Archive for December, 2009

Are you ready to shop for fun, exciting toys for children? Are you tired of searching the big box stores, trying to find the hottest toys that are part of the latest craze? Worried that once these toys are bought that they may end up at the bottom of the toy box six months from now?

Growing Tree Toys can help! We are happy to announce our list of the Top Specialty Toys for the 2009 Holiday Season – a list full of fun, educational toys that are sure to remain a hit with kids long after the excitement of the holidays is over. Shopping for toys during the holidays can be a very daunting task, which is why we have taken some of the “guess work” out of toy shopping with this top toy list. Plus, even if you stray from the list and purchase one of the other thousands of toys on the website, www.growingtreetoys.com, you can feel confident that you are getting a quality toy that children will love!

With almost 30 years of experience selecting and selling toys, Growing Tree Toys knows what goes into quality playthings and is quite skilled at choosing fun, educational toys for kids. While children may be engrossed in the latest trends or hottest toy craze, adults can feel confident that a toy purchased from Growing Tree Toys will lead to inspired, imaginative play, providing a top-quality product at a fair price with amazing play value for children.

Although we feel all of our products are “top toys” and will make any child happy, these toys are some of the favorites for the 2009 holiday season. Growing Tree Toys has hand-selected these products, as well as all their products, in order to ensure the highest of quality and the best of educational fun for children both young and old! The Growing Tree Toys 2009 Top Toy List features:

Infant

1. Sophie the Giraffe – An all natural, rubber teething toy for young ones. While this toy has been around for decades in Europe, Sophie is new to us this year!
2. Gentle Giraffe Toy – This sweet plush giraffe is the perfect way to calm a fussy baby and send her off to a restful sleep.
3. GBaby Blocks Set – A reintroduction of a gone too-soon favorite! These large size magnetic blocks, available in multiple sizes and styles, are a great “building” toy for young ones.

Toddler

1. Educo Wooden Alphabet Abacus – It’s never too early to learn the ABC’s and 123’s, and this sturdy, colorful abacus is a great introduction to the classic learning activity.
2. Color Roller Toy – This primary-colored version of the push toy makes a colorful design as kids walk along. Some classics always stick around!
3. Tidoo Lutin Bright Baby Doll – This sweet baby doll is not only colorful and cuddly, but she can hop into the bath with toddlers too.

Preschooler/Young School Age Children

1. Playmobil Pyramid – Hidden treasures, mummies, mysteries … this exciting Pyramid play set has everything inquisitive and imaginative minds could want!
2. Chimp and Zee Silly Socks Game – While adults think laundry is a chore, kids will love diving into laundry with this cute matching game for preschoolers.
3. Calico Critters Cozy Cottage – Calico Critters are just so darn cute, they need a cute, complete cottage in which to live too!
4. Dodge Tag Game – Kids love to play dodge ball in gym class, and now they can bring the fun home with this cool adaption of the favorite game.
5. 3-in-1 Indoor Sports Set – Whether kids love soccer, hockey, or knee hockey, this all-in-one, indoor sports set will score big!
6. Twinkle Tiara Sticky Mosaics Kit – Kids can be queen for a day and share their cute crowns with friends with this crafty, creative sticky art kit!
7. Automoblox – Whether kids like sports cars or SUV’s, these wooden car sets are great for building unique cars and revving up the imaginative engines.
8. EzyRoller Ride On Toy – Ride on toys are nothing new, but the sleek look and design of the EzyRoller will have kids out on the pavement – pronto!

Older School Age Children

1. Dangerous Book for Boys Chemistry Science Kit – Explore an exciting side of chemistry with this cool science kit based on the popular book.
2. 6 in 1 Educational Solar Kit – Learning about alternative energy has never been so much fun, thanks to this cool kit that will have kids building models and exploring solar energy!
3. Uglydolls – These dolls are so cute, they’re ugly! Uglydolls are the cool collectible dolls with fun colors and designs that will have kids loving their “ugliness!”
4. Friends 4Ever Bracelet Kit – A craft kit that celebrates friendship, kids will love to make colorful bracelets to wear and share with friends.
5. Yamslam Game – This game is a slam dunk with kids! With some strategy and a little luck, kids can be victorious in this game of chips – but they won’t care who wins because they will be having too much fun!
6. Crosswise Game – From the makers of the award-winning Qwirkle, this game challenges kids to think strategically as they try to score 3-in-a-row, all without earning points for their opponents! Fun for the whole family!

So, whether you are looking for girls or boys, young or old, Growing Tree Toys has the perfect toy for any child on your list. Be sure to check out www.growingtreetoys.com for the latest and greatest toys this holiday season! Happy shopping!

Let’s face it – most kids have a very short attention span, even when they are interested in an engaging activity. They dash absentmindedly from coloring to playing games to crafts and more, but few toys or activities seem to hold their attention for very long … until now! The Magformers Magnetic Building Toys from Rainbow Products are the colorful and functioning building sets that “attract” kids with their endless building possibilities!

What’s to like?

