Lipstick to Crayons » Toys

Why Do Kids Stick Their Tongues Out?

lipsticktocrayons — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:13:43 +0000

Ever wonder why kids stick their tongues out when they play? Or why your toddler wants you to read the same story over and over and over and over? (I can recite “Where the Wild Things Are” verbatim!) There are actual scientific answers to these questions.

Playskool “More Than Play” campaign answers these questions, and more, via these fun videos.

Additionally, the Playskool Play Panel answered a series of questions from Audrey McClelland of Mom Generations, several of which I thought some of you might find interesting, such as:

Q. If the brain can have only one thought at a time then how does a child do more than one thing at a time?

Whether adult or child, no one can do more than one thinking task at once. When we first learn to do something new, we concentrate on that task and shut out everything else that is going on around us. We have to focus. Then, as we do the task over and over, refining the skill, we can eventually do it without thinking about it. We call this automaticity. That’s one reason why kids say “again” and “more”. They love the experience, but they are also practicing the skill to the point where it becomes automatic and they no longer have to think about it! So…when something becomes automatic, your child can do more than one thing at a time!

Q. How do I encourage my child to problem solve through repetition rather than getting frustrated and giving up?

Everybody needs to feel the joy of success. Sometimes, the tasks we set for our children are too difficult, and involve doing more than one thinking task at once and can make children feel like the challenge is too frustrating. So, doing it over and over, when there is no “payback” doesn’t seem like a great outcome. Breaking each part of the problem down into achievable parts and doing each part over and over can encourage your child to feel a sense of accomplishment. Often this feeling leads to naturally wanting to try challenging herself to do more once she has mastered part of the problem.

Q. What is my baby learning when playing the baby drops it and mommy picks it up game?

Baby is learning so many different things. She is learning her hands can be used as a manipulative tool helping her get what she wants. She is developing strength in her finger muscles that will help her push, pull, grasp and hold, release and eventually control a writing tool. She is developing important foundational movements that help with all the movements our fingers do for us! She is also developing a tripod (three finger grip) and pincer grip (thumb and first finger). Both important grips that later allow us to hold and use writing and other creative tools as well as manipulate fasteners and tie shoes. She is learning how to pick up, hold and let go at the appropriate time and if mommy is happy to pick it up each time, well she is learning a new game too!!! As well, she is learning about cause and effect, experiencing and observing gravity and how it works! While interacting and playing with her parent, she is bonding and learning her mommy and daddy are there to help her as she plays. It’s all part of how families cement and work together!

Q. Are the left and right sides of the brain different?

Yes. The left hemisphere is responsible for organization. It is the details side of your brain and talks to you on a constant basis…”remember to pick up the cleaning on the way home”; “if I do the ironing before the meeting I may be late”. It categorizes detail and associates information with prior knowledge. It’s also the side of your brain that helps you understand what symbolic representation is (i.e., that the symbol “5” represents five fingers, etc). The right side is more concerned with creativity, emotion, and learning through doing (play and experience) rather than symbols. It thinks in the present moment and helps us feel the environment we are in through processing sensory information. Information travels between the two hemispheres via the corpus callosum and when this happens and we are using both sides (as we need to) we call this whole brain thinking.

Q. Does messy play develop fine motor skills?

It is one of the developmental foundational activities that help prepare the fingers for manipulative skill development. When kids engage in messy play it helps develop touch discrimination and an awareness of the joints and muscles in our hands and fingers, which assists with fine motor manipulation. Sensory experiences are necessary for the brain to learn and can help grow strong muscles in the fingers. It is also a trigger that can ignite creativity, is foundational for sophisticated problem solving later on, and helps develop skills that later will be used in the beginnings of learning how to write, and above all is lots of fun. Kids need messy play every day.

Q. Are there certain textures I should be exposing my child to at an early age?

As many different sensory experiences your child can have in the preschool years will help the development of fine motor skills. Some children prefer some textures and not others, however, different consistencies provide different learning experiences, so vary it all if you can. Feeling the fall leaves crumble in your hands, baking at home (with hands and fingers immersed), drawing with fingers and not the paint brush, playing in water, rubbing ice blocks on feet and hands, pulling wool or string between your little ones toes, making mud pies…anything you can think of that is gentle and enjoyable is great. And…its best to do it every day!!! As well as feeling all these wonderful sensory happenings remember to talk about them as well.(e.g., ” Wow those cookies smell great”; “How do they taste to you?”; “What sound do they make when you crumble them?” New language can be discovered at the same time!

