Yesterday, I had a moment where I wanted to open up the nearest window and sing ‘Oh Canada’ at the top of my lungs.  You’ll feel the same way after you learn about Sprig Toys.  The co-founders of this company had an epiphany moment after spending years as ‘toy veterans’ in the industry after realizing the environmental damage caused by how traditional toys are manufactured and packaged - not to mention they all normally require batteries to become very interactive.  They joined together with years of product knowledge and expertise and formed Sprig Toys.  Get ready to see this product line as the next ‘hot’ toy.  Although this company is based out of Colorado, they manufacture their line Sprig Adventure Series in CANADA!  How big is this?  For parents out there looking to source safe products for children and support a local footprint, this is huge.  Want some more facts before I tell you how much a child would love these toys?  I’ve picked up, felt, and smelled these products and a wonderful ordor greets your nose.  The plastic used to make this series is made from Sprigwood™ and is paint free.  The ingredients for Sprigwood™ are reclaimed plastic (margarine containers to be exact) and recycled wood.  You can actually smell the wonderful scent of the wood in the figures and vehicles.  The company’s next shipment of these toys will also include biodegradable packaging that is made from seeds. So throw the packaging into your garden and plants will grow.  This is so cool and a wonderful step for Canada to be apart of!

The Rally Racer, Baja Scout, and Discover Rig all have figures with a built in led-light in their hard helmets that are not powered by batteries, but by the push-action of the vehicles.  They connect to these vehicles via a USB port and the act of children pushing the vehicle, powers the electronic features of search lights (all three vehicles), lights and motor sound (Discover Rig), and dialogue, sound effects and songs (Discover Rig).

The Discover Rig is going to be the ‘it’ toy this Fall. You can attach a push bar (which toddlers would love) or detach and older kids can push this rig because when it moves forwards the generator fuels the lights and sounds.  The adventure guide will take your child on an expedition of the imagination with different stories using different accents when swapping characters!  Too awesome!  If you are having a hard time picturing all these different modes of this series, check out the video on the Sprig Toys site.  You can watch how children power up this eco-friendly wonder with natural kinetic energy by using the push and pump.

Picture Source: Treehugger Site

These are sure exciting times in the toy industry.  Green Toys and Sprig Toys have understood the consumer’s desire to choose from carefully designed and manufactured toys, rather than mass produced junk.

Finally, I’ve found a play dough recipe that works!  Not only works, but makes amazing, easy, great quality play dough.  It really is true that once you find the perfect play dough recipe - you can make a product better than you’ll buy at the store.  I was starting to doubt my ability to pull off this great culinary feat. Even the priest that married me made light of my ’skills’ in the kitchen.  It’s no secret I can’t bake and struggle with cooking.  So when my first 2 batches of play dough failed last month, I had decided that making your own play dough from scratch was an urban myth…one of those things only a super mom can do.  But - I’ve conquered the recipe and not only is it easy, but guaranteed you’ll have 90% of the ingredients already kicking around your pantry.  Play dough isn’t cheap to buy so you’ll save money and also help the environment because store bought play dough containers don’t have recycling resin codes.

Okay…before the recipe reveal I’d like to admit that the first two times I tried making play dough I wasn’t aware that the ingredient ‘cream of tartar’ was a baking item (looks like salt that you buy in the spice isle).  I thought they were asking you to add tarter sauce - the creamy kind that goes on fish and chips.  Just in case there are people with my cooking skills out there….these products are totally different and is probably the reason my other batches stayed wet and never gelled.  I know, who thought it could be this hard?  <smile>

Play Dough Recipe:

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoon cream of tartar (find it in the spice section)
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
food coloring

Mix first 4 ingredients in a pan. Add water and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 - 5 minutes. Dough will become difficult to stir and form a “clump”.  Remove from stove and knead for 5 minutes–add food coloring during kneading process. Play dough will keep for a long time stored in a covered plastic container or plastic sandwich bag.

This amount of play dough this recipe produced was perfect.  Each of my 4 kids received a huge clump of play dough, so there was lots to share.  Also, a great tip with Fall around the corner - add cinnamon to the dry ingredients (as much as you want until you get the right scent).  It produces a magical smell that transports you to a world of pumpkin patches, colored leaves, and windy days.

