First Trip to Build A Bear

Kate thoroughly enjoyed her first trip to Build A Bear Workshop.  I think I enjoyed it just as much; it was fun watching her get so excited. Surprisingly, it was my first trip too.  Reagan has been with Tom and with Grandma and Grandpa, but I never went before this time.  

Kate received a gift card to the store from the Davidson boys for her birthday. Funny thing - I had considered taking her to the store for her birthday, but I decided to take her to Disney on Ice instead, so the gift card was awesome because she got to do both!

 She picked out this bunny, stuffed her, gave her a giggle, added a beating heart, and cleaned her up.

Her bunny needed an outfit and a headband, of course, and Kate chose a pink backpack over the usual cardboard carrying case.

At the store, Kate chose the name Giggles for her bunny, but later in the day she decided to call her Rainbow.  Whatever the name, she's cute, and Kate had a great time creating her.

K Cups

Kate likes to take the K cups out and stand them all up.  For some reason, I didn't get a good picture of her arranging them, but she will do this for quite a while.  Remind me again why we have toys.

I picked up all of the K Cups yesterday and put them away.  This made her angry; she shook her head, waved her arm, and dumped them back out.

Then she proceeded to put them in the basket herself.  I guess she just wanted them put away on her terms!

Do You Zoob?

I have written about our love of Zoob building toys on several occasions, but I couldn't resist showing you how we were Zoob-ing this morning. 

I often find myself inserting the word, "zoob" into 80's pop songs.  Who's Zoobin' Who? (Who's Zoomin' Who? by Aretha Franklin), How will I Zoob if he really loves me? (How will I Know? by Whitney Houston), and You can Zoob if you want to, you can leave the other toys behind, but if you don't Zoob, you don't have to Zoob, but you're no friend of mine (Safety Dance by Men Without Hats)!

How do you Zoob?

*I am not being compensated for this post.  We just really like to Zoob! 
If you purchase Zoob toys through any of my links, however, I may receive a very small amount of money as an Amazon affiliate.
   

Why are the same toys more interesting in a different place?

I recently published two posts about our trip to the Ocean Explorium.  I just have one more thing to say about our trip.  I thought it was hysterical that all three kids (C, R, and their friend, A) kept revisiting the play room.   
What brought them to the play room?

This sink/water table kept them busy for a while, a long while.  They did not want to leave the water table.

They also loved this puppet theater:

I thought it was funny that they wanted to spend so much time in this play area when there were marine animals to look at and touch in the other room.  We have water at home, right?  AND, we have the same exact puppets at home too and the puppets are never touched, ever.  I actually thought about giving them away.  We don't have a puppet theater, so maybe that was the attraction.  I guess I should make one.  It looks to me like you just cut a hole in a box and decorate it.  I think I can do that, maybe.

Collide

I love to see "girl toys" and "boy toys" collide in the world of play created by C and R.  

R's Melissa and Doug magnetic dress up dolls found themselves in a land full of dinosaurs.    Luckily, the dolls survived.

I was very entertained watching them play.

The Perfect Toy for a Little Girl

A woman I know makes these adorable cloth carrying cases with a doll inside.  A few months ago, she gave me one for R in exchange for this post.  I would have happily paid for it though because it is the cutest toy!  R loves it.  There are two pockets on the inside to hold the doll and the clothes.

There is also a heart shaped pillow attached to one side for the doll to rest her head.

My absolute favorite thing about this toy is the fact that the clothes attach with velcro to the front of the doll.

R is able to dress and undress this doll by herself, and that is a big deal to any mom who has had to struggle to get clothes on and off of a doll.

You can pick your own colors for the case, the doll's hair, eyes, etc.  This is fun because you can customize your doll to look like your little girl!  I think it would be fun to customize the case to match the colors of your little girl's bedroom!   When open, the case is about 13"x9" (exclusive of the handles); the doll is approximately 7" tall!

If you would like to purchase your own carrying case with a doll, or if you have questions about the toy, you can contact Belle via email:  lewis_bel@yahoo.com

R loves to play with her doll; she especially loves to change her clothes.  I bet your little girl would love one too!

We Play - Straws and Connectors

I have written about Straws and Connectors on my blog at least twice before.  If you like open ended toys and building/construction toys, you have to buy these.  They are easy to connect, easy to bend for different types of building, and easy to store.  C and R play with them often. 

Aren't they cool?  Definitely one of my favorite toy purchases of all time!

This is my first time linking to We Play.  What do your children love to play?  Visit Childhood 101 to see what other kids are playing!

Boy Meets Girl in the Toy Store

Top Five Friday #3 - Toys

Last week I received a comment on one of my posts asking me for toy recommendations. After reading it, I thought the best way to respond would be with a top five toys post. We have a lot of beloved toys in our house so it is hard to narrow it down to our top five but I think the following toys are played with most often in our house.

1. Imaginext toys - C has the Imaginext castle, jungle, pirate ship, and Bat Cave as well as some of the accessories. They come mostly (if not completely) assembled and they are extremely durable. He plays with these all the time and I highly recommend them.
2. Building toys - We love legos, wooden blocks (especially Haba), Magneatos, and straws and connectors. Building toys are open ended and encourage creativity. They can become anything you want. C and R both love building cities and castles and including other toys in their play.
   