Playskool’s More than Play campaign site offers information on what skills different Playskool toys can help your child learn. And if you want to learn more about how to facilitate your child’s learning, and how to be your child’s “First, best teacher,” then check out Parents as Teachers.

Copyright © 2010 Lipstick to Crayons. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@lipsticktocrayons.com so we can take legal action immediately.
Plugin by Taragana

Posts like this

New Pulse Slither Scooter a Great Gift for Wheel-loving Kids

lipsticktocrayons — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:56:31 +0000

I always kinda thought that all scooters were created equally (one wheel in front, one in back, or one in front, two in back, push with your foot, glide, push, glide, etc). Not so, according to my son. And not so, according to Bravo Sports, one of the world leaders in outdoor rolling fun and action sports products.

Bravo Sports recently introducted their latest creation — the one-of-a-kind Pulse Slither drift scooter — and my 11-year-old son says it’s in a class by itself in coolness.

At first, I thought my husband and son had put this scooter together improperly, because it has TWO wheels in front and one in back. Again, I was mistaken. This innovative three-wheeled scooter with two large front wheels offset by a single pivot-mounted swivel rear wheel offers the ability to pull off tricks and maneuvers that are simply not possible on any other scooter or wheeled good.

The Pulse Slither translates the fun of riding a snowboard, skiing or surfing into a street toy. It can be ridden facing forward or standing to one side and is propelled by “slithering” from side to side or by pushing with your foot, opening up even more trick possibilities and making it that much harder to put away. The tension on the rudder-like rear wheel is adjustable, which is key to helping smaller riders (such as my son) the ability to maneuver the scooter. It also gives the rider the freedom to drift in and out of turns, zip around corners, execute lightning-quick 180º turns and adjusts to their skill level.

Emblazoned with vibrant in-molded graphics, that won’t chip or peel, the Pulse Slither is available in two dynamic color ways: Electric Blue “Skull Wing” and Toxic Green “Von Scroll.”

Upsides:

Easy to assemble (according to husband)
Fun to ride (according to son)
Cool-looking (according to son)

Downside:

The “slithering” motion takes some practice! (according to son)

You can buy a Pulse Slither for $59.99 here.

Posts like this

BEST, BEST Toddler Toy This Year

lipsticktocrayons — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:38:08 +0000

If I were “king of the world” and got to give an away for top toy for toddlers this year, it would be the Tag Junior from LeapFrog, hands down.

Leapfrog has long been a leader in creating educational but FUN toys, and now they’ve gone and created one that even a two-year-old can enjoy. The Tag system makes it fun for toddlers to connect words with pictures and other thoughts. By pressing the Tag Junior Book Pal onto the pages of specially designed books, the words and pictures come to life.

The Tag Jr. is easy for a toddler to use because all she has to do is touch the book pal (which fits perfectly in a toddlers chubby little hand) anywhere on the page and she will be rewarded with a response. Each Tag Jr. book has a theme and focuses on a skill.

The Tag Jr. system is geared toward young preschoolers ages 2-4. Leapfrog
also lets you create an account at LeapFrog’s Learning Path site where you can track your child’s learning progress online and download and print free activities to compliment your child’s Tag Jr. books.

LeapFrog toys are always fun-forward and engaging with educational benefits and skill-building fundamentals that last well beyond the holiday season. In other words, they’re invaluable.

Upsides:

Easy for a toddler to use
Great learning tool
Encourages reading
Portable – great toy for road trips and hotel stays
Reasonably priced

Downside:

The process of downloading the audio from the Leapfrog site to your Tag Jr. Book Pal was a little tricky for me, but there is lots of online support on the site.

You can buy the Tag Junior here for $24.99 and it comes with a book. You can buy extra books here and here.

Also from Leapfrog is the Text & Learn. Tech-savvy preschoolers on your shopping list can imitate Mom and Dad (Big Sister in our house) with this durable, just-for-kids learning PDA. Games focus on letter recognition, shape matching, and QWERTY keyboard skills, allowing preschoolers to exchange text messages with Scout, check Scout’s planner, and explore in a pretend browser mode. You can buy it here for $21.99.

Posts like this

Adorable/Affordable Kitchen for Preschoolers, Plus Other Great Deals

lipsticktocrayons — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:14:04 +0000

I absolutely had to share this deal with those of you who might have a pre-schooler who loves to play pretend — Walmart has “rolled back” the price on this adorable Step2 LifeStyle Custom Kitchen to $79.

