Archive for January, 2009

Free toddler music at You Tube

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Do you have a toddler that loves to dance? Do you not want to order each and every song he/she likes and compile your own custom mix of songs? Do you like to experiment and find new artists? Look no further, we have a recommendation for you about how to make good use of YouTube for your child’s entertainment.

The idea is simple:

    1. Create a YouTube account
    2. Search for songs that your baby/todder likes (Alphabet Song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old MacDonald, etc)
    3. You find several versions; try them out yourself to see which is the best fit for you and your toddler.
    4. Add them to your playlist
    5. When your toddler wants to dance, login and, when viewing your playlist, select “Play All”
    6. When the first video starts playing, make the display full screen (there’s an icon on the bottom right part of the player that allows this) and let the fun begin

Unfortunately, playback isn’t always flawless in YouTube (sometimes playback just stops after a song or sometimes YouTube can’t seem to locate one of the videos, even though it comes back later), but that’s minor noise we’re willing to live with.

Here’s some of our favorites:

Give it a spin and let us know what you think. Tell us your experiences too!

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Acitivities, Baby, Toddler | Comments (0)

Meet the… DVDs

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

Our son really enjoyed the “Meet the…” series from Preschool Prep. A friend of ours recommended the series and, being curious, we ordered a couple just to check it out.

First, about our TV watching policies, so that you know where we’re coming from. Like many parents, we try to minimize the amount of DVD/TV-watching time in our house. We didn’t quite go to the extreme of no TV watching until 2, but we did try to keep it to as little as possible (hopefully no more than 2-3 hours per week). If our son did watch TV, it was either in the form of a little Sesame Street (he liked Elmo) or DVDs like these. Many days he watched no TV. Some days he watched more than usual (for example, if we went a long-ish car trip).

Each of the DVDs takes a simple approach to introducing the child to a series of concepts (e.g., shapes, colors, the alphabet). Typically, each item in the set of objects associated with the concept is introduced and then linked to a particular character and musical score. The name of that item is repeated several times, with different intonations, and the character used to represent the concept is often show performing some simple task (e.g., a green square will be show mixing chemicals in a lab, a blue circle will be skateboarding around town, etc).

In watching these, here was our take:

PROs:

  • Simple concept - easy to watch
  • Great musical score - easy to listen to
  • Stresses phonetic variations
  • Colorful, smooth animation
  • Obviously made with care (you get the feeling a small core group of people are involved)
  • Repeats sequences of related concepts (good logical flow)
  • Calm; not over the top
  • Can be purchased with a book (per DVD) - our son actually loved these!

CONs:

  • Repetition of concept might be annoying (at first) to adult (but we guarantee that the music will win you over)

Overall, these DVDs were a smash hit. I recommend starting with “Meet the Shapes” and/or “Meet the Colors” before tackling “Meet the Letters” or “Meet the Sight Words”. You’ll get a feel for how much YOU like these DVDs by starting off simple and holding back on ordering the whole set.

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Educational, Baby, Toddler | Comments (0)

CPSIA effective start date is Feb 10th

Thursday, January 08th, 2009

On February 10th, an important new law will go into effect that has lots of implications for the production and purchase of products for children (under 12). Due to recent problems in lead poisoning from Chinese made products, the U.S. passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which will be implemented starting on February 10th. What this means is that any product sold for children under 12 needs to be tested for lead and phthalates. So even if an entreprenurial mom wants to make and sell socks for toddlers, she will need to get them tested for toxicity - which is not only a hassle, it will cost several hundred dollars (at least).

Obviously, the intention of this act (protect children from evil substances in products sold to them) is good, but the implications are rough for small businesses and possibly quite worse for consumers, who will presumably have less choices in the marketplace (albeit safer ones). This is legislation that is obviously good spirited, but needs some important refinements. Also, it’s another reminder that it only takes one bad offender (China) to ruin life for the rest of ~99% well-meaning enterprises.

If you have strong feelings FOR or AGAINST this legislation, make sure you make your voice heard to your local congressional reps.

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Government, Toys, Baby, Toddler | Comments (2)

Automoblox cars

Sunday, January 04th, 2009


If you have a toddler or youngster that is really into cars, we suggest you check out the Automoblox line of cars.

These things represent the culmination of a nice little story - a young college student designs a wooden car for a school project. Student goes to work for Fortune 100 company, learns about product development. Student becomes entreprenuer and the Automoblox company is launched. The first (project) car was made up of a a few blocks that were attached together via wooden dowels. The idea was to combine high quality wooden blocks that could be attached together with a concept all kids love - the toy car. It’s a great idea and the secret is in the care with which the idea was executed. Automobox has now acquired a long line of good reviews and loyal customers.

My wife and I bought a couple of these cars from Amazon when our son was just about two. He was a bit young for them then, but he since has really grown into them. He loves taking them apart and putting them back together. Of course, he loves racing them even more. And we’re happy the folks at Automobox took the time to design them with care - for example, the rubber “tires” not only make the car move fast along our wood floors, they also don’t damage the floors. Can’t argue with that combination.

The cars are very sturdy, just as everyone says and there aren’t any sharp edges. If you have very small children, who like to put everything in their mouths, you might want to watch out a bit for the plastic people, but given their size, it’s a minor concern. BTW, the people are kind of fun - they each have different shapes and fit into the car a different way. One minor complexity with some of the cars is that you have to make sure the people are facing forwards in order for everything to come together nicely. But our 2-3 year old grew into that and we saw it as a nice learning opportunity.

As far as the differences between the cars, I think that’s really only of importance if you have an older young child playing with them (i.e., K through 2nd grade or something). Toddlers don’t really appreciate the differences and in fact they are more likely to be interested in the slightly larger cars. What’s fun about buying at least two is that you can mix and match some of the pieces and create totally new cars. Kind of like Legos, with less pieces, less freedom, but more practicality for the younger child.

Check them out online and read the reviews over at Amazon for more info.

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Toys, Toddler | Comments (1)