lego

Thank Goodness for Netflix, and Thank Goodness for LEGO (A Pneumonia Story)

March 17, 2016 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

I’m a member of the Netflix Stream team and enjoy free streaming service. I have been a happy Netflix customer for 11 years, now and am thrilled to share about my experience.

Last Tuesday started out like most any other. My oldest daughter gave her first presentation ever to her first grade class and I happily attended the presentation in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of my daily work schedule. I noticed that she seemed a little bit low energy, but I chalked it up to nerves. Giving a presentation is a big deal, especially if you are only 6 1/2 years old!

Darah had been wrestling with a cough for about two weeks, and it had mostly improved over that time, though over the past 3 or 4 days it seemed to get worse. When she came home from school that afternoon, a little voice inside my head said, “Go ahead and take her into the clinic nearby for a quick check.” It was 4:50 pm when we left for the clinic.

At 6pm we found ourselves in the ER of our children’s hospital.

A rapid heart rate gave the nurse practitioner who first checked her out concern, and so mama and Darah put on our bravest faces and went to get more help. Before I knew it, my little bunny was hooked up to oxygen machines, undergoing chest x-rays and had an IV to get more fluids in her system. It was our very first visit to the ER, and while I know with certainty that the circumstances could have been much worse, it was still an absolutely horrible moment for me, and I am so thankful for medical teams who knew just what to do to help her little heart calm down, and to get more oxygen in her system while determining the problem, which turned out to be pneumonia.

Pneumonia meant that Darah would be spending the remainder of the week at home with me, trying her hardest to rest. The first day that wasn’t much of a challenge, as her little body was still working so hard to fight. But by Thursday I could tell that she really wanted something fun to help her stay occupied.

Thank goodness for Netflix, y’all.

One of the 5 million things I love about Netflix is how they are generating their own exclusive content, and they are doing it pretty near constantly. It seems like every other day there’s a brand new show available. During our pneumonia break, we discovered two new LEGO shows that Darah and I both enjoyed watching.

LEGO Bionicle was a big hit with Darah, so much so that she promptly put together a LEGO Bionicle figurine we were sent afterwards. She even selected another LEGO Bionicle set from Toys R Us after a follow-up appointment with her pediatrician. Little bunnies with pneumonia get to drop by the toy store, you know. There are currently 3 episodes of LEGO Bionicle on Netflix, and this is Netflix Original content, meaning that you can only find it here.

LEGO Friends can also now be found on Netflix, with two original episodes. We already have a few LEGO Friends sets around the house, and watching the programs certainly renewed Darah’s interest in building with them.

This really turned out to be the perfect pairing for a sick little girl who needed to take it easy, but who still craved something interesting to do during her awake time. The episodes on Netflix were highly entertaining, and building LEGO sets with the characters she just watched was really fun.

I recommend that your child NOT get pneumonia, but obviously we are not fully in charge of that type of thing, so should you find yourself with a sick kiddo, I highly recommend this prescription for fun in addition to the medicine the doctors say to take. And even if your kid isn’t sick, consider enriching the television experience of LEGO with some building time, or vice versa. You can find a huge array of LEGO shows on Netflix streaming!

Finding the Best Toys to Encourage Creating and Building (at Target!)

October 8, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 16 Comments

This shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser, #TargetToys. All opinions are mine alone.

Friends have you started your holiday shopping lists? I am knee-deep in shopping for the 10 children on my list because, quite frankly, they are the REALLY fun ones to shop for. And this year, I’m looking for the best toys I can find that will encourage creating and building. I want toys that children simply can’t resist, and not because they are electronic!

Do you wish you could more easily identify toys like this, too? I find them to be among the very best resources for setting up invitations to play. When I take a few minutes to set up these kinds of activities, my kids make their way over to them with little to no prompting, and they figure out exactly what they want to create or build without my help.

For the nieces, nephews, cousins and school friends you might be buying for this year, consider a LEGO set. They come in a wide variety of price points (the one featured above was just $9.99) and they have really great, really clear instructions for kids to follow, or they are free to build whatever the heck they want!

Darah got right to work doing a little building. She followed the directions for a spell (she’s a HARDCORE direction-follower…gets it from her mama) but even she couldn’t resist that dolphin in the corner, and found herself making up a story about an adventure with it after just a few minutes left to figure out how she most wanted to play. It was a delight to witness!

Kiwi Crates are also available at Target (look for them near the games!). My oldest absolutely adores Kiwi Crates. When I set out a set for her consideration, she was thrilled.

Every child is going to have a different reaction to an invitation to build. Darah is highly verbal, so her first reaction was the pick up the book that comes with the Kiwi Crate and to start checking out the comic strip that was inside. The book was a great way to get her warmed up to the idea of building wind cars. After flipping through it, she was ready to go!

Target is also a great destination for items that help encourage a child to create. I was particularly impressed with the Kid Made Modern line that I found in my local store. It’s actually in the stationery section, so don’t forget to look beyond the toy section for great, creative finds!

