toys - Stuff Parents Need

For the Train Fans: New Chuggington Characters and a Rockin’ New Adventure Set! (Giveaway!)

November 16, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 77 Comments

Guess what’s rolling into the station, just in time for all the Chuggington fans to add to their holiday wish lists! There’s a great new DVD that includes the debuts of two brand-new Chuggington characters, Payce (the tunner runner from Tootington) and Cormac (the cheeky forklift engine). This collection of five episodes features an extended Chuggington special that premiered on Disney Junior this fall. To have it available on DVD is especially great news for those of us (my family included) who don’t have cable and rely on Netflix instant for most of our children’s programming; we can be a little bit behind on getting to see cool specials like this one.

Additionally, there are some great bonus elements with the DVD, including a poster, coloring and activity pages that can be downloaded, a music video and more! There’s tons of stuff to keep your little conductor entertained. It has a suggested retail price of $14.98 (though it is presently very nicely priced at just $9.98 on Amazon!). This is a great buy for any young train fan on your list!

If you aren’t yet familiar with the Chuggington series, it is primarily geared toward little ones in the 2 to 5-year-old range. Three young trainees are the focus of the series, and the themes found in each episode tend to be about courage, determination, and friendship. You can learn more about them on the Chuggington website.

Looking for A Little Something More?

chuggington adventure set 1

If you are looking for something that might dazzle your little train enthusiast, might I suggest pairing the new Chuggington DVD with the Brewster’s Big Build Adventure Set? Take a look at this awesome set that is based on the Chuggington tentpole episode (airing this fall!).

It is complete with a train elevator and escalator (!), a working mega crane, a trick bridge, a tunnel, and two die-cast engines. There are even 4 different layouts for the set to keep things interesting for hours on end. This set is recommended for ages 3 and up, retails for $49.99 and can be found in-store and online at Toys R Us and Target (on sale for quite a bit less at both places at the moment!!!).

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a copy of the latest Chuggington DVD, Chuggineers Ready to Build!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

I Opened the Fluterbye Fairy: My Experience Owning This Popular Toy

November 16, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Product provided for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A little over a month ago I blogged about the fact that I was considering getting the Deluxe Light Up Flutterbye Fairy. Well, it arrived a few weeks ago on one of those rare afternoons while the girls were both sound asleep. I waited approximately ZERO seconds before I tore that box open and started reading the instructions so that I could have the fairy charged and ready to go by the time they woke up.

The Deluxe Light Up Flutterbye Fairy has a bit of a learning curve when you are first getting started with it. It isn’t something that a young child could intuitively use on their own, which is a bit of a minus, in my opinion. To get the fairy ready for flight you have to first put batteries in the charging base (they aren’t included, so head’s up!). Then you have to place the fairy on her stand.

Then you have to attach the fairy to the base an additional way, via a small cord. The connection occurs at a bit of a strange angle; it took me a minute or two just to figure that part out.

Then you need to make sure your base is switched on. Your base will then show a red light, which lets you know that it is charging and not yet ready. After about 10 minutes you will get a green light. At this point, you need to unplug the fairy from the base, and then find a rather tiny and hard-to-spot switch on the fairy’s skirt.

This should turn on the fairy’s rainbow lights, which is your indication that she is ready for flight. Now you put her back on the base and press the button on the base for her to start flying.

You can see how this process would be tricky for most 5-year-olds to remember in order, right? This process alone makes this toy, in my opinion, one that an adult, or at least an older child, needs to be around to assist with.

It just so happened that our flutterbye fairy was ready to launch before the girls woke up from their naps. And I’ll admit that I couldn’t resist, and I decided to try it out by myself. The very first flight of this fairy was absolutely AWESOME. When you launch the fairy, she quickly floats up into the air 4 or 5 feet, and then she delicately starts to make he way back down, unless you place your hand underneath her feet. There are sensors there, and when they sense your hand (no need to touch, just be near), she floats back up again. That first flight was so cool because it felt like having a little flying fairy. She was absolutely beautiful to watch and so fun to play with. I couldn’t wait for the girls to wake up so I could show them!

So when the girls woke up, I took them both outside to play with the fairy more. That’s when I realized that the Deluxe Light Up Flutterbye Fairy actually won’t work outside. It was a pitiful flight, but if I had fully read the instructions I would have realized that the top of the fairy also has a sensor to help her know where the ceiling is. If she can’t detect a ceiling, she just won’t work.

