We ordered this baby books collection boxset for our newborn son because it was on a huge sale and we figured if just one or two of the things were worthwhile it would be worth it. Turns out that this is a really great high-quality set of various kinds of books and cards for reading to young kids. As it turns out, this is very important as latest parenting tips suggest that the more words you say to your baby, whether talking or reading, the smarter they are likely to be. (See the book  What’s Going On In There)

I find that the most useful reviews are those that make it more clear exactly what you get when you order something and what makes those things useful or worthwhile instead of some vague notion of how we loved it or our kids played with it for hours, or whatever.

What you get inside of a sturdy cardboard box that can be reused, but is too complicated to close for a young child, is six different types of reading books. One is called First Words and is a standard board book made of thick cardboard. Each page has a single picture and a word (or two words). This is a great way to read to babies who don’t want to sit and listen to actual page text. One page is “Chair” and then “Ball”.

The next book called Colors is a fabric book made of cloth. Again, each page has a single item and word.

The book Baby Animals is a touch-and-feel board book. Heavy cardboard with a picture of an animal where part of the animal is fuzzy or something.

The ABC book is a cardboard board book with a bead filled plastic area that serves as a rattle and two rubber “ears” (the orange and green things on top) that can be chewed on. The book opens up-down instead of left-right like a steno pad, so it is a new experience for some babies who end up looking at it sideways like a “normal” book.

Bathtime has plastic pages that can be gotten wet. Again, each page has one word like Duck.

Finally, there is a set of 10 laminated cards attached to a ring. The ring can be opened but only by an older child. The different sensation of cards as opposed to pages is another new way to interact with pictures and writing. On one side of the car is a numeral with its word — 4 and four, for example — and on the other side is the same number of an object and the name of the object printed on the card.

All six pieces have proven as durable as any other childrens books and the simple pictures and words are perfect for baby reading. The day I watched my son pull out the First Words book and “read” it by making sounds that matched my cadence “chair, ball” … “ehhh, ahhh” I knew that we made a great buy.

My daughter loves seeing the pictures we take on the back of the camera and on the computer. In fact, the toughest thing about getting pictures these days is that I can only snap two or three pics before she is jumping up and asking to see them on the LCD screen on the back of the camera.

She also love playing with her pretend cameras. She points them at me and says click (for the ones that don’t click) and then looks at the back, whether there is a pretend screen there or not and then says things like, "Oh, that’s a good one," or "Oops. Your eyes were closed."

A very important parenting skill is encouraging your child’s creativity. Not surprisingly, we are thinking about getting her, her own kids digital camera for her birthday present. I started looking at digital cameras for children online and noticed some things right away that I thought I would pass along to Moms and Dads looking to buy a child digital camera for their son or daughter.

First, watch out for the Megapixels rating of the camera. While it is true that the digital camera specification wars have all but made megapixels meaningless as a way of judging quality on adult cameras, they are a very useful tool for weeding out junk toy cameras sold as real digital cameras for kids.

Let me put it this way. My five year old cell phone has a camera that takes 2 megapixel pictures. They aren’t the world’s greatest pictures, but from a cell phone that old, they are good enough. Just don’t ever plan on blowing them up or printing them out as anything other than a little 4×6 snapshot and it is all good. So, why in the world do some of these kid’s digital cameras come with the ability to take 0.3 megapixel pictures?

That is 0.3, not 3.0. In other words some digital cameras like the Little Tikes Kids Digital Camera takes pictures that are not half as good as my cell phone pictures, not one-quarter as good as my cell phone, but almost 1/10th as good as my cell phone! In other words, total crap. The only thing a 0.3 MP picture is good for is looking at on that tiny 1-inch screen on the back of the camera.

Look, we all know that these are kids toys and that they have to take a beating. We also all know that for $50 we aren’t going to get Canon’s top of the line digital camera. However, I think we can expect that even a child’s camera should come with a camera at least on par with the cameras you get in the free cell phones that companies give away to get new customers.

In other words, leave the 0.3 megapixel toy cameras rotting on the shelves, and find one that has at LEAST 1.0, and realistically 2.0 megapixels. If you can’t afford that one, wait for a sale, because the other one is a waste of money, and you and your child would be happier just using your imaginations instead.

