Tag Archives: Toysmith

Photo-A-Day, Toys

Give it Forward: Christmas is For Kids 2017 Donation

Christmas is for Kids 2017 Donation
Photo-A-Day #4594

These are toys that we received from various toy companies for free. Opinions are our own. Amazon.com affiliate links are withing the post.

Back in 2008 we began a Christmas tradition. That year a friend of mine was having a toy drive for Christmas is for Kids, a local charity that collects toys for the area children. That first year we donated a couple of toys but then we decided that each year we would put aside some money each month so that we could make a decent toy purchase at the end of the year. That way we could give a good sized donation. Fast forward to today and we’ve been making larger and larger donations because of the work that we do through this blog. From contests to conferences and everything in between there are many toy companies that have been providing us toys each year and we give the overflow to Christmas is for Kids.

Early on Allison and I decided to involve the kids in our toy buying. We wanted to show them, from an early age that they can help people less fortunate. You may not change the world for everyone but you can start locally and help those in your immediate environment. My kids have never had any want for toys especially because of this blog. Involving Eva and Andrew in the process of selecting toys for other children is very important. This year they were fantastic in the store. Not once did they ask for any toys for themselves. The hardest thing was saying no when they choose expensive toys. I had to keep explaining that the higher the cost of the toy the less toys we could buy to help out the kids. I think we also had some lessons in math and estimating and rounding and more and also understanding how much prices are for toys came in to play as well. Andrew wanted to get a toy and thought that it was $6 but was actually $64. It gave me a chance to talk money with him.

We also recorded a video thanking many of the toy companies for sending us toys to review and some that we were not able to review but instead added to our gift donation. I wanted to recognize them here. You can see the video below. And below that a bit about the toys.

Continue reading Give it Forward: Christmas is For Kids 2017 Donation →

Family, Photo-A-Day, Review, Toys

An Amazing Family Game Day With The Mazins

The MAzins
Photo-A-Day #4593

We received the game THE MAZINS free from Toysmith to play with and review. Opinions are our own.

Allison and the kids had a half day today. Because of this Andrew declared that today would be a day for family games. He loves playing all sorts of games. One of the games that we tried out was a new one to us called THE MAZINS. This is a cute and pretty simple game. We played several rounds and Andrew was excellent at the game. He could quickly figure out which character got to the correct attraction.

The official description of the game is below.

THE MAZINS
The Mazin family is on an exciting trip to the city to see and do marvelous things. Help family members find attractions around town to win trophies- a quick roll of the die determines where they’ll go next! Help kids develop focus along with hand/eye coordination and speed. The multiple play levels fit to adjust to different age groups perfect for the whole family. Suitable for ages 3-99, 1-5 players, and each round takes 10-20 minutes.

Set includes maze tiles, destination tokens, point tokens, and large wooden dice.

MSRP: $19.99 | Ages 3 to 99-Years-Old

We enjoyed this game very much. It was one that the whole family could enjoy and we could make it more challenging. To make it more challenging you add additional tiles to the maze, each new tile ultimately changes which attraction the each family member visits. So, you can’t simply memorize where each family member goes, you have to think quickly and figure out the mazes to win at THE MAZINS. You can purchase the game through our Amazon.com affiliate link below.