Archive for May, 2010

School’s winding down for most, while temperatures and the chance for thunderstorms is heating up! It’s easier than ever for your meteorologist-in-training to show their desire to predict the next weather system.

Immerse your kid in forecasting with a Weather Camp! Here at Penn State, two camps are held each summer for high school students. The plethora of weather-related experiences include launching a weather balloon, simulating a hurricane, and studying the past, present and future of the atmosphere. How many meteorologists today do you think went to a camp like this?

Well-known worldwide for its, well, accurate forecasts, you probably don’t know that AccuWeather is also based here in State College! They help make weather fun with graphical forecasts and photo galleries. It’s even neat to just drive by and see all the satellite dishes required to predict the weather from around the globe.

At the AccuWeather site I learned about the annual AMS Weatherfest. Earlier this year, over 5,000 attended the Weatherfest in Atlanta; a great opportunity to expose kids of all ages to the world of weather forecasting. Many (and I mean many, check out their photo gallery) kids tested their on-air skills in front of the radar and extended forecast on a TV screen!

Yet another neat way to become involved with weather forecasting is to be a Kidcaster. Meteorologists at television stations, like FOX 7 in Austin, Texas, get some help from excited kids with a desire to be on TV, live! Check out Kidcaster Jacob, from FOX43 in Portsmouth, Virginia.

There are so many unique opportunities to learn about the weather, but you and your kids can have fun predicting it without even leaving your home. The Little Labs Weather Science Kit by Thames and Kosmos is the perfect starter kit for children 5 and up. Perform experiments on wind, rain, storms, clouds, rainbows, temperature, evaporation, pressure and more! We also have the Weather Station Kit that goes just a little more in depth, including a weather tracker to help see what’s happened and predict what’s to come!

See how fun play helps develop children’s skills for the future in our other Toys and the Real World posts.

Just as with hosting a sleepover for boys, keep the group small (3-5 girls) and plan the party for a Friday night. A girls sleepover can be tons of fun with a CUPCAKE THEME!

Here are some ideas for your own Sweet Dreams Sleepover!

• Before the party, get a pair of cool socks for every girl. With your child’s help, fold them into sock swirls and put them into empty cupcake papers! Cover the socks with fun candy stickers to make them look like cupcakes. When the guests sit down for dinner, have a sock cupcake waiting at everyone’s place! This idea was inspired by the sock cupcakes on All About Cupcakes.

• When the guests arrive, have them dress like cupcakes for The Waltz of The Cupcakes! What do I mean and how do you dress up like a cupcake?

• To dress like a cupcake, gather the most colorful clothes in the house into a box. Make sure there are lots of scarves and accessories. Girls can make headbands to wear for this activity—just hot glue craft and felt pieces that look like cherries, sprinkles and decorations to colorful headbands. The girls will use their imaginations to fit the theme.

• Once everyone is ready, it’s time for the dance to your cupcake playlist! Pick songs with your daughter beforehand that remind you both of cupcakes and fun. Then play it for a crazy freestyle dance party!

• Older girls tend to prefer choreographing dances. For a fun twist, split the girls into groups and let them make dances inspired by different cupcake flavors. After they perform, the other groups can guess what flavor the dance represented! (Because dancing like a cupcake flavor is rather abstract it’s unlikely that anyone will guess. But it is lots of fun!)

• At this point the girls will probably be craving real cupcakes. Serve some delicious Cherry Limeade Cupcakes with milk! Ok, that’s what I would want if I were invited. But here are lots of recipes for flavors that kids without a taste for lime are more likely to want.

• Naturally, the guests will want to decorate their own cupcakes too! For an additional project, have each girl decorate a stick to look like herself (like a tongue depressor or Popsicle stick) with paper and yarn. They can stick these flat little friends into the cupcakes and then play with them later!

• By 6 p.m. I advise you to stop feeding them cupcakes! Try to serve a healthy meal for dinner, even if it is take-out, to counteract the afternoon of cupcake destruction.

• One of my favorite craft kits, The Dainty Desserts Petite and Sweet Trinket Boxes Kit from Creativity for Kids, includes materials to make 6 dessert inspired trinket boxes. It also comes with a desert display tray! Have all the children display their cupcake box for the night. When morning comes, maybe the boxes are filled with tiny surprises that you’ve stealthily planted?

