The Toy Report » Toddlers

Cool Kids Night Lights

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:45:44 +0000

A few years ago the boys wanted night lights they could take to bed with them. We finally found some kids night lights at Ikea for their 6th birthday.

I recently saw these OXO night lights and I know what to get if we need new nightlights. I love these blue and green OXO Candela Tooli lights. They are rechargeable and have a safe recharging base that has no exposed electrical parts. They will light for 8 hours and can be lighted while recharging (in case you forget to charge it during the day). They also come in orange and pink. Having twins, a set of two is perfect for us, but you can also get a single OXO Candela Tooli.

Now, are you ready for the best one? The new OXO zoom light.

Awesome, no? I know so many kids who would love to take this light up rocket to bed. I think these sorts of things make great presents for kids when you don’t really know what to get them. Great for a wide range of ages and you don’t have to know whether they prefer pirates or dragons or princesses or baseball.

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Plan Toys Caterpillar

mrstoyreporter — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:51:18 +0000

I was looking for a little something to give to a younger sibling at an older sibling’s birthday party and I came across this bit of adorableness. I love Plan Toys. If you are tired of worrying about the toxic chemicals lurking in your kids’ toys then Plan Toys will make you very happy. Their toys are made of organic, recycled rubber wood and no toxic chemicals or paints are used.

The Plan Toys Caterpillar is so clever. The wings of the butterfly come off and button around the wooden caterpillar to form a chrysalis. The wooden caterpillar can then emerge from the cocoon and become a butterfly by inserting the wings and fluffing. This would be a great toy to accompany the Live Butterfly Garden we have mentioned here before. Even a young child can use this toy to recreate the metamorphosis during the long wait for the big event.

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Boon Grass Drying Rack

mrstoyreporter — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:54:18 +0000

Yes, there is more delightfulness from Boon. You know all those baby feeding things, sippy cup parts, little spoons, and other paraphanalia. Well, these sorts of little things don’t dry well in the dishwasher and we tend to deal with this by letting them air dry ona dish towel on the kitchen counter. Not very attractive, but it gets the job done. Well, Boon has invented a very stylish solution to the air drying: the Boon Grass Drying Rack.

It is lovely. Perfect for drying all those little parts and pretty too!

Looking for the cute spoons in the picture? Here they are:

Boon Squirt

Boon ModWare toddler utensils

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Boon Odd Duck

mrstoyreporter — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:48:59 +0000

Know anyone who you could describe as an odd duck? Well, here is the perfect present for them. Yes, quite literally, and odd duck. Boon, as anyone who ready this site knows, is a minor obsession of mine (let’s just say I’m a fan). I am still hoping for a Boon animal bag or four for Christmas. The Boon Odd Duck may just be the best thing to ever happen to a rubber duckie. May I introduce to you:

Squish

Bob

Jane

And I know I shouldn’t play favorites, but I think I love this one best, Slim.

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Wooden Train Set – The Perfect Toddler Gift

Remo — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:14:31 +0000

Last year in her Never Fail Gifts for a Two Year Old, Mrs. TR highlighed a couple of wooden train sets that made the perfect gift for a 2-4 year old. I have yet to see a little kid under 4 not run straight for a wooden train table in a store or doctors office waiting room and love running the various trains along the tracks. The boys at 6.5 year old still love playing with the wooden train sets they’ve had since they were 2 years old. We have a joke in our house that goes like this.

Rainbow or Speedy: “Why does Daddy loves trains?”
Joke Victim: “Why?”
Rainbow or Speedy: “Because he’s an Engineer!”

You see it’s funny because it’s true.

If you are looking for the perfect gift for a toddler, look no further! You simply cannot go wrong with a standard sized train track set. Why? Because you can never have too many train tracks, or trains for that matter! With most toys, if you receive two of them as a gift there is not much to do besides regifting or attempting a return which can be difficult without a receipt. With wooden toy trains you just add them on for a bigger track and twice the fun!

Well, the specific set Mrs. TR called out in the original Wooden Toy Train article do not seem to be available at most stores anymore, so I though we would highlight a couple of newer sets that fit the bill.

All the sets here are considered Brio Compatible and Thomas Train Compatible, meaning they have the same track and connector size as the most popular train sets and can all be used together.

