Toys and the Real World

The film Babies was released on Mother’s Day of this year in the US, but I didn’t see it until it was on my Netflix instant screen a few weekends ago. And it was everything I could have hoped for plus more—cute, thought provoking and fascinating.

Babies is a documentary about four new humans experiencing their first year on the planet. The film follows the early life of Ponijao from rural Namibia, Hattie from San Francisco, Mari from Tokyo, and Bayar from rural Mongolia as they grow from infancy to taking their first steps. There’s no narration and no subtitles.

One side effect of writing about toys for forty hours a week is that I get very excited when I recognize them outside of work. I always cheer up when I pass the Rody in the store window on my way to the office so when a Rody made an appearance in Babies, I felt like I knew a celebrity.

In fact, a few of the toys we love here at Growing Tree Toys found their way to stardom in the movie. Mari, the baby in Tokyo, had not only a Rody, but also an O-ball! And Hattie, the baby in San Francisco, was filmed next to the Radio Flyer Classic Walker Wagon! (Sadly for me, Mari and Hattie were a bit young to use the Rody or Walker Wagon, but the O-ball looked entertaining.)

Play is a strong theme in Babies and it was interesting for me to watch the way that children use all sorts of toys and objects to interact with the world.

From 32 teams down to 2: the World Cup Final is set for Sunday and either the Netherlands or Brazil will remain as the 2010 FIFA World Cup Champion. Every four years soccer takes the spotlight internationally, but it is a popular and growing sport among youth here in North America! Are your kids more excited about soccer thanks to this huge event? Here are some soccer-themed toys to keep Cup fever going.

Fun for the Field

In the backyard, at the park, or even on your summer trip, you can quickly make a soccer field! All you need is the Pop-Up Mini Soccer Goal by from Franklin Sports. The goal is 3 feet by 2 feet and has pegs to secure it to the ground. It also simply folds up into a (you guessed it) soccer ball shaped bag. (We also have the Pop-Up Junior Soccer Goal that is over 4 feet by 3 feet.)

You’ve got the goals, now what about the ball? Your kids can stand out AND get crafty with the Design Your Own Soccer Ball Kit. The ball is standard, regulation size 5 and hand-sewn, and the kit comes with a pump and the paint for a one-of-a-kind creation.

Room Essentials

Just like on the soccer field, the ball is seen mid-air indoors with the Zero-G Sports Levitating Soccer Ball Set. Isn’t that cool?

The sport doesn’t have to be far from your kids’ minds as they read, write or study thanks to the Soccer Lap Desk. All of Three Cheers lap desks are made of wood with a festive, screen-printed design. The attached pillow is even removable, and has a zippered storage compartment.

Soccer Goes Green

A soccer themed find from our Eco-Friendly Toys area is the Soccer Eco Radio! No batteries required, these radios are kid powered! Crank it to charge it up. Best of all, the Eco Radio also includes a cell phone charging cable and 5 different adapters.

Super Spectators

Now, let’s keep this short: we’ll let you head to our musical instruments section and decide which musical toys you’d like to hear among the crowd. (Pictured is the Super Saxoflute Toy.)

Sports fans – see past sporty posts in our blog about football, baseball, and ideas to have your own neighborhood field day!

Destinations

Are you planning a family vacation to a place that isn’t completely kid-centric? Great idea!

Families so often end up at a theme park or a children’s museum (which are great). But kids are also capable of enjoying trips to places that are fun for adults. There are many authentic experiences to be had in the wilderness or in a thriving city—away from hoards of crying toddlers and balloon men. Why not go somewhere that you (the person actually in need of a vacation) will enjoy?

Keeping kids engaged without costumed mascots and thrill rides is easier than you think. Ask them to be travel photographers, capturing the details of the trip that are important to them. When you see their photos, you could be surprised by the wonderful things you overlooked.

The Tools

To make this feel like a mission, the camera needs to feel special. Special does not translate to expensive. Before the trip, present kids with a film (but not a disposable film) camera. Why film and not digital?

Aside from the difference in cost there is more anticipation. Film keeps kids wondering, “What will my pictures look like?” And because kids only get 24 frames per roll of film (instead of hundreds with a digital camera), they’ll take more time framing each shot.

There are some very cool and inexpensive cameras for kids ranging from 11 to 20 dollars over at Light in the Box. The Lomo 3 Lens Robot Film Action Camera and the Lomo Twin Stars 2 Lens Outdoor Film Camera are affordable and unique choices. Even if your kids don’t figure out how to photograph things all that well, these two cameras will take fascinating pictures. They capture multiple, consecutive images on the same print so that the result is a kind of very quick narrative from split second to split second. And both cameras are so cute looking!

