Daughter of Arlo and grandaughter of Woody….enjoy the great talent Sarah Lee Guthrie. Read our review of her new CD, Go Waggaloo–winner of an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum DVD Award.
Finding arts and crafts activities that will appeal to both boys and girls can be challenging since so many kits are so gender-specific.
Here are three from our Platinum List that will appeal to everyone!
Creativity for Little Kids Finger Paints (Creativity for Kids)
Love this activity table just right for toddlers! Read our full review.
We’ve listened and listened and the results are in…read our reviews of this year’s Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum and Gold Seal Award Winners. Congrats!
It’s a new day, you can watch us on the radio with ABC’s Richard Davies. Click here to watch and listen!
We’re huge fans of these skirts from Acting Out that come with a motion activated music box. Our six year old tester got inventive with the music box and played musical chairs with her parents. Click here to see our full review. We’ve added this one to our Platinum List for 2009.
Given what we do at the toyportfolio.com, I rarely buy toys. But this little wind up guy had me at the first twist. So I’ve adopted him as our mascot for this season. My kids love to make fun of the way I mispronounce robot…comes out robutt. In anycase, he’s a very happy little guy. You can watch his first dance here.
Last night at eleven o’clock democracy was in action. The House took a historic vote on health care reform–broadcast on all the cable shows. For a brief moment, the procedure of law making had spilled over from CSPAN to a larger audience. No matter how you come out on health care reform, the picture of all of our law makers battling it out all day and finally taking the vote has to make you pause. Warts and all, it’s a pretty amazing country to live in.
I’m not just feeling patriotic today–there is a toy connection here, I promise.
Consensus Junior Edition by Mindlogic
Consensus Junior Edition by Mindlogic is a fun, engaging game that is all about consensus building (with a little language thrown in). How’s that for a concept in a nation that usually trumpets individuality? Read our complete review of this newly award winning (Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award) game.
Construction toys should be part of every* child’s toy experience. You’ll find that kids develop preferences to building materials–go with it. Our advice is always to start with smaller sets –building your child’s confidence about what they can do rather than frustrating them with a bigger set.
Here are five of our favorites. Click on the toy name to read our full review from www.toyportfolio.com
Lego Star Wars Collection Lego Systems
Plan Toys Build n Spin (Plan Toys)
Wedgits Pink & Purple Activity Tote (ImagAbility)
*Here’s my daily plug about bringing home building sets to girls…it’s important for their math skills down the road. We want them to excel in math and engineering…it starts with building with construction toys.
A truly special gift for school age girls who will love both the wood chest and the painted wooden beads that come with it. Read our review. This company makes lovely sets that always appeal to our tween, teen and adult testers.
Bejeweled Bead Chest from Bead Bazaar