The concept of magnetic building toys has been around for ages, but none with as much pizzazz and panache as these Magformers Magnetic Building Sets! So, what makes these building sets so appealing? With these colorful building sets, young ones (and the young at heart) can create mesmerizing 2D or 3D objects. My favorite aspects of Magformers are the endless ways to play. For instance, young ones can create hundreds of free standing buildings by connecting pieces together like traditional building blocks; or, they can arrange the Magformers pieces on a flat surface and lift them vertically to watch them connect to make a 3D shape (talk about “up-lifting” building action)!

And best of all, these Magformers Magnetic Building Toys are 100% interchangeable with each other! No matter with which Magformers Building Set young ones begin their creative careers, expanding endless play possibilities is a snap with any of the other Magformers Magnetic Building Sets. Some of my favorite Magformers sets include the beginner 14-piece, the intermediate 30-piece set, the on-the-go 30-piece cruiser set, and the advanced 62-piece set. For those youngsters who love brilliantly bright colors, the 30-piece Magformers set also comes as a rainbow multi-colored pack to brighten any building experience!

The Magformers Magnetic Building Sets are some of my favorite educational activities because they encourage hand-eye coordination and help to build motor skills, all while providing an exciting learning experience. I love that this is one activity that my sister and I can enjoy together while building our very own creations. And (when it’s my lucky day), this is one activity that keeps her quiet as well as content!

At the end of the day

Ranging in price from $18.95 (for the smallest set) to $74.95 (for the largest set), Magformers Magnetic Building Toys, for ages 5 years and up, make a great gift for any building enthusiast – young or young at heart!

This staff review was brought to you by me, Kendra, Copywriter at Growing Tree Toys. Here’s a little more info (in my own words) about my time with the company:
I have worked at Growing Tree Toys for 3 years as a copywriter for our store’s website, where I get to play with demo toys to learn the “in’s” and “out’s” of all our products. Since I can’t really justify buying endless amounts of toys for myself, my family and friends are pretty much guaranteed to get presents from Growing Tree Toys – and no one is happier about that than my little 9-year-old sister! When I’m not tinkering with toys, I read every book I can find – and currently I own approximately 200 books!

I may be a serious teacher in training, but nothing makes me happier than to act like a kid again, especially during the holiday season. During this time of year, most people (excluding Scrooges) revert back to their childhood as they put up shiny decorations and watch their favorite Christmas specials. Though I’m unwilling to walk through the Christmas section at Target in October, there is one green guy that never fails to capture my Christmas spirit all year round – the Grinch! I’m not talking about the recent Jim Carrey version; I’m head over heels in love with the original cartoon version narrated by Boris Karloff that I remember watching with my parents as I curled up in my red and green pajamas. The Grinch, and how he stole Christmas, is an essential part of my family’s holiday tradition.

My mom used to play the “Welcome Christmas” song on the piano for me when I was 5 and I still, at age 25, remember every single word! If you need a little reminder here’s a great link to jog your memory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKagQWqr87Q. When I say I asked my mom to play this song all the time, I mean that it was the middle of April and I was begging her to play it for me – I loved it that much.

When I was younger, I loved hearing the silly rhymes throughout the cartoon such as “the Who’s down in who-ville, the tall and the small” because they were so easy to follow. I didn’t realize until my education training the skill involved in conveying so much meaning using only a few rhyming words. And here I thought I couldn’t love the Grinch more! One of the most memorable moments for me in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was when all the Who’s stood around the town Christmas tree without presents or decorations because I couldn’t imagine a Christmas without those traditions.

Unfortunately for my two dogs, my absolute favorite scene is when the Grinch ties antlers onto the head of his dog Max and his head slowly droops to the ground under their weight! Since the first time I ever watched the Grinch, I have begged my parents to let me put antlers on my dogs because I wanted them to be exactly like that crazy, fun-loving Max. It’ll happen one day!

It’s also been a dream of mine to be tucked into bed on Christmas Eve like Cindy Lou Who complete with a candy cane – I’ve always been fascinated that a little girl was allowed to have candy at bedtime! Though I never received my bedtime candy cane, I would sneak out of my room in my little nightgown, just like Cindy Lou did to get a drink of water, to check if Santa has eaten our cookies. Unfortunately, I would make it to the end of the hallway before I was politely, yet firmly, escorted back to bed by the one parent who hadn’t finished wrapping my presents.

Now that I’m older, and find the stress of the holiday closing in as I trudge through the mall buying gifts, I just remember that big-hearted green Grinch and know that a smile is on my face. After all, what is Christmas all about? It’s about setting free the inner child. All deadlines, holiday traffic, stress, and the terrible snowy weather suddenly fall away, and I am back to giggling at the nonsensical words Dr. Seuss created that allows my inner child to come out to play. Maybe the reason why “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is so popular is that it brings out the child inside all of us. But at the same time, it teaches us a valuable lesson:

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

This post was brought to you by Nicole McCann, a future secondary English Teacher. Here’s a little more info (in her own words) about this dedicated future professional:

I began my education at Penn State with a B.A in English, but have since chosen to pursue a secondary education degree at Slippery Rock University. Since switching gears from appreciating language to teaching it, I find myself unable to stop thinking about ideas for classroom use. I am currently learning and discussing education on any and all levels—both the theoretical and the classroom aspects. I will be graduating with an M.A. in education in 2010, with future plans of being a secondary English teacher.