Category Archives: Age 3-5

UV Protectant Swim & Play Wear

Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Baby & Kids Clothing, , , , ,

Sunsmart_both1Did you know that a bad sun burn before the age of 10 can give you up to a 50% chance of getting skin cancer as an adult?  I didn’t. That is a really scarry thought. I am glad Sebastian and Madelyn have UV Protectant swim/play wear from SunSmart.ca.

SunSmart has come up with a great, fun way for kids to have fun in the sun and parents don’t have to worry about their skin suffering the damaging effects of UV rays.

SunSmart’s swim and play wear not only protects your child from damaging UV rays, they are also fun to wear!  Both Sebastian and Sunsmart2Madelyn wore their SunSmart outfits for one full day (Sebastian actually slept in his!) and had a blast wearing them. Quit honestly, I was amazed that Madelyn didn’t pull at the fabric around her neck as it comes up higher than her usual clothing does which provides great UV protection on her delicate skin. Madelyn waltzed around the house and yard all day with no complaints.

Sebastian absolutely LOVES his SunSmart outfit. On more than one occasion, he commented on how comfortable the outfit is and that he was going to wear it forever. That could get a little smelly.

Although Madelyn can’t really appreciate the super hero design on the outfits, Sebastian sure did. At seven years old, he is all about super hero’s.  He was thrilled that he is Superman and Madelyn is Supergirl. How cute!

With sizes for babies all the way up to teens, kids of all ages can now be protected from the sun in fashion!

Where to buy: SunSmart.ca

Oil Cloth Chalk Mat

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Games, Travel, ,

Madallie_oilclothmat1
Taking the kids to a restaurant… just the thought used to make me cringe.  Now that Sebastian is seven, he is pretty good about sitting still and occupying himself. Madelyn, on the other hand, is a different story. She just started getting interested in coloring so the Madallie Oil Cloth Chalk Mat has come in really handy on more than one occasion. Not only do we use the oil cloth chalk mat at restaurants, we use it at home on the kitchen table too.

The Oil Cloth Chalk Mat comes with two pieces of white chalk, an eraser cloth and a little pocket that stores both. The mat rolls up and ties closed which makes for easy packing and unpacking.

Planning a road trip?  Just bring a car seat tray, and your oil cloth chalk mat and your kids will have fun drawing, playing tick-tac-toe, hangman, and practicing their writing skills and math… yeah, right!

This is definitely a ‘mommy must have’.

I just learned that Madallie.com sells the infamous PlasmaCar!  If you haven’t already, check out the video of Madelyn being chased by two boys on their PlasmaCars. It’s really funny and she’s having a blast!  Madelyn even rides Sebastian’s PlasmaCar and she’s only 14 months! She loves it. She can go forward and backward on her own.

 

Where to buy: Madallie.com: A Children’s Travel Store

 

COUPON CODE: The Mommy Insider readers get 10% off with code TRAVEL.

School Zone interactive products

Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Educational Toys

Schoolzone_interactiveSebastian has so much fun with his School Zone Puzzle Play workbooks. I’m a computer geek so I love to see Sebastian doing something constructive on his computer.

The School Zone Interactive products include a workbook and a CD-ROM.  The workbook is full of colorful mazes and the software provides 30 creative backgrounds on which Sebastian can create his own maze puzzle. Sebastian designs the path of his maze from a "Start" point to the "Finish." Children can use a mouse to design their maze path or they can use the arrow keys. I love this feature. Some kids get frustrated with the mouse, so having the option to use the keyboard keys is great.  When Sebastian finishes his path, the computer fills in the rest of the maze with misleading and dead-end pathways.

After Sebastian creates his maze, he can solve the puzzle with a race against the clock, or a little computer guy which Sebastian prefers.

