Zingo and Other Great First Games for Kids

We've reached a milestone. My family can now play games together. Games that Mommy and Daddy actually enjoy a bit, too. It started with the gift of ThinkFun Zingo for Son's fifth birthday. As the mother of the gift giver said, "Oh, you'll love it. My little one can play it, too." And she was right. Two year old Daughter talks trash about how she'll win and the rest of us will lose when she nails all the chips on her card. Son is very proud of winning and this game is both a concentration and confidence booster. I think the enjoyment lies somewhere between permission to yell loudly as you call out the image on your chip (T-Rex! Ghost!) and the tactile fun of handling the plastic chips (adults get some pokeresque satisfaction).

On our recent trip to Florida, I opted not to bring the game, fearing the chips would end up mingled with crumbs on the floor of the airplane. When we arrived at the gate, a bunch of kids were circled on the floor playing...Zingo. They invited us to join in and it was a great way to pass the time (Advice: Gate use recommended, airplane use still a risk.) I then purchased a second game at the Target near Grandma's and soon the whole extended family was playing together. Daughter even grabbed the game and corralled Grandma's visiting 73-year old friend to play with her.

Success at Zingo also led us to play Go Fish. Daughter doesn't quite get the concept of hiding her cards but Son is all over it and begs to play morning and night. Yesterday's cold rainy day consisted of several games of Zingo and Go Fish, a full house hide and seek (to stretch our legs a bit), then a movie (break needed).

For kids ages 2 and 3, fun early games we enjoyed were:
Cranium Cariboo - Helps learn shapes, colors, and letters while collecting balls to open the fun treasure chest.

Cranium Hullabaloo - Fun, movement game with music that also helps learn shapes and colors

Enjoy!

Great Summer Books for Preschoolers

When I was young, I loved it when my Mom dropped me off at the library and I could pick out great summer books to read. My kids can’t read yet but I’m loving a few books that I’m reading to them at night.

Rattletrap Car
June, Jakie, Papa and Baby try to make it to the lake in their rattletrap car. They depend on a few toys and marshmallow chocolate fudge delight to get them there. It’s a perfect read for a hot, hot day with wonderful pictures and rhymes.

A House for Hermit Crab
We got a paperback version of this great tale as a favor after a maritime birthday party (isn't that a great idea?). Hermit crab finds various items from the sea to decorate his shell. It’s educational and has a great message about making a change just after we've gotten settled in. It also makes our search for hermit crabs at the beach even more fun.

Philippe in Monet's Garden
Daughter’s cousins gave her this for her second birthday. I’m currently reading it to 4-year old son since it’s a bit more his speed. It’s a fun, quirky frog adventure with a little Impressionism thrown in. Published by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

More Books
My friend Liz, who is a middle school librarian, just launched a great new site recommending books for children of all ages. She covers many age groups and posts valuable comments about each book. Check it out Bibliotechies at http://www.bibliotechies.com/.

Happy Reading!

Berry Picking with the Kids

The last two weeks I’ve enjoyed some simple summer fun with my kids (running in the sprinkler, blowing bubbles, puzzles on the front porch), culminating in a short hike to pick blueberries this morning. It’s super humid and hot here in Connecticut so we hit the trail before 9 am, beach buckets in hand to collect our berries. Husband and I discovered this old apple orchard in Trout Brook Preserve (directions below) the first year we were married and have trekked every summer since to pick the berries or marvel at humongous pumpkins that grown in a long, sprawling patch come Fall.

This is the first year that four year old Son was committed (by us) to hiking all on his own while two year old Daughter was allowed relief in the Kelty backpack carrier.

The secret to hiking with young kids, I’ve found, is to give them responsibility and leadership. I’ve been showing Son how to spot trail markers on the trails near our house and so we designated him Leader of our hike, responsible for showing us the way. It took his mind off whining, “Can you carry me?” when he kept spotting yellow, then magenta arrows pointing us down the trail.

“Look, Mommy, the arrow’s pointing that way!”

Once we hit the orchard, it was a fun run down to the blueberry bushes followed by eager picking and popping in mouths. The kids didn’t manage to get any blueberries past their mouths into their buckets, but Husband and I stocked up for home.

If you live in Fairfield County, it’s worth the trip to this corner of Trout Brook Preserve in Easton. I suggest some kind of child backpack or carrier if your little one can’t make a 20 minute hike there and back. While the trail is shaded and cool, the orchard gets very hot in the sun so hike early if it’s going to be a scorcher. There were plenty of blueberries still to ripen, so this trip should work from mid-July until August 1.

In August, we pick raspberries at Candee Farm in Easton. Call ahead to see if they are ripe but we have found on occasion that when advised that they "weren’t ripe yet and to come on over to pick peppers and cukes instead,"that many berries were in fine shape. You’ll pay a small fee to take the raspberries home.
Enjoy!

Here is a map to Trout Brook Preserve: Freeborn Road is located a short ways north of the intersection with Route 136. Park across from the gate marking the gravel road. Take the gravel road until you see the yellow arrow pointing to the right. Follow the yellow trail to the magenta trail. After entering the gate to the orchard, walk down the hill to the right for the blueberry bushes. Some of the near bushes may be picked already. We found the most ripe berries in the back and right side rows.