Next up in the Sleepover Series is our final sleepover post, called “Super Awesome Unusual Sleepover Locations That Are Even Fun for Adults!” While you wait for that, try the rest of the series:

Developmental Benefits of Sleepovers
Preparing Children (and Parents) for a First Sleepover Away from Home
Hosting a Sleepover for a Group of Boys

Thanks to Annie’s Eats for the Cherry Limeade Cupcake Photo and to Design Mom for the cute pink shoe picture!

I’ve already illustrated my fondness for the zoo, and one of the neatest things is that zoos are constantly changing! There is always something new to see, from the Buffalo Zoo’s Heritage Farm to the Polar Frontier at the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium. But another, more literally “new” addition to any zoo is an exciting new zoo baby!

Zoos are among the top promoters of animal conservation efforts, namely supporting endangered species, thanks to their research and expertise. On March 16, the Santa Barbara Zoo welcomed two Wild Humboldt penguin chicks, a species vulnerable to extinction.

Earlier this month, Nashville, Tennessee was hit by unprecedented rainfall and massive flooding, but naturally that doesn’t stop the circle of life at the local zoo. The Nashville Zoo’s “storm babies” included a Eurasian lynx cub and a Baird’s tapir calf.

Checking in at 348 pounds is Baylor, a baby Asian elephant born on May 4th at the Houston Zoo! See what a fun time Baylor had with his baby pool and his mom, Shanti!

See all the zoo newborns, literally from aardvarks to zebras at a website fittingly called ZooBorns.com! (All photos on this post were retrieved from that website.) For more, to the minute updates and great ideas for summer fun from zoos and aquariums all over the country check out our special Zoo & Aquariums list on Twitter. For zoo-related fun anytime, check out the Playmobil Zoo collection!

One of my shining moments to this day is when I was asked to be part of the fifth grade jump rope club as a mere first grader. It wasn’t just any club though; we echoed the era with high energy, choreographed “dances” that we presented while our fellow classmates enjoyed their lunches.

A whole different sense of group jump roping shines in the neat yearly fundraiser, Jump Rope for Heart. Students all over the country jump to raise funds for the American Heart Association, which supports cardiovascular disease research.

On February 1 of this year, 88,000 jumpers in California took part in the CAHPERD Jamba Jump Day™, jump roping simultaneously for 10 minutes. They easily eclipsed the world record held previously by Australia for “Most People Jumping/Skipping Rope at the Same Time”!

Overall, jump roping is great because it can span many age groups and skill levels, and the minimal equipment needed is rather inexpensive!

What if you or your kids want to take part in one of these special events, but need some practice first? Among all our neat toys are two unconventional jump ropes.

One of our fun jump ropes doubles as a craft project! The Make It Yourself Rubber Band Jump Rope Kit is constructed from woven rubber bands and connected to foam handles.

Just like all of Green Toys‘ products, their jump ropes feature recycled plastic, as well as 100% cotton rope! Take your pick of pink or purple.

But what about the jumps? You can learn about all the kinds, from the Backward 180 to the Swing Kick, as well as various partner and Double Dutch skills at the American Heart Association website!

No matter what kind of jump rope you use, it’s a fine activity for getting your heart pumping, and you can even support heart health research in the process. Get inspired with this fun video recapping the CAHPERD Jamba Jump Day™ feat!

Photos courtesy of the Auburn Journal. For more super kids doing great things, check out more Amazing Kids posts!

Part Three: Hosting a Sleepover for a Group of Boys

I’ve been on a mission to find out what makes a good sleepover party for boys. I am not a boy, so I’ve resorted to asking all of my male friends what they did at sleepovers when they were young. Sadly, each time the answer was, “we played video games.”
On one hand, this makes it easy to host a sleepover for boys. Just make sure you have enough game controllers and snacks for all of your guests. But on the other hand, I don’t like the idea of kids staring at a screen all night. It’s so passive and… unpleasant.

So here are my tips for a fun boys’ sleepover that kids and parents can feel good about. It will work best for boys aged 6 to 11 and is perfect for a special occasion like the end of school or a birthday party.

• Keep the guest list small and manageable—3 to 5 kids are ideal. Tell the other parents that you are hosting a party which ends at 9 PM (or whatever works for you) but that the party will continue as a sleepover for any kids who are able to spend the night. That way, kids whose parents don’t feel comfortable letting them sleepover can still come and have fun.

• Friday night is the best chance you’ve got to get kids to bed at a reasonable hour—they’ll be just tired enough from their week. A Friday sleepover also gives kids a full weekend to recuperate.

