children Archives - Page 3 of 5

Tadpool life vest from Exxel Outdoors keeps kids safe while learning to swim

My daughter is a water baby. Ever since she was really little, I had to be very careful with her around the water because if I looked away for a half a second, she would be up to her neck in water – and that’s when we’re talking the cold Puget Sound water. For this reason, we always make sure she’s always with us and in a lifejacket whenever she’s around the water, you just can’t be too careful. But, now that she’s learning to swim, we needed to find a solution that let her move freely while still keeping her safe.

The solution is Tadpool, a new PTPA Seal of Approval winner, that allows kids to learn how to swim in a way that feels natural while still keeping their heads above water. I was so thrilled when the package carrying our princess Tadpool PFD arrived at our door just in time for our family vacation full of water play.

The untold story of Disney’s Maleficent {review}

Growing up, I loved all things Sleeping Beauty. I loved the magic, the fairies, the wood cutter’s cottage, and the Sleeping Beauty castle. More importantly, I loved Maleficent. I think we can all agree that she’s one of the best Disney villains, but yet we knew almost nothing about her aside from her unique headwear and her disdain about not being invited to a baby shower. But why did she bestow such an awful gift on a helpless baby? Where does her hatred for Aurora come from? And why on Earth would she trust a crow to be her eyes and ears in going about her evil plans?

Looking for fun on your trampoline? Look no further! This is the ultimate list of insanely fun activities and ideas you can do on your trampoline for kids and adult. From workouts and collaborative games to learning activities and creative play – there’s something for everyone!

Cherishing the small moments with Gymboree

In some ways, parenting is exactly the way I thought it would be, but in some ways I can’t believe how different it is than I imagined. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the never-ending to-do lists and the days that fly by, and sometimes I look at my kids and wonder how on Earth I have a five year old and a three year old. Nothing could have prepared me for how quickly my babies would grow into full-fledged kids and how much I would reminisce about days gone by.

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.

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.

World Vision: give back while giving this holiday season {Prosperity Cinnamon Box}

The above display for World Vision was found at Northgate mall, nestled in between clothing and shoe stores. Every time we passed it this season we would stop, take pictures with the goats, and I would talk to the kids about what we can do this holiday season to give back.

We all love to buy something for someone to open for the holidays, even if it seems like the recipient has everything. So, why not give them a gift that will make you both feel good? Something from World Vision is always the perfect present because it truly is more than a present – it’s a way to give back with each gift given.

I’ve talked before about how much I love World Vision for what a worthy cause they support, and how it’s one of my favorite go-to places for those that are impossible to buy for. With an option to do a donation in anyone’s name or to get a small gift with a donation, it’s perfect for bosses, co-workers, relatives, friends, acquaintances, and those that live near or far.

Aeromax Get Real Gear for Halloween and beyond

Imaginations take flight with Aeromax
In our house, we take our dress up very seriously. We don’t merely have dress up time; all play time these days is done in costume. On any given day you will find the kids dressed as princesses, cowboys, knights, dragons, fairies, and doctors to go along with whatever they are playing with.

Our love of dress up lead us to fall in love with a company called Aeromax that makes the most realistic dress up gear anywhere. The kids have never been drawn to the fake costumes with plastic and overdone jewels – they want stuff that they can put on and be able to truly imagine themselves as a scientist in a lab, a police officer keeping the neighborhood safe, or a pilot flying a cargo plane full of toys.

With Aeromax Toys, pretend play has never been more realistic because even though their gear is designed for kids, this stuff is anything but child’s play. Seriously, just look at these costumes from their Get Real Gear line!

We’re talking flashing sirens, metal buckles, sewn-on patches, real buttons and snaps, and reinforced fabrics and details that look like miniature versions of the real deal stuff. For over 15 years Aeromax has been sparking imaginations with dress up clothing and gear from baby on up to adult and has received every top toy industry award.

With Halloween on the horizon, now more than ever we are thinking about costumes. But, with how much my kids love dress up year-round, I never consider shopping for Halloween at stores that carry traditional costumes. You know the kind, the ones that are made of those awful polyester fabrics and are designed to self-destruct before you even make it around the block trick or treating and with accessories so flimsy they end up being held together by tape before the big day even rolls around.

No, that won’t do at all. Our dress up gear needs to last throughout dozens of playtimes, so we need high quality stuff that’s built to be played in. Thank goodness Aeromax knows that dress up isn’t just for October 31st and has plenty of high quality gear that is made to be loved. And, trust me when I say that the gear that just arrived from Aeromax is very, very loved.

We received the Jr. Fire Fighter costume in tan, the Jr. Astronaut costume in white and then helmets for both costumes, and to say they were well received would be a vast understatement. Since my daughter is obsessed with space travel and my son is convinced he is almost old enough to fight fires, these costumes really couldn’t have been any better suited to my kids.

The Magic School Bus Weather Lab from Young Scientists Club {review & giveway}

Anyone who knows my daughter knows that science is a verb in our house. A few months ago, my daughter decided that she definitely wanted to be a scientist when she grew up…. or a ballerina. We ran with the scientist thing.

I never turn down an opportunity to spark my kids’ love of learning, and science with kids can be a fascinating thing that can carry them all through school. So, now we “science” all sorts of stuff each day, anything from basic weather phenomenon, things we find in nature, or concepts that can be hard to explain to kids without hands-on experiments.

Thank goodness there are kits designed specifically for teaching kids early science lessons, because I would be lost on how to start teaching science otherwise. I recently found the Magic School Bus line of science kits from Young Scientists Club and it was as if I had found the coolest toys on earth, according to my daughter.

I loved the books growing up, and we just found the Magic School Bus show after searching for science shows for kids, so as soon as I saw that there were Magic School Bus kits specifically for doing science at home, I was sold. And, then when I saw this kit, I fell in love:

Magic School Bus Weather Lab
Ms. Frizzle and her students help Young Scientists learn about the weather by spinning a pinwheel, making a tornado in a bottle, swirling a paper snake, recreating the water cycle, creating a rain cloud, using a sun dial, constructing a barometer, catching a rainbow, and learning about the greenhouse effect. With a weather chart is for tracking weather with colorful stickers, 28 colorful experiment cards, weather station, weather chart, stickers, and data notebook to record observations, your child will have everything they need to become a little meterologist.

From toddler to teen: the answer is the Zazoo Kids photo clock

Up until just a few months ago, our kids were a parent’s dream at night. We would literally pop them in their beds after their bedtime routine and not hear from either one again until I would have to wake them up in the morning. Yes, true story. But, while my son is still firmly … Read more