Kids Products Archives - Page 33 of 62

Encourage a love of reading with Kobo Kids

If I were to summarize what I’ve learned so far about preparing your child to learn, it would look like this: foster a love of reading in your child. This message has come in many forms, but it’s always the same takeaway. Read with your child, give your child access to great books, and, likely most important, lead by example, and you will prepare your child for success in numerous facets of school and life.

I feel we’ve done fairly well at this in most regards and we are definitely raising little readers, but up until recently we haven’t had much time to model this behavior ourselves. Any parent of young children will tell you that there simply are not enough hours in the day, and one of my main struggles has been finding the time to get back into the kind of reading I did pre-kids.

Build a fort as big as your imagination with Fort Magic

You may remember how much I adore Fort Magic fort building kits that make it easy to create amazing forts for the kiddos without an engineering degree, but now that the kids are older, I love it even more. Since our last post we’ve made huge forts in our living room, our family room, and even took the Fort Magic kit with us while on vacation so the kids could build an outdoor hideout for cousins only, complete with added satellite dish.

Haven’t heard of Fort Magic before? The Fort Magic fort building kit contains everything you need to create your own fort as big as your imagination. The 382 piece kit contains all different shapes and sizes of rods, connectors and accessories that allow you to build a fort – anywhere, anytime.

Disney’s Frozen is available on Digital HD today {with free Incredibles download}

Did you love the movie Frozen as much as we did? If so, you're going to be super excited that Frozen is now available on Digital HD today! Yes, it's true! You can finally watch Frozen from home before it's even available on DVD!

These two are going to be so excited!

The gift of freedom with the FiLIP Smart Locator Watch

Growing up, we would disappear for hours, playing in the neighborhood, our friend’s houses, and off in the woods until dinnertime. Even at my children’s ages, I had a freedom that my kids don’t know these days in our urban neighborhood where the dinner bell doesn’t send the kids running.

Maybe this is why so many young kids have cell phones now, starting as young as elementary school. I get it, it’s for convenience for the parents first and foremost, but kids having cellphones is just not for me… at least not for a few more years. I’m not ready to police text messages, restrict game usage, make sure the kids don’t have open access to the internet, or worry about them losing expensive electronics by allowing them to have their own cellphones.

But this year, I’m giving them the gift of freedom in a way that is age appropriate with the new FiLIP from AT&T.

It may look like a fancy child’s watch, but don’t let that deceive you. Once you know what the Filip does, you will understand why I’m so excited about it and why we feel it is a great buy for anyone with a child aged 5 to 11.

Girl of The Year 2014 Isabelle arrives at the Seattle American Girl store

Like a small child counting down the days until Christmas, we were counting down the days until January 1st. Not because we’re huge into New Years’ celebrations, but because American Girl announced their Girl of the Year {GOTY}.

We look for any reason to party around here, especially when the party is for a doll as elegant as this one:

Meet Isabelle, the Girl of the Year for 2014. Isabelle Palmer loves ballet and everything fashion. Her story involves a new school, struggling to stand out in the shadow of her older sister, and figuring out how she can use her unique talents to shine. Since my daughter would like nothing more than to be a dancer, Isabelle's story really struck her and she's now smitten with this beautiful GOTY doll.

Wireless sound with TRACKS AIR headphones from SOL REPUBLIC

By Tyler, editor and reviewer

Who doesn’t like a good, quality surround sound that makes music and movies come alive? Someone whose movie room shares a wall with a baby’s room, that’s who.

This is the problem with our entertainment room, designed for movies and thumping sound, but that just so happens to be located right next to our son’s bedroom. These days, the only thing playing at Rave Central theater is children’s movie matinees in between nap and bedtime. It’s a sad fate for a room with such promise.

So, what’s a movie loving guy like myself to do? Make a plan to revive our indie movie house with the arrival of these new TRACKS AIR headphones from SOL REPUBLIC.

Corolle dolls offer a best friend for every age and stage

My daughter is a hard-core doll fan. She spends nearly all day with her Corolle dolls, and they have quickly become more than just mere dolls; they are friends.

But, while my son is still very much into baby dolls, my daughter alternates between playing mommy and playing with her more grown-up dolls, like the Corolle Les Cheries dolls. These beauties have become my daughter's new favorite toy and she is on a mission to collect every single one Corolle makes.

Educational and fun toys from Museum Tour

Toys these days are just so cool. Sure, you can still find cheap, plastic junk at just about every big toy store, but there are also a handful of companies still making classic toys and gifts that will delight for decades. The problem is finding those companies is a full time job. Thank goodness I can turn to Museum Tour to find those companies without having to search high and low.

The Museum Tour catalog and website were created by a former museum director and educator in order to help take learning beyond the museum and science center walls. With items chosen to help parents teach their children essential life skills at home, the Museum Tour collection of products includes many previously hard-to-find items and learning toys.

Museum Tour believes that children will want to learn if presented with toys that have been created with both education and fun in mind so they have packed the pages of their catalog with the best of the best in terms of high quality learning toys.

I don’t know about you, but I get overwhelmed when shopping for kids toys, wondering what’s just going to collect dust in the bottom of a toy bin. When I found Museum Tour, it was as if I had curated the catalog myself and I was in heaven with page after page of the good stuff. It’s got the classic, the unique, and the toys that really wow.

Galt Toys offers educational and developmental toys and gifts for kids of all ages

I’m guessing most of you out there are very familiar with Galt Toys, even if you wouldn’t recognize the name. With a history spanning over 175 years and with toys for ages 0-12, Galt Toys has been celebrating the importance of childhood play in Europe and is now moving into North America just in time for the holidays.

From their iconic Ambi Toys collection that I remember vividly from my own childhood to the Galt learning books that are used in schools and homes alike, Galt Toys have been a staple in many homes for generations. Do these look familiar to you?

Giving Corolle dolls this holiday season

I am 100% convinced that every little kid needs a Corolle doll. Regardless of gender or toy preferences, I truly believe that every toddler needs to have their own doll to love. And, as it turns out, the experts agree with me.

It was through our co-op preschool that I first realized the importance of doll play for both girls and boys. The textbooks all agree that not only is doll play fun, but it also helps with social and emotional skills, verbal skills, role play, and helping to grow their imaginations.