Once I realized my mistake, we headed back inside to play. Both girls were actually a bit alarmed by how quickly the fairy took off. She is very fast, even creating a bit of a breeze around her! But this flight didn’t go a magically as my first time playing with her. After a few moments of hovering around the middle part of the room, she zoomed right up to the ceiling and hung out there. It was quite strange, and the only way we got her down was by pressing on her launch button to get her to come back down and end the flight (tip: press the launch button once to get her to come down slowly, and twice for her to stop very quickly).

She fell to the ground very quickly, and I immediately worried that she was hurt. She wasn’t, and that’s one thing I will say that is a positive for this toy: it can take some serious licks and keep right on working. Good thing, too, because as her charge wears out she becomes a bit more erratic, and has a tendency to run into walls and crash. We usually get 5 flights out of her before we need to plug her back in. I wish she could last a bit longer before needing to return to her charging station, but he charge is good for quite a few take offs.

The Deluxe Light Up Flutterbye Fairy is truly a lot of fun, but this is not a perfect toy. I’ve been reading reviews online and it is a very normal problem to encounter to have your fairy get stuck up on the ceiling. As we have played with her more, we have learned that if you give her a minute, she often will drift back down for you. The company that makes the fairy even has detailed instructions for how to re-set the fairy if it is a consistent problem and you find that your fairy just hangs out on the ceiling all the time. Ours doesn’t do it all the time, but it does happen, which is a bit of a bummer, and isn’t as fun for the kids.

So after my experience playing with the toy, I’d still say it is a really cool toy, unlike anything else we own, but it isn’t without its flaws. Amazon is currently selling the doll for just under $30, and if you have a serious fairy fan in your house, I really do think it’s a good toy to get, flaws and all. I think it’s a fair price for the technology, though I’m hopeful that the brand will make some improvements with the technology and with the process of getting the fairy charged and ready if and when they put out a new line. I like the price point, but I’d rather spend a bit more and get more consistent results, personally.

Blast from the Past: Pound Puppies are Back!

November 16, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Product provided for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

pound puppies 1

You guys!!! Pound Puppies are making a return to the shelves for the holiday season this year. Remember Pound Puppies? If you were a child during the 1980s, or if you had a child during the 1980s, then of course you do! They were a HUGE hit. I had two Pound Puppies, as I recall, and played with them a great deal. So when I heard about their triumphant return, I knew my youngest would flip out over them. She is really into dogs, even though she was born into a cat family (poor thing). Her most special lovey is a dog, and several of the plush toys she plays with the most are dogs. She even has a special place in her heart for Scooby Doo. So I can’t wait for her to see her very own Pound Puppy under the Christmas tree this year.

Pound Puppies come with breed-specific fun fact cards and a heart-shaped dog tag. Your child can pick out a name for their puppy, write it on the tag, and then hop online to register the puppy and print an adoption certificate. While on the site your child can do some online coloring, and there’s also a section of the website filled with fun facts about dogs, which will be fun for any child who is totally into canines.

Pound Puppies come in 6 varieties this year (the one pictured above is a Labrador) and in 3 sizes (12-inch plush, 6-inch plush and 3.5-inch plush keychain). How cute would that little keychain be sticking out of a Christmas stocking? 🙂 The price point ranges from $5.99 to $19.99 and you can adopt a Pound Puppy here!

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!

Lite Sprites: Exploring a World of Color

October 17, 2011 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

I’m excited to tell you about a fun new toy on the market that harnesses the power and joy of color, literally!

It’s called Lite Sprites, and I recommend checking out this fun video which explains how Lite Sprites and the Light Wand works!

This toy is recommend for ages 4 and up. Since Darah is only 2, I wasn’t really sure if she would like the toy or understand what was really going on. I decided to introduce her to it more slowly, so for now, we aren’t playing with the color wand (I mean, let me be real…I’ve played with the color wand, but Darah hasn’t….just being honest!). She’s just playing with Prisma, her Lite Sprite. And she is head-over-heels about this thing!

I actually introduced her in a really fun way. I put her on the floor with her light turned on and didn’t mention it. I asked Darah to come into the room and I acted a bit preoccupied so that she could discover Prisma on her own. I knew she had found her when I heard her start to giggle and say, “Oooooh! Her hair glow!” I then showed her how to push the button in the back to make her colors change (you can manually do it this way, in addition to using the wand), and how to turn her off and on. She played with this toy for the rest of the night and went to bed with it. She plays with it every single day, and even took it upon herself to name her Sprite. Her name is Kadi. No idea how she came up with it, but she has NOT forgotten its name. Since the toy is a bit advanced for her, I didn’t know if it would be a hit. I think introducing it more slowly was the way to go. I think I’ll show her the wand in about 6 months. It is going to BLOW HER MIND! 🙂

For folks who want to go ahead and make use of the lite wand, I LOVE the fact that you can “collect” up to 50 more colors in your wand. This is a great tool for teaching about the subtle differences in shades, and encourages little ones to pay close attention and look for new colors. I’d like to get Darah another Sprite so that they can share colors with each other; I think that would be so much fun!We are really enjoying the Lite Sprites, and I would definitely recommend this toy to others. They are available at Target.comand retail for $39.95 for Prisma and the wand.