• Having a loose theme will help you come up with tons of good activity ideas. Here are some popular themes: camping, zoo, robots, dinosaur and sports. Older kids are less likely to want a theme (unless the theme is video games!)

• When the kids arrive after school have a healthy and filling snack ready. Pizza, popcorn and other “typical sleepover foods” can come later. To keep everyone’s energy up in the beginning, serve tasty fruit smoothies, crackers, cheese or veggies. If the weather permits, serve this snack outside and let the kids run off some of their after school energy. Throw in a soccer ball, some Zartz, or any simple outdoor activity.

• After kids have had some time to be wild, focus them in on a craft (this is where as theme comes in handy). Tie dye is always a good option and there are limitless free craft ideas online. Of course, you do happen to be reading the blog of a pretty sweet toy store and I can’t pretend that we don’t have some really great crafts for the occasion. Check out our Arts and Crafts Department for lots of affordable and easy projects.

• As the kids finish their crafts give them some time on their own to hang out and do whatever it is that boys do. Dinner time is a great way to bring everyone back together. It can be hard to please all of the picky little guest’s taste buds. Pizza is an easy and classic sleepover food and making pizza all together is even better!

• After dinner is a good time for games and movies. I suggest renting flicks about the power of friendship, like the Goonies! If you choose older movies there will be less chance that someone has already seen it. Old sci-fi movies are great too, because kids love talking about the “fake” aspects and feeling superior. Dollar stores often have ridiculous films for cheap so you can pick up several choices.

• Hopefully the movie gets them sleepy. If not, you could flip the main electrical breaker at 2 AM to shut down the Xbox, and then pretend there was a power outage. Kidding (sort of).

Good luck! I loved reading about this mom’s awesome dinosaur birthday sleepover for her son—check out greatfun4kids. And take a look at these Strategies for a Successful Sleepover from metrokids.

This has been a Growing Tree Toys Fun Activities for Kids Post and the 3rd installment of our 5 part Sleepover Guide! Check out Part One and Part Two of the Sleepover Guide for more tips! Picture of boys with swords from Nanazoob on Flickr.

I spend the bulk of my time at Growing Tree Toys researching and writing about the new products that we put on our website. Like those descriptions of each toy that you see all the product pages. Some of the toys pique my curiosity and I want to learn more.

Recently it happened with the Sushi Slicing Box Play Set from Melissa and Doug. I started reading up on play food and was surprised to discover just how many different developmental benefits pretend play food toys offer kids. I’ve boiled down my findings into 5 wholesome benefits for you to devour! Bon appétit!

1. Self Confidence
When toddlers and preschoolers play with pretend food, they are in charge of their own imaginary worlds. Through their play, they can make sense of emotions and complex situations that they can’t yet express through language. It’s comforting for children to use familiar objects, like food, as they explore any insecurity related to the impermanence of family or care. Because playing with pretend play food imitates real life, it allows kids to get comfortable with a fundamental life skill, further building their self confidence and happiness.

2. Social Skills
Pretend play food is a perfect starting point for group play, because all kids are familiar with food. When toddlers play together with pretend play food, they have to interact and share toys. They also begin to have conversations and build bonds around common interests, such as what foods they each like and dislike.

3. Motor Skills
There are so many ways to use play food and all of them help kids refine their motor skills. Putting play food into pots, arranging it in a display for a pretend sale, slicing it or assembling pretend pizzas will all help children use to practice motor control and dexterity. In my opinion the two best play food sets for developing motor skills are the Cutting Fruit Crate Set and the Sandwich Making Set, both from Melissa and Doug.

4. Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Kids can learn habits through play. When they’re provided with play food that promotes healthy eating habits, like the Wooden Stir Fry Slicing Set, they learn to love and appreciate the foods that are good for their bodies!

5. Symbolic Thinking
The great thing about pretend play is that you don’t need a toy for absolutely every component of the game. It’s extremely beneficial for kids to use their imaginations to turn different objects into parts of their play. Cooking play food under the couch cushions is thinking symbolically. Children that can use their imaginations in this way, transforming objects with their imaginations, are taking an important step toward learning written language and math. In written language, letters represent sounds and in math, numbers represent amounts. Very cool!

This has been a Growing Tree Toys “Toys in the Real World” post. If you enjoyed “5 Wholesome Benefits of Pretend Play Food That Might Surprise You,” you might also enjoy “The Developmental Benefits of Sleepovers” or the “Metal Grocery Cart Staff Review.”