The Big Toy Book Live! – Creating A Love For Reading

Today we hosted our very first Big Toy Book LIVE! Show on Livestream. This year the show will be where we meet with our community to discuss parenting topics, trends and of course- toys. Similar to how our Twitter chats ran last year, this year our Livestream show will have a slew of great toys for you to win each week.

The Big Toy Book LIVE! will be held every MONDAY at 1pm ET on Livestream

Livestream allows you to sign in and chat during the live show via Facebook and Twitter which is what we love most!  You can find a tab for our Livestream channel on the left side of our Facebook page {detailed instructions on how to participate to follow}.

Before March came to an end, we wanted to chat a little about some of the books and reading toys we love most.

Below is a recap of the cha and the products highlighted  (because the recording function didn’t work during the live show- whoopsie!)

Leap Frog’s Tag Reading System

The LeapFrog Tag Reading System brings stories to life like never before. Simply touch the Tag Reader to the pages of specially printed storybooks to instantly hear the voices, music and sounds within each story. Your child can also touch the pen to the words in the book to help them with word recognition and reading skills.  Other educational skills include: Consonants Vowels Vocabulary Phonics skills Word recognition Phonological awareness Listening and reading comprehension

DadStreet Talks On The Go Travel Play

I have two children. O will be turning 3 in 4 weeks and Jake is almost 19 months old. They’re close enough in age that they can share a lot of the same toys but just far enough apart that there’s certain things O has outgrown and that Jake just isn’t old enough to understand. With both kids at home we’re able to cater their activities and play toys to their developmental stages, and of course moods! They actually play really well together for the most part, sans the normal course of “it’s mine!” and “you’re a bad boy, Jakey!” Fortunately, that doesn’t happen often and in fact they love each other very much. It’s not uncommon, in fact, to see them holding hands in the back seat.

All of that is about to be put to the test in just a few short weeks. The entire family is about to embark on a trip across the country (starting out in CA), over the Atlantic, and on to Israel. My sister who decided to take up residency there some 4 years ago is now engaged to be married. So what’s the next craziest thing to getting married? (Just kidding honey!) Well, the answer is taking two kids, 2 years and under on a 10,000 mile trip! We’re going to be on the plane an ungodly amount of time and I haven’t even talked about the fact that there’s a 10-hour time difference once we land!

Oy Vey!

So how does on prepare for such a journey? Well, I suppose in many ways you don’t. However, we’re getting certain things in order. For starters our plane doesn’t leave until the evening so the hope is that they’ll sleep the majority of the trip. Assuming they can muster 7 or 8 hours of sleep (they’re actually great travel sleepers) they’ll only be awake for 3 or 4 hours. We’re still figuring out what to bring for the plane ride but for now we’re loading up on:

• Paperback coloring books
• Crayons
• Tons of stickers
• A Macbook with Dora and Sesame Street games
• Two iPhones with kids apps/books
• iPad with kids apps and books

I’m actually a little more concerned with Jake since O can keep herself occupied with games, etc. She also LOVES watching TV (we do limit this at home) so I’m not worried about her plopping herself down for several hours of Dora or Diego. Jake on the other hand doesn’t watch movies and won’t sit still for more than a few minutes. I’m thinking he and I will be making our rounds through the plane saying hi to everyone. Once we’re off the plane we’re facing a 10-hour time change. The wife and I can force ourselves awake but the kids? Different story. I think this one we’re going to have to play by ear and just go with the flow. Fortunately, we get there several days before the wedding. So, hopefully we’ll be able to all get acclimated in due time.

O and Jake are used to making 6 to 7 hour car drives to visit family but this is going to be a whole different story. I’ll be chronicling my journey on www.DadStreet.com should you want to share in the craziness! Although, I do have a good amount of experience traveling with them (both have flown cross-country multiple times) I can always use advice.

Have any of you traveled with small children on such a long distance? If so, I’d love to hear what worked for you.

About the blogger:

Josh is an East Coast Transplant currently living in Monterey, California with his 2 adorable children, beautiful wife and their golden retriever. When Josh is not drooling over his adorable little ones, he enjoys drinking wine, taking pictures, playing with my iPhone, listening to an audio book, trying some kind of new food, surfing online, sleeping, watching TV, yappin’ on the phone, and last but not least trying to spend quality time with “The Boss”.

You can find Josh’s take on parenthood on his blog, Dadstreet.com

Be There Bedtime Stories- Record and Email For Virtual Bedtime.

Whether you are a grandparent who lives far away from your grandchildren or a parent traveling on business- when children are young it is difficult being apart from them. We don’t want to miss any of the special moments- like tucking them in at night . While we are traveling on business, my husband and I we will often FaceTime on our iPhones to say good night to the kids and occasionally will leave them a little note or surprise under their pillow. The kids love it- their faces instantly light up.

