This entry, as most entries, began as a conversation with my (fabulous) volunteer Joyce and I.
I asked her, quite simply, what is a good baby toy. I forgot why I asked. My guess is that it was a branch off the never ending complaints of battery powered toys. (Simply put, toys that have batteries for no reason are annoying. Toys, at one point, weren't electronic and we all grew up just fine.) Or it was probably the confusion of what toy companies call a baby toy and what we like to see babies playing with.
As for the battery portion, I did a tidbit of research. On the Fisher Price website, the toys they suggest for 0-5 months, less than half (19 out of 42) are battery free. And only 40% (55 out of 132) are battery free when you get to the 6-11 months category. Fisher Price is a highly regarded toy company. If I didn't know as much about toys as I do, I would trust what they tell me and what they sell as an infant toy. I am not trying to say that Fisher Price isn't fantastic and innovative in it's own right, but, why does a tea set need batteries?
Toy companies call a lot of toys "infant toys". And not to further harp on Fisher Price, but when you look at the recommendations for 6-11 months, a lot of them were bracketed for 6-36 months. There is a huge difference between the two. Companies try to pass off toys that teach the alphabet and numbers baby toys. Babies don't know those concepts. And this is where I am torn. Some would tell me it is never to early to introduce those concepts. But I see this as more than a introduction, I see it as a premature learning because the toy is talking/teaching you. They will have plenty of schooling when they get to school.
These are the types of toys that we like to see infants play with: Discovery Toys-Infants. They are tactile, cause and effect, color and shape, movement toys and they all make REAL noise, if they make toys at all. No batteries, no talking toys, no inappropriate concepts being taught. They are, and I really don't mean to pun, toys that infants make discoveries with. One other great company is Whoozits! by Manhattan Toy Company. They toys are brightly colored, textured and simple, just the way baby toys should be. This list also isn't bad: Baby Zone. The only electronic toy is the jumparoo. If I owned it, (and take this as advice) I just wouldn't put the batteries in it!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The Games Keep Changing
The games keep changing. This is something that has been boiling in the back of my head for the past few weeks, ever since receiving a mass amount of game donations for the toy library. It's the pieces, the boards, the colors. Something changes each time a new edition is put out.
It started with game pawns with Chutes & Ladders and Candy Land. They have changed back and forth from plastic to cardboard, and each time the picture/shape changes. The way the game board folds and the box shape changed for Sorry, Monopoly and Scrabble Junior. Also, Scrabble Junior changed the color of the back of all their letters.
Monopoly Junior, the lemonade stands and game pawns have changed since the last edition I had... and they have the same copy write year.
It was Hi-Hi Cheerio that put me over the edge. It used to be, well, cherries and now it's all sorts of different fruits.
And then to make matters worse I bought a new Connect Four and the colors of the checkers changed.
Two things can be said about this. One of which is really, who cares? Who the hell notices this stuff (except for toy librarians and archivists.) Adults buy these games for kids once usually. And then they have them until the kids are done. They don't have to replace them within a year or two (usually) so they don't see the changes happen.
The second is to mention why it matters to me. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep games functional when the pieces keep changing? I have 4 game boards for Candy Land but only 2 in circulation. This probably means that over the course of the years, there have been 5-6 in the collection. Pieces get lost, broken or stolen, it happens all the time. But the great part about having a 25 year old collection of toys is when that happens, if we are lucky enough to get another copy of the game, we have back-up pieces. UNLESS THEY KEEP CHANGING THEM! Because, and this is the point. It isn't that they change them at all. It's that they change them often.
It started with game pawns with Chutes & Ladders and Candy Land. They have changed back and forth from plastic to cardboard, and each time the picture/shape changes. The way the game board folds and the box shape changed for Sorry, Monopoly and Scrabble Junior. Also, Scrabble Junior changed the color of the back of all their letters.
Monopoly Junior, the lemonade stands and game pawns have changed since the last edition I had... and they have the same copy write year.
It was Hi-Hi Cheerio that put me over the edge. It used to be, well, cherries and now it's all sorts of different fruits.
Here is my "on the other hand". It is interesting to see the changes in games over time as society changes. Monopoly is a great example of that. The interesting thing about Monopoly is that with all the different versions and editions there are, the most drastic change happened only recently after almost 75 years of being in production.
Here is Monopoly in 1933, 1934 and then the Electronic Banking Edition in 2008.
