Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Lamaze Infant Development Toys Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Lamaze toys hold a very special place in my heart. We actually used a purple hippo Lamaze toy to help us announce our pregnancy with Darah.

We put the hippo, which we had picked up a a garage sale (it still looked in impeccable condition) and placed it out with our stockings on Christmas morning at my parents’ house. Our stockings are usually overflowing, so it isn’t usual for presents to be displayed all around them. I put the hippo in between my mom and dad’s stocking and put the ultrasound picture we had underneath it.

They actually didn’t figure out what was going on due to the baby toy, alone. My dad actually thought it was a toy for his dog! Ha! But the picture underneath helped them figure it out really quickly. That hippo is part of such a special memory.

It also became a toy for Darah, and is now a toy for Layah. And it is STILL in excellent shape. Lamaze toys, in my experience, really hold up well so they can be used by several different babies before they are ready to be retired.

Lamaze is a company that has partnered with child development experts to create toys that truly engage babies at developmentally appropriate levels. All of their packaging has color-coded age grades to make it easy for you to select the right products for your child’s changing needs.

Today I want to introduce a few of their products that were actually all featured on this What to Expect When You’re Expecting movie poster!

First up, meet Stretch the Giraffe. This fantastic toy has a lot of features that will engage your babies for months! The bright, colorful fabrics tend to attract attention, as do the ribbons, the clacking rings and the squeaks and crinkle sounds that are made when playing with the giraffe. Darah had a previous incarnation of this toy and she loved it. I know Layah will love her giraffe, too! Stretch retails for $14.99.

Next up, meet Hula Girl Travel Toy. She is meant to ride along on a stroller or carrier, and she moves right along with them! I love all the textures on this toy; it will be a big hit when Layah starts to grab things! It retails for $16.99.

Finally we have Octivity Time. This cute octopus is intended for babies 6 months and up, and has a mirror, a spinning starfish, clinky rings and other great features and textures for baby play. It retails for $19.99.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the 3 toys I reviewed in this post! Woo hoo!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

$50 Gift Card to Educational Insights GIVEAWAY!!!

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As you know, I have partnered up with Educational Insights to bring you monthly selections of AMAZING toys, games and other educational products that your kids will love and that will foster a genuine love of learning at home.

Educational Insights has offered a very special treat to Stuff Parents Need readers this month: one of you is going to get a $50 gift card to spend as you please on the site!

What do you need to do to enter? It’s SO easy! You just have to like Educational Insights on Facebook and let me know you did so on the Rafflecopter form below. Woo hoo!

There are so many great things for you to spend it on….can’t wait to hear your ideas!

What are you waiting for?! Get to it!

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Hot Dots Jr. Alphabet Cards Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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We have a FANTASTIC new educational toy at our house, and I’m so excited to share it with you! It comes to us from Educational Insights, an online store that is packed with really great games and toys that help children learn important concepts.

Hot Dots, Jr. is an interactive set of flash cards. We received the beginning alphabet cards. You use these cards in conjunction with a special talking pen that helps children know if they have solved the problem on the card correctly, or if they need to try again. Darah has Kat, and they also offer Ace the dog. Kat’s eyes turn green and she purrs when Darah selects the right answer. She meows when Darah needs to try again.

The cards in the beginning phonics set have various problems that need to be solved. Darah is just now mastering the set of cards that has her match upper case and lower case letters. We are now moving into the cards that also have her match upper and lower case letter, but offer more options and seem to be a bit more difficult. Darah absolutely LOVES to do these flash cards, and she does not get discouraged when she misses the answer. She remains very focused and also practices the sounds the letters make while doing her work. Its really pretty awesome to watch!

I will most definitely be getting more of these cards for her to work with because she has responded so well to them. I also like that they come in a compact case with a velcro lid and a canvas handle for easy storage as well as easy access by Darah. She can pull these out on her own and put them away on her own, which is really nice.

Hot Dots, Jr. card sets retail for $14.99 each and the talking pens retail for $12.99 each. I highly recommend these products as a way to keep the learning that is happening at school also happening at home.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a Hot Dots Jr. card set and a talking pen!

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Grandma’s Trunk: 5 Games in 1! Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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I’m so excited to announce that I am part of the blogging review team for a FANTASTIC educational resource website called Educational Insights (this is a site you are going to want to bookmark, promise). Every month I’ll be bringing you at least one review and giveaway opportunity. I’ll be introducing you to some innovative and exciting educational products for young children, and you’ll get a chance to win, of course! Let the fun begin!

My very first review for the company is of a new game called Grandma’s Trunk. This is designed for kids in Kindergarten and up, and it is actually 5 games rolled into 1 (hooray for toys that can do more than one thing!). From the website, here are the 5 games that can be played with this set:

1. What Comes Next? Take turns placing the letter cards in the trunk in alphabetical order.

2. Memory Time Take turns repeating the sequence of cards already in the trunk, then adding one of your own and challenging other players to remember them all, in order.

3. Grandma’s Riddles Deal the cards, then read a riddle and race to see who has the letter card that answers it!

4. Letter Sequence Memory Deal the cards and take turns putting them in the trunk in alphabetical order, repeating the items already in the trunk and challenging other players to remember them all, in alphabetical order.

5. Grandma’s Adventures Place the letter cards in the trunk and take turns pulling them out to create a cooperative story: “Once upon a time there was a grandma. She saw an iguana.”

