More and more my 4 year old is taking an interest in art and enjoys coloring, drawing, and painting more than she used to when she was younger. Something she often asks to do, but that I hesitate to let her, is finger painting. It is about the messiest activity you can give a preschooler and though I know I shouldn’t let that get to me, I’d much rather she use another medium for creating art.

Another common issue with art supplies is using them on the road. Crayons and colored pencils might work out fine, but markers are not allowed in our cars. I can’t supervise while she’s using them in the backseat and it’s almost guaranteed that marker will end up all over her hands and clothes.

With us taking a trip later this week to New York City, as well as frequent lengthy car rides, I was excited when I had the opportunity to try out the Crayola Color Wonder “Summer Travel Imagination” pack. The pack is full of items you can take on the road and not have to worry about any messes. All of the items are part of the Color Wonder product family, which means the markers, paints, and stamps only work on the special Color Wonder paper.

Here are the items included in the Crayola Color Wonder “Summer Travel Imagination” pack with descriptions from the manufacturer:

• Crayola Color Wonder Lap Desk provides a large, hard-top surface for kids to create on the go. The sturdy desk has a built-in handle and a soft detachable pillow that can be used as a storage unit for Color Wonder markers and paper. The Lap Desk is equipped with 12 re-stickable pieces of Color Wonder paper to keep kids’ drawings in place and 5 Color Wonder mess-free mini markers in red, orange, yellow, green and blue.
• Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaints & Paper make the once impossible possible – fingerpainting in the car! The set includes clear, fast-drying gels that feel just like traditional fingerpaint. The set comes with 5 mess-free colors (red, yellow, green, blue and orange) in a hand-shaped storage container, a built-in finger cleaning sponge and 12 extra-wide sheets of Color Wonder paper. When kids are finished painting, they simply snap the fingerprint lids closed and paint stays fresh and ready to use again!
• Crayola Color Wonder Markers and Paper – The set includes 5 Color Wonder markers and a 24-page Color Wonder drawing pad where your kids can create anything they want while you’re on the road!
• Crayola Color Wonder Stow & Go Studio provides a solid, compact drawing surface with stay-put clips that can secure a single piece of paper or an entire Color Wonder activity book. Kids will enjoy creating with mess-free Color Wonder markers that make colors magically appear on special paper and reveal special hidden surprises.
• Crayola Color Wonder Story Stampers includes 5 Color Wonder markers in red, blue, green, purple and orange, a Color Wonder stamp pad, 6 sea creature stamps, and an 18-page coloring pad with undersea background settings. Each setting is unique, so every page will inspire a different fish tale just waiting to be told! Kids’ imaginations will take them beneath the sea as they stamp color sea creatures using the colorless Color Wonder stamp pad to create innovative stories and scenarios then can then color in. It’s like high tide for your imagination!

Crayola is also offering some fun travel-themed activities on their Facebook page. If you share a photo of your children’s Color Wonder artwork on their page, your photo and any links to a blog post may be featured on the “Crayola Color Wonder Wonders Across America” splash page on Crayola.com.

If you wish to try out the Color Wonder products, you can enter to win the “Summer Travel Imagination” pack below or you can print out a coupon for $1.00 off a Crayola Color Wonder product.

The Giveaway

One of you will win a “Summer Travel Imagination” pack like the one pictured and with the items described above.

How to Enter

Required entry: If you’d like to enter this contest, simply leave a comment below and tell us either a) what you like best about Color Wonder products or b) a favorite story about traveling with your children.

Extra entries (optional):

Each of the following will count as 1 extra entry. You’ll need to leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Follow @modernmami on twitter.
2. Tweet the following: Enter to win a Crayola Color Wonder pack from @modernmami. Ends 8/9. http://bit.ly/crayolamodernmami #giveaway #contest #mbsspark
3. Subscribe to this blog via email and leave a comment with the email you used to subscribe. (You can use the email field to do this instead of putting your email in the comment if you prefer.)
4. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
5. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing this contest with your readers; make sure to link back to this contest page in your post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Monday, August 9 at 11:59 pm EST. Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.)

Disclosure: Crayola Color Wonder products received, information, and giveaway were all provided by Crayola through MyBlogSpark.

As a member of MyBlogSpark by General Mills, I received a couple of boxes of their new Chex Mix Bars to try out. But, I also have some to give you! Be sure to read all the way to enter the contest.

So what are these Chex Mix Bars? As described in the information I got from MyBlogSpark, they are a “…delicious snack [that] combines crunchy Chex pieces, pretzels and peanuts with chewy and indulgent ingredients like caramel and chocolate.” Mmmm…. caramel, chocolate, and pretzels? I do like chocolate-covered pretzels. They also said some stuff about each bar having less than 150 calories and 8 grams of whole grains, but I was stuck on chocolate.

What did my family think? Well, the bars aren’t that bad. But, I can’t say the are super great either. We got the Turtle flavored bars to taste. The chocolate and caramel definitely help make them taste better, but they still come out a bit, hmmm what’s the word, grainy. For me and my husband anyway. He ate a few – as I did – and we kept hoping, but in the end each bar continued to taste the same. Our daughter tried a few bites the first time we broke open a box, but she wasn’t interested in trying it a second time around another day.

However, the bars did make for a convenient grab-and-go breakfast for me as I ran out the door for work. Not great, I know, but better than nothing which is what I have most days for breakfast.

Now, is this a healthy snack? I can’t pretend it is. Even though, yes, it’s got whole grain and is cholesterol free and all that good stuff. But, it’s also full of chocolate, caramel, and has plenty of sugar in one bar. Probably better than a candy bar, though.

Overall, I guess the bars are a decent alternative to other snacks and candies. Though I thought they were a little grainy, they’re far from horrible. But, don’t take my word for it. Try them for yourself.

And here’s your chance to win some and do just that!

The Prize

I’ve got six boxes to give away. Which means that three of you will each win two boxes of Chex Mix Bars.

How to Enter

1. If you’d like to enter this contest, simply leave a comment below and let me know how you like to indulge every now and again. What is your guilty little pleasure?
2. For an extra entry, you can tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.

All entries must be in by Wednesday, August 26th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your comment.)

Good luck!

Update 8/29/09: Contest is closed and winners have been notified.