Sebastian’s second favorite Puzzle Play workbook is the Hidden Pictures. The workbook comes with over 50 colorful hidden pictures pages. The CD-ROM is a little more challenging to figure out but once your child gets it, he will have a blast!  Your child adds objects on top of a picture and then the objects magically sink into the picture. To solve the puzzle, the person playing it is shown the picture with a grid on it. By selecting coordinate points, the player can direct a funny character to dig at the point he or she selected.
To add some excitement (even more!), your child also embed goodies and gags.

School Zone Puzzle Play workbooks are geared for children ages 6-8 but we have a few 5 year old product testers use the workbooks and software and they did just fine with a little supervision.

Where to buy: School Zone

Crumb Chum – a mommy must have

Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Baby & Kids Clothing, Cleaning & Cleaners, Feeding - baby & kids

Crumbchum_1The Crumb Chum is something we use every day.

I can’t tell you how many times my mother has commented on how messy Madelyn gets when eating. My mother tells me "I never let you and your sister get that messy." My mother said that she always kept a wet wash cloth on hand and didn’t let us feed ourselves because it was too messy.

That is not the kind of Mommy I am. I want Madelyn to experience messes, I want her to feed herself as much as she can, and I don’t want her to be self conscience about getting dirty. The Crumb Chum helps me achieve all of these desires while making it easy and stress-free when Madelyn is finished with her meal.

The Crumb Chum is easy to use, easy to clean, comes in lots of great designs and best of all, it serves a purpose that no one canCrumbchum_pocket deny needs serving. That purpose is keeping baby clean.

The Crumb Chum is one of those things that I think should be included in the "take home" bag when you deliver your baby at the hospital.

The Crumb Chum covers Madelyn from chin to toe. The lightweight material helps Madelyn keep Madelyn cool while keeping her clean and the light weight makes it easy for Madelyn to move around in the bib.  It folds to be very small and can be stored in a diaper bag pocket or purse easily.  The pocket hangs perfectly so that the food that doesn’t make it in Madelyn’s mouth falls right into the pocket.

The Crumb Chum comes in two sizes, 6-15 months and 15 months – 4 years and in tons of great patterns for boys and girls.

Where to buy: Crumb Chum

COUPON CODE: Enter TMI when checking out to get 5% off your order!

What do you think of this product?

One Little Two Little Indians (Native American) Puppets

Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5

Tenlittleindians
One little, two little, three little Indians… and the song continues to ten. That was one of my favorite songs when I was little. The main reason why is because I grew up in Seminole County Florida so I thought that meant that there were Indians (native americans) living in the "forest" behind our house!

I received a set of One Little Two Little Indians (Native American) Puppets for review from Little Boy Blue Boutique and can’t begin to tell you how much fun we’ve had with them!  With a seven year old and an almost one year old in the house, these puppets have been played with in a variety of very creative ways. Most importantly, the One Little Two Little Indians (Native American) Puppets are a really fun way to teach Madelyn her numbers. Sebastian (7) puts the puppets on his hands and makes them peep around the door and Madelyn thinks it’s the funniest thing ever!  Because the One Little Two Little Indians (Native American) Puppets are very gender neutral looking, he even gets his friends in on the fun. Can you picture several seven and eight year olds with little Indian puppets on their hands… the things they do!

Each One Little Two Little Indians (Native American) Puppets is 8 x 10 inches and fits adult and children’sTenlittleindian_details
hands. I am very impressed with the quality, detail, and durability of the Indian puppets. With so many kids playing with them, you would think that they would show signs of wear by now, but they are holding up just fine. They are tough little Indians!

I am always looking for creative ways to teach the kids and these are one way to add a little fun to your learning time with your toddler every day.  What’s even more fun than watching Madelyn smile at the One Little Two Little Indians (Native American) Puppets and get acquainted with the numbers 1-10 is to see what she does when the puppets are on her little hands!

Where to buy: Little Boy Blue Boutique

COUPON CODE: The Mommy Insider readers get 10% off your purchase.  Use code M175s28 when checking out. Thanks Little Boy Blue Boutique!