Melissa And Doug Train Set

First is the track daddy VALUE of toy train sets. The Melissa And Doug Train Set offers a giant set with 128 pieces for a shockingly low price of around $65. Take a close look at the picture of the set for everything you get with this one. Comes with four trains, a magnetic crane, bridges, tons of tracks, little trees, a wheelhouse, basically the works. And the Melissa And Doug quality show through in this set. You will not find anything close to the size of this set in this price range. Most train starter sets have 15-20 pieces for $25. Think I’m kidding? Then check out the Melissa And Doug Starter Figure Eight Set by clicking here and what you actually get for $25. Not even close huh?

Brio Panda Train Set

So if your in the market for something small then you can not go wrong with a Brio Panda Circle set. It’s small and unobtrusive, and at only around $20 it will not intrude on your wallet quite so much either. It has a small circle, a couple of trains, a couple of pandas, a little guy to drive the train and some grass that I really do not think pandas are capable of digesting. It is cute though.

Toss in a couple of extra trains at $6 or $7 a piece to get you over the Free Shipping $25 hump and you have a nice little train gift set.

Whatever you do, make sure you order at least one box of Suretrack train track clips onto your order. Wooden tracks tend to fall apart easily, especially on an uneven surface such as a carpet or while under the attack at the hands of a child under 3.

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Make your own play kitchen!

mrstoyreporter — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:15:01 +0000

I think I saw this on the Craft magazine blog first, but I have been thinking about it ever since.

It is a play stove top made from a plastic box and some construction paper swirlies. You can keep all your kitchen toys in the box and take them out to cook.

Brilliant! You can find detailed instructions at the Croc Zine blog. I am so doing this for the next 2 or three year old birthday party we are invited to. I will fill it with some great enameled cookware from Schilling

and some Plan Toys wooden slicing fruit.

Perfect for kids who want to cook but don’t have space for a big kitchen set.

Toys For Kids Snow Day – Mosaic Stickers

Remo — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:47:47 +0000

My sister gave the boys these two sticker mosaic sets from The Orb Company for their birthday last year and we’ve been breaking them out about once a month when we’re stuck indoors and need a project to keep busy with.

We have one Dinosour sticker mosaic set and one Dragon sticker mosaic set.

They’re really not good for toddlers, as the Princess really just can’t figure them out at all, but the boys seem right about the perfect age for them.

Think paint by numbers, but without paints and all the mess. They each come with 4 picture plates and a lots of pads of little square raised stickers, 10 different types in all which are numbered to tell you which ones go on which spots on the pictures.

Speedy has been doing the dragon stickers and Rainbow the dinosaur stickers. The Princess has so far been content to stick and unstick the same four little squares onto the box and instruction sheets over and over again, which helps.

We pulled them out again on Monday when we had the last (hopefully) school snow day of the year. Snow days are great, but not so much fun when they turn to rain in the middle and ruin the outdoor fun!

Which Star Wars Light Saber is Best?

Remo — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:04:08 +0000

Picking the right light saber can be quite the challenge. There are lots of options and some are far better than others. Of course you want to be the parent, friend or Cool Fun Aunt that picked the “Best Light Saber Toy Ever!” right? Being a hard core geek dad, I spent a great deal of time comparing and evaluating the different light saber options before Christmas.

The two winner light sabers can be seen in action in the video below.

First, in this corner, I give you the Anakin Skywalker Star Wars Clone Wars Force Action Lightsaber (in Blue), wielded by Speedy the 6 year old.

And in the other corner I give you the Mace Windu Purple version wielded by the surprisingly fearless lightweight 22 month old Princess!

There is also the Obi Wan version, virtually identical to the Anakin version (Blue) but with a slightly different handle. Each of the above is spring loaded, lights up, flashes and makes realistic noises (well, realistic for a fictional science fiction energy sword) when swung or struck. For around $20, you can’t go wrong as a gift for your favorite Star Wars fan.

Note, there are bad versions of the good lightsabers that you want to avoid. One, the Star Wars Clone Wars Force Action Lightsaber Force Unleashed is wholly unimpressive, where the “spring action” is a couple of spikes that spring out from the handle. Totally lame. Another is the Count Duku version, which besides the terrible character name has a bizarre angle to it, which makes it hard to use in a fight.

