Archive for July, 2010

Summer and barbecues go together, well, like summer and barbecues. It’s a fun way to bring the sometimes mundane tasks of cooking and eating to the great outdoors, as well as add a little playtime to mealtime.

A couple months ago, we featured Our Family Treat, and when I was thinking about great recipes for the grill I thought of none other than Lindsay and Brooks. It’s very hard to pick a favorite, so I’ll link to a couple more. But here is their Burger Italiano, a recipe concocted from leftovers that has now become a regular on their menu!

Burger Italiano
Makes 4 Burgers

Ingredients:
1lb hamburger meat
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 tblsp olive oil
1 tblsp basil
1 tblsp oregano
4 slices mozzarella cheese
4 slices pancetta cooked till crispy (regular bacon works as well)
Pesto
All your burger fixings
Hamburger buns

Start by mixing the beef, breadcrumbs, egg, olive oil, basil, oregano and the Parmesan in a bowl. Once all incorporated, separate the mixture into four separate and equal portions. Separate those portions into two equal patties. Put the mozzarella and the bacon in-between the two smaller patties, and form a seal around the edge so that they won’t leak out. Cook on the grill until firm, 4-5 minutes per side, and serve on a toasted bun with Pesto, and your favorite fixings. Ideal condiments are mayo, pesto, and Roma tomatoes.

Other really (and I mean really) tasty-looking hamburger recipes on their site include Teiryaki Burgers and Spinach Burgers. (Did you notice all three recipes include fruits and/or vegetables?)

Skewers are another summer standby. Try out their Jerk Shrimp and Sausage Skewers or Apricot Chicken Skewers. You know, how about you just check out all of their BBQ recipes.

I always like to have a festive drink for BBQs, and hey, it’s another great opportunity to put fresh fruits on display. Brew some green tea and pour over ice along with sliced fruits, like peaches or strawberries. You should also consider out this Perfect Fruit Punch from FamilyFun, who is an ideal resource for family friendly fare.

Now, any outdoor gathering, whether its the whole neighborhood or your family, isn’t truly complete without some outdoor toys and activities! Check out some ideas for a neighborhood field day, or plan to set up your own Yankee Stadium or Lambeau Field right in your backyard!

Truly perfect for the outdoors (and great for kids AND big kids) are Morphibians remote control toys! They can go rocks, dirt and even IN water. If you want some Morphibian-spiration, check out this great video.

Make the best of these long, hot summer evenings while they last, and check out some more ideas for outdoor fun!

Recipes and tasty photos from Our Family Treat. Morphibians video is b Pretty Pink Momma. Thank you!

Bilibo has become something of a global sensation in the 9 years following its birth, winning toy and design awards in Germany, Switzerland, the US and the UK. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Bilibo is now being featured in an exhibit at the MoMA.

It’s part of Shape Lab, an interactive space where families can experiment with shape and composition. Shape Lab visitors can create magnetic wall-art, build with large blocks, draw, think and read about shape. And thanks to Alex Hochstrasser, the man behind Bilibo’s enchanting design, they can also spin and play with a smiling plastic shell!

Alex Hochstrasser created Bilibo for Active People in 2001, after researching and observing preschoolers’ play and speaking with childhood development experts. His goal was to make an open-ended toy that children could interact with mentally and physically. In an interview with Active People he said of Bilibo, “it’s very much about the children becoming inventors and authors themselves.”

Bilibo is a good fit for Shape Lab; it’s visually appealing and functional. Describing an impression of personality inherent in Bilibo, Hochstrasser said, “even when you have just one shell there is a smiling expression I like very much because it kind of encompasses the entire object.”

“Really good design must do more than just work. There needs to be some poetry, something magic which is very difficult to describe. I think with Bilibo I was fortunate to create a simple piece of plastic that actually seems to have something like a soul,“ he said.

“Too obvious ornaments like faces or explicit functional elements will limit the possibility to reinterpret the toy in different ways. An object that is too abstract and generic will feel cold and uninviting on the other hand. So it needs to have a character, feel friendly and trigger memories and images in a very subtle way.”

(I developed a bit of an intellectual crush on Alex Hochstrasser as I read his interview, which is why I’m quoting it so extensively.) “Bilibo also reminds me of some friendly aquatic creatures“ he said. “Personally I sometimes use Bilibos as punch-bowls when I throw a party.“

Shape Lab and Bilibo will be at the MoMA until August 30, 2010. Admission for the museum includes admission to Shape Lab. I’ve also read that families can usually go straight there without paying for museum tickets if they ask at the reception desk. Shape Lab is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 10:30 am to 5 pm and Friday from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm.

