Toy Thursday: Christmas Toy Catalogs!

We have not even had Halloween yet I find myself being bombarded with Christmas. You? Every department store has had their Christmas trees up and decorated next too all their Christmas wares and merchandise for over a month now.

My husband even took our son Judah to Menard's one night to look at tools. Instead, they ended up going through the Winter Wonderland complete with a tunnel of lights, big snowman inflatables, and lots of decorated Christmas trees of every shape and color. Now my son talks about seeing Christmas trees when we come to every nearby Evergreen tree. Even the decoratated trees outside our neighbors house with orange lights are Christmas trees.

We limit our television time to watching mostly videos, thus avoiding commercials on regular programming. However, I can only imagine the toy commercials have increased on the air. And soon we will be listening to Christmas music as well.

Now I typically enjoy the Holiday season especially as Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday (perhaps because it is like Christmas only not commercialized). Yet, I always enjoy the activities of Fall so much as this is my favorite season of the year. This year I feel cut off from wearing my orange and making my pumpkins as the rest of the world seems ready to move onto Christmas.

In spite our efforts to avoid commercials, the advertising world has taken a hold of our mailbox filtrating it with Christmas catalogs and coupons of all kinds - pajamas, clothes, tools, plants, and yes TOYS!

This is really the first year I have seen Judah sit down with the toy catalogs turning the pages and looking at all the bright colored pictures. And I have heard him say, "Neat" and "I want to play with this" as if the item will magically jump out so that he can touch it and play with it. I guess you can say the advertising world is clever when it comes to marketing toys.

The toys though on the market this year are actually not that cool. To me they scream mess, noise, and boring. In the back of my mind, I have already picked out some educational, fun, and neat toys for Judah. And I plan to go and look for these regardless if they are in the catalog or not. So good try toy stores.

Toy Thursday: Toys at Meal Time.

So Judah is in this phase where he wants to take toys with him everywhere...in the car, in bed, and yes even the table. What is it about the need to take toys everywhere? I find upstairs toys downstairs. I find toys in my bedroom. I step on random toys on the way to the bathroom....

I am constantly finding toys littering the car floor below his car seat. Somehow these toys make the trip inside the car but it takes them longer to make it back into the house. And yet, every car trip to the store, a friend's house, or another errand, we have to have a toy for each hand. Sometimes this does come in handy at a doctors office as we already have a toy along to occupy our time. However, other times the toy finds their way into playgroup or story time in which we put it away or have to share with our friends.

Then Judah likes to take toys to bed. I really try to limit to one or two toys as most of his choices include his cars and tractors. I often find myself explaining he might roll over onto one of the toys and hurt himself. This does not matter; he still wants at least one toy. And you have to be careful as allowing one toy might mean he tries to get another and another.

Finally the dreaded toys at the table. If I want to get his attention from playing to come and eat at the table, then usually I succumb to agreeing that he can bring one or two toys with him. This works for a time when I tell them they have to sit and watch from a distance until he eats all his food. However, the moment I turn my back, he grabs the toys to put closer to his plate/bowl. When I turn my back again, the toys (usually tractors) are busy loading and pushing food on the plate. So every day I have this stack of toys next to the sink that need cleaned. Only then is he willing to give them up to have them washed from the sticky milk or peanut butter.

A while back, my co-author Sarah talked about her five year old son's need to take a toy in his pocket places. She encourages him not to take a toy along and if you lose it, it is your loss. Even at five years old, he still has to have a toy to keep his fingers busy.

Do your kids drag toys along and what are your rules? I think it is time to set some boundaries and soon.

Quick Mommy Time Out: Buzz Lightyear Operation for $1

No really. It works. I just bought one tonight. Since I had all three boys with me, this particular one will go in the Toys for Tots bin. But I might be back tomorrow.

So how does one go about getting a Buzz Lightyear Operation game for $1?

Big Lots has Buzz Lightyear Operation advertised for $5. I printed off the ad and took it with me to Target, where they price matched it.

Then, Print off the $4 off any One Operation game to complete the purchase...and get Toy Story Operation (regular price $16.99) for $1.00.

Photo copyright BuzzLighyeargames.net


What a deal!!

Toy Thursday: No. You Can't Take It To School

In a previous post, I discussed how my five year old has the habit of carrying toys around. I knew this would be an issue when he started school, as it is almost always a fight with him. He wants to take a toy to the grocery store, to church, to the post office etc etc.

I knew he couldn't be taking toys to school. So I talked to him about it. And Ma'am talked to him about it. And Grandma talked to him about it. But he still insisted that his friends would want to see his toy.

It's a bit of a safety blanket for him. Instead of a binky or woobie, he has a toy.

See Nemo in his hand? Yeah, we didn't see it until we were looking at pictures of this Christmas event. We had no idea that Nemo had tagged along.

So when we went to the ice cream social/open house to meet his teacher and see his classroom, I had his teacher tell him that toys were not okay. And that was the end of it.

He didn't believe me, or Ma'am or any other family member that told him no...but as soon as the teacher did, it was okay.

Whatever works. We still carry a toy around with us at home, but he knows he can't take it to school. He's growing up. That's for sure.

Tip Tuesday: Toy Storage Solutions!

At my house some days, I feel like a tornado went through the toys. On these days, I hop scotch over all the toys strewn across the floor. And they are all out in full force too- blocks, cars, trains, balls, and those blasted miscellaneous (or objects that become toys) toys you never know what to do with.

We do pick the toys up before bed but until then the mess is crazy. We sing our song as we pick the toys up, putting them away where each belong. Then the very next day, the very same toys somehow make their way out again as we integrate them together for many creative play ideas and fun.

We do have those toys that are supervised only that come out for a short time and then get picked up afterwards. These toys like puzzles and crayons still somehow make their way scattered across the floor even in that short amount of time.

Toy storage is so important to get those toys momentarily off the floor and to teach organizational skills to your child. Encourage them to pick up on a regular basis.

We store our own toys a couple of ways. First, we just got a new toy box for Judah's bedroom (from Ikea) that allows Judah to get the toys in and out for easy access. The shelf (his size) also provides a flat surface on top for playing, especially to set up his toy trains.



Second, we still implement the boxes meant for storing dishes using them for toys instead. Box sets of three come are sturdy enough to store toys. Cloth means easy wipe down. The neutral boxes look nice on a shelf. And you have different sizes for toys. Plus the best part is you can slide in a picture of the toy (from simply cutting out the picture off of the box) inside the front pocket allowing the child to match the toy with the label for easy sorting.

How do you store your toys?