There is also the Star Wars Clone Wars Ultimate Lightsaber kit, which lets you combine 60+ pieces into different light saber configurations. Note that this doesn’t “spring” open like the ones above, but that might be better for many households just for that reason. I actually said to Rainbow the other day “Do NOT point the closed Light Saber at someones crotch, EVER!”

Note, if you REALLY want to go all out, there are some expensive replica Light Sabers that actually look pretty darn good in a dark room when lit and can stand up to some friendly sword play. The don’t pop open like the above ones, but they look great. The least expensive is only $80, for which you can have your very own green Master Replicas Yoda Force FX Lightsaber.

Note, the Force is strong with this one…

Cat in the Hat Game

mrstoyreporter — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:43:48 +0000

I don’t know if you have heard of it, but I have been reading about the new(ish) Dr. Seuss themed game, Cat in the Hat, I Can Do That. Well, people either love it and their kids can’t stop playing it and it is the best game they have ever played OR they are disappointed because the pieces seem flimsy. For $20 I was kinda on the fence, thinking that it looked fun and it has won heaps of awards but how many games do we need, you know? Then I looked on Amazon and it is currently 70% off (!) making it only $5.99. I ordered two of them.

It seems like a great game for kids that maybe aren’t ready to sit still for long enough to play a regular board game (Speedy can, Rainbow not so much). Kids draw cards that combine into silly Cat in the Hat themed combinations of activities.

I’ll let you know after Christmas how we like it, but for $6, even if it is only fun for a while or the pieces all fall apart before next Christmas, I still think it will be worth it.

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The Best Scooters for Toddlers

mrstoyreporter — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:43:20 +0000

When our boys were two we had a 10 year old neighbor who was extremely cute and would come over to play with the boys most days after school. He would also ride his big kids scooters over thus inspiring a very early and obsessive love of scooters in the hearts and minds of certain twin boys. They could barely reach the handle bars of the big kid style razor scooter and if they managed to stand on the thing they would fall over immediately. What we needed was a little kids scooter, a scooter for toddlers. Well, after exhaustive research on toddler scooters that consisted mainly of reading reviews on Amazon I ordered two Mini Kick Micro Scooters and a happy Birthday was had by all.

That’s Speedy circa 2005 on his new third birthday toddler scooter. Yes, this scooter is manageable even for little kids. They have two wheels in the front, making it more stable. They stand up on their own and are not at all tippy. They have a brake on the back wheel, but I think the boys were 4 before they noticed it.

The greatest part of this scooter is the slow, easy turning, a feature I haven’t seen on any other scooter. Most have handlebars that actually turn, leading to accidental turning and then falling, tears and possible bleeding. The handlebars on this toddler scooter doesn’t turn. Instead, when you lean the wheels turn slightly to the right or left, causing slow, gentle turning. There are none of those sharp turns which lead to the aforementioned tipping and potential bleeding.

I love my boys, but I don’t think anyone would call them the most physically coordinated of children. They aren’t overly clumsy or anything, but I am not anticipating any Olympic medals in their future or anything. Well, I was astounded by how well they managed to actually use these toddler scooters from a very early age.

Click HERE for more information on the Mini Kick Scooter

So, if your little one is begging for their older sibling’s scooter, consider the Mini Kick Micro – now in pink too!

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Toy Kitchen Play in Small Spaces

mrstoyreporter — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:37:50 +0000

So, your little one loves to play kitchen, but you are having trouble making food when he or she “helps.” Sound familiar? You thought about getting a pretend kitchen, but you really don’t have anywhere to put it. Why not get the wee chef one of these Haba cook tops. It is small enough to fit on a chair or little table in your kitchen and your mini Julia Child can cook right along side you. (Thus hopefully making your little one more helpful by not trying to help. You may have to eat some pretend food for dinner, though). I am going to suggest getting some pretend food, this Haba fried egg is my current favorite.

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Toy Trains for Jealous Siblings

mrstoyreporter — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:06:30 +0000

So, your four year old is really into wooden trains and you are having a hard time keeping the one year old from wrecking them. Solution: get the one year old his/her own trains. I am loving these Brio First Train Sets for tiny engineers:

They consist of cute little animal themed trains and an animal friend who comes with a zippered tummy that holds the trains (this age group loves to put things in). Only some of the sets come with tracks, so don’t expect tracks unless you see them in the picture. They all fit with standard sized wooden train tracks, so those of us with heaps of train tracks may be just as happy with the non-track including sets. They also come with a pull string with a magnet on it so the little trains become pull toys too.

