Michelle Smiles

Teaching my children to question authority, except mine.

Taming the beasts

February20

I just wanted to share a few things that keep the wee ones happy these days.  Not solicited reviews, just things that the kiddos enjoy.  I’ve ranted several times about how all toys have to light up and make noise these days – some of these do that.  But these are a few toys the kids love and I don’t hate. (Click the photo see the items for sale on Amazon.  Beware…I found many cheaper elsewhere but Amazon was the 1 place I could find everything and I’m a lazy linker.)

First, Tessa.  She received this Mozart Music Cube for Christmas and is fascinated by it.  Sabrina loves it too but that might just be because it doesn’t belong to her.  I think it is kind of fun to play with too.

mozartcube

My only criticism is that it is a bit louder than it needs to be – but aren’t all kids toys?  But if I have to have music and flashing lights?  I’ll take Mozart.

Sabrina LOVES her “radio”.  It is actually a Blue Hat Kids MP3 she received for Christmas.  It came pre-loaded with 20 (annoying but not horribly so) songs BUT you can download whatever music you want to it.  We are going to put some bubble-gummy 50’s songs that she thinks are fun so that she can enjoy the music and mommy doesn’t have to hide her radio.  And we can change the music as she grows.  It is pretty cool.

kidsmp3

*Beware.  Shop around for this one.  When I initially looked on Amazon it listed the price as $150.  Looking at some of the stores that sell it through Amazon I found it under $40.

Okay, onto quieter things.

I love the Fisher Price Flip Flop Egg Drop.  It entertains me at length.  Oh and Sabrina likes it too.  It is often her favorite toy of the day.  I love that it doesn’t require batteries.  And it teaches hand eye coordination.

flipflopeggdrop

Don’t buy this from Amazon.  I paid $8 for it at Toys R Us (might have been on sale).  Google and find it for less elsewhere – it shouldn’t cost more than $10.

And finally, 3 favorite books.  The book list could be much longer but I’ll just give you 3.

The Monster At The End of This Book was one of my favorites and I am so glad that Sabrina loves it to.

groverbook

Not A Box was a gift this Christmas and Sabrina loves it.  It is very simple but fun.

notabox

And finally, I used to read How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight to some of the young kids I worked with back in the day. I bought it for the girls for Christmas this year.  Sabrina loves it and for the past 2 months wants to do dinosaur roars, dinosaur hugs, dinosaur kisses, etc.  Briefly it also helped her stop putting up a fight at bedtime when Steve would ask “Do dinosaurs cry when they go to sleep?”  She would say “no” and get quiet.  That only lasted a few weeks though so don’t hold your breath on it being a long term solution.  But it is fun.

dinosaurgoodnight

So there you go, a small gift guide for the kiddos.

posted under parenting
6 Comments to

“Taming the beasts”

  1. On February 20th, 2009 at 2:39 pm Sonia in MO (FTC) Says:

    The Dinosaur books are a hit in our house – although the lessons seemed to get ignored. But for some reason it’s the Gossie books (Gossie, Ollie, Gossie & Gertie) we read over and over again. Hannah has them “memorized” and now reads them to me. It’s so cute 🙂 And I like to pull them out when we visit long-lost relatives so she can “read” and show everyone what a genius I am raising…lol….

  2. On February 20th, 2009 at 9:43 pm Andrea Says:

    We love the Dinosaur books, too. The MP3 player is AWESOME. That may be 3rd birthday gift. Thanks!

  3. On February 21st, 2009 at 9:32 am Amy Says:

    OMG!!!! Monster at the end of this Book was one of my favorite books when I was a kid!!!! I kept my copy and read it to Emily all the time but I didn’t think anyone else had ever even heard of that book! Oh Yay! I am so glad Beana likes it. I LOVE that book.

    PS – Emily goes nuts for a spirited reading of Green Eggs and Ham.

  4. On February 21st, 2009 at 1:27 pm Bobbi Says:

    Monster at the End of the Book!! A favorite of Joe’s as a kid, and the girls too!!! He does a really good Grover (especially after a few drinks, but we try not to do that w/the girls!!)

    The radio looks fun. I need to look into that one.

    THanks for the tips

  5. On February 22nd, 2009 at 4:36 pm Rhonda Says:

    Great toy ideas………love so many books and so glad both girls enjoy them as well as we all do.

  6. On February 23rd, 2009 at 11:46 am Burgh Baby Says:

    I MUST find this Egg Drop thing. MUST. Hrrrrmmm . . .

    I totally agree about Not a Box. I’ll have to get the other books, because obviously you have good taste.

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