KIDS TOYS

Soothe and Glow Seahorse

Where was this toy when my kids were babies? I would have paid 10 times the price for something to get my kids to sleep… Cheap kids toys this clever were not an option back then.

The solution seems entirely obvious. A variety of soft and soothing songs and not a series of squeaky beeps, check. Volume control to make the baby (and parents) happy or turn the sound of all together, check. Soft comforting light, check. Start the thing off with a gentle squeeze that a baby could quickly learn to do, check. Soft fade to silence with the light going off, so as not to wake the little fella up, check. In built 5 minute timer, long enough to soothe the baby and short enough not to drive mom and dad to distraction, genius. If baby is still awake, another gentle squeeze will kick off the sleep whisperer again. I love this thing.

The big advantage I see in a toy like this is that the sleep process does not involve a mother or father hence avoiding the inevitable nightmare of sleep training. Toy, sooth, sleep. It sounds like every parent’s dream.

There are eight lullabies and it even has two types of ocean tracks! How do they even make cheap kids toys this good? I am thinking of getting a Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Soothe & Glow Seahorse for me let alone the kids, a gentle ocean track might be just the thing to lull me to sleep…

Appearance wise, the cuddly toy could not be much cuter. Pink and blue ones are available. They are the perfect size, nice and soft and the adjustable volume is a winner. I think this is a very well researched product. My only complaint is I only found about these little miracles now.

At the price you can afford to buy one for home, leave one at the grandparents and have one in the car. Jeepers, buy a couple spare just in case the dog gets hold of it.

Give this as a gift to EVERYONE you know that has a baby, you will be their best friend for life.

Sells Sing A Ma Jigs Soft Toys

“The new singing sensation…” Ok, so that might be taking it a bit far but isn’t that the whole point of being a kid and using your imagination? Cheap kids toys are worth nothing if they aren’t fun and this is a delight.

They communicate in three different ways. Poke them in the belly and they will yak away in their own language, called ‘Chatter Mode’, punctuated with an “Ooooh” or an “Aaaah.” Squeeze a hand and they will belt out a song. Fiddle with them some more to change the pace or sing a different tune.

Best of all the Sing A Ma Jigs Soft Toys have the ability to sing in harmony. Don’t ask me how they do this, but each toy has it’s own pitch and can harmonize with another color doll, just like a barber shop quartet. The genius of this marketing ploy does not escape me. Buying the first one will soon lead you to getting another one. And another. And another. The more you collect, the better the choir.

Their mouths move while they do their thing which is quite cute. There are a variety of colors to choose from and each doll is slightly different, including their sweaters which range from something you would expect on a golf course to a jumper zany enough for a teeny bopper nightclub. Cheap kids toys are normally poorly made and end up in the bin. I doubt junior will toss this one away quickly.

Kids obviously love the things but no adult can seem to resist playing with one of these when no-one is looking. Most battery operated noisy toys are bought by aunts and uncles who don’t have to live with the irritating beast. This one is likely to have a few more parental purchasers because it is not as repetitive or squeaky.

Pink with a polka dot top and crazy hair. I can see one in your office cubicle just as easy as I can being abused by little Mikey in the play pen. Go on, have some fun!

A Great Educational Toy

I have taught elementary science in public schools for many years, and I can say this “Mind-Blowing Science Kit” carries quite a bit of magic in its humble little packaging. Being taken by the attractive price and its claim of being the “best educational toy of 2005,” I bought several of the kits for my morning class of four-year-olds. I really should have invested in more of them.

The children couldn’t be stopped for at least the better part of two hours from measuring the ingredients in different quantities, trying to see what color would start to froth from the volcano’s mouth next. I actually managed to teach them all the basics of metric measurement that day without losing their attention completely, though the “wet-less” shape-shifting foam did pose as an imposing piece of competition in my efforts. Their children fully enjoyed every moment they had with the kits, trying out different experiments offered by the instructions, as well as a few of their own devising. The whole affair did get a little messy, but it was nothing that any teacher or parent used to dealing with kids under five couldn’t handle. I could easily see this kit being a safe bet as a birthday or Christmas gift for kids of this age group (I would say the cut-off date for giving this type of gift would be around seven or eight).

It is synch to get kids interested in the projects, while still providing an educational experience that teaches the very basic elements of chemistry as well creativity and a few pieces of vocabulary. It would be a good idea to let children play around with some other food colorings in addition to the ones provided in the kit, just in case they see the palate the kit provides as being a little limiting since a few of my kids complained they couldn’t get that much variety in the “foaminess.” Highly recommended for both classrooms and homes that have cleaning supplies well on hand!