Now, a little something for the older kid who may have all the trains and track he/she needs. Consider getting a really cool piece like one of these Brio (or Brio compatable) train bridges. The boys were looking over my shoulder and caught a glimpse at the collapsing bridge and 20 minutes went by before I could start writing this because we had to look at all the pictures and discuss the 8 zillion ways this was the coolest train bridge ever! Click on the pictures more details!

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Wooden Toy Trains – Never Fail Gifts For a Two Year Old

Bowling is Fun

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:19:39 +0000

A friend gave this International Playthings Friends Bowling Set to The Princess last Christmas, and it has been a favorite toy for all the kids. When The Princess plays with it by herself she is all about taking the pins out of their case and putting them in again. She also likes carrying the case around and saying “Bye!” (Because that is what people do, they pick up bags, say “bye” and go places). But when the brothers get involved it becomes much more like bowling. They set up the pins and throw the ball, and then the Princess runs over and knocks them down. A good time is had by all.

Thes Sigikid Baby Bowling Sets are cute too:

And for older kids who aren’t lucky enough to have little sisters to set up pins for, I suggest this Haba Bowling Ball Track set: It is a marble track and a bowling game in one. Perfect for kids who love the setting up and getting all the pieces just right and for the kids who just love knocking things down.

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Election Day Snuggly Friends

mrstoyreporter — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:44:33 +0000

Just a little cuteness to celebrate election day.

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More R.G.B.T (Really Great Bath Toys)

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:43:32 +0000

It is Really Great Bath Toy week at Toy Reporter HQ. Dontcha just love these Dirty Dogs? The dirt magically disappears in the warm bath water.

I can envision these being used as bribes (I mean rewards) for reluctant bathers. “You wash the doggy while I wash your toes.”

Alex makes heaps of great bath tub toys. This flower garden looks like fun and comes with its own storage case. You can stick them to the tub walls and water them to your hearts content. This is an actual conversation heard in our bathroom last night:

Rainbow: “Don’t give the flowers too much water!”

Speedy: “They are bath tub flowers, they can’t have too much water”

Can you tell we may have had a problem with over watering houseplants?

One more R.G.B.T. from Alex:

It comes with its own bubble bath and, like an egg beater, churns up lots of bubbles. The handle is big enough for little ones to turn. It is a scientific fact that bubbles make everything more fun.

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Bath Toy Storage

mrstoyreporter — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:07:52 +0000

We love bath toys, and we love to give other people bath toys. I have a bit of a list of Really Great bathtub toys, but before sharing them I thought I would point you in the direction of a great bath tub toy solution. Enter the Frog Pod by Boon.

You can scoop the toys out of the bath water thus:

And then just click them in the holder.

Genius! I tell you this as someone whose tub toy storage solutions always seem to result in moldy plastic buckets with toys spilling out of them.

This nifty little gadget is a great idea for a baby present. It is the first tub spout protector that we have had that really stays on, and its bubble bath dispenser is a big fan favorite. Its spout makes a waterfall which my boys are always trying to redirect with washcloths and toys.

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Beloved Little Things

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:46:33 +0000

Kids love little things, I suppose because they are little things themselves. One of our favorite little things is the Nutshell Library. In fact, when I rule the world (and I will too, if I can only get my hands on some Wonderflonium) all babies will be issued a set of these little books when they are born.

The little box contains four little books, Chicken Soup With Rice, Alligators All Around, Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue, and One Was Johnny. Pure genius from Maurice Sendak, I loved these books when I was little and my kids love them even more (what with there being three of them). The princess has had days where she always has one in her hand as she toddles around and does her thing. She loves that they fit in her pockets and will spend time putting them in and taking them out of her pockets (and sometimes mine). She has also rediscovered the box they come in and has been putting them in and taking them out of that too. Right now our Favorite is One Was Johnny, “six was a monkey who stole a banana” never fails to get a laugh from the five year olds.

