I am always on the lookout for the coolest nightlights and look what the awesome people at boon made for us?

In addition to its sexy space-age look, the glowing balls can be removed from the base and taken wherever you need a little light (just a little, the word on the street is that the balls off the base are not very bright). Once separated from the base the balls fade after about 30 minutes.

If you leave them on the base they can change color (there is a sliding thing on the base to change the color) or you can have it cycle automatically through all the colors. You can also set it to white (the brightest setting).

As you would expect from a great company like boon, the base and lights are all BPA-free, Phthalate-free and PVC-free. There is nothing electric in the balls (they are just made of a glow-in-the-dark plastic) so they never get hot. I love this for a baby gift for parents who are into design or trying to be gender neutral.  It doesn’t have to for a kid’s room – I think it would be great as a hallway or bathroom nightlight. Fun enough for the kids’ rooms and yet interesting enough for grown-up rooms too.

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We recently saw the new movie, The Muppets (Loved It! Grown-ups and kids alike!). I am really hoping that this movie sparks a craze for all things Muppet.

If you, or someone you love, is crazy for a particular Muppet did you know that you can have you very own plush version? My longtime favorite, Animal, is pictured above. But of course there is also Kermit The Frog

Miss Piggie

Fozzie Bear (wakka wakka)

Gonzo (“What is Gonzo anyway? He’s a little like a chicken, but not much”)

and many more. They range in size from 15 inches (Fozzie) to 19 inched (Miss Piggie – she wears some serious heels, you know).

Muppets make everything better.

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Blocks are such a basic toy that I think they get overlooked. But they are, in my humble opinion, the most versatile toy there is and crucial for proper development. If there was a law passes that every baby came home from the hospital with one toy, I would vote for that toy to be blocks. We have a huge basket of wooden blocks and they are, at this very moment, being used as a castle for a couple of princesses and a mermaid. Even in a house with two one year olds and a four year old they get played with all the time.

I do love a good set of plain blocks like the Bag O’Blocks seen above by Ryan’s Room. However, I am awfully tempted by pretty things and there are some lovely sets of blocks.

This 25 piece set of Organeco extra-large, lightweight blocks are just lovely. They are made of bamboo (hence the lightweight part), the artwork is done in water based inks sealed with beeswax. You couldn’t ask for a more lovely or eco-friendly toy.

Haba, one of my favorite toy companies, can be relied upon for lovely block sets. To name just a few there is the Haba fantasy blocks

The Haba eeny meeny miny zoo blocks

And the Haba fantasy land building blocks

And for a classic alphabet blocks set, there is nothing prettier than this French alphabet block set by Uncle Goose.

They are handmade in Michigan from solid basswood. There are 32 blocks in the set and they include all letters, numbers and 32 different animals and their named in french. Perfect for introducing a little french to your little one. Or for building princess castles, whichever.

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Not just toy storage bins, but the most beautiful toy storage bins I have ever seen. And they are organic, did I mention that? Beautiful, organic toy storage. It is like a non-denominational holiday miracle.

They are made by 3 Sprouts, a small company made up of people with serious design street cred, and it shows. There are three different shapes and sizes, the Bin, the Box and the Caddy. The canvas is 100% organic cotton and the felt animals are made from recycled soda bottles.

The fox bin is pictured above, the raccoon bin below, but there are 8 different animals to choose from. The bins are are 17″ by 17″ and they are great for stuffed animals, laundry or dress-up clothes.

Next we have the 3 Sprouts storage box. Love the peacock!

The storage box is 13″ by 13″ by 13″. Perfect for LEGOs, cars, little dolls and action figures. Any little thing that you would like to scoop up and put on a shelf.

And then the caddy.

Oh caddy, I think I love you most of all. If you have a 3 or 4 year old you know about their love of putting things in bags and carrying them around the house. The caddy is perfect for anything that will be carried around like books, play food, hair accessories or doll clothes.

