Educational Toys and Games

In the United States we are dealing with a horrifying epidemic—obese children. Due to poor diets and sedentary lifestyles many kids these days are overweight and many more or obese. Many elementary schools have opted to cut out physical education classes in favor of academics. In many cases parents are responsible for making sure their child gets enough exercise.

Parents can make exercise fun for kids. They can start getting their kids interested in exercise by providing them with some fun toys. Kids’ pedal cars are a great way to ensure your child gets needed activity and has fun. Try organizing some kids’ pedal car races in your neighborhood.

If you can’t decide what to get your niece for her birthday it might be helpful to learn more about your interests. Many little girls love animals, doll houses and tea parties. Buying a gift related to one of her favorite hobbies is always a safe bet.

If she collects doll houses for example, you may get her a few pieces of doll house furniture. Try to pick items she won’t have. Also make sure you pick out furniture that will fit into her doll house; regular-sized furniture is not doll house-sized furniture.

The season of giving with the struggling economy can be a very stressful. We are all well aware of the impact teachers have in our children’s lives.  Teachers play a key role in every individual’s development. Teachers are the people in our Childs lives for 6 hours a day five days a week. Showing appreciation to them is therefore a fair reward and an act of gratitude that will also make you feel better. Don’t forget your teachers this holiday season.

It can be difficult this year to reward them with a gift that can show your appreciation.  PTA’s are always on the forefront to provide them with all the necessities to provide teachers with the tools to achieve goals in the classroom and have a successful year. This holiday season work with other parents and be a team.  Talk to your class mom and work with the PTA.  There could be an item the teacher has wanted but cannot afford - it will make the perfect gift.  Your teacher’s gift could also be a gift from the entire class.  Collecting from other parents can make any item affordable and will save everyone money.  Teachers have alot of out of the pocket expenses - he/she will be grateful.

Here are some Teacher Gift Ideas to make your child’s teacher feel special:

1. Personalized Teachers Gifts - Little items in an engraved tote bag.  Fill it with reward stickers, and an electronic grading pen.

2. Carpets for classroom- Classroom Carpets make the classroom more inviting. All the students can sign their names. Classroom carpet and rugs always brighten the room. There are many to choose from: learn the alphabet, Learn to tell time. or a neighborhood to play with cars. Whatever you choose- a school carpet is an excellent addition to the environment.

3. Unique Teacher Gift - Create a massive scrap book with pictures from field trips and class project. Have the students sign the pages and make comments on why their teacher is special.

4. Teacher Gift Baskets - This could be a huge basket filled with homemade cookies, gift certificates for a nice restaurant, decadent chocolates, and/or books of creative ideas for science projects or classroom activities.

5. Classroom Test Prep Solutions make excellent gifts.  Innovative ideas to assist teachers in energizing their students for exams. These systems can be costly for teachers.

A beautiful teacher’s gift that has thought is needed for the end result. It will make your teacher feel appreciated and give everyone those little warm fuzzies.
  

People who train are always seeking out products that would enable them to do their job better. Trainers and educators need a system to grab people’s attention and boost participation. Creative individuals are always developing exclusive new products and they assist in searching for the best tools to help trainers achieve their goals. Popular products that improve retention and make training more engaging include game show templates and buzzers, icebreaker and team-building games,”fiddles,” presentation software, debriefing tools, tactile memory joggers, and achievement rewards.

We are a society who enjoys watching games shows. In 2004 Ken Jennings boosted the ratings for the game show “Jeopardy!” when he won 74 games consecutively. He holds the record for the longest winning streak on any game show and totaling over $3 million dollars. How’s that for inspiration to students?

Educational Insights has created a system presenting quizzes in the form of the popular game show Classroom Jeopardy! Classroom Jeopardy! is an Award Winning game that gives trainers and educators an opportunity to grab people’s attention and boost participation by presenting quizzes in the form of a TV-style game show. All multimedia is built-in (music, sound effects, and automatic scoring for up to 30 players or teams), so all you do is type your quizzes in the included software and insert the cartridge into the base unit. Use this system for lively review sessions and nonthreatening assessment tests or drills, or to wake up an audience that needs a break from lectures or Powerpoint. It is suitable for use with projection systems.

The Classroom Jeopardy! system is not only for the classroom. It is a wonderful ice breaker for any gathering for people to get to know one another. It has been a big hit for bridal showers, graduation parties, corporate events, and even police academies. If you have something to teach or need a great system where everyone will have fun - the answer is: What is Classroom Jeopardy!?