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Baby Love

mrstoyreporter — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:53:33 +0000

The princess has a baby fixation. Her brothers both went through doll phases, but they were older and they were playing pretend with them. The princess has a baby obsession. She can spot a baby from a mile away and if we are out in the world without our own baby doll and some other kid has one, well she will try very hard to take that baby and when prevented from abducting other children’s baby dolls she will wail “Baby!” loudly until removed from the room and handed her own baby doll. This goes over great at the library story hour, let me tell you. The Corolle-Babicorolle Pink Baby Doll is our traveling baby, our out of the house baby, our lives in the car so we don’t forget her baby. Why does this particular baby get the honor of seeing the world outside the house (or as much of it as possible while being clutched by a 1 year old)? It is because of a magical property that sets it apart from all of our other baby dolls: it is machine washable. It gets dragged around, dropped out of the stroller, snuggled while eating chocolate ice cream, chewed on and loved. When it gets filthy I love that I can throw it in the washer. It air drys overnight, and I don’t have to worry about the dirt and germs it has picked up along the way (especially since I am often commanded to kiss the baby – she is called the Princess for a reason). This doll was a gift from a friend when the Princess was new, and boy has it become a great friend. The Princess’ baby kidnapping urges seem to be controllable when we have a baby of our own to snuggle. The plastic face was the best part before the baby fixation hit (we used to call it face biting baby, because she used to immediately begin chewing on the plastic face whenever given this doll). Machine washable – genius!

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Something We Love: The Toy Piano

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:46:38 +0000

We have had this toy piano since they boys were two and it has been a favorite toy ever since. So much so that I don’t really think about it as a toy, it is just part of our lives. Every kid who enters this house plays with the piano. Little ones just learning to pull themselves up play with the piano, older kids pretend they can play songs, adults pick out Mary Had a Little Lamb. The Princess stood up to play the piano before she was standing up anywhere else. I am pretty sensitive to sounds (and usually opposed to toys that make noise) but sounds more like a real piano than most. If buying one as a gift, try it out and make sure it isn’t too electronic sounding. Go for something that actually makes sounds instead of just playing recorded sounds.

Baby or Toddler Gift: Why not Hippos?

mrstoyreporter — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:37:11 +0000

This is my idea for a theme gift, inspired by the two greatest hippo books ever written. (This honor is based on an inspection of our family book shelves rather than an exhaustive literature search). I give you two Sandra Boynton classics:

Hippos Go Berserk and But Not The Hippopotamus have been read on practically a daily basis chez Toy Reporter for about 5 years. Sure there may have been a week here or there when they were left on the shelf, but that is more than made up for by the days they have been read 10 or 15 times in succession. I have already read Hippos Go Berserk twice today. They are both rollicking tales of snuggly looking animals having fun. They both have bittersweet endings of the sort rare in board books, (but don’t worry, they aren’t so bittersweet as to bum anyone out – except maybe the armadillo, but I don’t want to give away the ending).

And some toy options to complete the theme gift:

I love this little guy:

So cute, and little ones love little animals they can hold easily in their hands. The Princess had a little goat similar to this guy and because she carried it around so much, (and we were always saying “is that your goat?”), goat was one of her first words.

Pull toys are always a good gift, and isn’t this hippo just fabulous? He looks ready to join the fun at the Hippo Party in Hippos Go Berserk.

I think having a theme to a gift always makes me look more organized than I really am. So think “But yes, the Hippopotamus!” (Oops, I think I just gave away the ending).

The Toy Report » Toddlers

Cool Kids Night Lights

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Plan Toys Caterpillar

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Boon Grass Drying Rack

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Boon Odd Duck

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Wooden Train Set – The Perfect Toddler Gift

Melissa And Doug Train Set

Brio Panda Train Set

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Make your own play kitchen!

Most Commented Posts

Toys For Kids Snow Day – Mosaic Stickers

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Which Star Wars Light Saber is Best?

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Cat in the Hat Game

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The Best Scooters for Toddlers

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Toy Kitchen Play in Small Spaces

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Toy Trains for Jealous Siblings

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Bowling is Fun

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Election Day Snuggly Friends

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More R.G.B.T (Really Great Bath Toys)

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Bath Toy Storage

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Beloved Little Things

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Baby Love

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Something We Love: The Toy Piano

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Baby or Toddler Gift: Why not Hippos?

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