Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Have you ever listened to someone tell about how thier kids emptied out thier fridge all over the house leaving a huge mess for mom to clean up as she wept tears of frustration? I have, and even thaught to myself, "Man am I glad my kids have never gotten in to anything like that..." BIG MISTAKE.....While I didn't experience the catastraphy that my sister-in-law went threw, I did get a small taste. Imagine waking up first thing in the morning to your orange crumb covered one year old smiling down at you as if to say "look what I did mommy!"  I sat up immediately and there it was...a mess of cheeze-it crumbs, pulverized into the carpet. Luckily that was all she could get to. I'm not sure what I would have done if she had left me with the mess my sister-in-law described from an incident with her twin boys, but I think it would involve a lot of crying.  

Sunday, January 29, 2012

     Between birthdays and Christmas my kids have accumulated their fair share of new toys over the past couple of months. I wanted to give you all a review of some really great toys that are out there right now. I know this may come as no surprise since these companies have been around for quite a while now, but some of my favorite toys are made by Leap Frog and Fisher Price. Lets take a look at some of the hottest and best toys out right now.

  I'm going to start with my daughter's loot first:

The Lettersaurus has 3 different settings; music, alphabet, and colors. The Color setting is pretty basic and just tells the color of the button that your baby pushes, which is important for color recognition. The music setting is one of my favorite features because there is a different tune for each button. The only thing you may find disappointing is that it doesn't actually sing the songs it just plays the tune. . Personally I think this is actually cool because you can teach them the song and sing along with it and then as they grow you can turn it in to a "name that tune" kind of game. The top of the head sings the alphabet song no matter which setting you have it on. The other setting is the alphabet setting. What I love about this is that you can press the letter 3 times and get something different. First it tells the name of the letter and a word that starts with that letter, the second time it just give you the name of the letter and the third time it it tells the letter and the sound it makes. There are also some shapes on his back that don't do anything, but it allows another teaching opportunity on the parent's part to teach what each shape is. My one year old loves this toy and I personally think its a great buy!

The Peek-A-Shoe Octopus has 5 colorful numbered shoes with a picture which represents the number on each one. It does have numbered arms all the way up to 8 but they are not easily spotted at first because they sort of blend in with the toy and the number is written in the same purple color as the octopus' body. There are 5 different colored balls that come with this toy that can be put in through the hat on his head or the arm. The balls then fall to one of the shoes and the octopus asks where the ball is. If you lift up a shoe it will either say something like "not under the number 2 shoe" or "peek-a-boo you found the ball under the number 5 shoe". There is also a setting that will do the same thing but with colors instead of number. It also alternates how it celebrates babies success in finding the ball. The only issue I have with this toy is that occasionally it is wrong. It doesn't happen often but every now and then it tells you the ball isn't there when it is or visa verse. I would suggest playing with this toy on a flat surface because I have noticed it usually has the accuracy problem when my daughter is playing with it on the carpet.

The Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Say Please Tea Set is a great toy for little girls! I love this thing. It has several audio features for the tea pot. Learning time has a cute song that talks about numbers, sharing, and shapes. When you open and close the top it has 3 different sayings (open, close, hello, bye bye, and up, down). The only problem I see with the lid is that sometimes when my daughter is playing with it and she starts opening and closing it really fast it gets confused and will say "open, byebye, up, closed, etc". This isn't much of a problem for me though because the directional part is still correct (example up is still always "up, hello, open" and down is always "down, closed, or bye bye"). The tea pot makes a pouring sound when you tip it and teaches manners by saying phrases like "more please" and "thank you." There is a music setting with another cute song about sharing and being polite. There are also features that teach changes in pitch. This toy is great for teacher manners and both of my kids love playing with it.

The Tag Junior is another great learning toy. There are several board books that you can buy to go along with this that teach anything from numbers, colors, shapes, emotions, ect. The bundle I have featured here is the Ready to Read set and includes the Tag Jr and a caring case. This is a great toy because it encourages toddlers and babies to get interested in books and reading at a young age. The books are more than just the words written on the page. You can also touch the Tag Jr to a picture on the page for additional songs, sayings, or even games. While it does say the Tag Jr is for ages 1-4, I would suggest starting them a little closer to 2 years old just because so far my daughter likes it because it talks but she really doesn't seem to stay interested in it for very long. My son showed more interest when he was about 2. You can also find different Tag Jr book pals on the LeapFrog website if you are looking for something different from the standard green and white or pink and white.

This is the Tag Learn to Read system for ages 4-8. This one is even better than the Tag Jr, which it should be because it's for older kids. The books for the Tag system are even more interactive than the Tag Jr and have games and activities that will get your children excited about reading. My six-year-old loves his Tag Reader. For Christmas he got a set of Maps that have games and information about different states, countries, and a map of the solar system with games and information about the planets and space. He plays these with his 2 cousins who are the same age and they have a great time. The books are fun because they are more than just reading and they also teach your child to recognize words. When you touch the Tag reader to a word it will tell you what it is. There are several features for the books including the option to have to whole story read to you or to point and read yourself. This is one of the best toys he could have gotten. Thanks uncle Bobby and Grandma!!!

The LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer was one of the hottest toys this Christmas and was extremely hard to find. It was litterally sold out everywhere! When we finally got about a week ago we could see why! This is the coolest kids toy I have seen so far. It looks a lot like and iPad for kids but does NOT have internet abilities. You can plug it in to your computer to download more apps for games, ebooks and more. As your child plays the games they can earn rewards that unlock extras in the games they have played. Some of the apps are pretty reasonable but I have to admit some are expensive. The link I have posted here to buy this toy is for amazon but it is a bit pricey. If you can find it anywhere else there are places that have had it for $99. Other than that it is the coolest toy ever! My son and his cousins take turns playing with it. It has a camera and an art studio where you can do crazy things with the pictures, and the game itself usually comes with at least 3-4 apps already downloaded on it. You can set up 3 accounts incase you have more than one child playing it so they can have their own pet, own rewards, etc. Even then there is still a guest button incase you have a friend over that wants to play. I am so happy we got this toy and I enjoy playing it as much as the kids do!

These are just a few great toys that are out there right now. I will be posting more reviews on products that I think are great and please feel free to let me know about products you are interested in hearing about!

Time for snack!
Brittany