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My wife could never understand this mania, or “neurosis,” as she puts it, until a few years ago when the San Francisco International Airport featured a full concourse exhibit of souvenir monuments from around the world…. I’m getting one set for my little boy to place between tracks of his train set (yes, the scale is a bit off), and one to go up on the shelf until I get a call from the museum asking to take my collection on tour.
Category Archives: Toys and Games
Labyrinths for fun and inspiration
March 25, 2008 – 7:57 am
I’d still recommend it on a coffee table to divert desultory visitors who need distractions during cocktails (or to occupy a teenage visitor who has to sit with adults)…. Please chime in on what you know about this subject, but labyrinths date from Greek and Egyptian times and have been used in mythology, and later in the Christian church.
I can’t guarantee it still won’t bore you silly
February 21, 2008 – 3:18 pm
At first, I thought this was going to be a complicated “make your own Monopoly” set-up where you’d have to upload a bunch of photos and choose how they would be laid out on a board, before it created a custom-printed board for you.
…You supply the photos out of the shoebox, cut them to fit the boxes, and glue them on. It sounds like a big project, but promises to “unleash your creative genius” (if you have one lurking inside).
Simple toy teaches counting – the Imagiplay Number Snail
January 24, 2008 – 11:53 am
I don’t know how many times I’ve put this thing together, but I always sit with him a minute and try to think of another angle on the activity…. While he has learned how to count to ten (a not small achievement), I’ve relearned an important lesson on the value of sitting down with your kids and engaging with them even on something as seemingly infantile as this silly puzzle.
Review of Marble Runs
January 22, 2008 – 4:38 pm
The plastic marble run – Marble Run” (Quercetti Toys) This is a fun set, but requires some skill to balance towers so that as you grow them, they still stand up…. The prices here are far more affordable at $55.00 for this big set, but the toy is a lot more free form (think erector set) and requires more imagination (or dad involvement) to get excitement out of it.
Good game for the car
January 7, 2008 – 3:27 pm
Cheap, portable and easy to play for most ages (4+), Namits Original Game from Great American Puzzle Factory , this is a simple idea. Given combinations of words (tasty, crunchy, smelly, for example), players think up words that fit the description.
Help for legoland – how to keep all those pieces out of mouths of vacuum cleaners and small animals
January 7, 2008 – 12:51 pm
EvilMadScientist has a good post on how to keep and organize legos. Seems simple, but he includes tricks on how to avoid them sticking together.
Another new idea from the inventors of I Spy – 3D
November 28, 2007 – 2:55 pm
I can waste a lot of time with my daughter looking for hidden toys and random objects in the I Spy series of books. Though a lot of other books have tried, and perhaps “Where is Waldo” is the best other example, I Spy continues to intrigue with it’s different scenarios.
A new Advent calendar
November 23, 2007 – 2:39 am
Okay, so maybe it brings Christmas down to even a crasser commercial level, but the kid in us kind of likes these Advent calendars from Lego and Mattel…. So, if you’ve bought into Christmas as a big day full of gifts for the kids, with all the baggage that comes with it, you might like these.
Who needs a fancy remote control helicopter when there is this
October 26, 2007 – 6:11 am
Whistle Balloon Helicopter – For only $1.90, here’s a cool toy my 7 and 3 year olds played with last night for an hour…. Only one issue: they make them with a whistle inside, which is probably easily removable if you grab the package before they do
