Magnetic Alphabet Sets: Easy on the Eyes and the Noise

When we first bought our refrigerator, I pretended that we’d be one of those families that would keep it sleek and clean from any kid-scribbled artwork or other child-like paraphernalia.

Yeah, right.

Fast forward a few months later, and our fridge is graffitied with photos of our own kid, other people’s kids, said artwork and now, those ubiquitous magnetic alphabets.  Don’t get me wrong, I love LeapFrog’s Fridge Phonics, but just a few minutes at a time. So, out of personal preference, we opted out of the popular plastic ABCs in lieu of a set of the wooden (and quiet) kind.

As with most families of young ones practicing their ABCs and 123s, the magnetic alphabet has been an invaluable learning resource. Here’s a slideshow of our picks of alternatives to the more popular magnetic alphabet sets, and ones worth checking out.

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Sale alert: Hape Toys at Mini Social

I’ve pledged my affinity for a variety of sustainable toys, among them, of course, are the fun and educational toys from Hape.  Hape has a fantastic selection of toys that’s appropriate from babies to school-aged kids, but I personally covet their educational playsets and wooden puzzles.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of puzzles, today on The Mini Social, one of my favorite flash sale sites, is featuring Hape’s bendable Anamalz, Sporty E-racers and educational puzzles.  It looks like some of the toys are half off for a few days, making them great for stocking stuffers and Christmas gifts.  You do have to sign up, but the sales on The Mini Social are well worth it.

NKT Feature: The 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll

Egg Rolling, DJ Lance, fresh fruit and outdoor activities on the White House South Lawn?  Why, yes, please.

Yesterday, around 30,000 people from all 50 states and DC made their way to the South Lawn of the White House for this year’s Easter Egg Roll. Out of luck, our family won tickets in the online lottery for this year’s event and battled the traffic—cars and people—and let the kid have a go at this Egg Rolling business.

In addition to the generations-old tradition of egg rolling, the event reflected Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative introduced earlier this year. The Egg Roll’s theme, ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ echoed the First Lady’s campaign to educate kids about making healthy choices in an effort to combat childhood obesity.

As the official welcome, as seen in the event program, described, the White House’s South Lawn was transformed into America’s Playground for the day.  The Easter Egg Roll, the largest annual public event held at the White House, featured stations and activities sprawled across the Lawn, which were aimed at entertaining and educating all the kids (and even the parents in attendance.)

White House Easter Egg Roll

Healthy Activities

Aligned with the Let’s Move initiative, the healthy activities were a welcome addition to the event.  We spent most of our time dancing to the fun music in the Hop to It stage.  We missed out on seeing Yo Gabba Gabba which played during a different timelot, but we had the chance to see our good buddy, DJ Lance hula hooping on the Hop to It Stage.

DJ Lance in the (White) House!

The kid even hammed it up for Ellen Degeneres’ cameraman while dancing to DJ Tony, who just so happened to play a few of his favorite songs, one of which included Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow.  It doesn’t get any more memorable than that.

DJ Tony of The Ellen ShowDancing at the Hop to It station

The Family Farmer’s Market was a cool area that gave kids a look at healthy eating with celebrity chef demo stations.  One of the stations was the smoothie station, something that the kid adores, much thanks to one of his favorite shows.  We loved the Make Your Own Garden, which not only used the White House Kitchen Garden as inspiration, but showcased some of the new seed packets from Sesame Street’s new gardening line (more info on this in a different post)  We took home a watermelon seedling and hope to plant some sunflowers in the garden of our new house.

Learning how to plant seedlings

 

The sports station, geared to the older kids, featured demos on softball, golf, soccer, basketball and tennis.  At later time slots, I heard professional athletes were on hand to offer the demos!

The performers and celebrities were quite the highlight of the day’s events.  In our specific timeslot, the kid managed to sit in on Maria reading a story, with Elmo on hand to help out.  Later in the morning, Reese Witherspoon, one of my favorite actresses, read to the kids as well.