Classic Tunes for Tots

In an article in the New York Times this week, a producer for Inside Edition said the campaign trail has become the “greatest reality show on television.” Amen. Until it got so negative and I decided I’d had enough. That’s when I turned to American Idol for some lighter fare. And while my toddlers can correctly name a front page picture, “That’s Barack Obama!” (is it a form of brainwashing if Son puts a bumper sticker on his toy car?) they like it even better when I break into Beatles’ songs over breakfast.

It was a bright Spring morning several weeks ago when I launched into “Here Comes the Sun” after Brooke White sung it on American Idol the night before. (Her bright yellow dress was fun but there’s a reason she’s been voted off.) Despite her average performance, the song stuck in my head and reminded me how great Beatles songs are for kids. In the next few weeks on the show, Mariah Carey didn’t offer much inspiration for the little ones (though David Cook rocked!) but Neil Diamond opened up a whole new world of cheesy classics. Who can’t belt out “Sweet Caroline” to her four year old?

Well, a couple of “Cracklin’ Rosies” later and I was traveling all the way downhill to “I Think I Love You” by The Partridge Family. While Husband was a bit aghast at my fierce attempt at Keith Partridge (with a little bit of sister Laurie on keyboards thrown in), Daughter and Son were enthralled. It’s fun to watch Mommy get down to a song. Why, I wondered, should our children only learn Bruce Springsteen songs from Dad?

So, to parallel the rockin’ playlist Dad created for the kids, I’ve made my own mix of Mommy tunes. We can’t put the Beatles on our playlists since they aren’t on iTunes or Rhapsody (our subscription service). But the songs are catchy and fun to sing along to, with harmless lyrics. Come on Moms, rock on!



Mommy's Classic Tunes for Tots

on iTunes

on Rhapsody



Dad's Classic Tunes for Tots

on iTunes

on Rhapsody

Lead Paint Toy Recall Redux - Goodwill Bans Toys

Last Sunday I took a trunk load of my used maternity clothes, children’s clothing and children’s toys to our local Goodwill drop off center. I had weeded our playroom the week before and amassed a reasonable offering of blocks, shape sorters, toy phones, pull trains and even an old Pooh and Friends See ‘n Say. Goodwill was happy to take the clothes off my hands but not the toys. The reason: Safety concerns. Yep, the lead-tainted toy scare from China has trickled down to Goodwill. The nice man loading my bags into a big blue crate informed me that they’ve long refused car seats and cribs for safety reasons, now the policy applies to toys, as well. Too many recent recalls. Too bad.

I understand the logic for Goodwill’s policy and am saddened that corruption along the Chinese supply chain will prevent their customers from finding inexpensive, gently-used toys in their stores. I’m also disappointed in the lack of foresight and funding for adequate regulations on US imports. But the biggest lack of oversight right now goes to the toy manufacturers who didn’t test their products. Mattel has recalled over 10 million (10 million!) toys since July.

(To see if any of the toys in your house are on this list, visit http://service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp. Make sure to click on the Fisher-Price link to a long list of toys that you may very well have. I found our little Elmo sprinkler on this list.)

At least Mattel has now asserted that it will test all toys in the future. This is something our local Melissa and Doug toy company has been doing for years. In fact, a source tells me they were accused of “over-testing” a few years ago because they not only tested every product prior to sale, but also conducted surprise visits to their Chinese factories. Turns out their prudence paid off. More worrisome now are the no name brands who don’t bother to test at all. The same source recently recalled meeting a woman who planned to start an Internet toy company with a Chinese manufacturer she’d never met. When shopping, we need to decide whether a supplier who might not be as familiar with their Chinese partners can be trusted to keep lead paint out of their toys.

In the end, it’s left to us parents to police our children’s toys for safety. How much danger are our kids in? The answer from my research is….Less than leaded house paint; more than toys that don’t contain any lead paint. Yes, it’s still worse to remodel a house built before 1978 (when lead paint was outlawed in the US) than to let your toddler run through an Elmo sprinkler. The real danger, according to an article on MSNBC.COM is that “Tiny leaded dust particles get on children's hands and feet, and the kids ingest then by sucking on their fingers.” And the ensuing disabilities can be irreversible. So, you probably want to ditch those red Thomas the Tank Engine cars your toddler’s been chewing on. And to be safe, all other recalled toys. Especially those with tiny magnets.

In the end, I've trained my kids and myself that it's easy to pick up that little Dora doll or Toys R Us trinket because it costs so little. They and I are used to easy entertainment and distraction. Unfortunately, now there's a lingering worry attached to our fun. Maybe this helps the pendulum swing a little away from mass consumption and back to basics. Try:

• Homemade play doh (equal parts flour and salt with a little water colored with food coloring)
• Real or pretend cooking
• Dancing, singing and beating on a drum made of a few coffee beans in an empty coffee tin
• Telling a story

If you received this message by email, make sure to take the poll about how many recalls you've returned!