I am going to ask you to remember Christmas morning and all the new toys and the feeling you get every year when you look around and wonder where the heck you are going to put all these toys. My advice? Get a bunch of toy storage bins now and be prepared. Or give them as gifts to friends who are going to end up with more toys than they have places to put them.  You will be their hero.

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I haven’t checked in with our favorite scooters in a while – our Kickboard USA mini-kick scooters are still, years later, in great shape and they see plenty of use. But I happened to notice that they now come in some awesome new colors. The mini-kick scooters are really the best scooter for little kids (2 to 5 year olds) because they have an ingenious turning mechanism that makes them very difficult to tip. When you lean the handles right or left the wheels curve very gently. No sudden turns means far fewer skinned knees and elbows!

I am in love with the bright green mini-kick scooter pictured above, and don’t you think it would be perfect with this Bell Dragon helmet?

For the Pinkalicious  in your life you can go with the super cool pink scooter

and this adorable Bell pink ladybug helmet.

Other fun colors include aqua, orange and the original blue. Seriously, I think this is the best scooter you can by for younger kids. Our kids (and all the kids who have ever played at our house) have loved ours and they are in shockingly good shape considering the abuse they have taken over the past 6 (6!) years.

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You may not know this about me, but I am always on the lookout for unusual or interesting play food. The princess has spent many, many hours playing with our pretend food collection, starting when she was about 18 months old and still going strong at 4 and a half.

Well, I just stumbled upon this healthy gourmet pita pocket lunch set from Educo. It comes with two soft cloth pita pockets and a variety of sliced vegetables for your child’s sandwich making needs.

It occurs to me that play sandwich sets almost always include pretend meat. This might be a great alternative if you need a gift for kids whose families are vegetarian.

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We have a bit of a stuffed animal storage problem at Chez Toy Report.  The fluffy overpopulation is reaching problem status.  There is a huge wooden chest filled with stuffed animals upstairs, boxes in the attic, an empty duvet cover filled with them downstairs, and all the current favorites on the beds, of course. Now, I would be happy to thin the herd but the boys switch favorite animals all the time and we periodically go on hunts for stuffed teddy bears or bunnies or brown puppies or whatever is needed. They would certainly notice and be distraught if they disappeared forever. I have done extensive research on storing stuffed animals and I have determined that there is only one truly good solution, the Boon Stuffed Animal Bag.

Stuffed Animal Storage AND A Bean Bag

That’s right, you jam all your stuffed animals into this plush and fluffy bag, zip it up and suddenly you have a fun chair and storage spot all in one.

Click here for the detail and size specification on the stuffed animal bean bags.

I am dreaming of them as the answers to all my problems. I think the single green one is cute, I may have to acquire one to see just how much of the plush menagerie fits inside.

The genius of these bags is that you end up with functional bean bag type seating in addition to stuffed animal storage. The bags zip open and animals get stuffed inside, but there are see through panels in the bags making it easier to spot a a favorite if needed.  Of course, having imaginative kids, there are always some unreal concerns here.  There are certain plush animals that really do not belong together.  You cannot put the plush manatee and plush seal in the same bag as the stuffed shark, and woe be to the parent who packs the tiger plush together with the plush bears.  You may wake up one morning to find a bag full of shredded fluff and stuffing.

Stuffed Animal Storage In All Sizes

Heck, there is even an awesome three section version as well.  That looks to be the perfect sized Boon bag for lounging around, but it might take up too much space in most living areas.

My only real concern is that we have three children and I’m not sure I can invest in three separate bags so everyone can have their own. I am tempted by the triple bag, but I’m not sure how if three actual children could sit on it together.    It would solve the issue with large stuffed animals fitting in the smaller bag though.

This is absolutely the best stuffed animal storage I have ever seen, and boy are there some terrible options out there. I’ll tell you about the unpleasant alternatives later.

UPDATE: We finally got our orange Boon Trio bag (the one pictured on the right) and it is awesome!  It holds more stuffed animals that I ever imagined.  Click here for the details on the Trio.

