Dressing in Style

We are all watching out finances these days, so I am always looking for a way to save a buck. I have a few choice places that I personally go for my children's clothes. With Spring and Summer right around the corner, its time to start thinking about our little one's new wardrobe.

It seems like every store is having a sale to try and encourage people to spend, spend, spend! I personally like the stores that have added bonus such as the featured store of the month Gymboree. Currently if you go into your local gymboree, or even visit their website and spend $5o you receive $25 in gymbucks to use on a future purchase. So if you go in and spend $100 on clothes, when you go back during the alotted time period you have $50 worth of gymbucks to go towards that purchase. Now the stickler here is that you have to spend $50 to get that $50 free, but the good part about that is you get $100 worth of clothes for only $50.

It sounds confusing but the clerks at the store can really help you out. The good part about doing this is you don't have to purchase full priced items, so you can go in and buy nothing but items off the sale rack and even double your savings. The good thing with Gymboree is that their collections come and go very quickly so you are sure to find awesome savings on their sale items.

There are definitely pro's and con's to using the gymbucks but it definitely help's save on future purchases, especially when they grow so quickly.

Gymboree is featuring Gymbuck's from now until April 12, 2009.

Cool Toy of the Month: Paper Airplane Launcher

Build the Electric Paper Airplane Launcher and shoot your paper airplanes to new heights. This kit contains all the materials needed to construct the launcher that will send paper airplanes soaring up to 30 mph! All that's needed is your paper airplane creations!

It sells for $15.95 and is suggested for ages 5 and up, but how many of you trust a 5 year old to shoot paper airplanes throughout the house at 30 mph?? Adult supervision is definitely recommended.

The launcher can be purchased at amazon.com, the online science mall, and other online retailers.

Let Junior Play with His Food!

Here's a chance for junior to play with his food and exercise his creativity at the same time...so bring on the mashed potatoes and peas! Fred& Friends Food Face plates are mid-size (9 inches) and crafted from sturdy, hotel quality, food safe, high-fire ceramics. Individual full-color gift boxes with lots of irreverent, inspirational food art. Wouldn't YOU have loved this when you were a kid??

Check out Fred & Friends Spring 2009 collection here.

Recipe of the Month: Homemade Playdough

This recipe is easy and great for kids; not only to play with but to help out as well! Be sure to mix up the kool aid flavors to get different colored playdough. We've made this recipe several times and it's just like the real thing! Our kids and their friends love it!

Ingredients
1 cup of flour
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 package unsweetened kool aid (any flavor / color)

Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a pan and stir over low heat until the mixture thickens. Let cool and knead until thoroughly mixed. It has a great texture and smells great too! Store in an airtight container or bag (you can even use any empty Play-Doh containers you might have laying around). Happy playing!

LeapFrog Announces the Zippity Gaming System

Jumpstart preschool learning with Zippity, the new high-energy learning system from LeapFrog! Using the interactive mat and bopper, children ages 3-5 can dance, hop, steer, and march, driving the fun with their arms and legs.

Now children can play and learn with the Playhouse Disney characters love! From solving mysteries in Hundred Acre Wood to building words with Manny's crew, each of the 8 built-in games has two exciting levels to keep children challenged. The 8 games include 2 levels from each of the following titles: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, and Little Einsteins. Additional games coming this fall include Cars, Disney Princesses, and The Princess and the Frog.

As with other LeapFrog products, the Zippity system is part of the LeapFrog Learning Path, which provides parents with insight into their child’s learning activities, via the internet and TV.

The Zippity system will be available this summer for $79.99 with additional games costing about $24.99 each.

Fisher-Price GeoTrax Rail & Road System

Let me introduce you to a toy that is a favorite of our oldest son, and is sure to win over any child who loves trains.

Fisher-Price GeoTrax Rail & Road System is a culmination of tracks, trains, cars, planes, and buildings to make up your little one's own little world. The tracks are so durable, and they come with an easy lock system that is sure to keep the track in place during play, even with the roughest of children. The trains, planes, and cars can either be manually moved around the tracks, or with the easy to use remote control, which gives your child the "power" to their own imagination. All of the GeoTrax vehicles come with figure's that help to expand your child's imagination of what is going on in the town's day to day activities.

