Category Archives: Age 3-5

Playskool Wash or Toss Cups

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Feeding - baby & kids, Food and Drink, Travel

PlayskoolwashtossmadelynA few months ago I made the mistake
of giving Madelyn milk in a regular cup, not a sippy cup.   You don’t need me to tell you about the mess that followed.. and the drama.   The mess is obvious but the drama was a little unexpected.   I forget how good of a memory babies and kids have.  After that one time Madelyn wanted her milk in a regular cup all of the time and we all know how toddlers act when they want something really bad.  Such fun!
I tried and tried regular sippy cups, but she wasn’t having it and quite honestly, I’ve been a little more stressed than usual lately so I gave in and let her drink out of regular cupsPlayskoolwashtoss
but in the kitchen only. 

A few weeks later I received Playskool’s Wash or Toss Cups in the mail and things have changed a bit.  Madelyn really likes the Wash or Toss Cups.  I think it’s because they look more like real cups than regular sippy cups so she feels like a big girl.  One thing that I love about these cups is their size.  A little smaller than her old sippy cups, these hold just the right amount of milk.  I don’t find cups lying around the house with old milk in them anymore.  Yeah!

Playskool Wash or Toss cups are dishwasher safe, and can even be put in the microwave.   These cups are great for travel and I personally don’t see a need to ‘toss’ the cups as they wash and hold up well.  I have noticed that when Madelyn shakes the cup really hard some milk may drip out out of the spout holes, but I think that is the case with any cup like this if you shake it hard enough.   The tops have a little ‘grab tab’ for easy removal and snap on to be very secure.  When Sebastian used cups like these about 6 years ago, he would push on the outer side of the spout so the top would come off.   The lids on these cups don’t come off that easy, thank goodness!

Available exclusively at CVS stores and CVS.com.

Suds and Surprise Dora

Age 3-5, Bath Toys & Gear

SudssurprisedoraSuds and Surprise Dora is the best of both worlds for Madelyn. 
She would take four baths a day if I let her.  Now with having Dora in the tub it’s hard to convince her that she’s already clean and doesn’t need a fifth bath.  Madelyn can brush Dora’s hair, put hair clips in her hair, and pour water on Dora’s head.  Gone are the days when it was my head that was getting doused with water during bath time!  Yeah!

Suds and Surprise Dora is a fun bath toy that does lots of neat things.  Suds and Surprise Dora is a styling head that you can use in and out of
the tub. Use cold water in
the applicator to add butterfly and star face paint to Dora’s cheeks.  Madelyn’s favorite thing to do with Dora is put the color changing hair clips in her hair.  Poor Dora has had some funky hairdo’s.

The included base
suctions securely to the bathtub wall so while Madelyn is tugging on Dora’s hair with the comb, Dora stays put.   In warm water, the deco in Dora’s
swim suit changes and an undersea design appears on her face.  You can
also pour warm water from the sea horse pitcher to add pink streaks to
Dora’s hair.  There are so many ways kids can play with Suds and Surprise Dora that I can see this being a bath toy that sticks around for a long while… in our house at least. 

For even more fun kids can put Dora on a table and play ‘hair dresser’ or suction it to a window or the refrigerator.  Madelyn prefers to keep Dora in the bathtub for now. 

Suds and Surprise Dora can be bought at Walmart.com.

Ba-Ba Baby Elmo

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Toys

Elmomadelyn
Madelyn is a huge fan of Elmo so when she saw this 12" Ba-Ba Baby Elmo for the first time she was so excited! 

Madelyn recently started nurturing her dolls.  It’s the cutest thing.  Unlike her ‘regular dolls’, Ba-Ba Baby Elmo responds to her nurturing with burps, kicks, and slurping sounds when fed.  When she lays Elmo down he closes his eyes and a lullaby plays.  It’s adorable!

You can buy Ba-Ba Baby Elmo at Amazon.com which currently has the lowest price.

Little Tikes Sand & Water Fun Factory

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Outdoor Toys

Both of my kids, 2 and 8, love the Little Tikes Sand & Water Fun Factory.  I appreciate the compact size while the kids enjoy the two sides, one for sand andLittletikessandwaterfunfactory
one for water.  The toys that come with the sand & water fun factory are just enough to keep my kids entertained for a good while.  Madelyn usually plays with the water side while Sebastian builds sand structures and plays with the gears and funnels above the sand and water areas.  I particularly love the sun shade canopy.  Our front porch gets a lot of sun in the afternoon so the sun shade is really appreciated.  It can even be raised or lowered to accommodate the different angles of the sun throughout the day.

Besides the gears and funnels that attach to the underside of the lid for each section, the sand & water fun factory comes with several toys including a boat, a truck, and a shovel all of which are perfect for little hands.  The lids drop down when play time is over to keep protect the sand and toys from those pesky animals (cats.. we have two), and the sun.  The water side has a drain which makes it easy to empty after use so the water doesn’t sit and attract things we don’t like such as mosquito larvae.  That was really good thinking on Little Tikes part.

Madelyn likes to watch the truck go down the ramp that attaches to the side of the sand & water fun factory.  When I first saw the ramp I thought surely the truck would fly right off of it, but to my surprise it goes really fast and stays on through the end of the ramp.

I really like the design of the Sand & Water Fun Factory. I think they’ve done a great job and thought about the kids and parents when designing this toy.  As a parent, I appreciate the sun shade, compact size, and I am impressed with how easy it is to put together.  I had the sand & water fun factory up and ready to play with about 20 minutes after unpacking it from the box.   Another great thing is that it is light enough to move from place to place in the yard.   We usually sit on our front porch in the morning and early afternoon then migrate to the back yard in the evening so being able to move the sand & water fun factory is really great.

The video below is of Madelyn playing with the Sand & Water Fun Factory.  We have both sides filled with water because we left the top open and the sand got rained on and was not fun to play with after that.  Bad mommy!

You can buy the Little Tikes Sand & Water Fun Factory at eToys for $49.99 or less making this a very affordable outdoor toy that will last a long time.


Ali-Oops! Toy Clips

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Food and Drink, Toys

Alioopstoyclips_2Madelyn has had a pacifier clip since the day she was born and still uses it at 2 years old.  Little did I know that the same ‘clip’ idea could work on toys and sippy cups as well.  Once Madelyn hit the stage when she  was very entertained by the ‘drop it and mommy picks it up‘ game, I knew I had to do something.  I am a ‘germaphobe’ and can’t stand it when toys, cups, and pacifiers touch the ground.   Toys that touch the ground at restaurants, shops, playgrounds, etc.. are immediately removed from the children’s reach until I can sanitize the item properly.  I know that sounds a little serious but yuck, can you imagine what kinds of germs get on toys that touch the ground?

I was recently introduced to the Ali-Oops toy clip and now Madelyn is minus one game.  She tries with all her might to get her toys of off the Ali-Oops toy clip and to get the clip off the stroller but the strong button snaps make it really difficult.

Ali-Oops toy clips are available in two sizes, small and large.   There are 10+ classic and trendy design choices and at just $10 for the small size or $12 for the large size I think these would make great baby shower gifts.

WEBSITE: Ali! Oops Toy Clips

COUPON CODE: Use this link to get 10% off your purchase!