Good parenting skills are key to avoiding things like temper tantrums, sulking, and most importantly of all, disappointed children which leads to disappointment for parents too. As a dad, good nutrition is important to me and my kids, primarily because I know how important getting the right foods helps kids stay healthy and grow strong.

On the other hand, having fun is very important to me too. And, as a fully grown adult who not only got an occasional McDonald’s meal when I was a kid, as well as one who ate there waaaayyyy to much in his twenties, I know that a Happy Meal here and there isn’t going to hurt my kids. When you way the fun of a trip to McDonald’s to get a Happy Meal against any nutritional detriments, fun comes out way ahead.

The catch to the whole thing is that the toy in a McDonald’s Happy Meal is an important part of the fun. Nothing puts disappointment on a little kid’s face like a crummy Happy Meal toy. That’s why I always like to know in advance what the current Happy Meal toy is.

Here during July, 2010, the current Happy Meal toy comes from the movie The Last Airbender. Chances are that if you have seen the reviews, then you have not seen the movie. Chances are also good that this flick will not end up on the list of good movies for kids.

However, that does not necessarily mean that the current Happy Meal toys are no good. The cat with wings doll, for example, would probably be a big hit with my daughter.

Trick To Get Better Happy Meal Toy

If you have a younger child and the McDonald’s toy sucks when you go, there is a trick you can use to get a better Happy Meal toy free and easy.

The main Happy Meal toys are almost never “suitable” for children under 3. So, if you have a kid who is under, or even near 3-years old, just ask for the “under 3 toy”. This is a special Happy Meal toy that all McDonald’s restaraunts keep on hand for parents who have young kids that don’t meet the official age requirements for the main Happy Meal toy. Don’t worry about making anyone grumpy, they have to have those toys anyway, and it is all the same to them, as long as you aren’t trying to be a weasel and get two toys out of your Happy Meal.

Have a fun day with your kids.

Recently, I started thinking about how many movies I’ve tried to show my now three-year old daughter, and how many of those films she just never got into. It isn’t that these aren’t great movies, they are, it is just that for a young toddler with a short attention span, and love for action, color, and fun, some movies just are not well suited to kiddos.

So, I’ve started compiling a list of the great movies to show children, as well as a listing of what movies from Disney classics, to Pixar movie cartoons, belong in the home library of every parent with small children.

You can see the current list here: Best Movies for Kids

I also recently wrote up a page at another website detailing the Disney movie, The Emperor’s New Groove, which is one of the best kids movies for toddlers thanks to a fast-pace, fun characters, and plenty of action. In addition, the villain, while plenty scary and evil for those of us a little older and more comfortable with those topics, is surprisingly non-frightening for youngsters who find her more funny than scary.

When it comes to being a great dad, one of the important tasks is keeping all of the children’s toys, electronics, mobiles, music makers, and games stocked with working batteries.  Nothing makes this job easier than rechargeable batteries.

With rechargeable batteries, the worst case scenario is that your toddler just has to wait a little while for the batteries to charge.  With regular batteries, you might have to explain to your kid that you don’t have the right batteries but you’ll try and remember to buy more next time you have the chance.

Of course, if you forget, then you’ll have to see your child’s look of disappointment that Dad forgot to buy new batteries, and deep down inside, you’ll worry that it seems like you don’t care about things that are important to him.

Trust me, every time you see rechargeable batteries on sale, buy some.  Try to shoot for around $2 per AA rechargeable battery and you’ll always be getting a good deal.

Weak Rechargeable D Batteries and C Batteries

There is one thing to watch out for when it comes to rechargeable batteries.  Major battery companies have decided to be deceptive rather than make quality rechargeable D size batteries and C size batteries.  Whether this near-fraud is due to not wanting to make good rechargeable C batteries because the prices would be too high (maybe $8 or $10 each) or whether it is part of some conspiracy to keep their profits up by making people think that rechargeable batteries aren’t as good a regular batteries, I don’t know.

