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.