Kids Products Archives - Page 36 of 62

Step2 LifeStyle Custom Kitchen

I
am a Step2 Test Drive Blogger. I received a product in exchange for my
review and opinion. No other compensation was provided and all opinions
are 100% ours.

I spend a good deal of my time at home in the kitchen. Whether I’m making dinner, washing dishes, packing lunches, or prepping snacks, the kitchen is where you will find me. My kids have seen me in the kitchen their whole lives and love to watch me cook and prep, so it’s really no surprise how interested they are in how things work in the kitchen.

This is why they are in love with their new play kitchen from Step2 that sits right alongside my real kitchen. They play with it every single day without fail and it’s become one of the biggest draws of our whole house that the kids flock to during playtime.

I love that they adore it so much, because I love to see them figure out everyday problems like how to make stew when all you have in the fridge is a few random vegetables because someone {ahem, the little one} took everything else for his picnic in the living room.

I love watching them work out math problems by dividing foods and subtracting, and I love seeing them problem solve amongst themselves as they figure out how many foods should be allocated to picnics and how many are for the stew.

Sofia the First: Ready to be a Princess on DVD

Much to my daughter’s dismay, I must have been the last mom on Earth to hear of Sofia the First. She has been trying for months to get me to buy Sofia toys and games whenever we saw them in stores, and it wasn’t until about two weeks ago that I realized they were licensed after a new show on Disney Jr.

So, I did my reading and found that Sofia the First is all about a little girl who becomes a princess overnight when her mom marries the king. The show is about adjusting to life as royalty while dealing with normal issues every kid faces, like honesty and loyalty and courage. I love the premise because it shows girls that even though Sofia may be living a fairytale, it’s important to know that she has problems just like everyone else.

My daughter was ridiculously excited when we received the new Sofia the First DVD last week with 5 new episodes from the TV series. After watching the first episode, she turned to me and said “this is the BEST SHOW EVER” and snuggled in. My daughter absolutely loves the show now that she's seen the new DVD, and I love that she’s learning lessons about telling the truth, believing in herself, and trying new things.

Corolle dolls for every age & stage

You may have noticed a new logo on the sidebar announcing my ambassadorship with Corolle dolls. With two doll loving kids at home, you can probably imagine the excitement upon finding out that we would get a chance to review a collection of new Corolle items this fall and winter.

But, before we get to the new products and how much I love their dolls and accessories, I should explain why this ambassadorship means so much to me. Corolle is a brand that I grew up with, playing with their baby dolls in my early childhood and then later collecting them as a young girl. I always dreamed of one day sharing this love of Corolle with my children and was thrilled when they gravitated towards the brand with no outside influence at all, and even more excited that they became such amazing fans themselves.

What started as a love of a company that made me nostalgic for childhood has shaped my own children’s childhood. It used to be that when I picked up a Corolle doll, I would remember all those nights spent hugging my baby dolls in bed, but now my children’s memories are forever intertwined with my own, and that sweet vanilla scent takes me back to both time periods simultaneously.

Back to School, rain or shine with Gymboree

Back to School rain or shine
I remember thinking that summer was far too short when I was growing up, but as a mom I feel summer is even shorter than I remember. Our weeks go by in a flurry of summer vacations, mini getaways around Puget Sound and playdates at the lake and ocean. All summer long you can find us with our toes in the sand, building castles and having picnics, enjoying ice cream as the sun goes down, and then just as quickly as it started, it seems like it’s fall again.

And, this year the coming of fall means a very big thing for us: the start of Elementary School. My daughter is really excited about going to the “big kid” school in our neighborhood and I’m excited to walk her there, hand in hand every morning and then pick her up every afternoon. But, with the arrival of school comes the changing of the leaves, the cooler weather, and the start of the rain that will be here on and off until April.

So, we’re starting school and kicking off the start of the rainy season with some new rain duds from Gymboree. That means rain boots, rain jacket, and umbrellas. But, it also means long pants for my son since he still goes to school twice each day to pick up his sister, and so far that has equaled a whole lot of wet jeans from puddles and rain.

Thank goodness Gymboree had everything we needed and more, including this gorgeous rain set that would make any rainy day seem brighter.

My daughter has worn it to and from school a few days now when it was sprinkling {or "sparkling" as she would say} and it was perfect for the warm days of fall. When she’s not wearing it, it stuffs nicely into the bottom of her school bag still leaving plenty of room for all the things that need to go back and forth to school each day.

Back to School with the Step2 Flip & Doodle Easel Desk {Review}

I am a Step2 Test Drive Blogger. I received a product in exchange for my review and opinion. No other compensation was provided and all opinions are 100% ours.

Someday I’m going to build really nice wrap around desks in my kids’ rooms for homework and art, but that day is not today. So these days we do our messy art projects on my dining room table, my kitchen island, or in the living room around the couch. I don’t think it will come as a surprise that I avoid doing art projects with the kids because of the inevitable mess it leaves.

But, this year to celebrate back to school, we got the perfect addition to our house to keep the peace and still allow the kids to be creative: the Step2 Flip & Doodle Easel Desk with Stool. Once the kids got a glimpse of the package contents, they banded together with cuteness until we put it together.

Luckily, it went together quickly with only a couple pieces to snap together and a few screws. In a matter of moments, the kids were loading up the easel desk and organizing their art supplies.