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

Plush Monster: A Best Buddy for Your Child

May 3, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 117 Comments

Most of the children I know have far more toys than they need, and maybe even more toys than they even want. This is because we, as parents, find things in the stores that seem so cool, but that our children hardly play with when we bring it home to them. Or, children beg for the latest toy that is being heavily advertised on television and you eventually give in, only to have it break after 20 minutes of use or turn out not to be very entertaining, after all. So many of our homes are knee-deep in plastic crap.

Many children also have an extra special toy that they love to pieces and that goes with them everywhere. Often, this toy is a very special stuffed animal. I know when I was a little girl stuffed animals were my very favorite, and I would play with them for hours on end. I had a stuffed monkey who wore an outfit very similar to Dorothy’s (from The Wizard of Oz). Her name was Samantha and she was my best buddy.

I want Darah to have a best buddy, too, and I have found the COOLEST handmade stuffed animals…err….creatures EVER! Meet Darah’s new plush monster pal Eloi. Eloi comes from a shop called Mr. Sogs and is the handiwork of a wonderful Memphian named Joelle. Joelle has always had a soft spot for animals that are a little bit different, and that is reflected in her creations. Whenever she feels inspired to make a new creature, Joelle will make a few different versions until she gets it just right. All of her creatures are made two of a kind (she says that’s so that they will never really be lonely!).

The name Mr. Sogs comes from Joelle’s very large cat by the same name. Mr. Sogs loves the creatures that Joelle makes, so much so that he used to open the door to her sewing room when she wasn’t around, steal the creatures, and then sleep on them! Ha! Rest assured, she keeps her sewing room locked, now, much to the chagrin of Mr. Sogs.

Now, back to the creatures. When Joelle gave us the opportunity to choose something in her shop to review, Tim and I took this job VERY seriously. We carefully examined each creature, and talked about the features we loved about each one, and whether or not we sensed that each one would be a good potential buddy for Darah. We had to make some tough choices due to all the unbelievably cute animals in the shop, but eventually, we knew that Eloi was destined to reside at the House of M. And when he arrived, Tim and I were so excited! I’m sure if anyone had been watching us, they would have laughed at how excited we were to present Eloi to Darah. But we couldn’t help it! We took a good long look at him before we handed him over, and were just blown away by how beautifully he had been put together. He was part work of art and part future BFF, ready to romp and play. He was, in a word, perfect.

We chose Eloi because we knew that Darah wouldn’t be able to resist those fabulous antennas. And we were exactly right! She reached for Eloi and grabbed him by the antennas and started chewing away. The she loved on him by putting his face on hers. Tim and I just about died. It was so cute. Whenever Eloi gets spotted in the toy box, she reaches for him and just keeps on chewing. Fortunately, he is so well-crafted that he can withstand the abuse, no problem.

I know that Eloi will be having many adventures with Darah and with our entire family, and I just can’t imagine a cooler best bud, except perhaps a certain gingham-dressed monkey.

While Eloi has already found his forever home, there are several other sweet plush monsters at Mr Sogs waiting to be adopted! Wallace is Eloi’s cousin, and he’d love to join your family! Or perhaps Elmore is just the right fit for your little one? Whichever creature you choose, rest assured that they are each made with lots of love and filled with love to give! Micro Creatures at Mr. Sogs start at $19.00 and larger creatures start at $40.00.

EDIT: Giveaway CLOSED!

Win it!: Mr. Sogs the cat doesn’t want to share these creatures with you, but Joelle does! One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win either Chester or Elmore!! The contest will run until Thursday, May 13th at 7:59pm CST. A winner will be randomly selected and emailed, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. Open to residents of the United States. Be sure to leave your email address in your comments or have it in your profile or else I can’t contact you to tell you that you won!

How to Enter:

Mandatory entry: Tell me the creature from Mr. Sogs that you never knew belonged in your home until now! Also tell me if you prefer Chester or Elmore.

Additional entries:

1. Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email (one extra entry total, even if you subscribe both ways)
2. Follow me through Google Friend Connect
3. Put my button on your blog (leave blog url)
4. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter (leave your Twitter ID)
5. Become a Fan of Mr. Sogs on Facebook
6. Add Mr. Sogs to your Etsy favorites

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product in order to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.