Want an awesome story that transitions your toddler our of reading the very basic ’see spot run’ type books?  I always assumed our preschool favorite Clay Boy, by Mirra Ginsburg, was only for ages 3-5, but I’m delighted to write that my 2 year old twins LOVE it.  They suffer from the inability to sit still for 5 minutes (like their mother), but they will sit happily to read this tale.  It is the perfect book to capture this age’s attention because there is aways something exciting happening and lot of action to keep your little one focused.  It has the same exciting build up like Three Billy Goat’s Gruff and uses word repetition so within a few times of first reading the book, your little one is chanting “More, I Want More!”

This book comes highly recommended from the preschool where my kids attend.  The story is the retelling of a Russian Folktale and it’s main characters are: Grandma, Grandpa, Clay Boy, and a golden goat.  Grandma and Grandpa make a boy out of clay to keep them company, but they aren’t prepared for Clay Boy’s appetite and soon he eats all the food in the house.  He continues to eat the village and all the people and animals in it.  Are you a little horrified? I was too the first time I read it, but the children LOVE it.  It has a very happy ending with the clever golden goat’s saving village and people.

I found this book on the Canadian Amazon site. That’s good news for Canadians….great prices too!

For US residents, the American Amazon site also carries this book. Here is the link for you to save shipping costs.

My 6 year old loves playing card games and prefers cards over toys or any other stationary activity at the moment.  Thanks to Debbie from The Village Toy Shop, we’ve recently discovered THE BEST card game ever and my entire family is more than slightly addicted.  If you have a child with an interest in numbers, memory, and logic…this game is a perfect choice.  The brand is Gamewright and they have great card, board, dice and party games. Rat A Tat Cat won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Toy Award and I can see why.  The age on the front of the box says it’s from ages 6 and up.  My 4 year old can play, so has a good range for different ages, although 5 - 7 years old is probably the perfect age to introduce the game.  Okay..here’s how you play.

There are 54 rat and cat cards, mixed with a few ‘peek’, ’swap’ and ‘take two’ cards which add a fun twist.  The goal of the game is to have your cards add up to the lowest number. You are dealt 4 cards and only initially can you peek at the two end cards, then you draw from the discard or draw pile and have to use your memory to replace cards with lower numbers.  The high cards are the rats and the low cards are the cats.  Obviously 0 and 1 cards are the best to get and when you’re confident you have the lowest number of cards, you tap the table and crow “Rat A Tat Cat”!  The other player goes one last time then you flip your cards over and determine who has the lowest number after you add up the 4 cards.  Francesco is so good at this game now - he’s tough to beat!  I’m a big fan of the card game Uno, but Rat A Tat Cat is hands down the best card game I’ve played with my boys.  Locally they can be found at The Village Toy Shop or online via Amazon.

The boys (and some special friends) conducted a cool science experiment today.  Francesco makes me so proud when he suddenly remembers something interesting that he learned months ago in Kindergarten.  His teacher was amazing so it’s no surprise that he remembered something fun he was taught! 

Also handy for this imprompto activity are the main ingredients already reside in most households (vinegar and baking soda) and you end up with a cleaning agent after the experiment is over.  The ages that helped with the experiment ranged from 2 - 6 years old. Really, what child won’t enjoy watching a balloon blow up and mixing ingredients that fizzle?  Sound interesting?  Read on…

Blow Up Balloon Activity

What do the kid’s learn?
When baking soda and vinegar are combined, they produce a gas called carbon dioxide.  The gas created blows up the balloon when it runs out of room in the bottle.

What do you need?
~ A balloon
~ A funnel & spoon
~ Baking soda (although we used baking powder and it still worked)
~ Vinegar
~ A small plastic bottle

Here we go!
↔ Stretch out the balloon to prepare it to blow up.
↔ Insert the funnel into the mouth of the balloon and scoop in 2 large tablespoons of baking soda.
↔ Fill up your bottle half way with vinegar.
↔ Pinch the upper neck of the balloon so that the baking soda doesn’t fall into the vinegar and stretch the bottom neck of the balloon over top of the bottle
↔ Now slowly hold up the balloon and let the baking soda drop into the vinegar/bottle.  Wait until the balloon starts to fill with air, let go, and watch the gas fill up the balloon.

Children can walk away from this experiment learning 4 new science terms.

A solid - which is the baking soda
A liquid - which is the vinegar
A gas - the carbon dioxide that is produced when the two are combined

I love activities that are this much fun and the kids learn at the same time.  A great afternoon.