family had just finished up a 14 –hour long journey to Michigan when they got the phone call, and the good news made quite a racket. “I was so excited that at first I didn’t believe it,” Madison said. “We were all tired from the drive but when we heard the news, it really perked us up. We were all screaming!”

But Madison and Jake weren’t the only winners – courtesy of Educational Insights they’d also just scored a Classroom Jeopardy! game for Mr. Crivelli and Mrs. Carapella. Though both teachers loved the game, it was the words each youngster had written that turned out to be the real gift. When Madison presented Mr. Crivelli with a copy of the essay mounted on colored construction paper, she recalls “his smile was so big I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head!” Mrs. Carapella was out of town visiting family when Jake found out the good news, but asked for him to email her a copy of the essay so she could read it to her 93 year old mother. “She was very proud and honored,” Jake explained. “She even cried a little.”

 Jake and Madison wasted no time getting down to their local Learning Express stores to cash in their winnings. Owners Warren Low of Baldwin Place and Randy Horn of Glen Ellyn were equally eager to help out with the all important toy selections.

While Jake selected a lava lamp, a Lego police station, and some baseball cards, Madison chose some Harry Potter Legos, a Spooner board, and a few LockerLookz accessories. In a lovely coincidence, both essayists chose to share their spoils with younger siblings. Jake gave $50 of his gift card to his younger sister (which she spent on stuffed animals) and Madison gave sister Molly some Do-A-Dots paints and brother Max a Power Popper set.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about our Jeopardy! My-Wonderful-Teacher Essay Contest winners just as much as I have! Congratulations again to our winners and thank you to all the fantastic teachers out there - especially Mr. Crivelli and Mrs. Carapella!

Talk to you again soon!

Kathryn 

 

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

Greetings, Learning Expressions readers!

In the Girl Scouts, we used to sing a song that went something like this: “Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold”. I used to find it utterly bewildering. Honestly, could it be any more ambiguous? I agonized over which friend was gold and which was silver. Was the new friend gold, or was the old friend gold?? Needless to say, questions like this distracted me mightily at our Girl Scout gatherings. Though I never paid quite enough attention to earn a single badge, I did sell my mom an awful lot of Thin Mints over the years. I bring up this friendship song today because here at Learning Express we are saying goodbye to an old friend (Ariel) and hello to a new one (me – Kathryn).  

For the last couple of years, the Learning Express blog has been brought to you by Ariel. As of last month Ariel moved on to a great new position at an online invitation and party planning company, and I joined the Learning Express family in her place. From now on I will bring you the latest and greatest in toy trends, educational toys, and all things Learning Express. Regardless of whether this makes me silver or gold (I’ll be debating that question much of today), I very much look forward to continuing and evolving the blog that Ariel began!

For those of you feeling any transition-related anxiety, perhaps it will help to know that Ariel and I actually knew each other long before either of us came to Learning Express. In St Andrews, the blustery sea-side town in Scotland, we both studied English Literature and acquainted ourselves with the delights of horizontally falling rain. Ariel danced with my roommate on the St Andrews dance team, and the two of us got to know each other through lengthy lectures on Wordsworth and impromptu dance rehearsals in my house. Thanks to Ariel, I had Gwen Stefani’s Hollaback Girl stuck in my head for most of 2005.

As I’m going to be writing to you for the foreseeable future, I think you should probably know a little more about me. Though interviewers often try to figure a person out by asking probing questions like, “Give me three words to describe yourself” or “What is your favorite hobby” I’ve always thought you can tell the most about someone by finding out his/her favorite childhood toy. Whether it was a marshmallow shooter, a pet rock, or a jump rope surely tells you more about a person than three adjectives (usually created in a state of total panic) ever could.

For me, there was no other toy but Teddy Ian. In fact, he was the one and only toy I never had to share with my siblings. Given to me when I was a day old, we became fast friends. In every picture up to the age of five, Teddy can be found lurking somewhere in the background. He came to summer camp and slumber parties, on family road trips, and even to the operating room when I had my appendix out at age 8. He is a three-time “Most Loved Bear” winner at the NH Teddy Bear’s picnic, and over the years he has visited Mexico, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, and Gambia. Though other toys would come and go, Teddy was always the Woody to my Andy. Nowadays, barely a scrap of fur left on his body, Teddy enjoys a relaxing retirement in Brookline, Massachusetts.

    
 

 

So there you have it! I am so excited to be part of the Learning Express community and look forward to featuring what could end up being your child’s favorite toy in the blog posts to come!

Talk to you again soon!

Kathryn