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Dear President Obama: Letters of Hope from Children Across America$17.95 at Amazon.com |
Children in America were well aware that history was made in November 2008, but their thoughts and reactions were bound to get lost among the flurry of news reports and adult conversations. That’s why it’s refreshing to read this new collection of children’s letters to President Obama, complete with hopes, fears, well-wishes, illustrations, and expressions of downright elation. Children ages 4 – 18 from all areas of the U.S. are represented and have a lot to say. Some of the letters made me smile — kids have been know to do that! For instance, I got a chuckle out of “Have fun at the White House,” “Do you believe in ghosts,” and much more. Other letters made me realize just how aware kids are of what our country’s issues are. Questions like, “Is the White House Eco-Friendly,” and “P.S. I’m 8 years old and I want to change the world. How Can I,” are just a sampling of some of the thoughts going through kids’ minds. 200 letters and drawings were collected by journalists Bruce Kluger and David Tabatsky immediately following the election. Linda Ellerbee wrote the Foreword, a nice addition that does not outshine the very real sentiment expressed by our youngest, yet extremely active and concerned citizens. Letters to President Obama makes a great gift for your grandkids, but adults will equally appreciate it.
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Squiggle On-The-Go doodle pads are a super creative travel activity. We surprised our kids (4 and 7) with them last week as we began a fairly long drive towards our vacation destination. They immediately began creating, and the more they doodled, the bigger their smiles and sillier their giggles became! Squiggle pads are a cleverly simple concept. Each sheet contains a “squiggle,” or randomly drawn line that your grandchild can use as the basis for their own creative doodle, or full-blown picture. Most of the sets also include a spinning wheel for added game-like dimension. For instance, the original Squiggle On-The-Go (shown here, 5 and up), has you spin and land on any of the letters A through D, each letter corresponding with a different side of the doodle pad. Your grandchild then rotates the pad so that the letter spun is at the top of the pad. However the squiggle line appears in that position is the starting point for their picture. How my son immediately envisioned (and then skillfully drew) a scarecrow in front of a farm — all from just a slightly curved line — is beyond me. It’s all in the way each child sees things — everyone potentially seeing something different — sort of like looking at clouds, or a Rorschach picture. Kids 4 and up will enjoy the themed Sguiggles, such as: Shapes and Colors, which has them draw pictures from shapes; Alphabet, where they spin and land on a letter, then draw a picture from the letter; and Barnyard, where they spin and land on an animal, and then draw that animal from the squiggle line provided on each sheet. Each pad comes with a small travel pencil (Shapes and Colors comes with four colored pencils for coloring/filling in), and the sheets easily tear off the pad. You can either leave the sheets on the pad, or carry a little ziplock bag to easily store all of the completed sheets. Squiggle On-The-Go is a simple yet clever and creative concept — a welcomed alternative to today’s typically electronic road-trip activities. Available through the link below or at all Barnes & Noble locations.
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Young children may not understand exactly how currency works, or even be able to tell the difference between a quarter and a dime. But they should be able to grasp simple financial literacy concepts… as long as they’re presented in an engaging age-appropriate way. The Money Mammals is a DVD produced especially for younger children, to teach them some basic concepts about money. These concepts are reflected in the DVD’s title, “We’ll Share & Save & Spend Smart Too.” The story’s characters are cute new puppets, including Joe the Monkey, Piggs the Bank, Clara J. Camel and Marmoset the Monkey. The content is presented primarily using catchy original songs to get the main points across. In fact, don’t be surprised if you find yourself singing along with your grandchild! The animals first learn that they need a certain amount of money to buy a certain thing. Piggs the Bank and Joe the Monkey realize they can use 1 coin to buy the trading card they want — the corresponding song is “One Coin (for the Coconut Card).” They then learn their friend Clara wants a red straw hat and decide to buy it for her birthday — but they soon realize they need to save 4 coins in order to buy it. This means they must make a choice not to buy more trading cards in order to save up to buy the hat for Clara. These “sharing,” “saving,” and “spending smart” messages are backed up with songs such as, “Reasons to Save,” and “Let’s Make the Right Choice,” which are, again, likable tunes that drive the points home in a fun, non-preachy way. The Money Mammals DVD has clear learning objectives and we believe it achieves them. But we’re guessing your grandkids won’t even realize they’re supposed to be learning!
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At some point during grade school and certainly by middle school, many girls become interested in body care and beauty products. But have you ever read the labels on the bottles of your typical body wash, moisturizing lotion, shampoo or conditioner? You’ve probably found that most of the ingredients are almost impossible to pronounce. In fact, some of them, like Paraben, Phthalate, Sodium Lauryl/Laureth, and Sulfate, can be downright dangerous! Two moms concerned about these health and safety issues developed Sparklehearts — a new line of beauty products that appeals to girls, and eases the minds of those who love them. Made in the U.S.A from 99.6% natural organic ingredients, such as, evening primrose, sweet almond protein, violet extract, rosemary, shea butter, green tea, sage, nettle extract and willow bark, Sparklehearts products are worry-free, and still do what they are intended to do. Hillary Orr and Darcy McMahon put a lot of time into the vibrant, playful packaging of the line, so that a girl (lets say, ages 7-14), would want to use them. And the positive message (“sparklehearts,” representing inner beauty), as well as the “back to basics” ingredients, make them a winning product and a perfect gift for girls. Oh, and they smell great, too! Currently the line includes: Bubbly Blooms Body Wash, Shine Shampoo, Rainbow Soft Conditioner, Sweet Hearts Sparkly Lotion and Peace Out No Knots Hair Detangler.