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There are quite a few pirate books out there, they are perfect for young pirate fans (and in celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day!)

My absolute, hands down favorite is How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long.

It follows the adventures of young Jeremy Jacobs who goes off with pirates to help them bury their treasure. He enjoys some of their pirate ways more than others (No Tucking!) but in the end decides to make it back home in time for soccer practice. Just as wonderful is the sequel, Pirates Don’t Change Diapers.

For picture books, my other favorite is Don’t mention Pirates by Sarah McConnell.

Follow the adventures of young Scarlet Silver and her family as they discover their true calling in their ship-shaped house.

For older kids you can’t go wrong with Pirateology.

A huge compendium of facts, stories and legends about pirates this is sure to be enough information to satify any swashbuckler interested in learning more about pirates. It includes information about knot tying, flags, sailing and boats and, of course, marauding.

My favorite pirate themed book is Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Scott Pearson.

It is a retelling of Peter Pan, but with more action and mystery and it is certainly as swashbuckling as it is possible to be. There is a whole series, and I recommend getting the first three to start, because they are addicting!

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Continuing our celebration of International Talk like a Pirate Day, we shall explore our pirate dress up options.  I love this Alex Pirate tent. While it isn’t technically dress-up, it does provide a home base for the pretend play that goes along with dress-up. And have you seen it? Adorable!

As for dress-up clothes – I like this pirate costume from Melissa and Doug.

Perfect for a little buccaneer. If you will be dressing more than one pirate, you might want to invest in this Pirate dress-up treasure chest.

It has a variety of costume pieces, so there is something to make everyone feel like plundering something.

And, lastly, what may be my favorite pirate toy of all time:

This dress up pirate doll from Manhattan Toy.

I just love him! You can button and zip and tie and buckle him and then undo it all and start all over. He is certainly the most adorable buccaneer I have ever seen!

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Happy International Talk like a Pirate Day! (It is so a real thing. The internets are never wrong!) In honor of this most festive of holidays, I am declaring this to be Pirate Week  here at The Toy Reporter.

We will open the festivities with the best pirate ship toys.

My favorite (and the one we actually own and has been played with by just about every child who has ever been in our house) is the Plan Toys wooden pirate ship.

It is simple, beautiful, well made and sturdy wooden pirate ship. It has a few pirates, a little boat, an alligator, treasure chest. Everything you need to play pirates. This one is suitable for preschoolers, not just the big kids.

If you want to go all out, I suggesting this KidKraft Pirate Ship.

Like everything KidKraft makes is it well made and amazingly detailed. I love how the sides open, making this almost a ship-shaped doll house than just a pirate ship toy.

I also really like this Playmobil pirate dinghy.

It is perfect if you want something smaller, or to add to an existing pirate set.

Don’t forget to talk like a Pirate today! Hoist the main sail! Swab the decks ye landlubbers! Or you can just say “Arrrrgggghhhh!” a lot.

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I just can’t stop with the animal themed lunch bags! I love these insulated bags by Dabbawalla. They are made of an insulating neoprene material that has met the stringent Oeko-Tex standard for fabric safety and they are sewn in a factory using fair labor practices – you can feel good about buying these lunch bags.

Dabbawalla makes adorable animals, like the monkey seen above or this ladybug.

They also have other cute designs, my favorite of the non0animal designs is the apple bag.

They are big enough for a whole lunch and a water bottle – a great way to carry your lunch!

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I have been searching for the best kids lunch boxes (although, they are almost always more like lunch bags than boxes nowadays). One of my favorites is the adorable Skip Hop Zoo Lunchie insulated lunch bags.  They come in adorable animal shapes and are roomy enough for a well packed lunch.

Some of my favorites are the Monkey, pictured above.

The pink mouse

The owl

and the zebra

They are all insulates to keep things cold and are PVC, Phthalate and latex free. And Skip Hop makes matching backpacks. So if your little one heading back to school is obsessed with Monkeys or just wants and fun way to carry their lunch, Skip Hop has your bags!