This kitchen has all the bells and whistles that would delight any kiddo — oven, microwave, refrigerator, sink with faucet and accessory set. It comes with frying and boiling sound effects and cabinet and drawer space. I think I might be spending some of my toddler’s Christmas gift money on this item from which I’m sure she’ll get plenty of years of play.

Walmart also is offering some other amazing online specials. Check them out:
Save on Amazing Online Specials at Walmart.com!

Huge Savings on Holiday Rollback Electronics at Walmart.com!

Holiday Rollbacks in Electronics, Toys and Video Games at Walmart.com!

Posts like this

We’re Pleasantly Puzzled

lipsticktocrayons — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:00:54 +0000

Have I mentioned that my toddler is really bright? (Hey — it’s my blog and I get to brag!) She turned 2 in October and one of her favorite activities is doing puzzles. I saved the wooden puzzles that I had from my older children, and those hand-me-down items include a puzzle of my oldest daughter’s name.

Because of the hundreds of times we’ve “played puzzles,” my toddler can recognize EVERY letter in my 14-year-old’s name. I’m afraid she’s going to have a serious “hand-me-down” complex. Can’t you just hear her whining to her therapist someday, “I didn’t know how to spell my own name until I was 10 because the letters in MY name weren’t in the hand-me-down puzzle I had to use.”

So, I decided it was time for her to have her own name puzzle, and I also wanted to have a full alphabet puzzle because she’s starting to show some real interest in letters (Did I mention that she’s very bright?)

Anyway, one of the problems with letter puzzles is that so many of them have funny-shaped or fancy letters. Those are pretty, but they’re not the best puzzles to use if you want your child to learn his or her letters. However, the educational puzzles from Puzzle Man ARE shaped properly. Plus, the puzzle pieces are thick and the puzzles are sturdy. In fact, they will probably last long enough for my toddler to hand them down to her children someday.

Ed (the puzzle man) and his wife, Suzanne, have been making wooden puzzles and selling them at craft fairs and through the mail for more than 20 years. All of their puzzles are individually hand-crafted with quality and education in mind. They use only the highest quality, furniture grade plywood that is domestically made from replenishable forests. Each puzzle is cut one at a time, then sanded and stained using a non-toxic, water-based stain. The puzzle is sealed with a clear, non-toxic finish so that it is BABY SAFE and may be cleaned using a damp cloth.

Now get this: they offer FREE REPLACEMENT PIECES for all of their puzzles. That’s amazing! All you have to do is send a tracing of the missing space, type of puzzle, color if known, and $1 for shipping.

Their puzzles are more substantial than most you’ll find on the market, and they are stained and not painted, so the color penetrates the wood and won’t chip.

They offer educational puzzles such alphabets, numbers and maps, personalized puzzles, plus a host of other adorable items. Prices start around $20 ($15 for a name puzzle, plus $1 per letter), to up to $65 for a map of France and Italy puzzle. You can order the puzzles here, and if you want to talk to Ed or Suzzanne, call the number on their site and they’ll answer the phone personally!

Posts like this

Another Amazing Gift Guide & Easy Giveaway

lipsticktocrayons — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:03:39 +0000

Holiday shopping season is here again and the Global Influence network has some great gift ideas for you, tried and tested by real moms. Click on the links to check out what our team of reviewers had to say about each of these gift ideas, and then take a moment to enter our fun giveaway and take a chance at winning some of these fabulous products. Featured Reviews Pouchees –

Busy moms need all the help they can get to stay organized and keep life as simple as possible. The Pouchee is the perfect solution to keeping all those little things together, putting everything you need, right at your fingertips.

Duck Hunter -

Duck Hunter turns the excitement of the hunt into an activity the whole family can enjoy. Launch the duck in the air and try to hunt it down with the toy shooter as it flies freely in the air. A fun choice for those who love outdoor sporting.

CardStore cards

-Personalized holiday cards are an important item on everyone’s to-do list and often a hassle to create and print. Cardstore.com has everything from family photo cards to invitations for your big holiday party, simplifying your holiday season.

Great Holiday Gift Ideas Things Remembered Custom Couture Jewelry Just Elfin’ Around Card Cubby Harumika By Bandai Harumika Runway Showstopper Harumika Style Starter Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo Strawberry Shortcake Playset Kota Monty Rex Wall to Wall Basketball Nerf Pocket Vortex Busy Ball Popper Talking Chuck Truck Leapfrog My Pal Scout Leapfrog Tag Jr Leapfrog Scribble and Write Animal Planet Polar Land Playset Animal Planet Dinosaur Playmat Onionhead Adult/Teen Feelings Pack OnionHead Children’s Feelings Pack Onionhead A-Z Feelings Magnet Set FotoboxPlus MeTime Tees

Fun Holiday Giveaway!
For this holiday guide, we want to share the love with the blogosphere! Some of our generous sponsors have donated prizes to be given away to lucky readers! To enter to win one of the following fabulous prizes, simply fill out the form here: http://tinyurl.com/y8t92rw

Prizes include: Things Remembered Custom Couture Jewelry Pouchee Elfing Around Harumika Onionhead Feelings Pack Nerf Wall to Wall Basketball Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo MeTime T-shirt

Entries will close on December 6, 2009 at 11:59 PM EST. Winners will be contacted by email after the close of the contest.

