susiej/reviews

When I was growing up, my Grandma, bless her heart, was in her 70s, a widow, and had raised 7 children, most of them, by herself. She had over 50 Grand and Great Grandchildren. Not until PBN asked us how we handled gifts from the Grandparents, did it occur to me that Grandma’s gift obligations for birthdays and Christmas for all of those little loved ones amounted to thousands of dollars, and covered virtually every week of the year.

With the constraints of living on a fixed income, and most of her monthly government check heading towards doctors visits, and utilities, life gave Grandma little opportunity to shower her little babies even one gift at Christmas. Because, if you give to one, it’s only fair you give to all. I’m wondering now, how Grandma must have felt to see each child, empty handed, year after year on Christmas and birthdays.

Empty-handed, is probably not an accurate picture. Grandma spent most of her time in her tinny little kitchen making hard-tack candy, popcorn balls, taffy, peanut brittle, thumbprint cookies, and soft butterscotch candies wrapped in waxed paper. The hard-tack candy was the most labor-intensive. The slab of marble, pouring the green, red, yellow hot syrup, and reading that candy thermometer until the temperature was exactly right. And who could forget that little bottle of wintergreen flavoring?

As the youngest of all her grandchildren (not counting the Great Grandchildren), my brother and I seemed to have a soft spot in Grandma’s heart. I know this only because I overheard her, several times, slipping dollars into my Mom’s hands, and say, “get the kids something just from me for Christmas.” (Grandma didn’t drive.) My Mom would always push the money back into Grandma’s hands, as Grandma insisted that Mom “just take it.” As much as I hate to admit it, I’m sure she did that for all of her Grandchildren. Grandma would have loved to have access to the Grandkids Gift Guide, as it would have put so much power in Grandma’s hands, and taken all the guess work out of finding the perfect gift.

Still, Grandma, now that I’ve had time to reflect on what matters most in life, I want you to know that it wasn’t whatever it was Mom picked up at the five-and-dime store, which she and wrapped to put under the tree from you to me. I don’t remember much about whatever toy that could have been. But, your green popcorn balls — those were the best. You made them so big. Their enormous size made it impossible for us to get our teeth around them for one big bite. And the green, that light green color, saturated every single sweet-popped kernel.

Grandma, I know you thought those popcorn balls weren’t enough; that you wanted to give something that we could keep, and hold longer after Christmastide had past. Honestly, Grandma, those popcorn balls that so quickly disappeared in our bellies, is the one gift that I’ve held into my heart for over forty years. Thanks again. Grandma. You gave the best gifts. I miss you, so much.

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Filed under: gifts, kids, products, toy by SusieJ - 2 Comments →

Hats off to Nabisco for paying attention to what kids really want: the box. A toy comes with the current box of Ritz Crackers; there are no crackers to dig through to find the toy; there are no hazardous leads or plastics, and no choking dangers. Just a simple box that can be transformed into a simple make-it-yourself toy; the kind kids love best.

And kids, be sure to check out the games on the Ritz web site.

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My son, is very creative, and a perfectionist. He used the Discovery Slide and Shoot digital camera and software. to make this project. He’s 11 — and he taught himself how to do it. With the Slide and Shoot Camera, he will never be bored.

My boys are constantly trying to sneak my camera into their hands so they can take pictures. When that doesn’t work, they grab my phone and take shots of me while I’m frantically trying to make dinner or drive them to sports practice.

To feed their insatiable desire to point and shoot, and save my own camera and phone, I usually buy those disposable cameras for them at the grocery store. They go crazy snapping pictures. The problem with this is that they can’t see their handiwork right away — they can’t learn that pictures of knees and the tops of shoes really don’t make great pictures. And, of course, the roll of film is wasted. The problem with my method, is they can’t see, right away, that pictures of knees and toes really don’t make good pictures. And a roll of film is wasted.

And they made this one, for their little brothers

Discovery Toys just came out with a kid camera, Discovery Slide and Shoot digital camera. - Not a toy camera that lights up when you press the button — a REAL kid camera. This one takes digital photos, with a color preview screen, and a webcam to take live video. It is small and compact and easy to for their little hands to maneuver — and it really works!! So far, this camera appears to be durable enough to get dropped and knocked around and still continues to good shots. (Yes, the camera has been dropped several times, and is still clicking away.)

Designed for ages 8 and up, this is the perfect gift for that “inbetween” child who is too old for “toys,” too “young” for the car keys, yet still wants some excitement under the tree. The slide and shoot digital camera keeps reinventing itself — it’s a toy that offers so many options — video (yes a built-in webcam too), publishing, and of course taking pictures.

Now, the boys can instantly see their shots on the camera’s built-in 1″ LCD color screen. They can delete them and try again. Still, the camera’s built-in memory holds up to 93 photos. Once they’re satisfied with a batch of photos, they can load the photos on my computer via the camera’s software that came in the package.The software comes with its own “activity center” with stickers for each of the holidays so they can create cards, artwork and scrapbook pages, using the graphics that comes with the software, as well as their own photos. This software is a built-in publisher system of its own that puts my boys in charge of the creation. My boys tends to be “perfectionist” and this lets them re-edit and try and try again.The boys can store their photos with the software with the built-in “tags” — so they can sort by event, sport or person.