Your child can pretend to be the Fire Chief of the local fire station or the New Zoo Keeper of the new portable GeoTrax On-The-Go Zoo set.

All of the GeoTrax's teams and sites work together, so your child can build his own new world, and it can be expanded to whatever size they want with the track expansion kits.

Pro's

- Easily put together, even your child can do it.

- Expandable

- Encourages creativity and imagination

- Sturdy and Durable

Con's

- Can take up a lot of space

- Can go through batteries pretty fast (but easily fixed if you purchase rechargeable batteries)

All in All, we give Fisher-Price GeoTrax Rail & Road System two thumbs up!

Rubik's Cube Inventor Announces Rubik's 360

A new game by Professor Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik's Cube, is slated to become a best-seller when it goes on sale later this year. The Rubik's 360 features six balls trapped inside of three transparent plastic spheres; in order to solve it, players must figure out how to get the internal balls "from an inner sphere into matching slots on the outer sphere by shaking them through a middle sphere that has only two holes." As with the Rubik's Cube, there's only one possible solution. The Rubik's 360 is to be unveiled at a toy industry fair in Germany on February 5th.

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Fastronauts - Powered by Play

A submission by Sara Paculdo in the Greener Gadgets design competition. You can see more detailed pictures at core77.com.

Childhood obesity, disposable batteries in landfill - Fastronauts toys tackle these problems. Powered by play, each figure has a rechargeable battery, and each vehicle has a dynamo. Plug a Fastronaut into the hand held moon cruiser and roll for lights and sounds. Plug a Fastronaut into the bike-mounted rocket and pedal to power lights, sounds, a speedometer and an odometer. Each Fastronaut has a power indicator that can be pressed to make the Fastronaut talk. Children get instant feedback as they create energy, and that is strong motivation to be active.

A recent medical study showed that giving a pedometer to people encourages them to walk a mile further every day. Fastronauts are like pedometers, but taken to a whole new level. Children will want to exercise, and they will feel empowered as they charge up their toys. Best of all, Fastronauts give children direct, personal experience with energy generation and conservation.

Fastronauts were specifically designed for 5-year-old, but the concept can be adapted for older or younger children. The toys themselves can be aged up or down. The battery assembly can be removed, the shell recycled, and new toys created.

Concept Wagon: Radio Flyer Cloud9

"The Cloud 9 concept wagon is kind of like the concept car you’d see at an auto show," said Tom Schlegel, vice president of product development at Radio Flyer. "It's just taking those trends we're seeing now in our products to the extreme and looking into the future to see how far this trend could extend. It's more of a statement by us and to see what features and functions will resonate with customers."

"We've just seen over the last several years how the wagon has changed from a utility toy that you would maybe get in and ride down the driveway ... to a 'kid transporter,' where it's more about taking your kids to the fun," said Schlegel. "They're much more like the minivan of wagons than the old traditional little red wagon we remember when we grew up as kids."

While the Cloud 9 will probably never see the light of day, according to Schlegel, the features it sports, such as the MP3 player and upholstered, reclining seats, are expected to be adopted in models coming out in fall of 2009.

Time Lapse of a 9-month old at play

Time lapse of a 9-month old baby at play...thanks to photographer Francis Vachon:

Super Bowl Toys: NFL Jenga, Monopoly, Dominoes & More

Play Jenga, Monopoly, Dominoes, Yahtzee, and Chess a whole different way: with NFL team pieces, dice, and gameboards by USAopoly. They're the same great games with NFL team twists! Oddly enough, they don't seem to have any games in Arizona Cardinals logos. Check all of the games out here.

Eco-Friendly Toys by Green Toys Inc.

These adorable toys are part of a new toy line being launched by Green Toys, Inc. Green Toys uses recycled plastic milk containers to make it toys and also sell the toys in packaging made from recyclable corrugated materials. Also, none of their products include metal parts or pieces. Green Toys' current product line includes a Sand Play Set, Indoor Gardening Kit, Tea Set, and Cookware & Dining Set and their new products for spring 2009 include the following:

• Recycling Truck
• Dump Truck
• Tool Kit
• EcoSaucer Flying Disc
• Jump Rope