Two things can be said about this. One of which is really, who cares? Who the hell notices this stuff (except for toy librarians and archivists.) Adults buy these games for kids once usually. And then they have them until the kids are done. They don't have to replace them within a year or two (usually) so they don't see the changes happen.
The second is to mention why it matters to me. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep games functional when the pieces keep changing? I have 4 game boards for Candy Land but only 2 in circulation. This probably means that over the course of the years, there have been 5-6 in the collection. Pieces get lost, broken or stolen, it happens all the time. But the great part about having a 25 year old collection of toys is when that happens, if we are lucky enough to get another copy of the game, we have back-up pieces. UNLESS THEY KEEP CHANGING THEM! Because, and this is the point. It isn't that they change them at all. It's that they change them often.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Blog Crush
I found a new blog crush... Margot Magowan. She writes a lot about girl-empowerment books, toys, movies and other media.
SF Gate Blog
ReelGirl
SF Gate Blog
ReelGirl
Monday, March 1, 2010
Boy Toys-Girl Toys
I was going to do this whole well researched blog entry with statistics and quotes from scholarly journals. And then I realized that just wasn't my style. I figure I had no early education-toy-children training when I began this job. I learned as I went, from experience and observation. I will never claim to be an expert on anything, but this is something that I know.
Let me begin this by saying that one of my biggest pet peeves in here is when a mother or father says to a boy: "Don't play with that, it's a girl toy". The other pet peeve is when someone asks where the "learning toys" are. THEY'RE ALL LEARNING TOYS. Children play pretend. They create their own little world. It is one way in which they learn about the world around them. They look around their life and repeat what they see in play. If they see Mom cook, they pretend to cook. They see Mom with baby, they find a doll and pretend they have a baby. This is how they originally learn how to do things.
This is my hypothesis. What boys and girls choose to play with depends on who is around them and how they genderize toys. Let me preface what I am about to say with I know I am going to the extreme here. When a mother/father/provider, etc. tells a boy not to play with the kitchen, you're telling him not to cook. When you tell him a baby doll is a girl toy, you're telling him not to be a father. And I fear they keep these lessons throughout childhood, what to play with and what not to play with, more than anything else.
Here is another tidbit, just an learned observation of mine, and by the way it's kid of an AH-DUH. Boys and girls play differently. For the most part, I can leave a group of girls in the toy library without hesitation. They are just going to continue playing dress-up, or kitchen, or games, whatever. They won't even notice I'm gone. On the other hand, unless it's a select few guys, I can't leave them alone. They get all wacky and crazy like. Between the basketball hoop, bikes and scooters, they won't stop moving. And while they may or may not notice if I am gone or not... they are just more volatile than the girls. They show their "appreciation" for their friends differently. They will probably wrestle before talking. And they get so mad at me when I tell them to stop.
All of this is just about the energy the kids have and how they need to express it. I have noticed more and more (especially around this time of year) that there is an abundance of energy in these kids. I want to bottle it up and sell it. I can't, but we still need to do something with it.
Let me begin this by saying that one of my biggest pet peeves in here is when a mother or father says to a boy: "Don't play with that, it's a girl toy". The other pet peeve is when someone asks where the "learning toys" are. THEY'RE ALL LEARNING TOYS. Children play pretend. They create their own little world. It is one way in which they learn about the world around them. They look around their life and repeat what they see in play. If they see Mom cook, they pretend to cook. They see Mom with baby, they find a doll and pretend they have a baby. This is how they originally learn how to do things.
This is my hypothesis. What boys and girls choose to play with depends on who is around them and how they genderize toys. Let me preface what I am about to say with I know I am going to the extreme here. When a mother/father/provider, etc. tells a boy not to play with the kitchen, you're telling him not to cook. When you tell him a baby doll is a girl toy, you're telling him not to be a father. And I fear they keep these lessons throughout childhood, what to play with and what not to play with, more than anything else.
Here is another tidbit, just an learned observation of mine, and by the way it's kid of an AH-DUH. Boys and girls play differently. For the most part, I can leave a group of girls in the toy library without hesitation. They are just going to continue playing dress-up, or kitchen, or games, whatever. They won't even notice I'm gone. On the other hand, unless it's a select few guys, I can't leave them alone. They get all wacky and crazy like. Between the basketball hoop, bikes and scooters, they won't stop moving. And while they may or may not notice if I am gone or not... they are just more volatile than the girls. They show their "appreciation" for their friends differently. They will probably wrestle before talking. And they get so mad at me when I tell them to stop.