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My daughter is thrilled to be the screen star in several new computer learning games, and she loves playing them too! Custom Kid Games (founded by veteran kids software designers) has launched Rocket Smarts CD-ROM for the PC or Mac, perfect for grandchildren ages 3-6 and personalized with your favorite photos of them. There are three games to choose from and in each one your grandchild will star as the adorable little astronaut — the main character, of course!. One game focuses on color recognition and is great for younger (3 year-old) kids. Another game focuses on numbers and counting, asking the player to repeat an action 2 times, 5 times, 8 times, etc. Once players master this task, the game will intuitively become more challenging, asking them to repeat an action “more than” or “less than (3) times. The third game is, perhaps, the most challenging of the three, both in terms of its learning objectives as well as the motor skills it requires. It shows a word and asks the player to transport a certain letter in the word up to the matching letter on the top of the screen. The letter is sometimes upper case and sometimes lower case. On the way up and on the way down, the player needs to avoid hitting any moving objects. As is the case with most computer games, well-supervised play will help your grandchildren to develop their conceptual and fine-motor skills. As mentioned, the overall theme of this first CD-ROM is space, and the retro cartoon design is adorable. You can choose a girl’s or boy’s version — some of the graphics differ, but the play is exactly the same.
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So many families with young children end up having to buy extra beach pails and shovels when they arrive at a vacation destination. In fact, I recall buying a brand new set, then immediately “donating” it to local children when our trip wrapped up, simply because we couldn’t fit our existing one in a suitcase or carry-on. Of course, they aren’t expensive, but just think about all of that plastic! Well, we were thrilled to learn about the new eco-friendly SandSac foldable travel beach pail, designed and sold by a mom and dad team who understand the challenges of traveling with young children, as well as the responsibility we all feel to help protect and conserve our environment. The SandSac comes in three sizes, is foldable, and includes a large spoon-like bamboo shovel. The SandSac itself is made of 100% cotton canvas and it actually holds water. My kids couldn’t believe it (and my husband and I couldn’t either!). One nice little bonus I found is that because the SandSac is canvas and soft, my kids didn’t get bumped or bruised like they sometimes do from carrying hard plastic pails full of water around. SandSacs also include 4 non-toxic fabric markers so your grandkids can decorate them and make them their own. If they wish, they can also use fabric paint, appliques, beads, and anything that holds up to sand, beach water, and wash cycles. It’s this decorative customization that makes the SandSac a perfect summer or vacation gift for young children. It’s a beach toy, craft project and keepsake all rolled up into one! And, when your grandkids and their parents are neatly packing their SandSacs and enjoying them at the beach, they can feel good about the fact that MESCO Associates (SandSac’s official entity) is planting a tree (via Mokugift) as a result of that purchase. And planting trees for each sale isn’t the only thing MESCO Associates is doing to help the environment. You can read more about that on their website. In the meantime, know that the SandSac is a unique new product from a small shop doing big things — fulfilling functional and environmental needs, while promoting fun and relaxation. Hooray!
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Create Your Own Fairy Garden/Butterfly Garden$8.50 at Garden Chick |
Gardening is such a perfect intergenerational activity. Planting seeds, nurturing seedlings, and watching them grow into mature plants, is so satisfying, whether you are a seasoned gardener or a child trying it out for the first time. Mackenzie’s Garden gift kits for kids, created and sold by Karen Creel (a.k.a. “Garden Chick”), can help you make this experience even more magical for you and your grandchild. Gardening with her own grandchild inspired Creel to start her line of enchanted kids gardening kits. You can choose from a Create Your Own Fairy Garden kit or Create Your Own Butterfly Garden kit. Each kit comes in an attractive purse-like gift package (no wrapping necessary!). The Fairy Garden kit includes a variety of seeds from sun-loving plants that attract “fairies” or fairy-like creatures, such as dragonflies, butterflies, etc. It also includes a card with instructions for planting your garden and some fun info. about fairies. As a bonus your grandchild will receive a little Garden Fairy paper doll sticker book. The Create Your Own Butterfly Garden kit is almost identical — seeds for growing colorful sun-loving plants that attract butterflies, growing instructions, and a booklet containing butterfly kids tattoos. In the Mackenzie’s Garden section of the Garden Chick website you can also purchase a Fairy Dust Cookies cookie-making kit (with fairy, dragonfly and flower-shaped cookie cutters, recipe, and “fairy dust” to sprinkle on top of the iced cookies), as well as a Flower Fairy Tea kit for tea parties (with tea bags of organic chamomile flowers, lemon balm, honeysuckle blossoms, hibiscus flowers, and spearmint). Each of the kits are under $10 yet they offer the prospect of a memorable and, quite possibly, enchanting experience with your grandchild.