Giving Instructions

Give your kids a crash course in photography. Try to develop the first day’s film and review it on the first night. Pointing out places where the lighting could be better or the subject closer. Cover the following guidelines before you begin. You can even pull out examples from your family photo collection.

• Fill the frame with the subject and keep the picture uncluttered
• Don’t get too close to the subject, or it will be out of focus
• Make sure that the subject is well lit. Keep the light source behind the photographer and the camera, so that it illuminates the object without washing out the photograph
• Look for interesting colors, textures and shapes
• Don’t take pictures out of moving car windows! (Okay, well maybe just once)

If the kids seem to lack focus or get bored as photographers, give them a daily theme. For example, “today I want you to look for round things that you like.” Other themes might include photographing old things, new things, red things or blue things.

And here is one last tip from National Geographic: take a couple of pictures with the kids’ cameras, yourself. If the film comes back a disappointment, the kids will have a few good photos to enjoy.

At Home

Get those pictures developed immediately! (If you’re like me and you put it off, they’ll never get developed). Soon after the trip, sit down as a family and look at all the memories. Let each child pick out their best work to frame or use in a craft.

To see how cool kids’ photography can be, check out this news story about 3-year-old photographer, Ruby Ellenby.

Enjoy the summer and each other! (Photographs from Cookie Magazine, Bankstreet Children’s Library, Light in the Box and Lomography dot com)

I’ll go out on a limb and say not many universities have a creamery on their campuses. We have just that here at Penn State, and even with Beaver Stadium and other features, the Berkey Creamery may be the number one attraction here!

The Creamery is busy year round, with not only ice cream for sale but other PSU-produced dairy products, grocery items and prepared foods. In the summer, visitors from near and far, and of course a whole lot of kids, come to enjoy a cone of Peachy Paterno, Death by Chocolate, or Happy Happy Joy Joy. New flavors show up (and sell out!) all the time. (Not here? You can take a virtual tour or even have their ice cream shipped to you!)

More than a place for tasty treats, the Berkey Creamery also does the entire process of making ice cream and other dairy products, literally “from the cow to the cone.” Check out a neat video that highlights the process!

Now, maybe you have a budding ice cream innovator at home! Until they are ready for Penn State’s Ice Cream Short Course, they can check out the Ice Cream Science Kit by Scientific Explorer! Made in quite a unique vessel, a t-shirt, your kids will learn how milk, sugar, salt and energy become tasty ice cream.

The sheer irony here is that, well, I am very lactose intolerant. Fortunately, I can enjoy frozen yogurt in moderation. Thank you to Melissa & Doug, however, who carries a 100% lactose free Ice Cream Set I can enjoy.

Like all of Melissa & Doug’s play food sets, their Ice Cream Set features fun, realistic wooden pieces. The ice cream scoops and scoopers are even magnetic, so you can stack your cone with as many scoops as you want.

Wherever you may be, relax, and enjoy a frozen treat (or three) this summer! (Photo above of ice cream production at the Penn State Creamery is from their Facebook page.)

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.

As noted earlier this week, baseball and Spring go hand in hand. But, football sure joins the party this weekend!

The annual college football scrimmage games seem to get more popular each and every year, and definitely here in Happy Valley! To mark the end of spring practice, Penn State takes on, well, Penn State in Saturday’s annual Blue-White game. It’s a neat opportunity though, primarily for families, to enjoy Nittany Lion football. Not only is the game free to attend, but family fun is abound with a two-day carnival, live music and an on-the-field autograph session!

Along with other college games, the yearly NFL Draft continues this weekend. The childhood dreams of hundreds of football players are achieved as they are selected to NFL teams. Could your kid be a top draft pick someday? Find out with our Football Goal Post Set! Ready for hours of fun in the backyard, it comes with the goalposts, field markers, football and tee.

(Perhaps subliminally, we managed to pick the Football Goal Post Set for our weekly Twitter giveaway as well. On Monday we’ll draw a winner – could it be you? You can enter as many times as you want!)

Indoor fun and outside play meet with the Design Your Own Real Football Kit! Going out for a game of catch will be that much more fun with a football that’s one-of-a-kind.

What role do sports play in your family’s life? Stop by our Facebook page and let us know.

Photo of Blue-White carnival fun outside Beaver Stadium is by Annemarie Mountz – thank you!