Accessibility and Sustainability

The accessibility and sustainability of the Egg Roll were the two main aspects that impressed me the most.  In years past, the Egg Roll was said to be reserved mainly for Washingtonians and other locals.  This year marked the second year that tickets for the Egg Roll were distributed online.  The White House extended this year’s event, beginning the festivities at 7:45 AM (yawn!) and an end time of 5:45 PM. Each group of 6,000 guests spent two full hours on the White House’s South Lawn.  For the first time, guests from all 50 states and DC were represented at the annual Egg Roll.

Egg Roll!

As a parent who aims to be eco-conscious, I was pleased that sustainability was prevalent throughout the event.   I appreciate that the event geared to teach kids how to garden, to shop at Farmer’s Markets, make healthy foods and much more.  The White House said that it made an effort to minimize the environmental impact of the 2010 Easter Egg Roll.  Some of the highlights include: the “greenest” souvenir egg in Egg Roll history, crafted from Forest Stewardship Council certified U.S. hardwood; goody bags made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic; the use of organically grown fruits and vegetables at the Play with Your Food station; and increased recycling and composting capabilities on the day of the event.

The official Souvenir Egg from the Easter Egg Roll

Winning tickets for the Egg Roll was a special thing, and one that a few of my Twitter followers and friends were sure to remind me about. As opposed to the events that we regularly attend for NKT, this wasn’t a blogger event, it was pure luck:  Out of the 250,000 people who registered to attend, we were one of the lucky few.  In general, we don’t win much at anything, in fact, we usually have the worst luck ever.  So, even if it was an unexpected expense to travel to DC while we’re in the midst of buying our first house, and miss seeing most of our family this Spring, it was incredibly important for us to attend the Egg Roll.  To experience this special event, and also to be a part of the Let’s Move campaign first hand, a topic that I try to cover as often as possible here on NKT, the White House Easter Egg Roll was a fun adventure we won’t soon forget.

White House Easter Egg Roll

Thanks for letting me share this event on NKT, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

And here’s more information, in case you guys want to know more:

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Happy National Puzzle Day!

In case you weren’t aware, today is National Puzzle Day.  (I wasn’t aware at all, but now I am.)  With that in mind, I’m reminded by how many really great puzzle sets that are out there.  Did any of you play with puzzles growing up?  I know we did.  I remember playing with whatever character du jour and putting it all together piece-by-piece, and feeling so accomplished when I finally laid the finally piece.

My mother-in-law, in fact, has done a great job of keeping many of my husband and his siblings’ old puzzles.  So, when the grandkids get together, all of whom range in age 17 to 2 years old, it’s fun to see them play with these puzzles together.

National Puzzle Day is said to encourage family togetherness, as well as encourage the skills that are involved in putting together puzzles:  reasoning, concentration and teamwork, among others.

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Gift idea: Wooden Jewish Holiday Puzzles

Undoubtedly, there’s a lot of excitement in the air for the holidays, but there’s another important celebration–the Celebration of Lights– that starts next week.

In 2009, Hanukkah begins at sundown on December 11th. For those that don’t know, according to the interwebs, Jews have given Hanukkah gelt to friends and family since the 17th century, but the custom of giving more elaborate gifts has only been around since the 19th century.

Gift-giving goes hand-in-hand with fabulous kid gifts, of course. One of my lovely Jewish friends mentioned this site, and I was hooked. They had me at Jonathan Adler!

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Over in the kid gift ideas, I spotted the Jewish Holiday Puzzles. Not only does it include a Hanukkah-themed puzzle, but this set includes Shabbat, Passover and Rosh Hashanah Puzzle as well. By Kid Kraft, the puzzles feature diverse shapes and comes with a puzzle rack for convenient storage. And thank goodness, all paints used are lead free and non-toxic.