3. Melissa and Doug puzzles - the quality of the M & D puzzles is fantastic and they have great puzzles for every age group. We started with the chunky puzzles and have progressed to the 48 piece puzzles in a tray (C loves this pirate puzzle) and 100 piece floor puzzles.
4. Play food - We have a variety of play food but I have noticed that the cheap plastic food is played with a lot less than the felt or wooden food. The Melissa and Doug wooden food sets are played with often, and the food that can be "cut" is a lot of fun.
   
5. Dress up clothes - C and R both love playing dress up. We have a lot of princess clothes, as well as police officer, Native American, cowboy, superheroes, and pirate costumes. They are used almost every day.

I tried to keep the list gender neutral but our favorite boy toys are action figures and our favorite girl toys are dolls and My Little Ponies. I could not put this item in our top five list, but C and R will both agree that our favorite computer related toy is the Fisher Price Digital Arts & Crafts Studio. They both LOVE the Digital Arts and Crafts Studio and will make creations on the computer for hours. I definitely recommend it.

Here is our top five wish list for this Christmas:

1. art supplies - we use a ridiculous amount of construction paper, paint, glue, and markers
2. R is in love with the American Girl catalog, specifically the Bitty Twins; she wants the girl/boy twins so that one can be her and one can be C. Isn't that cute?
3. C saw the Playmobil pyramid in the store and he has his heart set on this toy. It was ranked #2 in the Family Fun magazine list of top ten toys. The set has hidden passages, trick staircases, scorpions, and a skeleton that fits in a sarcophagus. C has always loved playsets and plays with them often so I am not troubled by the hefty price tag ($105) on this item.
4. Board games - We love to play games. Our favorites are Hi Ho Cherry O, Candy Land, Don't Wake the Hulk, Hullabaloo, and Zimbbos. If you have a game recommendation, please let me know!
   
5. Books - Yes, I know that books are not toys (actually, art supplies aren't toys either so this list is lean on toys, sorry), but if you read my blog then you know that books rank high among our favorite things. All three of my children love to read and I think a book is one of the best presents you can give or receive.

You may notice that our list does not really include any of the hot new toys. Over the years, I have found that the hot new toys are often the toys that are played with least. I know there are exceptions to that rule, but it seems that the most basic, simple toys are the best in our house.

Adriana at My Bilingual Boys is hosting a MckLinky titled Toys My Children Actually Play With every Thursday through Christmas. Check it out for more ideas!

So, if you are interested in sharing your top five of the week or your top five toys, please link up here! I would love to know what you love!

The Best Toys Were Never Meant to be Toys

What does this look like to you?

A few months ago, I purchased something that came in a box with this packaging. I put the packaging aside to be recycled without a thought. C, however, noticed it and decided it was the coolest toy ever! He has been playing with it nonstop since that day.

Recently, I was in Starbucks and noticed the cup holders on the counter and decided it would be the perfect addition to his packaging playset.
C has used his imagination to turn this packaging into forts, mountains, mazes, and battlefields.

Boxes, bubble wrap, tape, string, sticks....it's true, the best toys were never meant to be playthings!

Straw Construction

C got this Staws & Connectors Creative Building Set for his birthday and he is having a lot of fun with it.

This is what you get in the box.

C's first creation is a turkey.

I love open ended toys like this that encourage children to use their imagination! I hope C continues to enjoy this set.

What do I do with this?

We have had this toy for a while. I have no idea what it is called or where it came from. We have used it to sort colors and arrange the wooden blocks by size, but I can't help but think that I am missing some great learning opportunity with this toy. So, if you owned this toy, what would you do with it?

Boys and their Toys

C loves to set up action figures and play sets. Lately, he is very fond of reenacting battles with his toy soldiers, and he loves it when I play with him. I do, of course, but I am horrible at playing soldiers. He doesn't like my noises or even where I put the guys, and he is sure to let me know that Daddy is much better at playing soldiers. That's okay, I still play and he still seems to enjoy my company.

Toy of the Week

Our toy of the week was Lincoln Logs. The toy of the week is typically a toy that is usually ignored, and it stays out in plain view for an entire week. It is a deliberate attempt to interest them in a toy and to observe how they play with the toy.
C and R had a lot of fun with them the first day. Unfortunately, they were ignored the rest of the week unless I prompted the play. Even then, they quickly left the Lincoln Logs for something else. Oh well, I think the Lincoln Logs may be passed along to another child.

Why do I mourn the loss of toys that I think are great?

Magneatos

I recently started choosing a toy of the week for C and R to play with. It is always an open ended toy that will allow them to use their imaginations, and I try to pick toys that have been ignored. Toys get ignored around here because C and R have so many choices. This week C and R enjoyed playing with Magneatos.

Most of the time, I just let them play with the magneatos on their own, but we did spend some time talking about magnets and why the pieces "stick" together. I also made shapes and patterns for C and R to recreate. What are some of your favorite open ended toys that your children enjoy?