©Neat-oh

When you have a toddler, somehow everyone needs to and seems to learn a variety of clean up songs. Now I’d love to give credit where credit is due, but I have no idea who came up with these songs, so I will not take any individual credit but my favorite clean up song for kids is “Clean up, Clean up, everybody everywhere, clean up, clean up everybody do your share.”  Though I’ve also been known to sing, “This is the way we clean up our toys, clean up our toys, clean up our toys, this is the way we clean up our toys, when we’re done with playing.” Here are some great toy storage solutions to help in your clean-up process.

First things first, before you start singing, buy some Neat-Oh zip bins. These toy storage containers, zip up to form a box, but unzip to form a playmat. There’s a top cover that velcro’s the lid on and two carrying straps. Aside from some general themes like dinosaurs, princesses, farms, wild animals, they can also be purchased in a variety of licenses that include Barbie, Hot Wheels, and LEGO. It’s a great way for kids to learn to categorize and sort their toys, giving their clean-up a focus, sense of order and purpose.

Then go ahead and order yourself a Toydozer. This bucket with curved scoop allows both parents and kids a fun, fast way to clean-up. The curved handle attaches to the bucket with velcro for storage. Simply use the handle to push the small toys like blocks, cars, and lego’s into the bucket, then return them to your bins. This simple tool can help you clean up your playroom, returning all the small pieces to their respective bins much faster.

©MarchFive

Since it’s springtime, who’s reorganizing their playrooms and cleaning up and cleaning out? What are your must-have toy storage solutions?

Neat-Oh and Toydozer provided samples for review. The opinions on these products are my own.

If you would like to order a Toydozer, use the code BLOGGER20 at checkout for 20% off your purchase. There is free shipping to the US.

©WOW

There aren’t many toy companies that you meet along the way that boast a ten year satisfaction guarantee with their toys, and that is the first “WOW” we learned about WOW brand toys at Toy Fair. Originally from the UK, these toy vehicles and playsets geared for kids ages 18 months to 5 years are now available here in the United States and distributed by the well known German puzzle company, Ravensburger. WOW brand toys are designed using classic themes, that will last through pretend play with multiple siblings and possibly even passed on from one generation to the next.

We received the Jurassic Jimmy toy vehicle (pictured left) for review. My son was “WOW”ed so much by this toy, he took it to bed with him for the first few days.  Jurassic Jimmy the caveman, drives his off-road vehicle, trailer and 2 baby dinosaur friends. There is even a large dinosaur egg that the dinosaurs fit inside and rests on the back of the trailer. The egg can can be hatched or opened and closed repeatedly. The trailer attaches to the truck using a magnet, so it was easy for my 2 1/2 year old to attach without any frustration. There were absolutely no stickers to attach on this product, which I loved. Once it’s out of the box it’s ready to roll. The car itself has a “push and go” friction motor, so it is a little loud when it drives, but it doesn’t take a lot of strength for it to drive far on carpet or wood surfaces.

The price tag did WOW me a little given that these toys generally MSRP for about $30.99 – $49.99, but they are well made, built on classic themes that won’t go out of style, and they do come with a 10 year guarantee.  One piece of feedback I have is that I wish the dinosaurs would fit in the driver seat of the car to expand imaginative play themes even further. Cavemen didn’t really drive cars in that era, so I don’t think it’s that far off base that the dinosaur could drive the car, too!

©WOW

©WOW

Additional WOW brand toys in this line include Ryan’s Road Trip (a 7 piece vehicle with towable tent), Casey Camper Van (an RV that pops open), Cupcake Chloe (Chloe’s bakeshop, delivery car, and removable cupcake), Whiz-Around Amy (5 piece play set that includes a pink motorcycle and sidecar), and Mario’s Pizzeria (8 piece playset that has 3 pizzas, vehicle and special oven).

Ravensburger provided this toy free to facilitate this product review. The opinions are my own. Click here for additional information on WOW Brand playsets.

©Neat-Oh

My 2-year-old, like many other boys I know, is a car nut. Maybe it’s because when we take a trip to Target, small cars make the best impulse buys for this age group because you can purchase them for $1.00. I never worry about losing them and because they are small enough to fit in Gavin’s coat pocket, they provide entertainment anywhere.  On several occasions I’ve  even found Gavin placing 4 or 5 of them in my purse before we leave the house. When we go for day trips to his grandparent’s house or on long weekends to other relatives these cars must come with us and he ends up filling his own bag to take along.

At Toy Fair, I met up with an amazing company, Neat-Oh, that designs some of the most innovative toy storage solutions for kids I have ever seen. Not only do these back packs, toy boxes, lunch boxes and travel totes functionally make it easy  to store and transport toys, many of them, like the Zip Bin Full Throttle Backpack unzip to make on-the-go play mats. Genius. This backpack was easily adjustable to fit my toddler with the two straps. It’s also not as bulky as most traditional backpacks, and the material is durable and sturdy so it doesn’t sag or become awkward to carry as some of the other custom cloth bags do. It’s also easy to wipe clean with a disinfectant wipe. There’s a great carrying handle strap at the top of the bag. There are two zippers located on the backpack, that make it easy to zip and unzip quickly. We have been able to fit several small cars (at least 10), a few diapers, a travel wipes container and a sippy cup in this backpack, it’s a fantastic diaper bag alternative and Gavin can carry it all on his own, making it a great toddler back pack.

©Neat-Oh

Neat-Oh also partners with several companies with regard to licensing, so if you child has a personal attachment to all things Barbie, LEGO, Hot Wheels, Dinosaurs, Cars, Farm Animals or Princesses please check out their very cool line of products at Neat-Oh.com.

Neat-Oh provided this backpack free to facilitate this review. The opinions are my own.

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