Friday, January 14, 2011

Netflix Instant Que

If you have a newer TV with Internet connectivity or even a PC, I highly recommend having a Netflix account, as well. There are so many children's shows that are available for no extra charge through Netflix's Instant Que. I wish we had known about this when Grant was two or three-years-old. It would have saved us hundreds of dollars in DVD costs. I usually found really good deals on his DVDs, but I still have a vast collection that he will someday outgrow. How much better to just borrow the shows daily from the Netflix library and when your child loses interest, it hasn't cost you anything?

Update: May 18,2012
At the time this blog post was written, Netflix had not yet come out with either an iPad or Android app that would allow the portability of the Instant Que. However, sometime in the last 16 months, those apps have been made available.

Go, Diego, Go

I wrote my last blog article about learning a foreign language in July and I need to post an amendment already. At that time, my son had zero interest in 'Go, Diego, Go'. However, about three weeks ago, he watched his first episode and he's barely watched anything else since. Unlike KaiLan, which attempts to share an aspect of Chinese culture in every episode, Diego is about a boy who helps rescue an animal in trouble. The concept is a great one for a children's show and many Spanish words are introduced. However, there does not seem to be much exploration of the Mexican or Spanish culture, which I find disappointing. Honestly, what my son retains from 'Go, Diego, Go' are all the amazing facts about the different animals, not the Spanish. This is a different experience than we've had with KaiLan, which had him integrating Chinese words into his every day life. So, in my opinion, the show is great for entertainment value and learning a lot of interesting animal facts, but lacks something in its method for teaching Spanish.

Peel and Stick by Numbers

Recently, I was randomly looking for something new for Grant to play with.  Since nothing was sparking my interest through this method, I thought about all of our favorite toys. Then, I decided to search for other products made by the manufacturers of the toys we liked the best. This search method yielded one of Grant's absolute, all-time favorite things to do: Peel and Stick by Numbers from Lauri Toys (see my review of one of their other toys here: http://aweplay.blogspot.com/2010/11/model-airplanes-and-helicopter.html).

The Peel and Stick by Numbers kits come with four pictures, all related to the same theme (ie: trains, wild animals, pets, etc). It's the same concept as paint or color-by-number, except the child uses tiny stickers to "color" with. Each picture is made of tiny little squares with a number inside. There is a color code on the box, indicating which color foam sticker should be placed in each square, based on the number inside the square. The stickers measure about 1 cm square and can be tricky to get onto the picture. If your child is having trouble with fine motor skills, this is a great manipulative to use to gain finger strength!

Each picture takes a couple of hours to complete, and as I mentioned earlier, this is one of Grant's favorite things to do. We leave the picture he is currently playing with on the table, so when he wants to have some quiet time, he can sit and do stickers.  He plays with this for at least an hour every day! I'm starting to get concerned about what we will do after he's completed all of the sets Lauri has for sale. Hopefully, they have new ones in development!

Stomp Rocket

Honestly, I had low expectations for this toy. The only reason I was even shopping for a rocket was because Grant's toy rocket broke in November and he wanted a new one for Christmas. I found the Stomp Rocket through an Amazon search and it met all the criteria I was looking for: it was a rocket, inexpensive, and flew without chemicals or matches being involved (ie: not dangerous). The mechanics of the toy are pretty simple: a child stomps on a plastic block, which pushes air pressure through a tube to the rocket launch pole, causing the rocket to fly. Even though the marketing material said it would fly up to 200 feet, I seriously doubted that was true. How well could a $12 toy actually perform?

Well, I was suprised. Grant and I took this to the park. I assembled it and we placed it on the sidewalk, well away from any trees or buildings. I put the first rocket on and Grant stomped on the plastic block. The rocket flew 10-15 feet in the air, much to our delight. We kept loading rockets on and stomping. Grant (a 50-pound child) was able to get the rocket to fly 50-60 feet in the air. I found that if I jumped on the block, I could get a rocket to go higher than the trees, probably 100 feet.

