Category Archives: Age 5-7

Cranium Bloom: Let’s Play Count & Cook Game

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

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Cranium® Bloom™
 is a new line of games, books, puzzles, and toys for preschoolers ages 3+ and they are so much fun!

We tried out the Cranium® Bloom™ Let’s Go to the Zoo Seek & Find puzzle and the Cranium®
Bloom™ Let’s Play Count & Cook game. 
Here is our review of the Count & Cook game.

Kids inherently have a negative attention span which is why I love the Cranium®
Bloom™ games.  The Cranium®
Bloom™ Let’s Play Count & Cook game takes about 10 minutes to play and they are fun filled and educational.  In the box you will find a sturdy game board, 20 ingredient tokens, 4 chef movers, recipe book, and die. 

First your child will choose one of the 6 chef movers to play with.  Then she will put it on her favorite ingredient token all of which are on the board when the game starts.  Mom picks a recipe from the book and places it where everyone can reach it. Then all of the players work together to make the same recipe.   Players roll the die on their turn and move the number of spaces shown on the die. If she lands on an ingredient needed for the recipe, she adds the token to the recipe.  Kids can have fun when they land on a star by choosing any ingredient they want to add to the recipe.  The player who adds the last ingredient is top chef and opens a secret window in the recipe book for a surprise.

>Get a closer look at Cranium®
Bloom™ products below:   

Other ways we had fun with the game was by choosing a few ingredient tokens, handing them out to the kids and having them find the ingredient in our kitchen.  Some ingredients are simple while others require a bit of searching.  If you are brave enough, you can even have your child help you make one of the recipes.. for real!

Cranium®
Bloom™ Let’s Play Count & Cook game is available at Amazon.com for $12.99 and is appropriate for ages 3+. 


Cranium Bloom: Let’s Go to the Zoo Seek & Find puzzle

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

Cranium® Bloom™
 is a new line of games, books, puzzles, and toys for preschoolers ages 3+ and they are so much fun! We tried out the Cranium® Bloom™ Let’s Go to the Zoo Seek & Find puzzle and the Cranium® Bloom™ Let’s Play Count & Cook game.

Let’s Go to the Zoo Seek & Find puzzle is not just a puzzle but a seek and find game as well making it a puzzle that your preschooler will want to put together and play over and over again.  The puzzle pieces are large for little hands, and the picture is made up of whimsical, vibrant images of zoo animals.

Get a closer look at Cranium® Bloom™ products below.

First your preschooler will piece together the puzzle. Then you will choose a book of cards, beginner or advanced. Each book includes 15 seek & find cards that show an image or a color for your child to find in the puzzle.  Three year olds should start with the beginner book which asks the child to find things like ‘something blue’, and ‘3 lions’. The color or the requested image is shown on the card so your preschooler can use the card as a reference.  The book and cards in next level, advanced, request that your child find things like ‘something that starts with a Z’ and ‘5 bananas’.
When your child finds the requested color, or image(s) she uses the included erasable pen to circle it, then you move on to the next card in the book until all of the images or colors in the book are found.


Cranium® Bloom™ products are available at Amazon.com or on the Cranium® website.

Little Tikes toys

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10

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We recently received three Little Tikes toys to share with you and I can’t express in writing how much they have been enjoyed around here!


Little Tikes Push & Ride Doll Walker
Madelyn, 19 months, has enjoyed pushing the Little Tikes Push & Ride Doll Walker all over the place. She puts her stuffed squirrel (yes, you read it right) on the back, herself on the front and takes off.   The low seat makes it easy for Madelyn to get on and off while the high back ensures that she doesn’t fall backwards while going for a ride.

Little Tikes Cook n’ Learn Kitchen
Littletikes_kitchenDespite the fact that Madelyn has never cooked a meal (she’s 19 months), she finds her very own kitchen fascinating.  She loves to cook soup, bake cookies, flip eggs, and make drinks for all of her friends.  Little Tikes has taken the traditional play kitchen one step further with their Cook ‘n Learn Interactive Kitchen Set.  This kitchen not only gives Madelyn something to do while I am cooking, but it is teaching her counting skills, colors, shapes, numbers, veggies and more while she plays.  Although she is a little young to enjoy the benefits of the ‘Learning Mode’, she loves the ‘Free Play Mode’.  The Cook ‘n Learn Interactive Kitchen set includes 4 food
sets: Cupcakes &
Cookies Set, Pasta Set, Birthday Cake Set, and a Pizza Set as well as dishes, utensils, and of course.. pretend food. 