While most of these games are too advanced for Darah at this point, we are already playing with the set by looking at the letter cards and practicing the sounds each one makes (she LOVES practicing letter sounds at school, so it’s great to continue those lessons at home!). Since there are so many different things to do with this set, I can tell that it will be played with for several more years, which makes it an excellent value.

I’m very pleased with all the different things you can do with Grandma’s Trunk, and with the overall quality of the game. I’d say that at $14.99, this is a bargain price for a game that will really help develop reading, memory and story telling skills.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a copy of Grandma’s Trunk! Score!
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Green Toys Fire Truck Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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When we were expecting Darah, I had many parents warn us that our home was about to become a plastic jungle, at least for the next 10 years. Tim and I REALLY didn’t want to see that happen. We didn’t want our house to be overrun with toys at all (um, yeah, totally FAILED that one), and we also didn’t want plastic junk everywhere made with questionable chemicals and that would easily break and have to be pitched.

 

So it may seem a little strange that I’m featuring a plastic fire trucktoday as an excellent toy of choice for your little. But this isn’t just any old plastic fire truck! It’s from Green Toys, and it is made entirely out of recycled plastic! milk containers! Even the packaging it comes in is made entirely of recycled and recyclable materials. It is the world’s greenest emergency vehicle!

It’s also SO much fun! Darah is a HUGE fan of fire trucks, always on the lookout for them when she takes a ride in the car, and always listening out for their sirens. We live a few blocks away from a big fire station, so she gets to hear those sirens at least once a day, much to her delight. Her Green Toys fire truck rarely even gets put away. It seems to now live in our hallway, which is the best place for “driving.” Her smaller stuffed animals and figurines are also getting extra play time, as they will fit on top of the fire truck, much to Darah’s delight.

I have given the truck a thorough inspection, and I am very impressed with the quality. It really looks as though it was built to endure many hours of play from children who love their toys, but aren’t necessarily the best at taking care of them, yet. I expect that our fire truck will endure quite a bit of rough-housing with Darah, but will still be in fine shape for the next child, or even for Darah’s kids later on. It’s definitely a winner!

Green Toys has an excellent line of eco-friendly toys, all made from recycled materials, and also all free from lights, batteries and other annoying things that play for your child, instead of encouraging imaginative play. The price points for the toys are a bit higher than their non-recycled plastic counterparts from other brands, but these are toys that are built to last generations, instead of having planned obsolescence, so I think they are worth it! The fire truck I reviewed retails for $27.99

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a Green Toys Fire Truck! The contest will run until September 4th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me one other Green Toys product that would be welcome in your home!

My answer: The school bus!

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like Green Toys on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Like Stuff Parents Need on Facebook

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my blog.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

PlayBright: How to Make Playtime Learning Time

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There’s a non-profit organization in Washington state that has produced a really cool social venture project. The Children’s Home Society of Washington has created a set of books called PlayBright Guidebook, which consist of guidebooks (one for each year ages birth to five) and a keys to learning book that gives parents detailed information on how your child grows and develops.

Before I tell you more, I wanted to explain what a social venture project is (this term is relatively new to me, so I’m thinking it might be new to some of you). When a non-profit or a business has a social venture project, one of the aims of the project is to make a profit. One of the other aims is to make a positive difference in society. The Children’s Home Society of Washington is a non-profit organization whose mission is,” to develop healthy children, create strong families, build engaged communities, and speak and advocate for children.”The PlayBright system gives parents tools to provide brain-boosting activities for their growing children, and the money generated by selling these books goes back to the Children’s Home Society of Washington to help them support kids and families in various ways. Pretty cool, huh?

Playbright 12-24 months book Ok, so back to the PlayBright system. We were sent the book for 12-24 months, and it is stuffed with information that I’m already finding so helpful. In addition to have dozens of pages of fun activities to help your child learn and grow, it also has great information about developmental milestones for this age range, types of toys that are especially stimulating, and songs and nursery rhymes to teach your child. But the book is not at all overwhelming. I think they have cut out a lot of the fluff you find in many developmental books, and stuck with the essentials. As a busy person with not enough time to read much, I really appreciate this!

We also got to check out the PlayBright Keys to Learning book. It was totally fascinating. This is another example of a resource that cut out the fluff and left only the really important and helpful information on the table. I want to provide play time for Darah that is fun, that creates a bond between us, and that also helps her to learn and grow. When I’m left on my own to figure out how to do that well, I have some successes, but I often come up short. This book has given me so many ideas to use, and also gives me a better understanding of the types of stimulation that Darah needs now (and why!). Now that I understand this information, I can create more opportunities for learning fun on my own.


I’m thrilled to have these books, and I know I’ll be buying the books for the next few years, as well. Thank you, Children’s Home Society of Washington, for developing a resource that is so useful!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need Reader is going to win the Keys to Learning book as well as the guidebook for the age you request! Playtime is about to get really awesome at your house! The contest will run until August 15th at 7:59pm CST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to claim the prize before it is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Limit one entrant per household, please. Open to residents of the United States.
Mandatory entry: You must subscribe to my blog via email, Reader or Google Friend Connect (only one is required, just let me know which you chose!).Additional entries:
1. Tell me your favorite game or activity to play with your child. If you don’t yet have a child, tell me a game you hope to play with him/her in the first year.
2. “Like” All on Facebook
3. “Like” Stuff Parents Need on Facebook
4. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter
5. Tweet about this giveaway (one tweet/day allowed)
6. If you are a blogger (your blog needs to have posts that have been written in the past 3 months, please) add my button to your blog and leave a url where I can see it!Be sure to check out my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my home page
Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post may contain affiliate links at no cost to you.