Today was the Annual Christmas is for Kids Toy Drive sponsored by Achin’s Garage. I’ve been talking about this event all month and today it finally arrived. I got home from work and packed up the car with all of the toys that we had collected for the past couple of months. Allison took the kids to Eva’s Dance class and I finished up a few posts then headed to Attleboro Farms for the event. I got there and helped Sarah Achin bring a bunch of toys in to set them up in a display.
We received a couple of the National Geographic Starry Night Lanterns from Uncle Milton Toys. The kids each have a stuffed animal that projects stars on their ceiling. The kids love that and so they are used to having glowing stars on their ceilings. We don’t always take these with us when we go on trips and so this past Thanksgiving we went to the Cape and instead of taking the stuffed animals we decided to try out the Starry Night Lantern. It worked very well and Eva liked having this new field of stars to see as she went to sleep.
Continue reading Give it Forward: National Geographic Starry Night Lantern
During the middle of the Give it Forward Project I got the opportunity to get a My Circle of Creativity for sharing a post on Facebook about the company’s special edition My Friendship Bracelet Maker kit on QVC. Well, it arrived yesterday and I decided that I would donate it to Christmas is for Kids. The My Circle of Creativity kit is for ages 6 and up and it can do a bunch of different creative projects. We reviewed the My Friendship Bracelet Maker earlier in the month and it was something that is really nice but Eva was just not ready for it. Allison could make some great friendship bracelets but neither Eva nor I was able to do much. I do believe that Eva will get into making Friendship bracelets at some point and she’ll use that kit and if at that time she’s interested in the My Circle of Creativity set I’ll pick one up for her.
Eva is a fan of science, she gets that from my sister Tara. She and Auntie Tara do some fun science projects together. I was really excited to get this set from The Young Scientist’s Club. This will be a fun set of experiments for Eva and Tara to work on together. The set has a bunch of great pieces included and also many experiments to try.
Continue reading Give if Forward: The Magic School Bus: Attracted to Magnificent Magnets
Wee Believers fills a very interesting niche. They make high quality toys with Christian themes. From toys like My Mass Kit to the Lil’ Prayer Buddy, Wee Believers has something for each child to enjoy while at church that won’t disrupt the ceremony and are great for sparking discussion and role playing.
Continue reading Give it Forward: Wee Believers 2-sided Noah’s Ark Floor Puzzle
A couple of months ago we reviewed some Mungi Magnetic Bands. These are fun little bands that can be put together to create bracelets, necklaces and headbands. Each set of Mungi (pronounced Moon-Gee) bands comes with three bands with different designs. There are sets like Shark Attack, Mustache, ’70s and Rock Star each with three unique colorful bands that can be mixed and matched.
With movies where stars are picking up bow and arrows it makes sense that there would be some toys that follow the trend and allow kids to recreate those heroic moments from movies like Brave and more in a fun and safe way. Zing Toys has a whole great line of Air Storm toys that use their Zarts (Foam Darts) that shoot from bows and crossbows. We were lucky to receive an Air Storm Z-Tek Crossbow with three Zarts. The first time I used it I completely misjudged how far they would fly and put one right on the porch roof. I had to sneak out when everyone was gone to retrieve it. This fun crossbow can shoot 45 feet and the Zarts can stick to all sorts of things. The toy is for kids 8 and up and there is even a safety on it. But with all toys that fire projectiles never aim them at people or animals. There is a target included in the package.
Back in February Eva and I received a copy of Feed the Woozle, a cooperative game from Peaceable Kingdom. We reviewed Feed the Woozle at that time and found that we liked the game, it was fun to play and helped test some of Eva’s fine motor skills. The game is cute. Kids take turns feeding the Woozle all sorts of crazy foods, they have to feed the Woozle one, two or three snacks. They might have to walk backwards, hop around and more all while keeping the snacks on the spoon to feed that Woozle. Kids have to work together to feed the Woozle twelve crazy snacks.
Back in September I received a copy of the My1story book I Love Cake. At that time we read it and reviewed it. I’m happy that we were able to get another copy of the book plus another Lil’ Riding Hood Plush doll to donate to Christmas is for Kids. The story is a cute one with a twist on the traditional Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. Instead of the big bad wolf who comes and eats grandma this story features Wolfie, a mischievous wolf pup who has a fondness for cake. Wolfie follows Lil’ Riding Hood to Grandma’s house in an attempt to make off with some fresh cake that Lil’ Riding Hood is bringing to Grandma.
Continue reading Give it Forward: My1story Lil’ Riding Hood Plush and Storybook
Keeping kids occupied on car trips can be a challenge but not with the Find It series of toys. We reviewed the Find It On The Farm toy a while back and liked that it was a self contained game that Eva could play while we went on rides. Eva tends to get bored on any lengthy car trip which usually leads to 12,000 rapid fire questions. I’d rather not have her playing a video game or the iPad or something like that all the time. So, to help stimulate her mind a bit we have a stable of in car games ranging from creating stories to using the Find It On the Farm game.