This has been a Growing Tree Toys Amazing Toys Post. All quoted material is from Alex Hochstrasser’s Interview with Active People, March 2007. Photos of Bilibo at Shape Lab came from the Bilibo facebook page. Photo of Alex Hochstrasser is from his website.

Today’s “Try the Toy” guest post is by Susan Heim, mom four sons (twins, a high schooler, and one in college), and one of the first people we featured as Blogger of the Week!

Thanks to the wonderful people at Growing Tree Toys, my six-year-old boys were recently given the opportunity to try out a fun toy called the Monster Trucks Custom Shop Kit! As a mom, I love this kit because it is a craft and a toy in one. With four different monster trucks, kids get to decorate them the way they want with the enclosed paint and stickers. After their trucks are customized, they get hours of fun playing with them! You can see my boys working on their masterpieces in the pictures on this post. To make this kit last even longer, they each decorated one truck and have been playing with them. Then, some afternoon when we’re looking for more entertainment, I’ll get out the kit again and have them decorate the other trucks. Here’s my evaluation of this toy:

Ease of Use: This toy is very easy to set up. Everything’s included. We placed newspaper down on the table, removed the paints, brush and trucks from the box, and got started! The kit says it’s for ages 5 and up, with which I agree. The paint included is nontoxic, but it’s acrylic, which means it might be permanent if spilled, so I wouldn’t trust it with a child younger than 5. You’ll also want to don old t-shirts (as we did) or paint smocks. My only complaint is that I wish there were more paint colors (3 are included) and more brushes. There was just one paintbrush, so we had to dig up another. Otherwise, this was a very easy and fun project.

Educational Benefits: This kit really helps with fine motor skills as kids are required to paint on a very small surface. Challenge your child to paint patterns or designs on their cars. My boys looked at the pictures on the box for inspiration for their designs. Kids can also create ramps for their cars, design races and obstacle courses, and much more.

Longevity: The quality of this toy is high. My boys have been playing with it for several weeks, and haven’t managed to break the trucks yet! And trucks are an item that boys are interested in for many years. I don’t think my first-graders will outgrow this toy anytime soon.

Fun: The Monster Trucks Custom Shop Kit is definitely fun! My kids enjoyed both painting and playing with their trucks. They couldn’t wait to get started on them when they arrived, and never lost interest in these toys.

Conclusion: My boys really loved the Monster Trucks Custom Shop Kit. I’m definitely going to consider this when I need to buy a great birthday gift for one of their friends! This gets a “thumbs-up” from all of us.

Thank you to Susan and your boys for taking a closer look at the Monster Trucks Custom Shop Kit! See advice, reviews, and more from Susan at her blog, Susan Heim on Parenting.

Sometimes I get really excited about toys when I write the product descriptions. Recently I became obsessed with the Yomega Hot Shot Yo-Yo; so obsessed that I convinced Jon and Kim to supply me with one for a series of blog posts called “Ellen Learns to Yo-Yo with Yomega.”

Here’s the pitch that earned me my own Hot Shot:

“Ellen can’t yo-yo, even a little bit. So then she starts practicing and gets to be really sick at doing tricks and everyone is like, ‘Wow, Ellen! You did a really great job and now you’re tricks are sick.’ Would include videos. “

Sounds good, I’d like to see her pull it off. Oh no. I’m the Ellen that has to become a yo-yo master!

So far I’ve enjoyed bragging to friends about how cool my Yomega is; throwing out terms like “double axel” and “perimeter mass,” but I haven’t practiced much. I can make it return to my hand 1-2 times in a row…that’s something.

So here is the beginning of my experiment. I have very few skills that require coordination. I can’t skateboard, do swimming strokes, play hacky-sack, hula hoop, skip-it or moonwalk. I fell out of my chair and into a desk drawer just yesterday while everyone was away at the warehouse, but I will learn to yo-yo if it kills me.

My Hot Shot came with a Yomega Mania DVD which promises tricks for all levels and expert instruction from professionals. I’ll have more to say about the DVD in my next post which you will see approximately one month from now, here on the Growing Tree Toys Blog.

Stay tuned and see how this turns out.

If you live near our store in downtown State College, be sure to stop by this summer for some crafty fun! When kids participate in Kidtivities™ at Growing Tree Toys, we provide supplies and personal attention so that each child can create an awesome project such as a plaster pet, green shopping bag, paper bag puppet, sticky mosaic and more!