Here are just a few items I picked up from Kid Made Modern. Everything was very reasonably priced: perfect for stocking stuffers, filling up the gift closet with inexpensive-yet-awesome finds, and great gifts to put under the tree this year. I’ll definitely be getting more from this line for my girls this Christmas.

My 2-year-old absolutely LOVES coloring and painting, so I set up invitations to create for her quite often. Just by providing fun and engaging materials, I am continually surprised by how long she can stay engaged and focused on a creative play activity.

The next time you head to Target, be sure to take a good look around for items that encourage creating and building, and help kids put their imaginations and their talents to work. Don’t forget to look near the games and to head over to the stationery section, too!

Additionally, Target has an amazing Toy Emporium (found only online) and there are some truly fantastic brands that you may not have even heard of, but that will blow you away. You MUST check it out as you put together your ideas for people on your gift list. These toys will be particularly good for kids who like to get their hands on creative toys that everyone in their class doesn’t already have! You’ll find great options to help kids explore, discover, imagine, create, build and to promote being active. Something for everyone, for sure.

Want more inspiration to help you provide invitations to create and build? Check out this Pinterest board for some more great ideas!

Building Confidence, One Brick at a Time: LEGO JUNIORS Sets

August 26, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Ever since we took a trip over to LEGOLAND in Atlanta, Darah’s interest in all things LEGO has been building. Until now, she and Layah have only played with the LEGO DUPLO sets for younger children. They are larger, easier to work with as a beginner, and they aren’t choking hazards, so they are definitely the right fit for the 3 and under set.

But Darah is now 5, and after seeing the smaller LEGO pieces at LEGOLAND and all the absolutely amazing things that could be built with them, her interest was piqued.

But was she ready to upgrade? I wasn’t so sure. Building LEGO structures can be quite a complicated endeavor, and I didn’t want Darah to get frustrated and too quickly declare that LEGOS weren’t for her. And this, my friends, is why you need to check out LEGO JUNIORS, if you have a little one that might be ready to graduate from DUPLOS.

Darah first started working on the two sets we were sent with her grandparents. But over the weekend she asked to get the sets back out and do some building with her daddy.

I wish I could go back in time to record that moment, friends. The look of sheer delight on Tim’s face when his child asked him to play LEGOS with her was priceless. He promptly sacrificed his beloved Saturday afternoon nap to get down on the floor and do some building with his daughter.

Before I opened the LEGO JUNIORS sets, I assumed that they would be smaller than DUPLO pieces, but bigger than traditional LEGOS. Perhaps they were an in-between size? I was definitely wrong: they are the same size as traditional LEGO pieces.

I think a key difference with the JUNIOR sets is the instructions. They are beautifully simple, and they walk the child through the process, brick-by-brick.

One of the fun things about LEGO sets is that building is only part of the fun. Once you have created what you want, it’s time to play with it! Darah enjoyed having her horse leap over fences (he’s more of a flyer than a leaper, as it turns out) and brushing him in the stable.

She also really loved sending LEGO figurines flying through the air thanks to her catapult. I’m pretty sure every member of the house spent some time playing with this creation. 🙂

After Tim and Darah wrapped up their LEGO projects for the afternoon, Tim shared with me about just how impressed he was with how the sets kept Darah’s attention, and how well she was able to follow the directions. She even worked ahead a few times, which shows a growth in her confidence level, as the very first time she played with the sets (with her grandparents) she gave up more quickly and left the work to them to finish. When I sat down with Darah to admire her work, she was eager to show me the other things that she could build with her sets, and we agreed to tackle those projects in the near future. It only took 2 sessions of building for her to go from shy and slightly reluctant to fully engaged and confident in her skills as a builder.

LEGO® JUNIORS is designed to give children age 4-7 a great first experience with LEGO bricks through iconic, fun and easy to build models. LEGO JUNIORS sets contain quick start elements and numbered pre-packed bags that can be built without help from Mom or Dad – which makes any small builder extra proud.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

LEGO Takes “Family Building” Activity to a New Level!

December 13, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This post brought to you by LEGO. All opinions are 100% mine.

Anyone else out there have some LEGO products all set to go under the tree this year? We've got one en route to use from an online order at the moment, and I can't wait to give it to our youngest to play with, and yeah, let's be real, I want to play with it, too!

Right now you actually CAN do really fun family building exercise with LEGO products, and I mean that quite literally! Check out the LEGO Minifigure Family experience, wher eyou can custom create a minifigure family to represent your own. You can customize the skin color, facial expressions, the clothing options, and even the scene. I just made one to celebrate the holidays and to send out to loved ones. Check out my crew, LEGO-style!

It only takes a minute or two to make your minifigure family, but if you are like me, you'll want to take your time so you can pick out the perfect outfit. I men, c'mon, I am rocking a cat sweater over here, and Tim's in a Santa top, Darah's got some sort of crazy bejeweled outfit going on, and Layah is dressed like a gingerbread man.

And I barely scratched the surface of the wardrobe options, people. So much fun!

Pop on over and put together a LEGO version of your own family. It's free, easy, fun, and makes for a clever alternative to holiday cards if you are running short on time to get yours out!