One of the best features of the Stomp Rocket is that it attracts other kids, because the flying rocket looks like fun and it has the novelty of being a toy that most people have never seen before.  We spent an afternoon with a friendly little girl (and her mom) from Boston who just happened to be playing at the park that afternoon.  She came over and asked if she could play too? Later in the week, it made for great playdate entertainment with the neighborhood kids.  Everyone who sees it in action is instantly enamoured with it and wants to know where I got it? I keep ours in the car, for impromptu park fun and the opportunity to meet new friends.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Moon In My Room

My son has been fascinated with the moon, since he was a toddler. I think it started with the Scholastic video of the picture book, "Happy Birthday, Moon" (on the Goodnight Moon DVD). He loved the little bear, that talked to and shared a birthday with the moon. Another book we often read when he was little was, "Moon Plane", which combined his love for airplanes and the moon in one book!

Imagine how excited he was, when I brought home a moon to hang on his bedroom wall? It came with a remote control and at bedtime, we would lay in the dark, watching the moon move through all of it's cycles. It's been a couple of years, but he still loves this toy, which makes me believe kids of all ages will love this toy. School-age children who are learning about the phases of the moon will find it especially interesting.

KaiLan helped reinforce my son's love of the moon, with the Moon Festival episode. I'll never forget the day my 4-year-old told me he wanted to have a moon festival. He explained the entire itinerary that we needed to follow in order to have one: make lanterns, make moon cakes, take our laterns outside after dark and say hello to the moon, then celebrate by eating our moon cakes. He was so intent on having a moon festival, that I decided we should have one. We spent the afternoon shopping for supplies and decorating our laterns. Then, when my husband got home from work, we followed Grant's itinerary and we all had a great time celebrating our impromtu moon festival. Thank goodness it was a full moon on the day he decided to do this! How sad it would have been if there had not been a visible moon at the time?

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Christmas Traditions

We have a few small traditions at Christmas that I like. Two involve storybooks about elves. The first is from a storybook called "The Puddinhead Story". It is the story of a very busy elf, who runs ahead of Santa on Christmas Eve, delivering pajamas to all the boys and girls. He puts the box containing the pajamas on the porch, rings the doorbell, and runs on to the next house. He's so fast, that most children have never caught sight of him. However, the delivery of the pajamas marks the fact it is time for the child to put on their pajamas and go to sleep, so that Santa can come deliver presents.  We started the Puddinghead tradition last year and the results were amazing. There was absolutely no arguing about going to bed.  Delivery of the pajamas can be tricky. Some people have neighbors deliver the package, ring the doorbell and run.  Instead, I bought a remote doorbell for about $10 on Amazon. When no one was looking, I put the package on the back porch and quietly shut the door. I moved away from the door and waited a few minutes, and then pushed the remote doorbell. My son went running for the door, but of course, no one was there!

The second elf tradition that we've started is one that most people have of heard of by now: Elf on the Shelf. I know that most people use the Elf on the Shelf, or Henry, as we call our elf, as a behavior modifier. Fortunately, we don't have to use ours in that manner very often. However, I do grow weary of hearing my son talk about what he wants for Christmas and asking if he can open presents yet. So, when he starts talking about presents, I have learned to point to Henry and say, "I'm not the one who needs to hear your list. Henry is". Grant will then walk over to Henry and have a very polite and lengthy, one-sided conversation with the elf about what he most desires for Christmas.
















New Magformer Accessory Packs

I've already posted an article about Magformers and they still top my favorite toy list. However, in the last year, the company has added new shapes. Magformers are a relatively expensive toy, but I have found that QVC typically has the best prices and kits available.  I'm not a QVC affiliate, so I don't make any money for pointing out these deals. I just love this toy and think every child should own a set. 
If you prefer not to click on links, go to http://www.qvc.com/ and search for "Magformers" to find these kits, most of which sell for about $24 a piece.

Magformers 20-Piece Magnetic Trapezoid and Rectangle Accessory Pack
http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.T30253.desc.Magformers-20Piece-Magnetic-Trapezoid-and-Rectangle-Acces

Magformers 22-Piece Diamond and Isosceles Accessory Pack
http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.T30250.desc.Magformers-22Piece-Diamond-and-Isosceles-Accessory-Pack

Magformers 20-Piece Magnetic Pentagon & HexagonAccessory Pack

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.T30252.desc.Magformers-20Piece-Magnetic-Pentagon-HexagonAccessory-Pack

Magformers 36pc Jumbo Magnetic Building Set w/ Instructions
http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.T30245.desc.Magformers-36pc-Jumbo-Magnetic-Building-Set-w-Instructions