To register for a Growing Tree Toys Kidtivity™, just call (814) 237-3655 or ask at our store, located on the corner of Beaver Avenue and South Allen Street in State College. The costs for any of the remaining Kidtivity™ sessions this summer run from free to 4 dollars per child! Click to view the full schedule while I highlight a few favorites!

Kids 3 years and up can get wild while creating Paper Bag Puppets next Wednesday, July 28! Kids decorate colorful paper bags with punch-out shapes and bright stickers to make fabulous animal puppets. And the best part? There’s absolutely no charge for this theatrical mid-day activity!

On Friday, July 30th, kids ages 6 and up can create their own environmentally friendly shopping bags! Every registered child will receive a 14.25” x 15.25” bag to stencil with an eco-conscious design. It’s the perfect Kidtivity™ for kids that want to show their love for the Earth and it only costs 4 dollars to register!

Don’t live local to State College? “Hosting” your own Kidtivities™ can be easy! If you have a group of children coming over, you can keep them occupied with a fun group craft that costs little to purchase, but provides an imaginative way to spend an afternoon. For example, the Paper Bag Puppets Kit from Alex features 5 paper bags, making it easy to entertain 5 children at one time – that comes out to about $2 a child! Then, have them put on a play with their puppets for even more entertainment!

Or, any of the First Sticky Mosaics are great for a younger child group activity. Each of these kits features 5 themed templates, making it a great way for 5 children to spend some time doing creative activities together, also at a cost of $2 per child if they each do one template. And the fun doesn’t stop there – we have many art kits that can easily be “split up” to provide a low cost activity for multiple children. Check out our Arts & Crafts for Kids to find your next group activity!

But, if you want to join us in store for summer fun, our Summer Kidtivities™ at Growing Tree Toys take place on certain Wednesdays and Fridays until August 4th. They fill up fast so be sure to register soon by calling (814) 237-3655 or stopping by the store! You can also, check out our Kidtivities schedule on Facebook—become a fan while you’re at it!

Last Wednesday, Downtown State College was invaded by hoards of kids! They set up tables full of arts, crafts and games along Allen Street and started selling at the Arts Festival Children’s Day. As a kid, I spent hours walking down the three block stretch of crafts, buying cool toys from my peers. I still think Children’s Day is the most fun day of the festival.

This year, according to local kids’ day tradition, there were kids selling headbands with beautiful princess streamers, a few pop guns, and the requisite grass head dolls. It seems that someone in every generation reinvents these Art’s Fest staples.

I bought three exciting pieces of artwork! I couldn’t resist the little girl who had written “Portraits of Dogs 50 cents” on her display poster. She gave me an excellent picture of a sled dog team. But then I found Wild Pig and Monster Ray, two strange creatures drawn by an imaginative young man.

I picked up a copy of “Monster Ray Saves the Day” and a portrait of Wild Pig. Monster Ray is a bat-like, horned and very cool comic book hero who can fight in space. The story follows Monster Ray as his small ship gets sucked into a larger one. Creatures in the large ship come to destroy Ray’s ship, but he busts out of it and destroys them instead. Next Monster Ray saves Snarkle, his nemesis, from the crashing ship. In the last panel, Snarkle asks, “Why did you help me Monster Ray?” And Monster Ray replies “Heroes always help.” A very satisfying story.

The Growing Tree Toys Store Staff was hard at work making visors with kids outside of the store. More than 900 kids showed up to make a visor in a mad visor making dash that took less than three hours! That’s 300 visors an hour!

Despite the extreme heat, it was a successful Children’s Day. I saw some talented kids from the State College Suzuki Program, playing piano on the Allen Street stage. There was a National Marionette Theater performance of Hansel and Gretel and of course the beginnings of the giant sand sculpture in Central Parklet! There were also tons of educational activities from local wildlife organizations and art programs.

But my favorite part of the day has always been the Children and Youth Grand Procession of kids wearing paper mache masks and banners made by local artists. Luckily, I could watch it from my window!

If you missed all the fun, plan to drop by next year on July 13th. We’d love to see you here!

This has been an amazing kids post, celebrating all of our creative Pennsylvania kids! Images from the festival and marionette show are from the Central Pennsylvania Arts Festival Website. Monster Ray, Wild Pig and the Dog Sled Team are scans of the Original artwork from awesome up-and-coming artists (whose names I didn’t get permission to share, but you will know them by their imaginations)!