Safety. Safety. Safety.  We recommend two proucts for the tots:
Child Backpack & Safety Harness. A friendly way to keep kids close and safe in crowds, or during family outings. Toddlers get to experience the feeling of freedom as they explore the world without having to hold Mom or Dad’s hands and Mom and Dad can feel safe knowing that their little one(s) are in eyesight and can’t dart off. Toddlers love the cute designs! Choose from Froggy and the Fly, Sunflower and the Bee, Dalmation and the Bone, or Lady Bug and Baby Bug. An excellent product designed for busy parents of busy toddlers. 
Who’s Shoes ID Band. Nearly 700,000 children were reported missing last year. Or more than one every minute of every day 98 out of 100. children NEVER carry personal identification (the majority of pets do) Many children cannot remember their address or phone number “There’s not a parent out there who has not had a child missing for even a few seconds in the department store, so we all know that panic of not knowing where our child is. These identification tags are simply put onto shoes. And for young children in particular, who cannot articulate their parents’ name, address and phone number, this is a form of identification.These are just a few ideas from our wanna be positve travel experiences.  Just remember if the children are bored they will do one of 2 things: argue amongst themselves or go to sleep.  The latter of the two will make a very well rested child no matter what time you arrive to your destination.  Let’s face it; a nice calm drive will keep everyone in a good spirits!

NEW YORK - We as parents can rate the best toys for 2008 based on educational, price, “playability,” and safety. The addition that makes this list different; children pick them.  I look at some toys and think - now that’s excellent.  My children on the other hand - not so much.  We presented children with different toys, tried to stay within a decent price margin and let them loose.  Here is what they picked:

Top Toddler Toy - Elmo Live by Fisher Price
Elmo Live is already one of the HOTTEST HOLIDAY TOYS OF 2008. Elmo is getting ready to steal the stage again this holiday season. How can we even put monster and Elmo in the same sentence?  Well it is a fact - but he’s so cute.Elmo Live, the latest model of the “Sesame Street” Muppet, goes on sale October 14th and is expected to fly off shelves despite a shaky economy.  Toys R Us is already sold out of their presale orders.  Elmo Live the latest version of the furry “Sesame Street” star, moves his mouth just like a real Muppet and can gesture, sit and stand and cross his legs, all while telling stories and giggling.  Is this going to be the first scarey holiday season? We’ll find out.  Does anyone know where we can get Elmo?

Top Preschool Educational Toy - Tag Reading System by Leap Frog
This high-tech learning toy quickly jumped to the head of the class. When kids (ages 3-5) touch the pen to the included book, Tag Reading System reads the story or individual words aloud and activates games and other surprises embedded in the pages. The book looks and feels like a normal paperback, the pen weighs only a few ounces, and everything is done without bulky laptop book holders.

Top Car Toy - Automoblox wooden cars  
Out of the box they look like normal wood cars — though nicely-finished ones with printed logos, rubber tires, rear wings, and tiny people inside — but a closer look reveals them to be much more. Automoblox stand apart because of their potential for customization — with changeable body blocks held together by removable connectors, kids can swap front and rear ends, combine sections from different models, even string them together to form enormous super vehicles. Six standard variants from coupes to SUVs allow kids to experiment, for example by joining a truck back end and sedan front, or  making a massive sports car limousine. And even though the models have separate tires and ride heights, most new creations can be “driven” just as well as the originals.

Top Innovative Building Toy -Build a Road by International Playthings
Build-A-Road track flexes like the serpentine links of a gold chain, creating 15 feet of highway as slithery as a sidewinder. Need a curve or a switchback? No problem. The links easily detach — and reattach — to make whatever shape young engineers need. Add a bridge, 2 ramps, and 2 vehicles and you’ve got a versatile building toy that earned king of the road honors from our testers.  For more information on Build-A-Road, call 800-631-1272 or go to intplay.com.

Top Gadget Toy - Wild Planet Digital Spy Gear Camera and Sunglasses
Turn play time into spy time! We didn’t think this was on the educational side - but these kids could not put them down! The Digital Spy Camera™ puts agents on assignment in the guise of ordinary civilians. No one will suspect you’re a spy as you stroll nonchalantly into secret places or glimpse in the direction of confidential documents, looking unconcerned with all that surrounds you. Sunglasses on, hand in pocket, seemingly casual – you don’t garner a second glance. No one is looking at you. It’s the perfect time to press the remote in your pocket and capture images on the small digital camera attached to your shades. The tinted, impact-resistant sunglasses house a retractable digital camera that stores 20 color photos. Transfer the images (640 by 480 screen resolution) onto your computer using the USB cable and decide if you will expose the evidence or save it for future bargaining. The Digital Spy Camera™ blends spy role-play with reality.

Hottest Train Set - Melissa & Doug Wooden Train Railway Set
This train set is powered by imagination not batteries. This awesome train set includes everything needed for railway fun: a spacious roundhouse engine shed, dozens of track pieces in curves and straights, trees, workers and even traffic signs! There are multi-piece trains and magnetic-tipped cranes, switches and a T-junction for passing lanes! A suspension bridge, trestle bridge and roundtable, too! All at an incredible price.

