Fun Vocabulary Games to Improve Literacy

In November, Verbal Volley won the Academic’s Choice Brain Toy Award. We are glad to be recognized for our game’s contributions to education and brain fitness.

Academic’s Choice  Toy Reviewers said:

A $700 Scholarship from Mindfull Games helped send Kelly LaMarche, Verbal Volley Showdown Second Prize Winner, to the University of Evansville this fall. Good luck with your college career, Kelly!

Here is the podcast of Michelle Esswein interviewing Kristin Edmonds on Clear Channel Communications’ 103.3:

www.klou.com

Michelle Esswein is doing a great service to the community by interviewing and promoting women entrepreneurs. We certainly appreciated the invitation to be on her show.

In May, we received good news from Jocelyn Downs, Literacy Coach at Merritt Island High School in Merritt Island, Florida. She told us that in March, Merritt Island High School held a school-wide Verbal Volley tournament funded by the Brevard Foundation School Bucks Grant. Team play was used within the classrooms to find winners to represent each class, and then class representative teams competed against each other. Ms. Downs stated that Merritt Island “appreciates the impact this has had on our school. We sincerely hope to see increased test scores for our students; and we have certainly seen an increase in the engagement of our students while learning advanced academic vocabulary.”  Thank you, Jocelyn, for sharing your good news. Congratulations to the participants and winners in the Verbal Volley tournament, and good luck with your high stakes vocabulary tests!

This month, Verbal Volley appeared as an award-winning game on page 24 of Washington Family Magazine, where  toy expert Amy Bevins succinctly captured the nature of Verbal Volley word play:

http://www.server-jbmultimedia.net/WAFamilyMagazine/sitebase/index.aspx?adgroupid=193954&view=double&fh=635

Ms. Bevins also included Verbal Volley in her Dec. 21st educational toy review on WUSA9:

http://www.wusa9.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=719146435001#/Award-Winning+Educational+Toys/719146435001

Thank you, Amy, for your positive comments!

Kristin

We are honored that Mindfull Games’ Verbal Volley game has won Dr. Toy’s “Best Picks” award for 2010.  The  awards were announced by international press release on October 15th, 2010.  Dr. Toy, Stevanne Auerbach PhD, reviewed toy and game submissions to choose those that are unique, innovative, high quality, active, developmentally appropriate and educational.

Mindfull Games was featured in the following Saint Lous Post-Dispatch article last Friday:

http://www.stltoday.com/business/article_cc4ec7ab-7330-52c7-9712-acbb9589a25b.html

On June 1, 2010, Mindfull Games won two prestigious awards–one for its product and another for its business plans. Mindfull Games took third place in the Saint Louis County Economic Council’s Business Plan Competition sponsored by Edward Jones. Mindfull Games earned $20,000 in cash awards. The company also won 10 hours worth of in kind services from each of the legal, accounting and public relations firms who sponsored third place. We are very honored to have been chosen as a winner out of 226 competing businesses in the SLCEC competition. Many thanks to Edward Jones, the SLCEC, the volunteer judges, and our in-kind gift sponsors: Larson Allen, Standing Partnership, and Armstrong Teasdale.  Also June 1st, Mindfull Games’ vocabulary game, Verbal Volley, was named Best Vacation Children’s Product by Dr. Toy. We are proud that our product was found worthy of recognition by a highly esteemed toy expert with a PhD in Child Development. We hope that these awards will increase awareness of our company’s progress.

We are proud to announce that Mindfull Games is one of six Finalists in the Saint Louis County Economic Council’s Business Plan Competition.  A total of 226 start-up companies from the Saint Louis Region entered the contest, in which free professional services and $100,000 in funding will be awarded.  The field of entrants was narrowed to 30 after the first round of competition in April. After submitting a business plan and giving a presentation before a panel of judges, our team was chosen to compete in the finals in May. We are grateful that the SLCEC has given us an opportunity to showcase our potential and vie for funding and services that will help us grow.

Verbal Volley will be available at the Tout About Toys booth at the National After School Association Conference in Washington, DC April 18-20 2010.  See why YMCA after school care directors say Verbal Volley is so popular with their kids. You can address curriculum with a game kids ask to play! While supplies last, purchasers will receive free lesson plans, tournament guidelines and other support materials as handouts at the convention.