Play-Doh Easter Eggs

Play-Doh has an alternative to candy filled Easter eggs. They have a spring collection of eggs in pastel colors filled with the same color of Play-Doh inside. They even have a “golden” egg! – filled with colorful PLAY-DOH compound!

Each package comes with a dozen eggs, including the special “golden” egg. You can give a special prize to the person who finds this special egg. Or lead the children on a treasure hunt to find it.

Play-Doh also has character two pack eggs. You can mix these in with your regular Easter eggs for a special surprise. Each container contains 2 ounces of Play-Doh. So it’s truly the gift that keeps on giving fun and entertainment long after the egg hunt is finished.

High School Musical Mix Max Digital Video and Audio Player – Huge Sale

I just found this huge sale and have to share!  The online Disney Store is having a big Labor Day sale with up to 75% off popular products. 

Check out this High School Musical Mix Max Digital Video and Audio Player that normally retails for $79.99 but is on sale for $29.99!  It holds up to six hours of videos or 240 mp3 songs.

With High School Musical 3 due to hit theaters in October, this looks like a great gift for the holidays with a great price!

Image: DisneyOutlet.com

Craft (or Classroom) Tables for Kids of All Ages

I received an email today from DaycareMall about a sale on classroom tables.  I actually looked closely at these tables when I was looking for a small table for my triplets a year or so ago.  I ended up selecting a Step 2 plastic picnic table, but in hindsight, I wish I had chosen one of these classroom tables.

First, many of these tables provide an adjustable height feature, so they can work from the toddler years and well into the grade school years.  The tops are fully laminated on all sides, so they’re perfect for crafts.  From painting to Play-Doh and everything in between, classroom tables should hold up to the task.  In fact, they typically come with nice warranties (DaycareMall’s classroom tables have 5 year warranties).

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Indoor Activities for Hot Summer Days

While we’re usually looking forward to hot summer days and running through the sprinkler, days like today that set record high temps leave us tromping around the air conditioned house trying to keep from boredom. Especially when the sun is shining and it appears so deceptively beautiful outside!

Here are some of the things we’ve been keeping busy with inside:

Building forts in the living room with pillows and blankets and couches

Sock Puppets

Sculpey and Play Doh (Isn’t that a fun peapod that my friend made out of Sculpey? She came over and got into the clay with the kids!)

Lots of reading!

Playing with Little People and the many toys that have been hidden in the basement for months!

Cooking together

Movie time together with popcorn and a DVD

Trips to the children’s museum

What are your favorite “let’s stay indoors and keep cool” activities?

Alphabet Cookie Cutters

My kids love getting cookie cutter sets as gifts. In the past, we’ve received an animal set, a flower set, a sports set and of course the Christmas cookie set. A few weeks ago, my youngest received the 50-piece Wilton cookie cutter set that includes the entire alphabet, all of the numbers, and a few punctuation marks as well. I’ve never seen an exclamation cookie, I don’t think, but I’m sure there’s a good use for it.

I think the plastic cookie cutters are great gifts, too, because there are so many uses for them. The following are the different ways that they’ve been utilized in our home:

Cookie cutters (every once in a while, we do actually use things for the purpose in which they were intended )

Play-doh cutters

Stencils to use with fabric markers on t-shirts or canvas totes

Stencils for making ornaments

My favorite recent use was as a teaching tool with my 3 year old. He took his brother’s toy (quite a regular occurrence these days) and started putting the letters in alphabetical order across the floor of the boys’ bedroom. Pretty quickly, we had an alphabet “train” that stretched from bed to bed. They both thought that was pretty cool.

My least favorite use for these? Shockingly painful surprises in the middle of the night on bare feet.

What are some of your favorite uses for the cookie cutters?

Easter Baskets Packed Full of Toys

Easter has become a HUGE holiday. Almost as big as Christmas it seems for some parents. JD Mullane of the phillyBurbs.com talked to some parents who said:

• Unfortunately, Easter is getting to be like Christmas. Toys ‘R’ Us just put out a huge Easter catalog filled with “spring” toys. I feel like I have to get toys for Easter.
• I’m guilty of giving toys on Easter. I just bought my son a toy he wanted, and I will give it to him on Easter. I guess everything is bigger these days — houses, SUVs, birthdays.