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Wooden puzzles are definitely a favorite for us, and for many other families. The fact that four puzzles come in the Jewish Holiday Puzzles set, combined with its entertainment, educational and cultural value make these puzzles an ideal Hanukkah gift! These puzzles are in the $30 price point (not bad for 4 wooden puzzles!) and can be found on sites like Modern Tribe.

Etsy find: Natural Cars from Happy Squash Toys

With toy recalls and reports of unsafe toy manufacturing and imports creating a cause for concern, in an effort to observe more sustainable choices, naturally, some families opt for greener toys made from renewable resources. And of course, a smart and economical alternative to mass produced toys are unique, handmade goodies. Beyond whittling your own collection of handmade toys yourself, thank goodness for the treasure trove that is Etsy! I always say this, but you can’t buy the kind of craftsmanship that you find in Etsy in a mainstream store —no matter what the product might be!

Jack playing with Natural Cars

Today’s Etsy find is from a toy shop that I’ve featured before—I love these toys that much. Happy Squash Toys sent us a trio of Natural Cars for review, and based on the kid’s inability to put them down for one second, it’s official: they’re a hit.


Like most boys his age, our almost 2-year old is fascinated by anything with wheels or rolls. Cars, trains, animals with wheels, bikes, tractor trailers—you name it, he loves it. The Natural Cars from Happy Squash Toys are no exception. He loves wheeling them around the floor, furniture and whatever surface that will let him mobilize these cars. The trick is always finding a way to make all 3 roll at once since his little hands aren’t quite big enough to push them all at once yet. I love the way our little guy makes his own little car sounds when playing with the Natural Cars. I’ll take those sweet imaginative noises over the loud battery-operated honks, beeps and flashing lights any day.

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My Alligator…

Many thanks to the “Teach my Alligator Manners” segment on the Disney Channel, the kid has become obsessed with alligators. The fondness of manners? That’s coming. But I’m definitely loving the frequent usage of “pweeease” these days.
But back to alligators…since he can’t get enough of the segment, he’s also learning to recognize the parallels between the shows he loves and his toybox. And thus, we have a newly found appreciation for the Dancing Alligator from PlanToys.

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The wooden, clacking pull-along toy was one of the gifts we bought for him for his 1st birthday, but he’s just now finally “getting” it. No batteries involved, just kid power, this toy brings back the old school essence of pull-along toys that I remember from my own childhood. But be forewarned, the “dancing” part of this alligator also translates into “clacking.” So, if loud toys aren’t your thing, definitely check out other PlanToys. (I personally love watching our guy run around with his alligator trailing/dancing behind!) Our alligator has made many leaps and falls these past few weeks, proving that it’s both timeless and sustainable, as far as toddler toys go. The Dancing Alligator will be one of those toys that we’ll likely keep for our kid(s)’ kids!
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Nuchi train sets: simple and classic

Of the menagerie of talking, beeping and blinking toys, perhaps the most popular playthings in our home are the ones that don’t make a sound at all.  No motion sensors, no batteries, no noise: the kid loves these toys as much as us.  Silence–and simplicity–is a beautiful thing.  Haba, Melissa and Doug and Plan Toys are some popular picks, but Nuchi is a newer line that I have my eye on, particularly the simple and classic train sets, like this Oval Train Set w/Crossing Barrier.

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Etsy find: Pirate Ship Playset

Always on the lookout for great wooden toys, I found this amazing Pirate Ship Playset by Happy Squash Toys on Etsy.  From just the photos, you truly get a feel for the craftsmanship and attention to detail.  I don’t even think there’s a wooden pirate ship out on the market as cool and green as this.

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The pirate ship is made from poplar wood and painted with non-toxic paints and finishes.  It features wheels hidden underneath to allow it to glide across any smooth surface. The 4 pirates are removable and the cargo hatch opens to hide their treasure. The ship features an embroidered sail and cherry inlay windows. The pirate ship playset retails for $65 and can be purchased directly from Happy Squash Toy’s Etsy shop.

And if pirate ships aren’t your thing, check out this flower power car!