Whenever anyone asked Fairy Girl what she wanted for Christmas the answer was always… A Marm-o-set. "A Marmoset?" everyone was puzzled… except me. LOL. No she did not want a pet monkey, thank goodness, she wanted a MARBLE SET.
She was of course delighted when Santa brought her one. It has become a family favorite… although marbles in a house with a 2 year old is a bit of a challenge. Fortunately Pixie seems to be a bit beyond her age in terms of her play. Survival skills of a third child I guess… ’cause once Legos are brought into the house there is no such thing as a baby safe room. Those little pieces get everywhere!
I thought I would share one of Fairy’s Marble Runs (yes I helped) for this week’s Unplugged Challenge theme Ball.
Bug got an awesome Star Wars Lego set from his grandparents for Christmas. We spent the afternoon putting it together and for about a week spent lots of time maintaining it in its predefined form. Then Bug was ready to re-purpose the Lego set. There are now a handful of little spaceships all over the house. He said it was much easier to play with and fix the little ships. He asked me to take a photo of the one below.
I just love Legos. What’s not to love? They have such amazing designs which makes me think sometimes that there are adults who get paid to play Legos all day long… this is work that the Bug is doing 😉 . The nature of following those 2D drawing and coming up with an elaborate 3D design is a true exercise in visual perception. And then of course… there is a completely limitless amount of room for creative design on your own.
On the topic of toys (since I am sure there are many still looking for good holiday gift ideas) let me share another favorite around here… Only Hearts Club Dolls. I’m not a huge fan of Barbie and there is no way I want those Bratz dolls in the house. So a while back when Fairy started showing in interest in fashion dolls, I went on a quest for suitable replacement for the mass marketed brands and came across the Only Hearts Club dolls.
These dolls are of a similar size to the leading fashion dolls but have soft, flexible bodies. They are proportioned and styled as ‘tween’ age girls (along with some baby sisters). Their fashions are acceptable (ie I would actually let my girls wear most of the clothing) and they have corresponding character building books. Ahh… much better! They only downside is that they are made in China but they are available at Target (not usually with the other dolls though – so ask), which is nice since it makes it easy for Grandma to add to her collection.
Santa just delivered the coolest blocks. It is very hard to have to tuck these away. I want to play with them… they are absolutely gorgeous! I highly suggest checking out these Made in the USA, highly detailed, castle blocks. The Village Blocksmith does some amazing work!
I was watching my 2 year old play with our chess set a couple days ago. She was carefully putting the figurines to bed on beanbags and whispering Shhh to anyone who came by. It got me thinking about true multi-tasking toys. I don’t know if anyone is familiar with Alton Brown from the Food Network… Good Eats/Iron Chef host but he has an abhorrence of any single-task kitchen utensil. I’ve tried to apply a similar criteria when considering which toys take up room on our shelves.
One of our best investments has been this King Arthur Chess set shaped like actual knights, kings, queens, etc. So many ways play with that toy. My son got is last year for Christmas when he started showing an interest in chess and it has become almost a daily play item. Chess of course, but paired with a set of Haba blocks the perfect sized characters for castle play. They are a bit more fragile than say Holztiger or Kathe Kruse dolls so I try to have the kids keep them in the carpeted rooms to reduce the chipping from falls. But overall this has been a super hard working, multi-tasking toy for us. I just thought I would throw it out there for anyone looking for holiday shopping ideas.
Ok, here is another highly recommended recent addition to our toy collection… the Little Engine That Could Wooden Train with a copy of the original story book “The Little Engine that Could” by Watty Piper. This adorable train works on our Brio track and perfectly matches the train in the story. Since we don’t have any other character trains (ie Thomas) this one definitely stands out and it is cute to hear the kids acting out the story. “I think I can, I think I can.” Bonus, this sweet wooden toy is made in the USA by Whittle Shortline Railroad.
Thanks Aunt T & Uncle J!
With a birthday there of course comes gifts and boy did Pixie girl get some cool things! All of the kids have been enjoying her new loot. I thought I would highlight a few of her new things here and there over the next week or so starting with her Lacing Tree.
This Lacing Tree has been enjoyed by all (including me). It takes the concept of a lacing card to the next level by having the kids build a nature scene weaving leaves, apples and critters onto the base tree. It is all wood, so very durable and the critters are super cute. It is a good introduction to the art of sewing and works on building hand eye coordination. It is a 3+ toy for small parts but Pixie can easily play with it with supervision.
Thanks Aunt M & Uncle D!
These are one of our favorite toys around here. The kids love them and they are everything that I look for in a toy. Anamalz are beautifully crafted from eco-friendly, natural materials that encourage open ended, creative play. We can’t get enough of them! Target used to carry them but unfortunately no longer seem to… although this may be in part due to Anamalz new contract with Russ toys. I hope to see them on local shelves again soon.
Anyway, while checking out what’s new for ‘B’s upcoming 2nd birthday we found this fun video made to go along with a newly released Anamalz CD. The kids keep asking for it so I thought I would add it to the blog for easy linking… and to share. Enjoy! BTW – Our elephant (named Shrimp by ‘A’) seems to prefer the corn fields to the jungle.
And have you ever seen anything as cute as their NEW Echidnas critter? I want one! 🙂 Check them all out at Anamalz. If you are looking to shop online for them try Bright October or Oompa Toys. I also added them to my Amazon Bookstore.
