Category Archives: Games

Toy review: Balancing Coral toy from Plan Toys

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

Plan Toys Balancing Coral gamePlan Toys makes some of the nicest looking and well made wooden toys I've seen.  

Made of earth-friendly and replenishable rubber wood, Balancing Coral, is a game for up to 4 players ages 3 and up. The idea is to take turns putting pieces of coral on the coral base and see who makes the coral topple by not keeping the coral balanced.  Madelyn works very hard at putting a few pieces on but manages to topple the coral within a few tries.  That is to be expected though as she is only 2. 

Balancing Coral is great game for young kids as it will help develop good cognitive and fine motor skills.  I always supervise Madelyn when playing Balancing Coral because the pieces could potentially be a chocking hazard for children 3 and under.  Madelyn stays too busy putting the coral on to try to put the pieces on her mouth.

Plantoys-firestationGIVEAWAY!
We have a Plan City Fire Station
 to giveaway to a lucky reader!   Go to Plan Toys website and tell me in the comment box below what you think makes Plan Toys stand out and tell me what other product (1 only) you would love to have of theirs and why.  You just might get it too!

You can buy Balancing Coral at Plan Toys or at Oompa Toys, one of my favorite online toys stores, for about $35.

Check out some of our other givewaways running now (Expire Dec. 31, 2008):  invisibelt giveaway, Little Tikes Rated Green products giveaway, Fisher Price Zen Collection Swing giveaway, Precious Girls Club book and goodie bag giveaway.

Little Tikes Rated Green products

Games, Green, Toys, ,

Littletikes-matching
Little Tikes is known for making colorful, fun, and educational toys for kids.  Sebastian, now 9 years old, had a Little Tikes picnic table, toddler bed, an outdoor play house, and little climber with a slide.  Our house and yard could have been a Little Tikes advertisement!  

You can't go wrong with Little Tikes which recently came out with a line of Green toys including the Bamboo 3-D Memory Matching Game,  Bamboo Tangram Game, Travel Flash Card Assortment: Numbers, Toddler Words, Subtractions, and Card Games: Old Maid, Go Fish and Slap Jack.

Madelyn loves the Little Tikes Bamboo 3-D Memory Matching Game.  The wood tiles are easy to pickup and hold and the cute character pictures on the tiles are colorful and easy for little eyes to remember and recongnize.

Besides being fun and educational, toys in Little Tikes' new line of Green toys are made from real babmoo (a renewable, sustainable, natural material), soy based ink, 100% reclylced paper and come in cases made from a biodegradable material called CBR (Corn Based Resin).

Little Tikes Rated Green educational toys and games are available at the Little Tikes online store, here.

Giveaway: Enter to win a set of Little Tikes Rated Green products!

Stylin’ Studio

Electronics, Games, Toys

StylinstudioThe kids are back in school and girls are doing their best to make sure that they are up to date with the latest hair style and make up but how do they try new styles out before taking your money to buy and try out new shades of lipstick just to throw them away because ‘they don’t look with with my skin tone’?

Now girls can try out new styles with Stylin’ Studio.  Stylin’ Studio gives girls the ability to see what hairstyle or makeup colors will look best on them, right from their computer.  Using the built-in digital camera, girls can give themselves a new makeover by changing their hairstyle, adding
accessories and applying make-up.

Continue reading Stylin’ Studio →

Jishaku magnet game – it’s addictive!

Games, Toys

Jishaku1_2Jishaku is the most entertaining game I’ve played in a long time.  As you can see in the photograph, my husband is very entertained as well.   

Jishaku is a game of magnetic attraction.  Jishaku magnets like all magnets, have North and South poles.  These smooth, shiny magnets aren’t marked though so you can’t tell which side is going to attract or repel neighboring magnets.

The game is played by placing one of your magnets in a hole in the foam game board and hope
that your magnet doesn’t attract magnets in nearby holes.  If the magnet you just played does attract a magnet or multiple magnets, you have to take your magnet and the
magnets that attach to yours and put them back in your hand to play again.  Players take turns until one player runs out of magnets

Continue reading Jishaku magnet game – it’s addictive! →

Xeko: an eco-friendly game that’s fun for kids and parents

Games, Green, Toys

Xeko1
Sebastian and I are hooked on two games right now.  One is Xeko: Mission China.  Mission China is the newest Xeko mission.  Xeko games are eco-conscious collectible, educational card games.  The object of this game
is to build the strongest Xeko-system that balances resources and
species. In order to become a Xeko Master, your child must learn how to balance the eco-system.  A player wins by running out of cards in her draw pile AND also must have the highest number of eco-points indicating that she knows how to balance the Xeko-system.  Conserving cards is important too though, so like I said the game is all about balance.  Sebastian and I were playing like pro’s within a couple of hours and it is so much fun to play! 
Players must play a Species card on each turn or pass.  Species cards must be linked together whether it be to your own Species card already in the field or your oponent’s species card.

Sebastian loves to go on the Xeko website to learn more about his Xeko species cards and play games.  Add more fun to the game with booster packs.  Booster packs come with 9 cards from a random selection of 150
cards. All Xeko collections are playable with one another, and players
can mix and match to build custom decks. 

Your child
will learn interesting facts about endangered animals and their
habitats while playing Xeko!
Visit the Xeko website for a store near you or buy at Amazon.com.