**GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED**
​Disclosure: I was provided with a Flip-Pal mobile scanner in order to facilitate this review. All opinions, ideas, and photographs remain my own.
Children are naturally drawn to and curious about new technologies. They have no fear of gadgets and they seem to have an innate ability of learning how to use new technologies incredibly quickly. Of course, I am always searching for ways in which to get my kids (ages four and six) more interested in their family history and the people and events of the past who made them who they are today. I thought that using the Flip-Pal mobile scanner would be a great way to use my kids' love of technology to get them more interested in looking at and learning about old family photos, scrapbooks and photo albums.
Probably like many of you fellow keepers of family history, I have a box that looks like this. Old family postcards, wedding invitations, random photos - some are ten years old, some fifty years old. Like all old pieces of family ephemera, they need to be digitized to ensure that they are protected in case of loss, decay, or disaster. I thought, "Why not allow my kids to help me in the process?"
I placed the battery-operated, cord-free Flip-Pal mobile scanner on the ground with the box of photos and asked my four-year-old daughter to join me. (Isn't it the truth that kids are most comfortable on the floor?) She was immediately intrigued by this new gadget. I showed her how it worked and pretty soon, she was scanning like a pro on her own! (It really is THAT simple to use.) As we scanned each photo, we talked about the people in the photo and about how old they were when it was taken. Just this simple exercise of scanning old photos and postcards was exposing my daughter to decades of family history!
​Disclosure: I was provided with a Flip-Pal mobile scanner in order to facilitate this review. All opinions, ideas, and photographs remain my own.
Children are naturally drawn to and curious about new technologies. They have no fear of gadgets and they seem to have an innate ability of learning how to use new technologies incredibly quickly. Of course, I am always searching for ways in which to get my kids (ages four and six) more interested in their family history and the people and events of the past who made them who they are today. I thought that using the Flip-Pal mobile scanner would be a great way to use my kids' love of technology to get them more interested in looking at and learning about old family photos, scrapbooks and photo albums.
Probably like many of you fellow keepers of family history, I have a box that looks like this. Old family postcards, wedding invitations, random photos - some are ten years old, some fifty years old. Like all old pieces of family ephemera, they need to be digitized to ensure that they are protected in case of loss, decay, or disaster. I thought, "Why not allow my kids to help me in the process?"
I placed the battery-operated, cord-free Flip-Pal mobile scanner on the ground with the box of photos and asked my four-year-old daughter to join me. (Isn't it the truth that kids are most comfortable on the floor?) She was immediately intrigued by this new gadget. I showed her how it worked and pretty soon, she was scanning like a pro on her own! (It really is THAT simple to use.) As we scanned each photo, we talked about the people in the photo and about how old they were when it was taken. Just this simple exercise of scanning old photos and postcards was exposing my daughter to decades of family history!
Now, I have in my possession a family Christmas scrapbook that I made a few (ok, many) years ago using old holiday family photos. It is over-sized, so it's really impossible to scan the pages on our conventional scanner that is connected to our desktop computer. I had been planning for many months to make a trip to our local library to use their large scanner to digitize the scrapbook pages.
Not surprisingly, I haven't yet found the time to make it to the library. By myself. Without the kids. When the scanner was available. So, I thought my daughter and I would begin the task of scanning the scrapbook pages with the Flip-Pal mobile scanner. The Flip-Pal comes with a 4GB SD memory card that is pre-loaded with EasyStitch software - for larger photos or documents, you scan different sections and then the software creates one high-resolution image using all the images. My daughter was interested in helping me with this, too.
We scanned eight sections of this scrapbook page and here is the image after the software stitched it together. The EasyStitch software really did a great job; the image quality compared with the original is just about perfect.
We scanned eight sections of this scrapbook page and here is the image after the software stitched it together. The EasyStitch software really did a great job; the image quality compared with the original is just about perfect.
Aside from the wonderful applications related to old family photos and scrapbooks, there are many other uses for the Flip-Pal that, as a mom, I can think of in my daily life. Here is a sampling of other items I would scan. Imagine how much clutter you could rid yourself of!
- Important receipts
- Your child's artwork (Yes, even the over-sized ones with the EasyStitch software!)
- Your child's award ribbons, certificates, and/or merit badges
- Recipes that you've printed out or torn out of magazines
- Ticket stubs, postcards, maps, brochures and other memorabilia from family trips
- Greeting cards that you have received from family members
- Important receipts
- Your child's artwork (Yes, even the over-sized ones with the EasyStitch software!)
- Your child's award ribbons, certificates, and/or merit badges
- Recipes that you've printed out or torn out of magazines
- Ticket stubs, postcards, maps, brochures and other memorabilia from family trips
- Greeting cards that you have received from family members
Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner Giveway
This giveaway is for one new Flip-Pal mobile scanner (includes the SD card pre-loaded with the Flip-Pal Toolbox 2 software, SD-USB adapter, and four AA batteries installed) valued at $149.99. One-year limited warranty. Good Luck to you all!
Liability Disclosures, Rules, and Policy Statement:
No purchase necessary. This contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada aged 18 years and older. The contest will begin at 12:00 a.m. EDT 8/12/2014 and end at 12:00 a.m. EDT 8/20/2014. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Rafflecopter will randomly choose and winner and that winner will be announced on this blog within 48 hours of the contest's end time. Void where prohibited. All entrants agree to release of liability of the sponsor, Emily Kowalski Schroeder and the Growing Little Leaves blog. Winner will be shipped prize directly from manufacturer.
​**THIS RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED**
Liability Disclosures, Rules, and Policy Statement:
No purchase necessary. This contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada aged 18 years and older. The contest will begin at 12:00 a.m. EDT 8/12/2014 and end at 12:00 a.m. EDT 8/20/2014. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Rafflecopter will randomly choose and winner and that winner will be announced on this blog within 48 hours of the contest's end time. Void where prohibited. All entrants agree to release of liability of the sponsor, Emily Kowalski Schroeder and the Growing Little Leaves blog. Winner will be shipped prize directly from manufacturer.
​**THIS RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED**