Look on a AA-sized battery and you will find that most of them have 2400 or 2500 mAh.  That means that there is 2500 mili-Amp hours in the battery.  It sounds complicated, but basically what mAh means is that if you had something that used up one mili-Amp of power each hour, a 2500 mAh battery would theoretically run it for 2500 hours before running out.

Look at a regular alkaline battery and it will be labeled 2500 mAh or maybe 2400 mAh.  Look at the rechargeable AA-size battery and you’ll see a similar number.  There is an exception.  Some battery companies make different power AA rechargeables which means that a cheapo retailer that doesn’t care about their customers can buy the lower power rechargeables for cheap and then advertise their “great price” without pointing out that you are buying the lower power ones.

Stay away from rechargeable AA batteries that aren’t rated near 2400 or 2500 mAh.

Where it really gets sketchy is with C and D sized batteries.

The regular alkaline D batteries are typically in the neighborhood of 12,000 mAh.  But, the rechargeable D batteries are only 2,500 mAh, or the same power as a AA battery!

The worst part is they charge you a lot more even though it is the same battery!  Search online and you’ll find that people have cut open rechargeable D batteries to find that what is inside is a AA battery with an outer case to make it look like a D battery.

Technically the battery companies aren’t doing anything wrong, but they sure aren’t going out of their way to point out that you are getting 20% of the full D-size battery power when you buy a rechargeable D battery.

Save your money and instead buy adapters that fit over rechargeable AA batteries and use them for your C and D battery needs instead.  Or, go over to All-Battery.com and find rechargeable D batteries that have 10,000 mAh or better in them instead of being ripped off by the brand name battery companies.

I’ve had really good luck with the guys at All-Battery.com for my stuff, including the brand of rechargeables they carry “Tenergy” I think it is.  Use the link to try them out.  (Yes, I get a teeny-tiny commission of you buy something, but I could get more money recommending someone else.  I’ve actually used them and never had anything bad happen

I really like shopping at Fat Brain Toys, and I do poke around Amazon from time to time, but I just found this place today and I love them for this Toys Clearance Sale page.  That page of onsale toys that is clearly broken out by not just brand but also individual show or movie is on AllAboardToys.com, a new website that I just found.

Now, don’t get me wrong, today is litterally the first day I have ever been to the site so I have not bought anything from them yet and I am not making any recommendation or comment on their products or service yet.  However, this is THE BEST ONLINE TOY SHOPPING WEBPAGE EVER CREATED.

Why?

As any parent knows, just because your daughter loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, does NOT mean that she loves all things Disney.  In fact, she might HATE certain things like the movie Cars because one time there was a box of cereal with a picture on the front of a little Mickey Mouse toy, but instead it had the tow truck from Cars inside instead.  Kids don’t care about fine print or what is on the back, and they don’t forget either.  Every time we pass a box of that cereal in the store she points and says, “That’s the kind with the wrong toys.”

Note to cereal manufacturers.  You might want to rethink your marketing strategy when it comes to what you include inside your boxes.  You might think that kids will keep asking their parents to buy your cereals over and over again until they get what they want, but actually, they’ll remember that you screwed them over and they won’t like it.  (Again, they don’t care about whether anything was technically accurate or honest, the picture on the front is the truth for them.)

Where does All Aboard Toys fit in all of this?

From time to time I like to buy new things that have her favorite characters or whatever on them.  Generally, I do not buy big elaborate toys but rather smaller ones that can bring joy for a long time AND provide the comfort of the familiar when we go to new places like restaraunts or hotels or whatever.  Thus, a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse plate, or fork, or shirt, is a nice find.  But, I hate the drudgery of going through 823 toys that aren’t right before finding the 3 that are.

All Aboard Toys fixes that problem by sorting not just by a big category like Disney, but by individual shows and movies.  My daughter loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc. but does not like Cars and really doesn’t know anything about any of the others.  So, it is SO refreshing to see an online retailer that gets how their customers actually shop AND that does not change their sorting and categories when they put stuff on sale or in clearance.