If you’re looking for Easter basket additions, the Hasbro Toy Shop has 53 items that range from the Play-Doh Make ‘n Display Stage Show to the Mr. Potato Head Spring Easter Bunny Set.

What kind of baskets are you doing for Easter?

Tags: easter, easter baskets, toys, children, kids, parenting, family, shopping

Toy Creation: Play Doh EZ 2 Do Zoo

These are two of the creations that my kids made using the Play-Doh EZ 2 Do Zoo. (Pink Giraffe and Green Elephant, in case you weren’t sure. )

I like sets like these. I’m was never very good at coming up with something creative with just a lump of clay or a pile of Lego, and I always felt so lame watching other kids come up with the coolest sculptures and such while I sat there staring at the lump. I do have fun, though, replicating something while giving it my own little spin. I’m guessing there are lots of kids like me out there who are daunted by the idea of coming up with something from scratch, but who still love to play with Play-Doh and other arts and crafts materials. I think these types of sets are great for them. This set comes with several sets of eyes, feet, wings, ears and more, as well as some texture paddles that allow you to give a feathery or other texture to the Play-Doh body of the animals.

Of course, my 1 year old did both. He used the set and still came up with a brand new creation. What do you think we should name this one?

Moon Sand

For a long time, my son’s favorite activity at school was playing at the sand table. Everyone knew that having his turn there would make him happy and calm him down no matter what was going on. And from what I can tell, most kids love to dig in the sandbox.

Having a sand table at school is fantastic because teachers are used to messes and the classroom is made for easy clean-up. Having one at home is another matter. We almost succumbed to bringing sand into the house, though, when we saw Moon Sand advertised on TV. It looked marvelous. Perpetually moist, it’s touted as being as great as dough and never dries out. It even comes in different colors.

But if Amazon reviewers are to be believed, Moon Sand isn’t as great as it appears. One complained about not being able to get blue Moon Sand out of the carpet and another said it was “a big nasty mess.” One mom preferred Play Doh. The one dissenting reviewer said she loves playing with it herself.

Do your kids love to play in sand? Have you tried Moon Sand?

Tags: sandbox, sand, sand table, children, kids, play, toys, family, parenting, moon sand, moonsand

What’s Fun at the American International Toy Fair

It’s show and tell time. In this video, Elizabeth Werner of DWJ Television shares her favorite toys from this past month’s 2007 American International Toy Fair.

Of the ones she shows, I like the Polly Pocket diecast cars and garage and the Play Doh Make ‘N Display Domes. I use plastic bags to keep my son’s Play Doh creations fresh but these domes light up and are definitely more stylin’.

Tags: play doh domes, play doh, polly pocket, toy fair, elizabeth werner, toys, children, kids, family, parenting, fun

New Year’s Resolutions

So, in honor of the new year (and of an upcoming Family and Relationships Channel carnival—will give the details when it’s up!), I’ll share a few of my new year’s resolutions as they pertain to toys and play!

• 1. Get rid of toys. I’m a pack rat of the highest order! Half of the things we can’t get rid of in our house are still around because I hold an emotional attachment to them, including toys that the kids no longer want. I need to work on that so I don’t pass that hoarding characteristic to them. We can start with the toys, then move on to all my junk.
• 2. Get out and play more! You know that parent that you see at the park who’s always jumping around on the jungle gym with their kids? The one who goes down the slide? The one who readily jumps into a game of hide and seek? Yeah….that’s not me. I’m the one one the bench trying to read a book while Bald Man does the jungle gym jumping. I need to get better about the running and playing with my kids before they’re older and no longer want to play with me!
• 3. Be more fun. Only say “no” when I’ve actually taken the time to listen to my kids’ requests and have a reason to say “no,” not just because I’m being lazy. This includes pulling out the Play-doh and paints more often. The kids love them, but I get bugged with the mess. I know, I know, it’s really not a good enough reason to steal away potentially good memories from their childhood. That’s why it’s on my list.

How about you? Do you have resolutions/changes to make in the toys/playtime arena? Share them in the comments!

And please vote in our Barbie/Bratz poll in the right sidebar. Thanks!

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