April - 2020

The Independent Guide to Children's Media

Gender-Free Craft Kits – Crunching Time in the Age of Social Distancing

Gender-Free Craft Kits – Crunching Time in the Age of Social Distancing

By now, the novelty of no school is getting old and separation from schoolmates and busy routines is becoming more challenging every day. Finding meaningful off-screen entertainment is more important than ever. For school aged kids, crafts can be both entertaining, engrossing, and even educational. And the good news is, many of the new products arriving at our office offer some great options for both boys and girls. Traditionally, most craft kits were designed to appeal to gi

Creativity for Kids Grow 'n Glow Terrarium

Creativity for Kids Grow 'n Glow Terrarium

(Creativity for Kids $14.99) We like the safety of a plastic mason-style jar for creating a Grow 'N Glow terrarium that comes with a decorative lid, potting mix, organic chia and wheat grass seeds, small garden figurines, small river stones, a plant mister, and translucent and glow-in-the-dark stickers. This is a craft kit with legs...it's not an instant payoff. Encourage kids to keep a log and photos as the seeds spout and get photos of it by day and by night. Parental help

Mindware Paint Your Own Unicorn Light

Mindware Paint Your Own Unicorn Light

(Mindware $17.95) Kids can hand paint their own special unicorn with the two brushes and 12 paint pots provides. There's no right or wrong way to decorate the popular porcelain mythical creature. Each will be a unique unicorn. Once the art work is done, an adult will bake it in a regular NON-MICROWAVE oven. Once it's cooled off, add the battery operated tea lights and enjoy the lovely glow! Marked for 8 and up. Ages: Older Early School Years, Tweens Oppenheim Toy Portfolio

Mindware Playful Chef Cake Decorating

Mindware Playful Chef Cake Decorating

(Mindware $39.95 ) Newest of the Playful Chef line, this is a cake decorating kit that really works! Face it, what kids often like best is icing on the cake and this kit gives them the tools to make their own fancy toppings. The kit includes: 2 springform pans, 2 reusable pastry bags, 4 decorating tips, 3 cake stencils, cooking instruments needed to bake and frost cakes, 6 recipe cards and instructions with pictorial images to help beginning readers. It comes with 2 types of

Dig it up! Discoveries: Space

Dig it up! Discoveries: Space

(Mindware $25.95) Kids with a fascination for space will have fun digging into the 12 asteroids, each of which holds a space object—Alien, UFO, Astronauts, Rocket, and others. It’s like a box of Cracker Jacks with a surprise inside. This kit can be doled out on rainy days or use the individually wrapped asteroids for a space themed birthday party. Each comes with its own chisel and instructions. There’s also a guide with fun facts about space travel. Like other Dig It Up! kit

Peaceable Kingdom Duck, Duck, Dance

Peaceable Kingdom Duck, Duck, Dance

(Mindware $17.99) Designed for toddlers, Duck, Duck, Dance is an active cooperative game for parents and child. There are no winners or losers, only lots of shared giggles, wiggles, and turn taking. There are several ways to play the game, all involving gross motor activities—and each slightly more complex than the last. In the simplest game, player have a turn to roll the pictorial dice and then do the dance move shown by the animal pictured. On each person’s turn, the playe

Peaceable Kingdom Bandits Memory Mix up

Peaceable Kingdom Bandits Memory Mix up

(Mindware $19.95) Put four or more of the 50 Garden tokens into the giant spy glass. Players try to memorize the items. Now, the leader turns the spy glass over and removes one item. Who can name the missing item? This is a memory game that kids are often better at than older players. You can play in teams or cooperatively as a whole group. Marked for 3 and up, but we’d say, more like older preschoolers and early school. Ages: Older Preschoolers, Early School Oppenheim Toy Po

Mindware Dig It Up! The Big Egg

Mindware Dig It Up! The Big Egg

(Mindware $20.95) Kid can excavate seven prehistoric beasts from T-Rex to Brachiosaurus. Unlike most toys like this that produce lots of dust and chips of plaster like material, Mindware's Dig it Up! kits are designed to be soaked before kids begin using the chisels packed with the kit. You'll want to protect the surface where the muddy clay will land and you may need to give it a second soak as it begins to dry out. The BIG super-duper 7" egg has a variety of dinos inside...

Fat Brain Dimpl Digits

Fat Brain Dimpl Digits

(Fat Brain $19.99) We’ve written about other Fat Brain dimpl toys. This newest variation has smaller dimples and no doubt require little fingers, rather than the whole hand to push and press the silicone bubbles to move. So this calls for finer motor skills. It also has some academic add-ons. On one side the bubbles are embossed with the numerals form 1-10 plus the word for the matching numeral. Flip it and the words are written in Spanish and have corresponding dots to count

Mindware Paint Your Own Dinosaur Bank

Mindware Paint Your Own Dinosaur Bank

(Mindware $15.95) Dino lovers will like saving their allowance (do kids still get an allowance?) in this dinosaur bank. It comes out of the box in white porcelain, ready for young artists to create their own dream dino. The kit comes with 12 paints, a brush and a guide that introduces kids to color blending, pattern ideas and clear directions. AN adult will need to do the final step of baking the finished paint job in the oven for half an hour. There’s a stopper so kids can g

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