Reviewing Toys

This was on my younger children’s christmas lists this past year, course they didn’t get it, we were in hotels for two months there would’ve been no room. Did any of you pick this up?

If you are worried about your child not exercising while he is playing video games. That’s right, plug this little Fisher-Price Smart Cycle
into your tv and let them cycle into a whole new world. The handles move from left to right, making steering a cinch for your little man and the pedals move as well. Collect the numbers and letters to pass the level. Don’t worry, if your child gets tired he can stop pedaling and play with the joystick below the steering wheel.

The only problem I see with this is the weight, to move this from one room to another could become quite the chore. Another thing is when the cycle is turned off it forgets what your child has done, which could mean frustration to a child that has spent a lot of time to pass a level. It’s a great way to get your child to come out of their shell and want to learn by having a bit of fun. Who said education had to be boring?

Tons of new software is coming out for the Fisher-Price Smart Cycle, which means when your child actually completes the game or gets bored of the same one (or you do), they can quickly be replaced.

The hubby recently came home with a surprise for our 4 month old little boy, it was a really weird ball called a Clutch & Crinkle Ball. At least that was my opinion when I first saw it. Honeslty I didn’t think he’d play with it just yet, he’d only recently started playing with his mirror. I was wrong….VERY wrong.

This little ball has become his favorite play toy, he pushes it above him and chews on the links it has. When he’s not playing with it and hears the crunching sounds it makes, he immediately turns his attention to the direction that is making the noise.

Unlike most balls, the Clutch & Crinkle Ball is one your child can grasp, chew on, hold the edges and smack himself in the face with. The sides are all sorts of colors and the inside of it has the black and white patterns for them to watch. It really is a great ball!

Fisher-Price has called for a large toy recall of just about 1 million toys and 83 different products. Toys such as Big Bird, Elmo, Diego and of course Dora. It seems the toys were being made by a chinese vendor that somehow made them with lead paint in them.

Toy List: (I hope ya’ll don’t have these, but something tells me many of you will)

33662 Elmo Light Up Musical Pal
33663 Ernie Light Up Musical Pal
33664 Big Bird Light Up Musical Pal
34658 Elmo Stacking Rings
39038 Elmo Tub Sub
39054 Sesame Street Shape Sorter
87946 Elmo Keyboard
90267 Ernie Splashin’ Fun Trike
90609 Elmo Collectible
90611 Cookie Collectible
90612 Zoe Collectible
90613 Ernie Collectible
90614 Big Bird Collectible
90745 Construction Playset
93068 Elmo Boom Box
93107 Action Fire Engine
93307 Press N Go Elmo
93308 Rev & Go Cookie Monster
93492 Cookie Saxophone
93493 Elmo’s Guitar
93615 Splash Tub Puzzle
93780 Music And Lights Phone
B7554 Count To Beat Elmo
B7888 Shake, Giggle & Roll
B7987 Elmo in the Giggle Box
B7989 Silly Parts Talking Elmo
B9620 Dora’s Talking House
C6908 Dora, Backpack, Perrito Figure Pack
C6909 Diego Figure Pack
C6910 Swiper Figure Pack
C6911 Boots, Tico Figure Pack
G3825 Dora Talking Vamonos Van
G5112 Sing With Elmo’s Greatest Hits
G9717 Giggle Doodler
H2943 Grow with Me Elmo Sprinkler
H3343 Cousin Daisy
H3344 Birthday Dora
H5569 Elmo & Pals (Elmo, Cookie, Ernie)
H5570 Elmo & Pals (Elmo, Zoe, Big Bird)
H4187 Dora Figures in Tube
H4628 Water Fun Tote
H8236 Dora 3 Pack Figures in Tube
H8237 Blue 3 Pack Figures in Tube
H8238 Sponge Bob 3 Pack Figures in Tube
H9124 Chef Dora
H9125 Bedtime Dora
H9186 Giggle Grabber Ernie
H9188 Giggle Grabber Oscar the Grouch
J0338 Diego Talking Field Journal
J0343 Go Diego Go Antarctic Rescue
J0344 Go Diego Go Deep Sea Rescue
J0345 Go Diego Go Mountain Rescue
J0346 Go Diego Go Talking Rescue 4 X 4
J5935 Giggle Grabber Soccer Elmo
J5936 Giggle Grabber Chef Cookie Monster
J6537 Sesame Street Giggle Toolbelt
J6762 Queen Mami
J6763 Royal Boots and Tico
J6765 Prince Diego
J7983 Sesame Street Tub Pots & Pans
J9518 Sesame Street Giggle Drill
J9692 Dora’s Talking Pony Place
K0617 Twins Nursery
K3414 Diego - Talking Gadget Belt
K3571 Go Diego Go Mobile Rescue Unit
K3580 Fairytale Adventure Dora
K4139 Go Diego Go Dinosaur Rescue
K4140 Toucan Motorcycle Rescue
L0305 Dora Figure
L3194 Surprise Inside Diego Eggs
L3215 Sesame Street Elmo Jack-In-The-Box
L3488 Sesame Street Birthday Figure Pack
L3507 Sesame Street - Super Boom Box
L5202 Birthday Dora
L5813 Diego Tub Trike
L8905 Pablo & Pals
M0351 Dora Figures Dora & Kitty
M0352 Dora Figures Diego & Bear
M0524 Go Diego Go Talking Gadget
M0527 Sesame Street Giggle Doodler
M0732 Dora’s Talking House
M2051 Let’s Go Rescue Center
M2052 Fairytale Castle

If you have one of the recalled toy, you can exchange it for a voucher for another product of the same value. To see pictures of the recalled toys, visit http://www.service.mattel.com. For more information, call Mattel’s recall hot line at 800-916-4498.

toy recall, Fisher Price, recall, elmo, dora, diego, cookie monster, sesame street, lead paint

Whilst I am living in France, I haven’t really noticed that I am buying any toys that are specifically French. Bea’s been given some lovely French baby books but other than that most of her toys have come from the UK or the USA. Having said that, as she gets a bit older and hopefully our budget increases, I do intend on buying her some adorable Frenchified stuff that takes me back to my childhood in Paris:

Every French tot has one of these, to cart around, you know, all there French stuff, like snails and horse meat.