All of this is just about the energy the kids have and how they need to express it. I have noticed more and more (especially around this time of year) that there is an abundance of energy in these kids. I want to bottle it up and sell it. I can't, but we still need to do something with it.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Eco-Friendly Toy Brands + Stores
I am siting in a room with 5000 toys. One of my biggest fears is that one day every electronic toy in here will turn on and begin blaring, singing and talking to me. I am not a huge fan of toys with batteries. I don't think they really need to blare, sing and talk. For a very short period of time we had a Dora the Explorer Kitchen, it taught you Spanish. That toy didn't bother me as much... Just like the computer or reading toys (i.e. Active Pad). They have batteries and make noises for a reason. This is what I don't understand... toy trucks speak to you and trains move on their own. In some doll houses, the toilets actually make a flushing sound. And don't get me started on the new Monopoly with debit cards.
Here are some more Eco Friendly Toy options....
PlanToys
Large selection of wooden toys.
Eco Toy Town
Eco Choices is a web based company focusing on natural solutions for the home. They have a fairly large selection of toys.
Kid O
This is a store in NYC... They seem to have there own brand of toys as well as selling other brands. Many of the toys were wooden and looked Eco-Friendly.
Sprig Toys
This a a toy brand I have recently discovered. They specialize in eco-friendly, battery free toys. They have a great selection of pretend play wooden toys.
Here are some more Eco Friendly Toy options....
PlanToys
Large selection of wooden toys.
Eco Toy Town
Eco Choices is a web based company focusing on natural solutions for the home. They have a fairly large selection of toys.
Kid O
This is a store in NYC... They seem to have there own brand of toys as well as selling other brands. Many of the toys were wooden and looked Eco-Friendly.
Sprig Toys
This a a toy brand I have recently discovered. They specialize in eco-friendly, battery free toys. They have a great selection of pretend play wooden toys.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Information about Pink
"At one point pink was considered more of a boy's color, (as a watered-down red, which is a fierce color) and blue was more for girls."
"An American newspaper in 1914 advised mothers, "If you like the color note on the little one's garments, use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention." [The Sunday Sentinal, March 29, 1914.] Found: Google Answer...PinkStinks-Organization to "challenge the culture of pink"
Out of the Toy Box
Power of Pink- Article that post is in reaction to...
Coming up next (a.k.a. whenever I have time): Girl toys/Boy toys
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Taken from Play Stuff Blog
Barbie gets a lot of slack. This little article, Barbie, You're Beautiful, it was kind of nice to see that she is important.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
My Favorite Toys
I tried to spread it out a little bit and pick toys from all over the spectrum (baby toys to active play toys), but my opinions are a little biased towards the puzzle-problem solving toys. Enjoy!
BESTEST GAME EVER, (in my opnion of course). This is a game that I just don't get sick of playing.
P.S. Last year my ma bought it for me for Christmas... I am very competitive :-)
This is my favorite game to play in here. I find that children will watch as I play it and then all of a sudden there is a line and competitions. It definitely hold their attention for quite a while.
(Bonus is that it helps with small motor and aiming skills)
The one pictured here is a generic brand but the ones I am most familiar with are made by Discovery Toy. I love that they (again) are multi-faceted toys. They are creative, small motor skills, problem solving and FUN!
Corn Popper Push Along
This is a completely classic toy (to me). I wish more infant/toddler toys made real noises instead of the electronic sounds they tend to make now.
This is a completely classic toy (to me). I wish more infant/toddler toys made real noises instead of the electronic sounds they tend to make now.
The first time I found these it took me a day to solve it. Considering I am a puzzle addict, that says something.
Flexiblocks
I saw that they actually still produce and sell these and I was uber-excited. I played with Legos as a child also, but these were just better because they could move.
I saw that they actually still produce and sell these and I was uber-excited. I played with Legos as a child also, but these were just better because they could move.
When these were donated to the library the woman told me that it is an ageless toy, that small children as well as teenagers would enjoy playing with them. After she left, I played with them for an hour. It's a great item to teach stacking and nesting, but (i think) that they are better used creatively.
This one happens to be Melissa and Doug (a favorite brand), but i prefer wooden to plastic in general. I also think that they are used more often when a table is involved and the same set-up is used all the time. Though I do like how creativity and problem solving are used in creating and completing different tracks.
I know this is a brand and not just a toy, but I couldn't choose one!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)