Egglo Entertainment (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

 

 
 
I have only recently returned my life to Christ and have begun the process of trying to introduce my children to the life of Jesus as our Savior. In December, we concentrated on the birth of Jesus and the reason for that season but had not yet discussed the Crucifixion and Resurrection. So when I saw the Egglo Eggs from Egglo Entertainment, I knew that it would be something I would like to use as a tool to introduce my children to the true meaning of Easter. I was fortunate to be selected to review for Egglo Entertainment and spent the last few weeks using their products with my two youngest children. Our Egglo Adventure began when we received our package in the mail containing a box of 12 Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs (6 with a cross embossed on them, 6 which are plain) , One copy of The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Book, 12 Egglo Treasures Scripture Scrolls, and a pack of 12  Egglo Bible Verse Stickers. We also received the Egglo Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt Event Curriculum as a downloadable PDF file.


Egglo Entertainment is a company started by Darcie Cobos with the idea of bringing the focus of Easter back to it's true meaning. Focusing on the scripture from John 1:5 (The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.), a fully illustrated 40 page story book helps children draw the connection between the glowing eggs to Jesus representing the light of the world in the darkness as they go on an exciting adventure with Hardy, Anastasia, their cousin Pascal, and their dog Zeke.

The Egg Hunt curriculum is a great addition in helping to plan an egg hunt event on both a small or large scale.  It includes many activity suggestions, printables and even recipe ideas that each put emphasis on the Easter story.  Also included are printable sheets to be used for decoration ideas, such as pennants for banners and signs.

How did we use this? 

What we received: Book, Eggs, Treasure Scrolls and Scripture Stickers

My kids were too young to read the storybook on their own and while only 40 pages, each page is quite lengthy so we ended up reading it over a period of a week. Each day we would read a section of the book and then discuss what the three children in the story were learning either from the experience they were having or from the wisdom of the scrolls. Ashleigh really enjoyed this story and the colorful illustrations in the story book. Garrett, who has a very short attention span (especially when it comes to being read to), did surprisingly well and really enjoyed the adventures.  The Egg Hunt Event Curriculum I was provided with had several printable pages that the kids really enjoyed coloring while being read to. Each day we also put one of the bible verse stickers on our coloring sheet, which the kids looked forward to each day and eventually started demanding asking for.  At the completion of the story, we were able to have a very nice discussion in regards to the cross, the crucifixion (which they actually did better with then I had expected) and the Resurrection.

Eggs being charged in the hot box

Unfortunately for us, the weather was still way too cold once the sun went down for us to have an outdoor Easter Egg hunt. My original plan was to take the eggs out the park behind our house, hide the eggs and then call my husband from my cell phone to have him bring the children out. However, with temperatures in the 40s once the sun went down, we opted instead for an indoor egg hunt. That day, I placed all the eggs inside the hot box that we made to start our seedlings which is currently lit with a 14 watt compact florescent bulb. While the instructions from Egglo Entertainment says to charge in sunlight for 20 minutes, fluorescent light for 40 minutes, or incandescent light for 60 minutes,  I went ahead and let the eggs sit in the box all day and that evening they were charged.

Split from side to side allows for lots of room for filling

The eggs are split from end to end as opposed to split at the center circumference like most eggs which made it a lot easier to fill the eggs with jellybeans,  a chocolate candy and  one of the scrolls that had came with the Adventure kit. My oldest daughter brought the kids into the utility room while my husband and I hid the 11 eggs (one of my kids had snuck one out of the box during the day without us knowing) throughout the house.

With the lights off, the kids were released and the fun began.

Right off the bat my son began grabbing eggs. The glow they produce is very bright and even in total darkness they are very  visible. My youngest, however, refused to pick up any eggs saying she was scared. At first I thought that she was afraid  of the dark. She explained that she was instead afraid of touching the glowing eggs for fear that she would be transported to ancient Egypt or to an erupting volcano. I assured her that the eggs would not take her anywhere and she joined in on the fun
.

Very Bright Egg hidden under the couch

Once all the eggs were collected, we sat down and divided them up (I felt it was only fair, since Ash had missed out on getting more eggs that all eggs be evenly divided with dad getting the extra) and the kids had fun opening them up and reading the scrolls (and of course stuffing their faces with candy).




 
We also turned the lights off so that the kids (as well as my husband) could have some fun with the eggs.

My Buggy Eyed Kids

Which they learned from their Dad

Did my kids learn about the true meaning of Easter from this experience? While they might not have picked up the complete understanding of what the crucifixion was and why it had to happen (which the book itself doesn't go into anyway), they did understand the entire “Jesus is the Light of the World” that is stressed by the book as well as the eggs. At one point my husband was reading one of the scrolls to my daughter which said something about Jesus being the light in our lives to which my daughter told him “No, Daddy, Jesus is the light of the WORLD!!”. My son also pointed out the cross that is embossed into half of the eggs and proceeded to tell us that Jesus died on the cross but that 3 days later he came back to life. (Okay, I admit it, Mom was beaming just a bit after hearing them).

Final Thoughts and Impressions:

My family really enjoyed the Egglo Activity kit by Egglo entertainment and I think this is an eggcellent (pardon the pun, I couldn’t help myself) product for either a family with young children or a church with a youth program to use during the Easter holiday. The Egg Hunt Curriculum has some wonderful suggestions for activities that teach or represent the symbolism of the Easter Story and as we get closer to Easter, my family plans on using the curriculum again  for these ideas, especially the recipes.  .

The storybook was very enjoyable and there were many lessons learned from it. Each child in the story has a major character flaw that they learn to overcome through scriptures which makes for a great teaching moment. However, be aware that younger kids, like my own daughter, MAY come to the same conclusions in regards to the glowing eggs and may be hesitant to want to touch them when they find them.

Fully charged Eggs ready to be hidden

One HUGE thing I should point out that really impressed me is the strength of the eggs. We've all purchased plastic eggs and as most know, they are pretty flimsy and crack fairly easily. After our egg hunt, the kids left one half of an egg on the floor and of course, I stepped on it. I expected that egg was history but to my surprise, it didn't crack, bend or warp. I should also point out, I am NOT the petite thing I was back when I was 16. Three kids and a few too many chocolate bunnies has left me looking more like an Easter Egg.. I think this speaks volumes as to the longevity of these eggs.

I can easily see us making a Easter tradition of reading the book and hiding the eggs each year just to reinforce the Easter Story.

The Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs, The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Book, the Egglo Treasures Scripture Scrolls, the Egglo Bible Verse Stickers and the Egglo Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt Event Curriculum  can all be purchased from the Egglo Entertainment website both individually or together as a kit. Egglo Entertainment is also offering sales prices on some items as well as bulk discounts.

Egglo Entertainment can be found on facebook, pinterest, twitter, instagram, youtube, google plus and tumblr.