This camera also has a built in web cam so they can take live video of their brothers. The camera is small enough to slide into their pocket, for easy “spy” videos on their brothers. They are having a blast with this camera. They’re now working on creating their own versions of home movies to match the ones I’m working on.

This is a great learning toy. What better way to let your kids learn the ins and outs of photography with a durable little digital camera that lets them see their results instantly. My only disappointment is the color. We have a pink one, and I checked on-line and didn’t see any other color options. Also, the 1″ LCD screen is small — and takes some getting used to seeing the image that is so tiny.

Here, he drew the sketches, photographed them with the camera, and used the camera’s built-in software to create the lay-out for this print.

But, if you’re still looking for the perfect gift, check this camera out. Discovery Toys, known for kids and knowledge, has reached out to give my kids a chance to learn something about photography — and it is definitely an open-ended toy. They can continue to play with this again and again, each time, creating and learning something new.
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With all the news about toys with lead, toys that create choking hazards, the prized Aqua Dots toy causing comas, and now sock monkeys have needles in them, I’m looking for some safe alternatives for toys this Christmas. To fight back, parents will be writing letters to Congress in an effort to bring back the days of safe shopping. In the meantime, here are some safe alternatives to the hazardous toy nightmare:

1. Make your own Sock monkeys
   

   

2. Give great memories
   

   

   Picture Frames filled with photos of your child with his best friends, playing his favorite sport, or with Mom and Dad.

3. Make a poster of your child.
   

   

   Pottery Barn Teen is selling large sports posters for kids rooms. Take this one step further, and have a photo of your child blown up poster size for his own room.

4. Magazine Rack.
   

   

   You’re constantly telling her to clean her room, so give her the tools to do it. This magazine rack came from Pottery Barn Teen.

5. Bulletin Board
   

   

   A Bulletin Board already loaded with their favorite memories.

6. Magnets/Thumbtacks
   

   

   Turn your child’s small wooden blocks, match box cars, starfish, or hair barrett’s into thumbtacks with epoxy glue and a package of magnets. You could also buy a small package of wooden letters at a craft store to use for magnets.

7. A Scapbook
   

   

   Kids love to hear about themselves. Put together a simple Scrapbook of their life so far. One for them to keep, in their own room.

8. Yarn Dolls

   

   You can also make these as boys — I’m thinking of a green Buzz Lightyear. Very easy and simple to make. A sibling could make this as a present for the other sibling.

I know I am merely scratching the surface here. Hopefully, this will inspire you to come up with new ideas. Don’t forget to join the great letter writing campaign to Congress via the Consumers Union in the “Get the Lead Out This Holiday Season” campaign. Twelve Days of Safe Shopping, November 23 to December 4.

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Five-year-olds live in a wonderful magical world, when recognizing the letter “B” is an amazing discovery. So, I was thrilled when the Parent Bloggers Network planned a School Zone launch and asked me to review both the School Zone Kindergarten Magnetic Tin and the Start to Read Level 1. “Finally,” my 5-year-old said, “I can start doing my homework.” I was glad the kit arrived when it did. School Zone’s products are no stranger in our house, and I know that their award-winning educational products have always stood up to the rigorous durablitly tests my boys give them. This tin and kit are no exceptions.

The box was barely in my house for 10 seconds before it was opened, and all four boys were busy helping to organize the 137 letter, number, and shape magnets. I was so happy to see that the entire case is fully magnetized, inside and out. Wow. A toy designed with common sense. The tin keeps all the magnets corralled in one case. The case opens to create a dry erase board and a lap worktable. This is the best toy for travel.

Yes, 137 magnets is a lot for a little guy to manage. And these are small magnets. The small size is good for building dexterity in their fingers, as they work to match the shapes and letters on the printed color grid on the tin. But, I would suggest keeping the numbers, letters and shapes separate, so that your child will only need to track one set at a time. There are also 10 larger softly-padded “pillow” magnets that my 3-year old loved.

There is a dry-erase marker so that he can practice writing his name, and then use the little portable eraser to wipe off, and try again. But writing is just something my 5-year-old is not interested in right now.

And that brings me to something else that I love about this kit. It grows with your child. Today, maybe all he would like to do is listen to one of the 2 audio story CDs in the Start to Read, and follow along and look at the pictures in the matching storybooks. Tomorrow, he may want to break open the journal and try a little scribbling, or use the stickers to make a story.

You, the parent, as the organizer and keeper of these pieces, can refer to the teaching guidelines. If you’re short on ways to wow your child, the kits provide lots of additional activities. For example, creating a treasure hunt by writing clues on cards.

But even though the title of the product is Start to Read don’t let yourself get caught up in a contest with your child. The key word here is “Start.” Once our children feel like they need to preform, or if they sense our own pressure for them to get it right, the magic is lost. This is a great kit for fueling your child’s built-in intrinsic sense of discovery. This is the perfect tool to do that.

The only bad thing? The title of one of the kit’s storybooks is “I Want A Pet.” I’m just not ready for all of that again.

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Filed under: elementary, products, toy by SusieJ - 2 Comments →