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Remember your lunch box when you were in elementary school? Mine was a Muppet Show lunch box, metal and by the end of the school year pretty banged up.  The world of cute lunch boxes has come a long way in recent years. There are many great choices it can be hard to pick just one (leading to a jam packed jam cupboard in our kitchen full of lunch toting options).  My top three cute lunch containers all be discussed this week, for starters I present my favorite smaller option.

For smaller lunches, or when you just need to take along a snack I adore these Built NY Munchler lunch bags. They zip open to lie completely flat, great for when you are spreading our your snack on a park bench or picnic table.

They are insulated and perfectly fit a small water bottle and a few snacks, I have filled it with a sandwich, an apple and a bag of crackers. While they could fit a thermos, it would be tight.  These bags are my go to bag for when the instructions at camp say to send them with a snack. We generally stick with something bigger if they need enough food to last all day.

These bags have the added bonus of being both darn cute and darn cheap – at only $10. Meadow the bunny if my favorite!

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Tired of all those cheap beach toys that break the first week of summer? I long ago decided that when it comes to sand toys, quality is more important than quantity. I have since found that a lighter beach toy bag (that can be easily carried by each kid) is a great thing too. My favorite high-quality beach toys are made by Spielstabil. Their sand play backpack set is really everything any child needs for playing at the beach or in the sand box. And it comes in it’s own handy dandy backpack – making it easy for kids to carry on their own (because don’t you have enough to carry?).

If you are looking for something smaller, the above Spielstabil sand play set is perfect. It comes in its own tote bag, again perfectly sized to be carried by your child. Can you tell I am tired of carrying everyone else’s sand toys to the beach?

Need something pink? Well, they have this Spielstabil frog set (not really sure why it is called that, there don’t seem to be any frogs involved), also contained in it’s own tote bag.

The Spielstabil toys are made of a super strong plastic, they toys we have from them have lasted for years without breaking. Not so much our cheapo beach toys we have gotten from random discount stores. This summer I finally threw out all the broken and cracked beach toys and we have been so much happier with fewer, but better quality toys.

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I really, really want a PlasmaCar. Not for the kids, I want one for me. Have you seen the PlasmaCar riding toy? They are riding toys that you can move forward by turning the steering wheel back and forth. Once you have a little momentum built up you can steer in any direction you want. I am going to quote the product description here because I can’t tell you how much I love the following sentence:

“The PlasmaCar is a mechanical marvel that makes use of that most inexhaustible of energy sources, kid-power, by harnessing the natural forces of inertia, centrifugal force, gravity, and friction.”

Seriously, who doesn’t want to harness all those natural forces? I know I do. And it is sturdy – it has a 220 pound weight limit, so grown-ups can use it! (That is the best thing I have heard all day).  And it comes in a rainbow of colors:

pink PlasmaCar for those Fancy Nancy fans out there

I adore the bright bright yellow PlasmaCar.

You should really go watch the video here to see how it works (The video is on the Amazon page too), you will want one for yourself too. The kids will think you got it for them but you and I will know who it is really for.

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Are you or is someone you love obsessed with Elephant and Piggie? I don’t blame you/them, Elephant and Piggie are awesome! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, well you should go right out and find one of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie books. They are genius, so funny and perfect for beginning readers while still being funny for younger and oldder kids. I have read them to kids as young as two years old who think they are hilarious and I have also seen teenagers reading them and laughing.

The books are about the adventures of two best friends who happen to be an elephant named Gerald and his best friend, Piggie.  I just saw the Elephant and Piggie plush (pictured above), they would be a perfect gift along with one or two of the books. They are all marvelous, but I think my favorites might be There is a Bird on Your Head!

and I am Invited to a Party!

Seriously, go get these books now. Click right here to see all of the Elephant and Piggie books.  I have never seen anyone not love them.