On both the regular pages and the clearance pages, you can choose from Finding Nemo, Scooby Doo, Toy Story, Backyardigans, or whatever your child is into and the items pop right up with no extra junk and no shady “used” or “third-party” retailers like on Amazon.

My cart is already stuffed with great things that I didn’t even know were made because they were burried too deep in the rubbish on other toy websites for me to know that there are actually several Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playsets, not just the ubiquitous garage and “suprise” sets that I’m not really a fan of.

Once I trim down my order enough to submit it, I’ll let you know how it goes for the rest of the shopping experience.

Online Toy Shopping, Toys, Toy Deals

Powered by ScribeFire.

If you went to college during the 1990s, you probably at least heard of a band called, They Might Be Giants .  In fact, you might have been a big fan. (I was.) 

If may surprise you to know that these days the band writes, sings, and records children’s songs .  Turns out that the band members have kids and they like doing it, and since they were apparently smart enough to save some money from their “bigger” days, they can record fun kid’s music .

The cool part is that instead of the dopey or sappy children’s songs you usually get, these are just fun songs for children.  So, you can listen to them too without going crazy.

Check out some of their albums here:

—

My daughter got tons of toys. Friends, coworkers, and, of course, family, came out of the woodwork to give her presents. I guess everyone loves buying toys from young kids. So, keep an eye on this space because there are toy reviews galore on the way.

My daughter has this talking toy cash register and absolutely loves it.  She calls it her “laptop” (Mom and Dad both have laptops).  Anyway, it is on sale for cheap from Amazon with free shipping.  (My online addiction is deals websites.)

We got it for around this price, but had to pay like $13 for shipping, so this is a pretty good deal.  I says not for children under 3, but that is only because it comes with its own “change” (plastic).  If you watch your child when they play with it, or if they don’t put stuff in their mouth any more, it isn’t like the cash register itself is dangerous.  If you are really paranoid, you can take all the change out and they can just use it with the dollars.

The best part about this toy cash register is that it has all of these built-in games and electronic learning tools, so as your toddler gets older, this will still be a cool toy.

Actually, I lied.  The BEST part about this toy cash register is that it has a “scanner” next to the cash register keyboard area.  It is really just a big red button that gets pressed and then it says a price, “one dollar and fifteen sense.” (Oh yeah, it talks.)  Nothing is quite as fun to a child as scanning every single one of their stuffed animals, except scanning Mom’s hand and hearing “twelve cents”.  My daughter didn’t start laughing until I did, which made it even funnier!

If you want one, here you go.  (If the price has gone back up over $30 or $35, just wait.  These go on sale all of the time.)

You’ve seen the ball pit at Chuck-e-Cheese and other kid places.  Heck, maybe you’ve even been in a couple yourself.  Maybe you’ve seen the toys that are similar and thought.  That might be pretty cool for my little one.  But, then again, if you’ve got a toddler, they might be too big, and they aren’t cheap either.  Give up?  Never!  That would be defeated, and no one defeats your daddy.

Do It Yourself Ball Pool

It’s really simple to build a ball pool yourself.  In fact, after reading that sentence, I’m sure you already have a pretty good idea of where this is going.

First, get a cheap inflatable kiddie pool.  You want inflatable because your kids will jump and spin and fall around in the balls and you don’t want them hitting a hard plastic wall when they do.  You want it to be small unless you are only going to set it up outside.  Round objects take up way more space than you think they might, so keep it little or it will fill the whole room.  Here is one: Bubble Spray Pool, 58" x 13"

Next, you need the balls.  You don’t want to go too small or they’ll be hard to move around in and it will take too many to fill the pool.  You don’t want them too big or it won’t have that “swimming” affect that makes it so fun.  Something in the neighborhood of 3” is about right.  They’ve got these on Amazon: 100 pcs Fun Ballz

If you want to get it even cheaper, start watching the big department stores.  They are getting ready to start dumping their summer stuff so they can get out their fall stuff, and when they do, the discount.  Pick up a dirt cheap pool and dirt cheap balls, and the new ball pit is all ready.  As an added bonus, you can do other things with the pool and the balls.  Just use your imagination; or sit back and watch to see what your kids end up doing with them.  They might surprise you.