Category Archives: Age 7-10

MichaelsMind Children’s Books: $15.95

January 17, 2008Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Books, Educational ToysAlicia

Sebastian and I read every night. Sometimes I like the book he chooses and sometimes I don’t. When he picks one of Steve Tiller’s books I am relieved because I know I am going enjoy our reading time just as much as he does that night.

The colorful, fairytale like illustrations and fun writing style keep Sebastian’s attention on the book. Steve’s books are written and illustrated superbly with each story delivering a message in such a way so that the child understands the message. Steve is a great children’s book author. He knows how to capture a child’s attention and keep it. Steve’s books cover topics including self confidence (Just Be Yourself), faith (Boat & Wind), childhood fantasy (Tangle Fairies), and individuality (Inside Outside Who We Are).

Michaelsmindbooks2 When we read one of Steve’s books Sebastian enjoys talking about it afterward. Sebastian usually doesn’t want to talk about the meaning of a book, the characters or illustrations but he gets so into the characters and the stories that he sometimes continues the story with his own ‘next chapter’.

Most of the books have a free curriculum that parents can download from the website. The curriculum includes group discussions, recipes, activities and drawing.

You will also find a beautiful selection of posters on the website such as the one to the left.

Visit the MichaelsMind Books website to learn more about Steve’s books and to place an order.

Little Tikes toys

January 8, 2008Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10Alicia

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
Despite 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.

Little 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.

Child ID Kits & Safety Products

December 28, 2007Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13Alicia

Your 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.

SquidSoap

November 9, 2007Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13, Cleaning & Cleaners, Fun stuff for parentshands, kids, soap, squidsoap, washAlicia

"Awww… you made me ink!" That is one of my favorite lines from Finding Nemo. Did you know that your kids can have fun with ink? No, not the kind in a pen but the SquidSoap kind which is actually vegetable dye.

SquidSoap by Airborne^® is designed to teach and
train proper hand-washing technique to children. It’s the only
liquid-soap dispenser with a specially designed pump that stamps a
child’s hand with vegetable dye. It takes about 20 seconds of thorough
hand washing to remove the ink mark, leaving the child with clean
hands. So it literally takes the guesswork out of whether or not your
kids have washed their hands thoroughly. It’s easy, fun and effective.

I have to admit that Sebastian, 8 years old, was a little bummed that he had to put ‘ink’ on his hands at first. However, after using SquidSoap a couple of times he thought it was cool. Eight year old boys just don’t have the time to stand around washing their hands.. silly me. Now I simply require that the kids wash their hands in the kitchen where I can see them use vegetable dye on the top of the SquidSoap dispenser and then check to see that the dye is gone when they have finished washing their hands.

This is a great product. One that every parent should have in their home.

WEBSITE: SquidSoap

Table Topics – a conversation starter and more

November 1, 2007Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13, Educational Toys, Fun stuff for parentsAlicia

We all know how important it is that the whole family eat dinner together every night, but do we always
have something to talk about? When I ask Sebastian what he did at school today, he says "not much". "Did you learn anything?", I ask. "not really", he says. When he wants to talk, he’ll talk until we ask him to please stop. He can talk your ear off. When he doesn’t want to talk though, it’s a different story. Dinner time is one of those times when it’s hard to get him to talk to us.

Now that we’ve got Table Topics Sebastian enjoys dinner time. He knows that he can tell us stories, and ideas, and give us answers to all sorts of questions like "what would you do if you were invisible for a day?" and we won’t tell him to stop talking. We do however, put a time limit on his answers as he tends to go on and on and on if we don’t.

Table Topics take up minimal space on your table and come in a clear, attractive container that will match any room decor.

There are currently seven Table Topics themes including family, girls night out, teens, couples, and more. I have found that the dinner table isn’t the only time to whip out the Table Topics cards. When Sebastian can’t seem to find anything to do except watch TV, I choose a Kids Topics To Go card with a question that would spark his interest and ask him to turn his answer into a story. He really enjoys writing stories and the Kids Topics To Go is a great starting point.