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Looking for a little something for the Easter baskets, but can’t find anything appropriate for babies and toddlers? Most of the Easter toys you see everywhere this time of year in the drug stores and supermarkets is for ages three and up. But what to give to the littlest ones? They need Easter fun too! I love the little Mud Pie Baby Eieio Little Squirts Bath Toys. They come in a package of three and are perfect for Easter basket and bath time fun.

The pop-up book Easter Bugs by David A. Carter will be a big hit – The book is small enough to fit in a basket and features various adorable bugs hiding in Easter eggs. Kids can open the eggs to find the bugs, each with a different color and texture.

And finally, if you have a baby too young for candy but you still want to get them a little something cute from the Easter Bunny, I love this Baby Gund My First Easter Basket. Suitable for newborns, even, it is a soft plush basket with a soft plush bunny and chick. I love toys like this because they are great for babies and I bet you anything that toddlers will still play with it, loading it up with treasures long after Easter is over.

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No, I’m not talking about the famous Slinky here, I’m talking about toys for spring.  If you live in a northern climate like we do, the arrival of spring is almost as eagerly anticipated as Christmas.  Well, at least for us parents eager to get the kids outside and playing.  Sometimes it’s hard to pick outdoor toys for older toddlers hitting that 3-5 year age range.

If you’re looking for something to liven up your springtime, here are some great outdoor toys for you to consider for you toddler.

Grow Your Own Butterflies

These grow your own butterflies kits were always one of my favorites as a kid.  You get a kit and send away for the butterfly caterpillars which arrive a few weeks later in the mail.  The caterpillars are pretty boring by themselves, but pretty soon the spin cocoons and turn into beautiful butterflies, which can then be released into the wild.

Click the picture for our review of the most popular butterfly growing kits.

Toddler Scooters

A toddler scooter is a great way to get kids outside and moving at a young age.  They are much easier to learn and ride than bikes or tricycles and many of the three wheeled models are far more stable than the two wheeled versions.

Click the picture for our review of the most popular toddler scooter.

Sports Toys

If you’ve got a little jock running around your house, there are some great sports related toys that could be used both indoors and out.  Can’t want to let your little basketball star on the loose?  Get them a toddler basketball hoop.  Have a future baseball hall of famer on your hands?  It’s time for a toddler T-ball set.  Seriously, what little tyke doesn’t like whacking things!

Click the picture for some great kids sports sets.

Kids Gardening Sets

Try to find a little kid that won’t be interested in a little dirt and mud, I dare you.  Something about digging seems to resonate with most children, and the nurturing instinct of planting also appears to be something that almost all toddlers share.  If you like to garden, make sure to get them involved at an early age with some appropriately sized kids garden tools.

Click the picture for some great kids gardening ideas.

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Looking for a gift for a tutu loving girl? Take a break from all the pink and get this yellow tutu book and tutu combination. The book The Yellow Tutu by Kirsten Bramsen is a wonderful story about a girl who received a yellow tutu for a present and decides to wear it as a hat so she can be the sun and shine on everything and everyone. Most of the kids don’t understand, but another girl with a pink tutu does and the two girls play happily with their tutus. A great story of friendship, imagination and enthusiasm! Pair with this adorable yellow tutu and you have yourself a fabulous present, all for about $20.

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Our older kid are very into board games right now, especially all the new LEGO games. Unfortunately, the Princess is often left out of these games because 3 is really too young for most board games. Well, if you have a left out pre-schooler too you may want to check out some games they can play and enjoy. eeBoo is one of my favorite toy makers and they make some of the best games for younger kids.

Above you see the eeBoo pre-school numbers memory game. They also have a pre-school animal memory game.

All their games have eeBoo’s signature beautiful artwork and are simple enough for kids as young as two or three. I am a big fan of their pre-school domino game

Kids can match up the animals or practice counting them. Sure to make the younger kids feel like they can play games too. And even thought the older kids will think they are too old for them,  whenever the Princess and I start playing they usually wander over and start playing too.

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