Littletikes_jumperLittle Tikes Jump ‘n Slide Bouncer

A bouncer in the backyard is every child’s dream.. so I’ve heard. Our testers ages 3 – 9 years old agreed that this is hands down their favorite large outdoor toy of 2007-2008.  The 7×6 bouncing area and big slide with protective rails make for hours of fun in the backyard or on any soft, safe surface.
Not only is the Jump ‘n Slide Bouncer great for families who have a small backyard and don’t want
a trampoline taking up their entire yard but for parents who are tired of renting a bouncer for $400 a day for each of their kids birthdays! This bouncer takes up about 12×9 feet when inflated and inflation takes just about one minute which is great for busy parents.
We only allow two kids in the bouncer at a time and they have to be around the same age. Don’t leave young children in the bouncer without supervision.

Click the picture below to learn more about these products and more at the Little Tikes website.


Buy great toys directly from LittleTikes.com

Rose Petal Cottage

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, ,

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The age on the box says 3 years and up but at 19 months, Madelyn LOVES
sitting in it, playing with the stove, and putting her baby in the cradle.

Click the picture to the right to see more pictures. >>

The Rose Petal Cottage was a breeze to put together. Complete with step by step instructions, and pieces that snap together it took one adult about 20 minutes to construct the Rose Petal Cottage.
The poles used to build the frame of the house are thick, durable metal which make the house very sturdy.  The frame is then covered with double sided fabric. Both the outside and inside of the cottage or decorated as they should be complete with hardwood looking floors, windows, vines on the outside, a chimney, and a dutch door.

The cottage can be set up with the two halves placed side by side for an open structure or put together to form a regular home-like structure.

Madelyn loves to make soup on and bake cookies in the fiberboard stove that has knobs that really turn and an oven door that really opens.  Madelyn also enjoys the cradle and changing table. She tried to sit in the cradle herself when she first saw it, but then realized that it wasn’t so easy to get out of so she decided the cradle was best for her baby doll.  She loves to put baby on the changing table and act like she is changing baby’s diaper. Without the Rose Petal Cottage, I don’t think we would have seen this creative, nurturing side of Madelyn at such a young age. It’s a joy to see her taking care of baby, cooking food and rocking baby to sleep in her cradle while she "shooshes" us so baby will doze off.

There are several accessories available for the Rose Petal Cottage including a Makin’ Muffins Baking Set, and a Rose Petal Lounge Chair.  The Rose Petal Cottage is perfect for your little girls bedroom or playroom. Just make sure that she understands that her little friends are going to want in too so get ready to share!

Buy at Amazon.com

Child ID Kits & Safety Products

Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13

Chickandcubs_braceletYour child is the most precious thing in the world to you right?  Do you have a child ID kit for each of your children in case of emergency?  Studies show that over 80% of parents don’t have any official form of identification for their children.  I had a hard time believing that to be true but when I questioned several of my ‘mom friends’ I found the percentage to be more like 90%.   

Unfortunately, a lot of parents aren’t aware that child ID kits, and other child safety products are easy to purchase online at stores like ChicksAndCubs.com.   Please help spread the word to your mom friends!

Chicks and Cubs offers a wide range of child safety products including ID bracelets like the blue one you see here, car seat ID cards, and everyday ‘carryable’ ID cards. These are just a few of the child safety products available through Chicks and Cubs. 

Chicks and Cubs child safety products are affordable, durable, and best of all easy to ‘set up’ and use.   We had an eight year old test the bracelet and he found it to be very comfortable.  The bracelet is a great safety product to put on your child when going to the mall, or airport for example and ALL parents should have a copy of their child’s ID in their car, purse, and diaper bag.

Visit Chicks and Cubs to learn more about child safety identification kits and to purchase yours today.