Yesterday we learned of a great new service called Be There Bedtime Stories. Be There Bedtime Stories allows you to record a story with a web cam while providing a virtual flip page book with full illustrations. We played around with it yesterday, and it is genius. The books on average are $9.99 and you can try your first one free when you sign up.

Check it out-

What do you think of this new service? When would you use Bedtime Stories?

 

National March Into Literacy Month: What Are Your Kids Reading?

March is National Literacy Month!  Starting today, we are offering 10% off all book purchases when you enter code : BOOKS4U2

In addition to our sale, we are busy brewing up some great giveaways and a fun new weekly feature we are launching {that I am especially excited about!}.

Yesterday, we asked our Twitter and Facebook Friends what their children’s favorites books were and they came back with some great reading suggestions.

Here is what they had to say:

 

Love these too?

Have another great book to add?

Let us know in the comments or tweet us with the hashtag #MarchLiteracy.

 

 

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!"

While you are enjoying your day off, we hope you will take a few minutes out of the day to teach your children exactly why they have off.

Today, The Toy Insider is featuring a great I had a dream” craft that helps teach children about today’s holiday, feel free to check it out!

 

 

 

 

The Baby Boom: Are your friends part of it?

photo credit: Tammy Cedar Photography

I started having children when I was 24, which was much earlier than most of my friends. I waited what seemed like forever for little playmates for my kids. Fast forward 5 years and BAM! the time has come.

It is a baby boom here. Over the past year my circle of friends welcomed not one, not two but  EIGHT beautiful bouncing little babies. That is not counting my 4 blogging friends ( Tarah, Erin, Shellie and Tena) who also had babies and my other friend who is expecting her first little princess into the world in March.

That is a whole lot of babies. Sweet, adorable, cuddly little babies.

- And showers…. lots, and lots, of showers and gifts

If I didn’t get baby fever this year, I am not sure I ever will.

Are your friends going through “The Baby Boom”? What are some of your favorite gifts to give?

Here are some of my favorite baby gifts available on The Big Toy Book:

From L to R:

Hungry Hungry Caterpillar Playset- The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a classic for kids. This soft plush playset is a great baby gift alone, but can also be paired with the Hungry Hungry Caterpillar book and/or Zoobie to make a great gift basket!

Paddington Bear Zoobie – Paddington Bear was a favorite when I was a kid and continues to be loved by children today. The Zoobies are great little plush pals that open up to be a warm cozy blanket- they are SO incredibly soft- little ones will love them. This too can be paired with Paddington books to make a great gift set.

Guess How Much I Love You? set- This is a ready made gift set. Guess How Much I love you is a very sweet book that parents and babies love. If you want to build onto this set, you can add in some great Peter Rabbit items to make an amazing gift basket for your friends.

Sweet Pea Onsie- I love all of the Pea In A Pod themed baby items, so this one is always a favorite of mine. If you want to add to it you could easily find other pea in a pod toys, rattles etc. and make a Sweet Pea basket for Mom and baby.

- Corine

Holiday Crafting For Kids

Kids love crafting! One thing they love even more? Crafting up gifts for those they love.

The holiday season is especially great for various crafting activities because kids can craft to their hearts desire creating gifts for friends, family and teachers.

For more durable handmade gifts, you can purchase crafting kits for your children to create their own Picasso painting, ceramics, and foam-fetti picture frames, snowmen and other creatures!

But when it comes to the smaller gifts for friends and neighbors- we love candy cane crafts like these reindeer ornaments!

Photo credit: Talented Kid Zone

 

We even love attaching these to gift tags on gifts! They are just too sweet! {pun intended}

Here is how you can make your own Reindeeer ornaments-

Materials:

• Candycanes
• Thread
• brown yarn
• wiggly eyes
• small red pompoms
• tape
• glue gun

Directions:

• Place two candy canes side by side (Candycane hooks  facing in opposite directions) and tape together.
• Cut  thread and tape a loop onto one side of the joined canes (this will be the back)
• Starting at the bottom of the 2 joined candy canes, tie a knot around both and begin wrapping with brown yarn. (Stop wrapping when you get to the hooks)
• Using hot glue (always with parent supervision!) glue on two googly eyes and one red pom nose on to the yarn.

Guest Post: Encouraging Healthy Eaters

About a year ago, my daughter began to have some strange reactions — hives actually –to certain foods that I was preparing for her meals. After maintaining a spreadsheet of her reactions, I determined that she was allergic to food dyes, even those coming from seeds! In a way, it has been the best thing to happen to us because as a result, I am raising a champion vegetable eater!