Step2 makes all sorts of easels and desks in different colors and variations, but we loved the Flip & Doodle design because it can be either a stand-up easel or a flat-top desk with one quick motion. The easel has a great magnetic white board surface as well as clips that can hold art paper or boards with ease and then it flips down to become a more traditional desk with a flat
writing surface for homework, iPad time and more. With so many ways to use it, I know it's going to be one of the best-loved play pieces we own.

VTech Switch & Go Dinos

My son is crazy about dinosaurs and about vehicles of all kinds, so I knew he would think that the Switch & Go Dinos were basically the coolest thing ever. Whenever he sees the brightly colored dino covered boxes when we’re out shopping, he can’t help but hug them all. Of course I couldn't say no when offered a set of Switch & Go Dinos to review right before his birthday.

If you haven’t seen them in stores yet, Switch & Go Dinos are robotic dinosaurs that transform into various vehicles with just a few motions. When in dino mode, they roar like prehistoric animals, and when in car/truck/flying object mode, their engines rev and they make vrooming noises. Pretty much the best toy ever, in a little boy’s eyes.

I already knew that my son would think it was pretty awesome if a few Switch & Go Dinos came to live with us, so I was sure they would be the perfect birthday present for him this September. My daughter recognized this as well and decided that of all the other toys on the market, she really wanted to buy him one of these dinos for his birthday.

Kmart makes fiscally responsible Back to School easy

I’m sure by now you’ve seen the Kmart Back to School commercials with the kids on the playground telling “Yo Mama” jokes to compliment each other’s new Kmart gear. Just like the infamous “Ship My Pants” commercial of earlier this summer, it’s clever and funny, and every time it comes on, I find myself stopping what I’m doing to watch it.

I mean, who doesn’t want to be so fashion forward and fiscally responsible that the kids are talking about it on the playground? Well, now you can be that cool mom simply by shopping at Kmart for back to school.

And, their fall sales and deals couldn’t come at a better time, because in addition to back to school items and school supplies, fall means the start of many different activities that all cost a good chunk of change. With so much going on, your budget can get pulled in a lot of different directions, and it’s easy to realize you’re over budget before school has even started.

Crayola for Back to School

Don’t shoot me, but I’m actually looking forward to Back to School shopping. I’m excited about walking the aisles and aisles of notebooks, protractors, pencil boxes and art supplies looking for the perfect supplies to send my daughter off to school with. Maybe it’s my love of office supplies talking, but I love digging through all the brand new school supplies and taking in the scent of new crayons and freshly sharpened pencils.

Yes, I know all you seasoned moms are now shaking your heads at me.

It’s not that I look forward to plunking down cash for brand new crayons when our {slighty} broken ones are just fine, it’s just that school is more fun when you have a backpack full of new school supplies. I’m looking forward to loading up my art-loving daughter with all the fun stuff for school {and for at home} that can make her entire school year exciting.

In fact, I didn't even mind that we had to store-hop a bit in order to get everything we needed, er, wanted, because it was as much about the adventure as it was about our crazy awesome Crayola haul we came home with. Seriously, just look at all this fun stuff we get to play with!

Chicago event introduces new expanded Bitty Baby line from American Girl

At American Girl, the message is about celebrating oneself and all the things that make us unique and special. In fact, they have a whole line of customizable 18” My American Girl dolls that are a perfect example of this. For the past few years they have been offering the award-winning My American Girl customizable doll experience where you can choose from different skin, eye, and hair colors and styles to best match your child’s unique features.

But, until this August, the Bitty Baby line was far less customizable. With only 7 options available to choose from up until now, the line was not all-encompassing by any means. There were many children, my daughter included, that didn’t have a Bitty Baby option for them.

My daughter has light hair, light skin and brown eyes, which I have realized doesn’t really exist in the doll world. Dolls with brown eyes have dark hair and oftentimes darker skin as well, and blonde haired dolls almost always have blue eyes.

Or, at least they did. On August 27th, the new Bitty Baby dolls will come in 11 options with all sorts of combinations of light and dark skin and eyes, which makes it far more likely that you will find that perfect doll as unique as your child. Like their My American Girl line, now you can pick skin tone, eye color, and hair color to customize your child’s Bitty Baby experience.

CamelBak Eddy bottles are perfect for back to school

I know some people swear by them, but I hate sippy cups. Really, really hate them. I’ve never had one that didn’t leak, had a million parts, or that didn’t take up my entire cupboard with plastic parts, accessories and odd-shaped cups. So, instead of investing a ton of money on a very short-lived item, I asked my friends for an alternative to the sippy cup.

Their answer was the CamelBak Eddy bottle that has a neat bite-valve mouthpiece and straw. One quick look around our Stroller Strides class or a day at the park with friends and CamelBak was the clear preference of moms and kids.

That next week, I went and loaded up on some CamelBak Eddy bottles and immediately fell in love. I had worried that at age 18 months my daughter would be too young to use a cup with a straw, but because the bite valve needs to be engaged in order to drink, she didn’t inhale water like she did with other cups. If it had been a problem, the rumor is that you can simply remove the straw and they can use it more like a traditional sippy cup, but we’ve never done this.

The CamelBak Eddy quickly became our go-to bottle for days out at the park or on the town, vacations, dinner time beverages, and for playtime here at home. On our recent Chicago trip and two day train trip home, these bottles pretty much saved our sanity. No worrying about where we would find drinks while out and about, and no stressing over open cups, missing pieces, or whose drink is whose because we all had our own Eddy bottle at the ready.