It is relatively easy for the kids to occupy themselves during the first couple of hours of the trip. Once the excitement of looking out at the road, eating and playing word games is over, it is time to step in and intervene before time starts to drag.
I’ve found that simple is almost always the best. We could pop in a DVD and let the kids space out, but why not let there brains be active when their feet are not? While traveling, it is not always practical to carry heavy games or toys along. Luckily, there is a wide range of great travel toys and travel games available to choose from. Here are some recommendations for the types of travel toys and travel games which kids of all ages will like.
1. An activity toy that develops the essential skills every child needs. MightyMind develops creativity & helps children understand visual/spatial relationships. A great confidence builder in a fun, purposeful format. MightyMind® is a creative play alone activity for children ages 3-6 and was an original winner of the Parent’s Choice Toy of the Year award. It has been three times nominated by Parenting Magazine to the Toy Hall of Fame and it is so popular it sells in 22 countries from Europe to Asia. MightyMind shows children how to solve and build complex jigsaw puzzles, even if they’ve never constructed a puzzle before. The version of Mighty Mind Magnetic - Makes Kids Smarter! 40102 has magnetic tiles, making it fun on the way to grandma’s house.
2. Musical Toys. NOT! Personally I like to control the noise level (somewhat) in the car.  Instead of a musical toy - why not songs to memorize addition, substraction, division or even MULTIPLICATION! My 7 year old learned the song and now is singing a new math tune.  They are even available in Geography, History, and State Capitals.  Now matter which one you choose - you get to shut it off when it’s time to move on to another activity.
3. See and Spell with a sliding cover in a wooden box makes learning to Spell easy! Kids learn to spell basic three and four letter words by placing brightly colored, solid-wood letters in the self-correcting cutouts on two-sided wooden boards. The word puzzles of Wooden See & Spell allow children to spell the name of the picture painted on the board, which supports word recognition while having fun!
4.  Puzzles in a box - Dinosaurs! Set includes four wooden, 12-piece dinosaur jigsaw puzzles– a triceratops, an apatosaurus, a stegosaurus and a T-Rex– each stored in a separate compartment of a sturdy wooden box! The slide-on box lid doubles as a convenient puzzle board! Each puzzle piece is shape-coded on the back for easy sorting. Great for travel!

Every year the toy makers come up with the animal of the year. This year dinosaurs will rule and takeover the planet once again. We like dinosaur toys and puzzles that are easy to play with and create imagination.  Plush dinosuars are always sparking the imagination of dinosaur lovers.  Stuffed dinosaurs are available in any size and are relatively inexpensive.  Teachers and parents enjoy using Dinosuar Stamp Set - they are great make believe tatoos! Children can represent the T-Rex with a puppet that can roar (of course in your childs voice).  Melissa and Doug are known for their incredible puzzles and the dinosaur sound puzzle is also a hit.  The floor Dinosaur floor puzzles add an extra splash of color in any child’s room. Let’s not forget the educational value promoting fine motor and hand/eye development. The beginner 3D puzzles are a great way to introduce matching skills and improve manual dexterity. Individual puzzles pieces can be used for pretend play too! Pricing is going to be in every decicision in this years holiday season. With the economy as it is I can imagine inexpensive quality dinosaur toys will be on the big guys sleigh.

When people think of puppets they probably are thinking of television programs, like the Muppets and Sesame Street. It’s true that the characters in these programs are puppets. But they are far different than the puppets that came about hundreds of years ago in China.

A puppet is a figure whose movements are controlled by someone through, strings, rods, or hand movements. Early puppets were thought to be used as tribal ritual masks and had hinged jaws and jointed skulls. Somewhere along the line these puppet masks evolved into doll-like figures with moving appendages. Hand puppets were common during early times, because they were easy to transport and manipulate.

Many cultures used puppets for ritual and entertainment. Egyptians crafted jointed, terra cotta puppets while Native Americans used puppets during ceremonial dances and harvest festivals

Rocking chairs make great gifts for young children. Little kids love to squirm around and usually hate to sit still. But, rocking chairs allow them freedom of movement while sitting down. Kids always want to mimic adults, and when they see their mothers or grandmothers using a rocking chair, they want one of their own. Many times children’s rocking chairs are saved by families and passed down through the generations. Those who give their little relatives rocking chairs always have good memories.

“The child’s rocking chair we received to give as a gift is truly a piece of furniture. The rocker was constructed by the craftsman as if he/she knew that this piece will be handed down. There is such a difference between something made, and something made with love,” said Augusta, Ga. resident Julia.

Children’s rocking chairs must be able to stand up to the test of a toddler.

“The rocker was just what I wanted for my two-year-old grandson, a very active toddler, and he loves it. It is absolutely beautiful and so well built—well worth the money,” said Nancy, a Pennsylvanian Grandma.