These cars are targeted for children ages 1-3, and there are 3 pieces in each box.  Their suggested retail prices is about $3.99. The bottom piece includes the four wheels, and the other two pieces fit together like a puzzle to create the car on top. If you have multiple cars, the pieces are interchangeable, so you could have the front of a police car and the back of a fire truck. They are a perfect size for little hands and even teach kids on a very simple scale, the process of trial and error to figure out simple puzzles. Developmentally, right at the age of one, Gavin loved putting them together and taking them apart, first with help to turn the pieces until he figured out how to do it on his own. They are plastic, but I’m not a huge fan of the diecast metal cars at this age anyway, because of the amount of mouthing play children do, making these also pretty easy to clean with a wipe.

There are many different types of these little cars, and there is even an entire town you can put together to zoom these little cars in, complete with trap doors and stunts! All the pieces fit inside the container and it’s easy to take with you to a playdate, on vacation, or to family events. Check Toys r’ Us for these cars in the United States.

Mega Bloks provided a few of the Tiny n’ Tuff vehicles and the Tiny n’ Tuff Buildable City free to facilitate a review. The opinions are my own.

Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Stand and Play Rampway.

When a game begins, the child uses the Zippity bopper and play mat to interact with the characters as they learn how to match colors, recognize letters and identify the concept of left and right. It’s also great for motor planning, which is a fancy way to describe a child’s ability to follow unfamiliar, multi-step directions.

When reviewing the product, I used the Zippity with two children, ages three and six, who both enjoyed the experience in different ways. There are 8 games provided in the original console, each game has two levels of play. There is also an ability to purchase different game cartridges with other Disney favorites such as Cars and Princesses.

The Level 1 games were perfect for the three year old. Whether she chose to play with Handy Manny or the Little Einsteins, because the directions to both games were similar, she could generalize a skill she had learned from one game to the next with almost immediate success.

As an adult, don’t get frustrated with the speed of the directions being slow, this is a great feature that makes it easier for children to understand the directions! For younger children I would encourage an adult to play along so that you can repeat the directions again if they have a hard time remembering them. Level 1 did include some directions such as using left and right, which can be difficult for children this age to understand, so you may want repeat the direction and encourage them to step on red for left or green for right instead.

The Level 2 games were easy for the six year old, but remember all children learn at different paces. He was able to feel successful immediately by quickly following the directions and operating the console completely by himself. We worked on the concept of turn taking, which worked out well and can be a good skill to promote amongst siblings and friends during playdates.

As is typical of many Leap Frog toys, you can use the Learning Path to experience in more detail other developmental skills your child is learning.

What I really like about the Zippity is that it provides dynamic learning in both the physical and mental sense. I personally love games that incorporate whole body movement and the Zippity is perfect for providing stimulation on a rainy day when children aren’t able to play outside. It’s a great game to buy for families with multiple siblings or children of different developmental levels.

The Zippity retails for $79.99, for more information visit www.leapfrog.com

Leap Frog provided the Zippity free for this review, but the opinions expressed in this review are purely the bloggers own.

ToyQueen at Megabrands Toy Factory

A few weeks ago, I learned I had been one of 5 bloggers chosen to attend the Mega Bloks Rocks Mommy Blogger Event! On Tuesday, as we boarded the Air Canada flight from Boston, Montreal bound for Mega Bloks, the excitement was “building” thinking of what the factory itself would look like, as well as the curiosity of what some of the new products in development for 2010 would be.

When entering the family owned business, which will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, there was such a buzz in the air!  Being only three weeks away from Christmas with an intense snowstorm brewing outside, many of us felt like we were at Santa’s Workshop!  Never mind that we spent the day in the showroom, seated amongst all the new products for 2010! Talk about the ToyQueen being in toy heaven! Our name tags were even built out of micro blocks!

Megabloks

Though Mega Bloks is the number one creator of preschool construction toys worldwide, other brands included in the family are Magnext, Battlestrikers, Rose Art and Streetz. Simply, Mega Bloks is so much more than a preschool brand.  Though some products are manufactured in China, many are created 350 days a year, 24 hours per day, right at the plant in Montreal, Canada before being shipped worldwide.

In my opinion, some of the great design elements of Mega Bloks toys allow children to not only use their fine motor and thinking skills to construct with the blocks, but to then interact with the creation in fun, unique ways to promote their imagination!

For the child 6 and older, one of the greatest surprises of the day was the Streetz brand – where children construct a whole city using micro blocks! After it’s complete, miniature cars can maneuver the city.  Children are encouraged to use their fine motor skills to engage their cars in a variety of stunts like launching through donut holes.  Follow Mega Bloks on Twitter – @Megabrands