Beautiful Creatures CD Review and 3 winner Giveaway!

SAP's Story

The benefits of children growing up exposed to different cultures are numerous, and it gives them a wide range of knowledge and tolerance that can't be influenced on them when they are older. That is one reason why when I see a product that is fun, educational, and has a cultural or ethnicity dimension to it, I want to try it!

You can see why I was excited to do this review for the Beautiful Creatures CD: Beautiful Creatures Children’s songs of Africa by Ed Jordan and Alan Glass”!

When I was contacted by Paul from Beautiful Creatures, I listened to the demo song, Imvubu The Happiest Hippo, and I laughed! How did he know I loved hippos?! He didn't of course but it was meant to be! Yes I have a weird love of hippos and this song was a great kids song, and following it were more songs about animals and their well known characteristics! Such songs included Lucus The Lazy Lion and Wallace the Wonderous Warthog, both which were fun to dance and run around to with our daughter!

Besides songs about animals from South Africa, there were also songs about life in general which I liked a lot, and a couple night time lullaby songs.

This CD was only one of seven CD's that The Beautiful Creatures has!

SAP, SAPsDaDa, and I all had a wonderful time dancing around the house before bed and this made me realize that I should do so more often! Just not before bed because she had so much fun it got her rowdy and nighty night ended up being later than usual :)

Beautiful Creatures is also quite modern! For those families out there that don't like buying CD's and would much rather download music for use in your MP3 player etc., check out Beautiful Creatures, available on iTunes!!


Info on The Beautiful Creatures

(Info in italics given courtesy of Beautiful Creatures)

Beautiful Creatures was formed in South Africa in November 2004 by Alan Glass, Ed Jordan, and Paul Choritz who felt there was a need for 'Parent Friendly' children's music. Using the best session musicians, actors and singers in the country, Beautiful Creatures prides itself on being uniquely South African with a positive global message.

The last five years have seen the release of seven Beautiful Creatures albums: Beautiful Creatures, More Beautiful Creatures, and Even More Beautiful Creatures, featuring fun educational songs about African animals. Beautiful Me, an album dealing with emotional development for children, tackling issues such as sibling rivalry, anger management, self-confidence and diversity. Beautiful Bedtime, songs that take your children through the routine of getting ready for bed. Winding down, bathing, brushing teeth, putting your p-jays on and story time. And Beautiful Creatures of The Sea, fun sea creature songs that deal with conservation. 2009 saw the release of Beautiful Lullabies featuring 10 down tempo songs to get your baby to sleep.

SAPsMaMa Review: Pros

• I loved that it was South African cultural music, exposing my daughter to a different cultural music!
  
  
• I thought the songs were very upbeat and happy and had a lot of energy behind them!
  
  
• I liked that there were a mixture of songs, about animals, life, and lullabies
  
  
• The songs were educational, but not overly educational. Kids like to listen to them!
  
  
• I like that Beautiful Creatures provides "Parent friendly children's music", a must have with children's music as it will be played over and over!
  
  
• I also like that some of their other CDs touch on things besides African animals, such as their Beautiful Creatures of the Sea CD which touches on conservation, and their Beautiful Bedtime CD which teaches bedtime routine and the importance of each step, including such chores as brushing your teeth! Very educational and instills great values in our children!
  

SAPsMaMa Review: Cons

• The tunes are so catchy they get stuck in my head! Don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing...!
  
  
• This CD is mostly available via download through itunes etc., I guess I'm old fashioned but I do prefer a hard copy in CD form! I know not very green of me but it's true!
  
  
• I would have prefered more lullabies/night time tunes, the songs were too upbeat to use before bed. However, I do know that Beautiful Creatures does have a CD, Beautiful Lullabies, that is ONLY lullabies, so I won't complain too much about it, I'll just have to buy the other CD!

SAPsDaDa's Two-Cents

Although the company is out of South Africa and the music is upbeat and SAP liked it a lot, it would be nice if the company would incorporate not just an African flair, but more of a world view. It's nice to start off with what you know, but it's also wise to grow!

I'm sure my daughter will listen to this music as much as she can (or as much as we let her since it will get stuck in our heads!) and I'm glad that it teaches her about animals and South Africa and will make her more cultured and not blind to the world around her!

The Green/Non-Toxic/Natural Feature

• Provides cultured educational music that is parent friendly!
  
  
• Is available via itunes for download, so lessons the production of more products/materials, hence more environmentally friendly!

Buy It!

You can find Beautiful Creatures CDs on iTunes!!

You can also find all of their CDs and are able to order a CD through The Beautiful Creatures website!

Win It!

Not just one, but three lucky SAPsMaMa followers will win the Beautiful Creatures--Childrn's Sons of Africa by Ed Jordan and Alan Glass CD! This CD will be in electronic format, not in hard disc.

Rules!

• You must be a SAPsMaMa Google Friend Connect follower to enter this giveaway!


• You must leave your email in each comment/entry! You may leave your email in the " SAPsMaMa at yahoo dot com " format if you would like to deter spam bots, but your email MUST be included for your entry to count!


• Mandatory entry must be completed before any other entries!


• Leave a separate comment for each entry in order for all entries to be counted (i.e. if something is worth 2 entries, please leave two comments, and please label #1 and #2, etc.)
  


• If you need clarification on how to complete one of the entries, feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to help!


• I will check each comment entry! So please be fair and only enter for entries you qualify for!

Mandatory Entry! (Must be completed BEFORE any extra entries!)


You must follow SAPsMaMa PUBLICLY via Google Friend Connect!
Also...
Head on over to the Beautiful Creatures Website and tell me which CD or Book you would most like to have!

This mandatory entry is worth 2 Entries, and you must do BOTH these things!

Extra Entries!

• What is your favorite Beautiful Creature? I love Dragons, but since they technically aren't real, my favorite is a horse! (1 Entry)
• If your blog is Carbon Neutral, you get an extra entry! Please leave your link to your blog! (1 Entry)
  
• Like Beautiful Creatures on Facebook! Please leave your Facebook name or at least your first initial and last name for me to verify. (1 Entry)
• Follow Beautiful Creatures on Twitter! Please leave your twitter handle! (1 Entry)
• Like SAPsMaMa on Facebook! Please leave your Facebook name or at least your first initial and last name for me to verify. (2 Entries!)
• Follow @SAPsMaMa on Twitter! Please leave your twitter handle! (1 Entry)
• Tweet about this giveaway!
  You may use: Win a Beautiful Creatures CD of great Children's Music from @SAPsMaMa blog! http://tinyurl.com/24mf94a!
  
• Subscribe to SAPsMaMa via RSS Feedburner! (1 Entry)
  
• Change your Facebook status to link to this giveaway! Please leave the URL to your status in your entry! (1 Entry)
• Enter any of my other CURRENT giveaways! (1 Entry Each!)

Disclosure:
The product(s) provided for the review were sent to me free of charge from the company or the PR agency. The opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Giveaway is open WorldWide. Giveaway will end July 31st @ 11:59 PM (CST). Winner will be chosen using random.org. Winner will have 48 hours to respond after I contact via email. If winner does not respond, a new winner will be chosen. Good Luck and thank you for supporting SAPsMaMa!