Reviewing Toys

We received the “Music Learning Pal” from Little First Act Discovery for Little A and I must say this would be a very cute gift for a little girl under 2 years old. The one we got was pink so he didn’t seem to like it much, however his sister who adores pink loved it and claimed it as hers. Here’s the review:

Penny the Piano sits on her bottom and has her four paws sticking out. At the end of each paw you can push on them to do something.

Music note: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, clap to the beat
Music note with ABC: piano key sound, Penny talks to them about the piano and how she can be loud or soft. Sing in Harmony. Let’s warm up.
Foot: That’s my foot, let’s dance. Are you sleeping.

From the Little First Act Discovery site:

Penny Piano introduces baby to music learning through songs and interactive play. Teaches basic music concepts such as pitch, harmony, rhythm and more. Baby presses Penny’s arms to make authentic piano sounds, and squeezes Penny’s hands and feet for ABCs, 123s, and sing-along songs!

Two Interactive Play Modes:
Music Learning Mode - Musical activities and messages
Songs Mode – Sing-along songs and clap-along fun

(more…)

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

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.

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

There is an interesting article up at Mothering Magazine by Josh Golin, Putting the book back in Book Fair. Josh Golin is the program manager at Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood and puts a strong point across in his column: book fair should be about books, not another avenue for corporations to catch kids and parents to spend more money on crap. I think this is a pretty important subject because consumerism and children is pretty out of control.

Golin points out how many TV shows now target children with fun, attractive books. This is so hard for many parents because reading is often seen as an alternative to watching television when kids are young. My parents had a strict ‘no TV after school’ rule and because of that I began an avid reader. For them, reading was a way for to learn and have fun without worrying about all the advertising crap I would be absorbing if I was in front of the TV. But now many children’s books are just melted down version of the most popular kids shows. Of course, the counter argument is that reading is something that is often hard to get children interested in and giving them books that are related to their favorite shows makes reading more accesible and less tedious for them.

Overall though, Golin is spot on about book fairs needing to remain about books. It’s a pretty simple concept.

Mothering Magazine, book fair, Josh Golin, Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood, children’s books, reading, learning to read

Before Bea was born, the concept of baby-boredom seemed ridiculous to me. Surely the simplest things would entertain babies, how could they possibly get bored of toys? Of course, as soon as Bea was old enough to focus on objects, I quickly realized that baby boredom can happen. I’m making it sounds like a disease - ‘Watch out or your child could pick up….BABY BOREDOM!’

It’s not that bad, but it is frustrating when a toy that has worked for weeks at keeping them entertained, suddenly seems to them to be the lamest thing ever invented. This is especially frustrating when you’ve spent MONEY on it. Babies and infants can get bored of toys but don’t throw them away! If it’s a toy that obviously still has hidden depths that your child can discover at an older age, just put in the cupboard. Also try rotating toys on a bi-weekly basis, or even longer for older infants. This often works like a charm for two reason: a) they don’t even remember it to begin with and think they got a new toy and/or b) they might remember it and also recall how much fun they had and jump right in playing with it.

baby boredom, baby toys, toy rotation

Another present that my mom brought (picked up at the airport). She thinks these are a bit tacky but I love them. Fair enough, considering how much they cose (around $50) I’d expect to have the Mona Lisa painted on them but instead they have badly sketches little pictures that aren’t all that educational. But Bea loves them and I think they will last a long time in terms of entertainment factor.

I still can’t get over the price. Yes, the UK is more expensive, I know, I know. But Hamley’s is also a bit of a rip-off toy store. It’s great to take your kids there because it’s got a billion floors and you can spend hours playing with toys without actually having to buy anything but as far as economising, it’s the last place you want to go.

toy blocks, wooden blocks, alphabet blocks, baby blogs, educational toys

Following my origami post, I went searching for more paper toys and came across Marilyn Scott Water’s site, The Toy Maker, and fell in love. The site is great for a number of reasons:

1) Her goal is “to help grownups and kids spend time together”. So she gets a star in my book.
2) All her designs are free to download.
3) Her designs work for a range of age groups.
4) The diversity of her designs is great. She has Time Out Cards, Father’s Day Badges, Otter Paper Dolls with extra clothes and more.

She also has a blog on Live Journal.

After my rant about rattles, but not as a direct result, my mom sent me this Hug-A-World Rattle, which arrived this morning. I love it! It’s about 6″ across which is just small enough for my six month old to grab between her hands and it’s soft enough so that she can yank it around and make it rattle. AND it’s educational!!

I love toys like this because I know that even if she gets bored of it in a few weeks, when she a bit older and is learning about the world, colours, shapes, etc…she will once again find it interesting.

globe, rattle, educational toys, hug a plant