Global Influence Member Guides Need more ideas for this holiday season? Check out the guides that some of our Global Influence members have put together on their own sites! Thrifty Jinxy, Happy Healthy Hip , And Twins Make Five , Because Two People Fell In Love, Mommy Musings , Lipstick to Crayons , Bargain Briana , Mommy PR , Shop With Me Mama, Santa Picks, Rave and Review, Connected 2 Christ , 3 Boys and a Dog, The Classy Closet , Contest Corner, Lisa Reviews , A Giveaway Every Day, HulaHoopinMom, Spalibrations, High Impact Mom, From Cribs to Car Keys

All reviews listed in the Global Influence gift guide were product provided. Featured positions were purchased by sponsors. Member gift guides are not affiliated with Global Influence.

Posts like this

Too Cute

lipsticktocrayons — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:58:35 +0000

This is my toddler’s favorite birthday present — a set of Fisher Price Sweet Street houses I bought at a garage sale for $15. Score!

Posts like this

Holiday Build-A-Bear Giveaway

lipsticktocrayons — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:49:57 +0000

Santa’s elves are chattering (and tweeting) about the new holiday gift ideas from Build-A-Bear Workshop.® And the folks at Build-A-Bear report that the hottest gift requests can be fulfilled with one-stop shopping at any of the more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores around the world or online.

This season, some stores will feature a special Build-A-Giftstation offering pre-stuffed animals and a selection of clothing and accessory options all in one place for easy access (both options are available beginning in mid-November). Finally, holiday online shopping is easy and fun at buildabear.com (which has a whole new look set to launch on Nov. 3). Beginning in early November, shoppers can go through the Amazing Gift-O-Matic “gift generator” process that helps them identify the perfect gift based on an individual’s character traits. And, there’s always the “one click shopping” option that lets you choose a fully attired furry friend, click on it and you’re set to go.

Naturally, the elves follow the trends, but never leave tradition behind. In the classic gifts category, best bets to ensure holiday happiness include Frosty the Snowman. And Frosty is joined by Holly and Hal Moose,™ the antlered sibling duo introduced last year along with their story book, “Holly and Hal Moose™: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure,” and a series of webisodes. This year, families can start a new holiday tradition by watching Holly and Hal in a one-hour animated television special based on the book, (details on the show which I wrote about here.)

Families can relive the excitement of the movie by making their own Holly and Hal stuffed animal friends and dressing them in new signature outfits and accessories from their debut TV appearance. But one lucky Lipstick to Crayons reader can win the duo by entering the contest below.

Giveaway Guidelines:

Leave a comment below telling me why you want to win Holly and Hal.

Receive additional entries by doing any/all of the following, but be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

Blog about this contest
Subscribe to my mailing list/RSS feed
Tweet this giveaway on Twitter (you can tweet daily if you want, but make sure you leave a comment each time you do).
Favorite Lipstick to Crayons on Technorati
Stumble this post
Add Lipstick to Crayons to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar
Become a fan of Lipstick to Crayons on Facebook
Enter my GE appliance giveaway here.

This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time Nov. 16. Be sure to include a valid email address with each of your entries. Contest open to United States residents only. Winners will be randomly chosen via random.org and will be notified via email and announced on this post.

If winners do not claim prize by Nov.18, 2009, they will forfeit the prize to an alternate winner.

This contest is closed. Congrats to the winner, Marie M., comment #112.

Posts like this

Family Fun Announces Toy of the Year Awards

lipsticktocrayons — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:06:30 +0000

Disney FamilyFun magazine announced today the winners of the 18th annual Toy of the Year (T.O.Y.) Awards, including those toys that earned a spot on the Top 10 list. This year’s No. 1toy is Invasion of the Bristlebots from Klutz: an activity kit featuring tiny, careening robots kids assemble from toothbrush heads, then use to race, make art projects with, and more.