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MunchMats Nutrition for the Brain$19.95 per set at MunchMats |
MunchMats educational and interactive learning placemats have my kids completely engaged in what I would call “school work that’s fun.” They are essentially a version of what restaurants sometimes provide — disposable paper activity sheets that double as placemats. But MunchMats are full-color and bursting with outstandingly-designed curriculum and learning objectives. MunchMats are sold in sets of 30 original sheets for 3 different age groups and 3 different themes: colors, shapes, letters and numbers for ages 3-6; the alphabet for ages 4-7; and U.S. geography for ages 8-12. As you can imagine, in the 3-6 year-old placemats, there is a lot of tracing of letters and numbers encouraged, along with coloring, counting and number sequencing activities, word searches, mazes and much more. In the alphabet-themed MunchMats for ages 4-7, there’s a great Pictionary Matching game, where a word definition can be read by your grandchildren (or you can read it to them). They then draw a line from the definition to the picture of the word, and then a line from the picture to the actual word. There are also fun fill-in-the-blanks activities, hidden picture puzzles, rhyming activities, and on and on. Regarding the geography-themed mats for ages 8-12, combing through each of the sheets is like taking a virtual cross-country trip (complete with great pictures) with a lot of extra information, such as facts about each region, famous landmarks, map-reading (including latitude and longitude), state abbreviations, common road signs, locations of famous people and events, etc. Each MunchMats 30-pack is printed using vegetable ink, and comes with a parent (or grandparent) lesson plan, a review page, and certificate of completion. It also comes with a large sturdy plastic zip-lock carrying case for storage in the car, at home, etc. I can think of so many uses for MunchMats. Aside from simply encouraging quiet learning time at home, they are invaluable for travel, in restaurants, etc. You can even tear off a sheet or two, fold it up and keep it in your purse for when the need arises. For an additional $12.95, you can purchase a MunchMats lap board that enables your grandchild to work on the activities in the car, on a plane, or anywhere where a table is not available. This is such a great opportunity for many hours of interactive learning time with your grandchild — and it’s fun!
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WheeGo Home/Indoor Quest$9.99 at Wheego |
WheeGo Home/Indoor Quest is a new indoor treasure hunt activity created by a resourceful mom and dad team. Cold winter days and long stretches of spring and fall rain can mean antsy grandkids looking for action. Nothing a good old-fashioned indoor treasure hunt can’t cure! WheeGo is designed for kids ages 4-7. It’s small and portable, and is great for visits with grandparents. Each package comes with supplies for two hunts – ours came with Cody the Country Singer’s and Jilly the Jouster’s quests. Most often, you or another caregiver will be Captain WheeGo, following the instructions enclosed and setting up the hunt. Each hunt includes color-coded and well-labeled envelopes containing: a Captain WheeGo Card that tells you (Captain WheeGo) where in your home to place each of the clue cards (out of site from your grandkids); a Character Card that gets the quest started and tells players where to find Clue #1; 10 Clue Cards; a little Treasure that is placed in the Treasure Box; and a Character Trading Card. Each of the Clue Cards is written in poetic verse and the clues are fairly easy for 6 & 7 year-olds to figure out – less so for 4 and 5 year-olds. They are not intended to stump any player. I found that the game became more interesting when I made the Clue Cards a little harder to find. In other words, once your grandkids figure out the Clue Card and know, in general, where in the house to look for the next Clue Card (for instance, the pots and pans cabinet), you may want to make things a little more challenging (like placing the card in the pot they’d least expect, or not in a pot or pan at all!). Your grandkids will be up and moving and excited to find each clue, and eventually, the treasure. My kids were literally out of breath, dashing through the house to each Clue Card destination. I should note that some kids will need help reading the Clue Cards, and some, if not most, will need clues read to them completely. Either way, they will have loads of fun – you all will!
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We wash infants’ clothing in special detergent and boil baby bottles and pacifiers before use — in order to protect our littlest kids and grandkids. But as we’ve learned in the past few years, we often don’t know what chemicals are used in the manufacture of many children’s products, including everyday baby gear. DANO2, a new toy designer and manufacturer, has eliminated this anxiety, at least when it comes to baby teethers. Their Circus Teethers are made with non-toxic, medical grade materials that are free from harmful substances such as Lead, Phthalates and Bisphenol A (BPA). They are tested by independent, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) laboratories to ensure compliance with all U.S. and EU safety regulations, and are made right here in the U.S.A.! DANO2 was started by pop-art toymaker, Daniel Monahan (for his daughter) and his entrepreneur father, and the company is advised by a top-notch pediatrician and chemist. Monahan’s designs are slick, yet practical. Three teethers come in a handy round carrying case, which can fit in any diaper bag, or purse, for that matter. The yellow “monkey” teether is flexible, the blue “seal” is firm, and the green “lion” is tough — all easy to grasp, and, thankfully, easy to trust.
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