Product Review: Egglo Entertainment
Teaching our children the truths of the Bible is one of the most important things we do as Christian parents. I firmly believe this, but that doesn’t mean I always find it to be easy.
Enter Egglo Entertainment.
Designed by Darcie Cobos, this product is designed to teach children all about being a light in the world – because that’s what Jesus is.
There are a lot of different components to the system, but the two main ones I want to mention today are the Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs and The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure book.
The Egglo eggs are basically the same as traditional plastic, split-in-half-and-fill eggs with one exception: they glow in the dark. Egg glow. Get it? 🙂 Why do these eggs glow? Like I just mentioned, it’s a metaphor for Jesus being the light of the world. The eggs glow to help kids find them in the dark. Jesus is the light to help us find Him in our darkest hours.
In addition to the Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs, The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure is an important part of the product. It tells the story of three children – Hardy, Ana, and Pascal – and how they followed clues through time and space to learn moral and behavioral lessons, eventually finding Jesus.
In addition to the eggs and the print book, I received The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure (audio book download), a packet of Egglo Treasures Scripture Scrolls, and The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Program Guide, which is essentially a curriculum outline for the product.
The Egglo Treasures Scripture Scrolls are literally tiny scrolls with spiritual truths printed on them, including a scripture reference to back up the truth. These are designed to be placed inside the eggs (along with your candy, if you so choose) before you hide them for the hunt.
The program guide is chalk full of great ideas for putting together an Easter celebration for a group of kids. The product is designed for kids ages 4-13, but thanks to the flexibility of the ideas in the Program Guide, you can really adapt it to fit a much wider range. The purchase price of $14.99 includes a one-time download of the Program PDF, which you can then print out for your use or simply look at on your computer (or Kindle, smart phone, or other e-reader) to get ideas for your party. We’re out of printer ink right now, so I just referenced the program on the computer and made notes of what I wanted to do with my kiddos.
Like other glow-in-the-dark products, you have to “charge” your Egglo eggs before they’ll glow. This can be done by leaving them out in the sunlight or underneath a lamp for an hour or so. Properly charged, they’ll glow quite nicely for several hours. Even though my eggs were glowing bright, they weren’t bright enough for my camera (even on the nighttime setting) to pick them up, so I want to thank fellow TOS Crew member Tiffany C. for providing this picture.
How We Used Egglo
The first thing I did on “Hunt Day” was to put the eggs underneath a lamp for the afternoon so they could charge. In order to get the entire egg charged, I split them in half and put them open side down in a shallow box, then placed the box in the light. While the eggs charged, we read the storybook aloud together. When it was time to start things, I put one Scripture Scroll in each egg and then put them back together. Then I took them to the kids’ playroom and hid them. I didn’t make them too hard to find, because I wanted to be sure the boys could see the glow in the darkness of the playroom. (We did it after dark and turned the light out, which turned out to be a little risky since their playroom was only mostly tidy!) They found the eggs very quickly, and then we all went back upstairs to the dining room for the next step.
They opened their eggs and took turns reading the Scripture Scrolls hidden inside. We had a Bible out and I had them read the reference that was on the Scroll, and then we discussed whether they thought the Scroll was an adequate representation of what the actual Scripture said. In every case, it was.
After we’d gone over the Scripture truths, we made Resurrection Rolls. Basically, you coat a marshmallow (representative of Jesus’ body) in butter (representing the burial oils) and cinnamon/sugar (representing the burial spices) and then wrap it in a crescent roll (representing the tomb). Bake the rolls as directed on the package, and when you take them out of the oven, Jesus has risen! The marshmallow melts into the dough, and is no longer there, just like Jesus was no longer in the tomb on Easter morning.
When we’d finished our treat, we read John’s account of the Resurrection, and then sent the kids to bed.
How Much?
Egglo products are pretty affordable. You can get a package of 12 glow in the dark eggs for $11.99, and the book is 40 pages of full color for $12.99. The audio book download is $2.99 and lasts 30 minutes. It’s not necessary unless you don’t want to read the book aloud, though. Scripture Scrolls, which could also be considered optional (although I recommend them) are $4.29. And as mentioned above, the Program Guide is $14.99. If you’re good at making up your own activities, you could also get away without that, too, but it’s worth it if you think you’ll need help planning your party. It has 62 pages jam-packed with great ideas. The products are on sale for a little less right now, so if you’re interested in getting your own set of Egglo for Easter, act fast! (The prices I’ve listed are the regular price, not the sale price.)
You can also get an “all in one” kit that’s on sale right now for $64.99 that includes the items I mentioned above as well as a DVD of the storybook and stickers with which to decorate your eggs.
My Thoughts
I think Egglo Entertainment is a really creative product. It’s a great way to introduce – or reinforce – the Christian faith to children. It’s clear that Ms. Cobos has spent loads of time and energy making a great product, and she has definitely done that. My only criticism is in the storybook. There were several sections where a new character is talking, and the grammatically correct paragraph break isn’t there. That made it a little hard to predict which voice to use when reading the book aloud to the kids.
Finally
I’m glad we got the chance to review this product. I plan to donate my Egglo set to my church before Easter so other kids in our sphere of influence can have the opportunity to experience this wonderful product!
