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Lorraine
Erica
Recently my children were lucky enough to have a chance to demo some great toys. One of the perks to being a “Fisher Price Mom” is for children to be sent toys to trial. The first toy was appropriate for my 7 yr old daughter but would work for ages 4 – 8 in my opinion. This neat toy was called the Doodle Bear and truth be told my 4 year old son thought it was pretty great too. Ever have your kids draw all over the furniture or ruin some clothes with felts? It is a natural instinct for little ones to draw all over things but a tendency that has caused parents much stress throughout the years. No worries with the Doodle Bear, your child takes special felt markers and can draw to their hearts content on the dolls face or clothes….even hair. Needless to say, she LOVES it. I’d really recommend this for those creative type kids. Pop it in the wash and its back to its pristine condition ready for another round of water soluble felts.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, my 4 year old son was sent the new “Joker Playhouse” in the Batman series of toys. Since he already has the Batman playhouse, it was a perfect fit. Now we have the entire Gotham City in our living room.
Watching my two children play with their new toys I did notice something very interesting. Being more attuned to the trial, I noticed how the toys influenced their actions, mood and overall demeanor. Now, I am an experienced mother so I get that generally boys and girls are different and play in different ways. This time I noticed (maybe because when the kids are playing I usually use that time to clean, cook and sneak in a couple of emails here and there), my kids become different people depending on what toy they are playing with.
Let’s take my daughter for instance. She had come home from school in a grumpy mood. She was ready to just plunk down on the sofa and watch TV…until I showed her the new toy that the folks at Fisher Price had sent to her. She immediately brightened up (as most kids would do at the mention of a new toy) but once she saw the Doodle Bear she turned into a caring, nurturing mother-figure that had to draw happy faces on the doll to make it happy and draw some warm clothes to keep it warm. Then of course she had to give the doll a bubble bath and repeat the process all over again. It’s neat because I saw my daughter transform from a tired, grumpy gus to a loving, nurturing kid. I think this particular toy helped her get her creative juices flowing.
Now, my son was the complete opposite. He is truly a boy’s-boy. So, when he saw the Joker Cave with all the cool bits and parts to capture Batman and a neat little Joker Car……my son transformed into a Super Hero that saved Gotham City in the blink of an eye. He transformed into a confident, powerful, creative Super Hero and got right into the Batman scene. For him, saving the world was the most important activity he could think of.
I like that my kids can use toys to transform or pretend to be someone other than who they are. It was also good to see a little old-school play without any gadgets or TV. I encourage you to give your child a toy that they have never seen or played with before and see who they transform into!!!!
“Disclosure: I am a Fisher-Price Mom and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”
Filed under: Parenting Tagged: | age appropriate toys, children activities, children bored, children playing, Fisher Price, Fisher Price Toys, toys