Sophie La Giraffe is another one. These are sold all over the place, including your local supermarket. I used to have one when I was a kid and I have yet to buy one but it’s on the list.

(Basic French is a good site for all these sort of things and it’s pretty well priced too.)

Basic French, French toys

Wandering around Mothering Magazine’s website I came across an old article From War Chest to Toy Chest, written by Daphen White, former executive director of Lion & Lamb. Sad to say that Lion & Lamb is no longer up and running but their website is still life and is a good source of information about non-violent toys. Through it I came across TRUCE: Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment.

I think this is an area where allot of parents feel torn about how strict they should be. You want your kids to enjoy their toys and know that play time doesn’t always have to include intense learning games but at the same time there allot of toys out there that could be deemed harmful in many ways but still pass safety regulations.

TRUCE has a good toy guide that has some helpful points on how to filter out toys that are harmful and/or a waste of time:

Toys have limited play value when they . . .

* Can only be used in one way.
* Encourage everyone to play the same way as determined by the toy designer.
* Appeal primarily to a single age or level of development.
* Will probably sit on a shelf after the first “fun” half hour.
* Will channel children into imitating scripts they see on TV or in movies.
* Do special high-tech actions for the child instead of encouraging the child’s exploration and mastery.
* Lure children into watching the TV program or other media linked to the toy.
* Promote violence and stereotypes, which can lead to disrespectful and aggressive behavior.
* Introduce academic concepts to children too early, keeping them from the kind of play that truly prepares them for later learning.

The search for the perfect rattle continues. Alex’s parents arrived this week with a rattle for Bea. His sister had bought one for her 10 month old son and he had loved it. It’s from Mothercare but of course since their website is so horrible, the one we got doesn’t actually come up at all. I’ll try to put a picture up later. Suffice to say it fits many of the criteria for a good rattle, the only negative thing about it is its size. Just slightly too big for Bea’s little hands but we’ll wait and see how she takes to it in the next couple of months.

I’ve titled this post Alternative Toys because I’m referring to toys that aren’t that easy to find and realistically buy for your kids on a regular basis. This is one area where the Internet and consumerism has gotten the balance right and offers an alternative shopping choice at basically cheaper or the same prices to regular chain stores.

Mothering Magazine is a great resource for these types of toys. Of course, you should do some good searching before actually deciding on a company because the prices do vary.

This wooden puzzle from Oompa Toys starts at $13.49, compared to Toys “R” Us’s wooden puzzle that compares at $24.99.

A Toy Garden is also one of my favorites, with mid-range prices.

Bea has a Baby Einstein playmat that her grandma gave to her when she was around 3 months old. She loved playing with it as she lay on her back and in the past months it’s been her practice area for rolling from back to belly and occasionally belly to back. However, in the past few weeks, she’s grown increasingly bored with it, crying whenever she ends up on her belly. Until two days ago, when Alex put her down on the mat in a sitting position. She fits right underneath the crossed bars and grabs at the hanging toys. She manages to sit by herself and play for about 20 minutes before getting bored. I’m thrilled that she can still use it. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have thought to put her on it sitting up, so I should give credit to Alex for ‘discovering’ this.

On the other hand, Bea has almost completely growen out of her playnest. As soon as I put her in it, she pushes herself to the edge and eventually manages to lunge out and land head first on the floor. I’ve started using it on the bed so she can still lunge out but not hurt herself when she actually manages to fall out. She’s on the verge of crawling and I think that being able to practice pushing with her legs in the playnest is helping her develop muscle and get used to moving her body. But it means that the role that the playnest used to have, of the toy that kept her occupied in the same spot for several minutes, is now gone.

play mat, playnest, Baby Einstein, crawling

I never really post about crib toys because Bea doesn’t sleep in a crib. She sleeps in bed with me. I tried with a crib, I really did, but it was a waste of time (for us). We actually have a really nice wooden Ikea crib that is packed up in the attic and we also have a travel crib that I insisted on buying, my argument being that when we traveled to family member’s houses, Bea would need somewhere to sleep. All in vain.

The travel cot is still out but we mainly use it to store toys and Bea plays in it occasionally, but never sleeps in it. Eventually I know she will move on to sleeping on her own and then I wonder if I will start using crib toys. Crib toys is sort of a deceiving word because cribs toys aren’t necessarily about playing. They are often sold as soothing toys. However, I feel that this is an area where you really need user experience to help buy the right ones.

What are your experiences with crib toys?

crib toys, Ikea crot, travel cot, co-sleeping

I love these Romping Animals! I don’t actually own one but they look like they would be great - no sharp edges to poke eyes out or dent little heads, no horribly offensive colours and annoying useless appendages to be pulled off and stuffed down toilets or behind couches. And it might last for more than a week. $70 - I’m not sure how good/bad that is because to be honest I’ve never bought a toy that big for my kid. But it does seem a little, teensy with high….

I should give credit to Super Cool Baby because that’s where I actually found the link to Babesta.

romping animals, Babesta, Super Cool Baby