When other parents learn about her allergies, they always ask, “So what *do* you feed her?” The answer is simple — fruits, vegetables, whole grains, & lean meats.

Here are some of our favorite ways to eat healthy – I hope you’ll find one that will work for you too!

Almost every kitchen has a muffin pan, but did you know that it can make the best little snack tray? We love to fill it up with all kinds of different taste sensations! For today’s snack time, I filled it with carrots, apple slices, craisins, black olives, & organic crackers. It took less than five minutes to fill it up with nutritious foods and with four toddlers surrounding it at our table this morning, it was gobbled up almost as quickly! You may want to try some of these in your muffin pans:

• carrots
• cucumbers
• cherry tomatoes
• hummus
• crackers
• bites of cheese
• apple slices
• dried fruit
• pretzel sticks
• cereal
• pears
• peppers

When your children are sitting at the table, it’s likely that you don’t want them to “play” with their food, but you could try being “play-ful” with their food. When I taught preschool, parents took turns sending in snacks and there were always a couple that would say “I don’t *like* that!” So instead of telling the children that snack is raisins and pretzels, tell them with your eyes wide, “We’re having ants & sticks for snack today!” Boys really think that’s cool. Think of how much fun you can have with that! Dried fruit is “nature’s candy” and carrots & peppers are “bunny food”!

Don’t forget to let your kids catch you eating delicious & nutritious food, too. Setting a good example for your children will go a long way. When my husband and I dine out with our daughter, we like to order a Greek side salad — our daughter now immediately takes some of my field greens, tomatoes, & cucumbers for herself. There’s nothing that makes me more proud as a Mom than to hear her say, “Mmm, feta! It’s yummy!”

Just remember, if they don’t eat it today they may like it down the road. Keep trying, keep exposing them to whole foods and limit your pantry to healthy, “grow” foods. You may be surprised at what they will try!

About the Blogger:

Sara is the wife of a college football coach and mom to the world’s busiest toddler. You
can read more about their adventures on her blog The Football Wife. (www.thefootballwife.com)

McDonald’s Toys To Be Banned?

The health of our children seem to be in headlines everywhere these days. It’s an important issue that we here at The Big Toy Book feel very strongly about. So this week we wanted to dedicate some time to talk about how we can make nutrition fun and easy!

So we lined up some great toys that will encourage healthy eating as well as a Snack Time survival products that will help make snack time fun and managable… but before we get there- there is one nutrition story making headlines right now that we wanted to get your thoughts on.

That headline is- the proposal being made in San Francisco to ban Happy Meal toys.

We all know that fast food is not good for our kids, but those in favor of this ban feel that Happy Meal toys (as well as other fast food kid meals)  are encouraging the early onset of unhealthy eating habbits.

The people proposing this ban are feel if  these fast food chains add more fruit and veggies and limit the calories, these toys would then be acceptable.

We’re wondering- what are your thoughts?

Do you use these fast food toys as incentive to get your children to finish their fast food meals?

Would you be in favor of this ban being made in your state?

 

Fancy Nancy Inspires Self Expression

Fancy Nancy joined The Big Toy Book’s Private Sale Store this morning, and to say that this little girl has become some what contagious is an understatement.

I bring you exhibit A-

Our E-commerce Mom, Dell

From here on in, this picture will be known as- The Fancy Nancy Effect (she’s going to kill me for posting that pic).

But, I think to pinpoint exactly what is so lovable and contagious about Nancy is best shown in my next set of pictures.

Exhibit B-

This is my daughter.

My very own, living Fancy Nancy.  She is two and  currently going through a shoe & accessory obsession.   Every morning she makes it very clear what she wants to wear- typically not outfits I’d put together, but as she beams proudly “Mama, look- HOT SHOE”, the outfit suddenly transforms in my eyes from messy to fancy- because that is how she feels.

When I was a child, I went through a similar stage when I would only wear ruby red-glitter shoes (a la The Wizard of Oz). In my eyes, those shoes fancied up any out fit – even sweat suites!

And what’s more is that it’s not just a girl thing. My son is 5 and loves piecing together his own outfits. His construction boot/plaid shorts combos aren’t frilly or glitzy but much like my daughter’s they usually do not match and he beams with pride that he’s done it all on his own.

Of all the stages children go through, the “Fancy” stage is special because it is so empowering to them. They feel independent. They are proud, and though we sometimes don’t want them leaving the house in their picks, we  are proud.

It’s these moments that come to mind when we look at Fancy Nancy or read her books. We see our children, we see ourselves as children (revisit exhibit A) and that is what makes her so incredibly  lovable.

What is the craziest outfit your little one has ever put together?