Reviewing 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.

Now, promoting another toy review site probably isn’t the smartest thing to do but I quite like Toy Talk, and think others will too. Its sister site is SmallPrint, which is also quite good and worth a visit.

Basically does what it says on the label. Great blog about idiot toys, idiot marketing and other stupid crap that comes with grown up gadgets and silly stuff we spend money on.

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.

Inspired by Kelli at Nursing Your Kids (go check out her post on how topical blogs can lack actual content about the authors), I thought I would devote some more post to me. Keeping it toy related somewhat…

My brother and sister in law are visiting this weekend. And it’s the first time they will have been to see us in our new house in France. Besides the fact that I miss them terribly and can’t wait to see them, they tend to travel with their Wii, which Alex and I are really hoping they bring with them. Our XBox is getting way too much use: we don’t have tv reception so tend to watch way too many DVDs, let alone playing games on it. Also, since giving birth, I tend to feel guilty whenever I play on the XBox. It now seems even more childish than before….

Wii, Xbox

Ok, Alex and I are way too hooked on Elmo. We keep trying to do his voice, which is not that easy and I’m hoping it becomes Bea’s favorite toy. Last night in bed, I started trying to remember the theme song to Sesame Street. Bear in mind, I’ve lived in Europe for the last 14 years and actually haven’t heard or watched Sesame Street since I was in the USA. So all I could bring to mind was ’sunny day…clouds away…’ and the general tune. Alex knew part of it, which surprised me because he’s a Brit.

Anyway, this morning I looked up the lyrics:
Sunny Day

Sunny day

Sweepin’ the clouds away

On my way to where the air is sweet.

Can you tell me how to get,

How to get to Sesame Street

Come and play

Everything’s A-OK

Friendly neighbors there

That’s where we’ll meet

Can you tell me how to get,

How to get to Sesame Street

It’s a magic carpet ride

Every door will open wide

To happy people like you–

Happy people like

What a beautiful

Sunny day

Sweepin’ the clouds away

On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,

How to get to Sesame Street…

How to get to Sesame Street

How to get to…

I’m sure I could be doing better things….

Sesame Street, Sunny Day lyrics, Elmo

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

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