Also among the top winners are Lego’s Feeding Zoo, a 53-piece Lego set that allows young zookeepers to tame their boredom by creating animal exhibits, the kid-invented RipRider 360? from Razor, a steel-frame trike that lets kids “drift” and perform full 360?degree spins as they cruise around, and Green Toys’ Recycling Truck, a 12-inch-long truck made entirely from recycled plastic milk containers.

The 30 kid-and-parent-approved winners appear in the November 2009 issue of Disney FamilyFun magazine, which hit newsstands October 13, and are available on FamilyFun’s Web site where you can watch a video of the Top 10 toys in action.

Hundreds of toys were distributed to families across the country for evaluation by children and their parents. Over the course of several weeks, the tester families spent hours assembling, playing with, and rating this year’s hopefuls on quality, value, and fun factor. More than 375 toys were assessed to create the list of the 30 best toys of 2009.

The Top 10 FamilyFun T.O.Y. Award winners of 2009 are:

Invasion of the Bristlebots (Klutz, $20)
Pyramid (4240) (Playmobil, $105)
Recycling Truck (Green Toys, $25)
RipRider 360? (Razor, $130)
Feeding Zoo (5634) (Lego, $50)
Hot Wheels Color Shifters (Mattel, $3 for 2 cars)
Build It Bigger! (International Playthings, $55)
BFC, Ink Large Dolls (MGA Entertainment, $40)
Sandwich Stacking Games (Melissa & Doug, $30)
Pool Sharks (Gamewright, $27)

Following is a list of the remaining 2009 winning toys. T.O.Y. Winners (in no particular order):

Aerial Defense Unit # 8971 (Lego, $80)
Bunny Treehouse # 4460 (Playmobil, $22)
Color Me a Song (Crayola, $30)
Connect 4×4 (Milton Bradley, $20)
Curious George Discovery Beach Game (I Can Do That!, $17)
Scribble & Write (Leapfrog, $22)
Dinosaurs 20+ Model Building Set (K’Nex, $21)
DodgeTag (Diggin, $20)
Easy Score Hockey, Soccer and Lacrosse Set (Little Tikes, $50)
EyeClops Mini Projector (Jakks Pacific, $100)
Fuzzimal Puppies (Klutz, $17)
Harumika Designer Dress Form Set (Bandai, $15)
Manny’s Repair Shop (Fisher-Price, $100)
MythBusters Weird World of Water (Elmer’s, $20)
Play-Doh Burger Builder (Hasbro, $15)
So Small Pets Theme Sets and Play Sets (Only Hearts Club, $15-$20 each)
Strawberry Shortcake’s Berry Café (Hasbro ,$35)
TV Games Motion: Star Wars Flight Game (Jakks Pacific, $30)
Tyco R/C Stunt Psycho (Mattel, $50)
Winds of Fortune (SimplyFun, $34)

Posts like this

Build-A-Bear Animals Come to Life in New Animated Holiday Feature

lipsticktocrayons — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:21:15 +0000

Move over Frosty and Rudolph. Holly and Hal Moose are joining the holiday television lineup.

ABC Family and Build-A-Bear Workshop® are coming together to create a little holiday “hoofla” this season as the network debuts an animated special that marks the first time in the retailer’s 12-year history that its plush animals are brought to life on television. “Holly and Hal Moose: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure,” a one-hour feature movie, makes its nationwide premiere on ABC Family on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7:00 PM ET/PT (with an encore presentation on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 10 AM ET/PT). The television special is based on a book and series of webisodes that introduced Holly and Hal Moose last year and captured their holiday antics, powerful imaginations and love of adventure.

“Holly and Hal” features Meaghan Martin (“10 Things I Hate About You,” “Camp Rock”) and Jonathan Morgan Heit (“Bedtime Stories”) as the voices of Easton and Weston (respectively), two high-strung elves who monitor the North Pole Weather Center.

“The tale of this antlered-sibling duo is meant to inspire people to follow their dreams – no matter how big they seem,” said Maxine Clark, founder and chief executive bear of Build-A-Bear Workshop. “It’s a classic holiday adventure that offers families the opportunity to start a new tradition of watching it together each season.”

Families can relive the excitement of the movie by making their own Holly and Hal stuffed animal friends and dressing them in new signature outfits and accessories from the movie. In addition, Build-A-Bear Workshop is introducing Lil’ Hal, a rogue robot in Santa’s Workshop until Holly rescues him from recycling and he becomes her skillful and loveable sidekick. Merchandise is available at Build-A-Bear Workshop stores and online at buildabear.com.®

The movie DVD will be released starting Nov. 25.