Melissa & Doug See

My family has always had great success and reliability with this toy company. They always seem to provide the right touch of care that makes their toys seem unique rather than some plastic or wooden piece of junk that came off an assembly line with several thousand other things that look exactly the same. “Melissa & Doug See & Spell” was a great hit with my three and four year olds, who couldn’t stop giggling and laughing while guessing the words on the backs of the cards, whose fronts have fun and colorful pictures. I swear, my kids must have learned at least twenty new words within the first half an hour alone. Within a week, the seemed to have the whole set down, and you could hear them around the house pointing and laughing after applying the words cat, dog, chair, etc. to everything around them, usually correctly, though my husband kind of got offended at one point when our son called him a “door-knob.”

It seems this little educational toy may have fostered a bit of wit in my little man. The like how the entire toy has both a unique touch to its design and has no mechanical parts whatsoever. No matter how smart I think my kids may be, I always worry they may choke on small electronic bits you find in almost all toys these days (Jesus, I sound old saying that!). They’ll have plenty of time soon enough to stare at a computer screen and hear all sorts of beeps and technological noise (they already hear enough of that from our phones and laptops as it is!).

I like the quaint quality of this product that is both effectively educational and uncomplicated, making the experience a laid back sort of affair with my kids rather than feeling like something they need to overcomplicate themselves and quickly get bored with. I’ve recommended this product as much to my friends as I am to you now. It is a great buy.

Banagrams Spelling Made Fun

I don’t know about you, but we are kind of a word family. We are really big on vocabulary both in terms of our kids’ education and our own education as young parents. Well, you could say we wish to be the cultured types, but whatever. We were looking to find a toy similar to scrabble for our five and six year olds to play with while we travel on weekends.

The Banagrams game bears something of a similarity to Scrabble, but it is more of a fun individual kind of thing than a competition involving letter scores and things like that. The kids are given a choice of a certain number of tiles out of the about 150 in a little cute Banagram bag. Once they have their tiles, they are free to see who can arrange the most real words out of the bunch in their individual piles. This is great practice for them to both recognize patterns they have encountered in the past as well as be creative with what they are given to see if they can find “new” words themselves that sound familiar. You may have to consult a dictionary once or twice, since the things these kids come up with sometimes gets a bit too “creative” for us to check off the top of our heads. The toy obviously consists of tiny worded tiles, so there is a bit of precaution necessary to avoid any choking or swallowing, but at the age of four and five, the children should passed that stage anyway.

This little toy was handy on many of our trip, especially on trains, and was a great way for our kids to learn how to spell. I highly recommend this toy to any like minded parent that wants a great educational experience for their kids that also fosters creativity.

Educational Insight Eggspert Toys

Don’t let the cute name throw you off.  The “Educational Insights Eggspert” is just another children’s toy that can be discarded after a few years. This is an educational aid that can be used all the way through high school in a classroom setting. By providing a series of buzzers to a number of participants for them to chime in on when they have an answer to a question posed by a moderator.

Think of it as a convenient form of jeopardy that can be used anywhere from a play-area in a home with your children and their friends answering questions about basic vocabulary and spelling to an advanced classroom setting, where young adults compete over history facts, adding a bit of spice and excitement to memorizing essential facts and figures. There is another setting on the main counsel that is a sort of Wheel of Fortune setting, where a series of lights begin to flash and revolve in a circle, first rapidly, then gradually slowing down until it stops on a particular color that is assigned to a team of students or children, which means it is their turn to answer a question.

I tried this setting out in my grammar school French class, and you could tell within a few minutes that they were focused, with this simple add, in their efforts to remember fairly advanced material, which they recalled better when put on the spot like this than a have ever seen them do before. The device comes with an AC adaptor, but it can also be powered by batteries, which makes it very convenient if your kids are more of an outdoor type or your family tends to go on a lot of trips that involve hours in a car or train. I cannot recommend this helpful and educational toy/device more to both parents and teachers alike.

Clickstart My First Computer

I can hardly imagine my business or personal life without a computer. As a young parent, I grew up with them early on, and I have to come to think of them as any other basic tool to expressing my thoughts and feeding my curiosity for knowledge. I don’t expect this to be any different if not more so for my children. “The Leapfrog Clickstart My First Computer” is an excellent way to introduce your children to the concept of technology and electronics as well as basic spelling and counting skills.

If you think the age of three is too early to start your kids on a computer, I would say that, though it takes the form of a computer, the “Leapfrog” and its four pre-set learning programs are not that far removed from other games that you find in children’s toys. The games teach things like basic phonetics, letters, numbers, and animal facts, but all the while also helping your child become familiar with navigating a computer screen with its neat frog-themed keyboard.

This is not like plopping your kids in a unfamiliar technological playground. Friendly puppy Scout guides kids through keyboard functions and allows them to work at the games without feeling rushed. They can click on an “in-box” to receive their first e-mail, and if your kids are little under-prepared for full on reading on the screen, there is plenty of sound thrown into the mix to help them along the way.. Should the youngster ever become stumped, a hint button gives them a clue. The software the goes with this little gadget features well-known characters such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora the Explorer, and Nemo, providing familiar faces for this new experience. Give your kids a head-start with this nifty educational toy.