Green Owl Toys » Travelling Toys

Autumn is here and what to do?

Night Owl — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:57:46 +0000

Autumnal weather

Its a lovely Autumn – with the sun shinning and the leaves slowly, slowly changing in all its spectacular colours. Its a time for long walks with wellies and fleeces. A great item to take along with you is the Explorers Activity pack! Its a neat little box with a string handle that holds many items needed to record and describe your experiences!

Its loads of fun picking up leaves that have fallen. Finding the different shades of green, yellow, brown and red! Search under the logs for creepy crawlies and then go home to warm up inside. You might think now what with all these leaves!?? Well, try some collages. Draw a vase, let the kids draw zig-zags and circles (good to practice their writing skills) on the vase and then stick the leaves at the top of the vase. Or change the vase to a tree trunk.

This is fun once or twice but you might need some more ideas…and here is where the Explorer activity pack fits in perfectly. It has illustrated flashcards, activity booklet, inspirational book and a postcard to send your experience out. It stimulates creativity, develop communication and social skills, encourage problem-solving and hours of fun!

Wooden book vs Soft book for babies

Night Owl — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:55:36 +0000

Its great to have a fabric book that has squishy and crinkly pages but it gets dirty quite quickly. They either are dropped on the floor or pavement while out and about or get covered with mushy baby food. Of course, it is easy to pop it into the washing machine (but will loose it crinkle sounds) or use a wet wipe (but is it truly clean?).

I tried the other option of buying a wooden book that have the pictures painted on the pages. The wooden book is quick and easy to clean. Its great for teething and because the pictures are not stuck on – they don’t peel off! The values of the toy stays the same throughout its life.

Travelling toys for toddlers

Night Owl — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:08:22 +0000

All parents need the break from routine: be it visiting friends, going to a restaurant or going on holiday, but the idea of getting away from it all with your kids in tow can seem anything but relaxing, particularly if you’ve not done it before. Having kids at these social settings makes a noticeable difference to how people interact with you. But more than that, travel almost always has a positive effect on the whole family: children’s natural capacity to stop, be absorbed and play tends to cross over to adults once we’re freed from the pressures of daily life, and this paves the way fro some truly fantastic moments together. And no matter how young your children are – even if they only remember your trips through the stories you tell them and the photos in the albums – the impact of travel on their view of the world and sense of self-worth becomes ever more tangible as they get older. And for the adults, travel allows you time to pause and reflect on home life, work life or issues at hand - something that’s rarely possible when at home.

There’s no denying that going away with children isn’t always straight forward, but the key to making it work is to be well prepared. Its good to have one or two toys that pack away neatly into a box or your handbag for just those moments where boredom sets in.

Their are different types of toys for different types of traveling, here are some suggestions and links to a sight with great ideas:

If you are in a restaurant, some pens and a colouring book for girls is brilliant while for a boy anything on wheels or animal fun packed in a handy box.
If you are at a friends house and there are no toys around, maybe some building blocks , a car for the boys or push stick for the younger ones.
if you are in the car or aeroplane for a long time, a magnetic box with shapes to keep them busy or even modelling dough!

There are plenty of handy little toys but not all can be easily transported, it is always good to look at the box they come in to make life easier for the parent and to keep all the parts together! Good luck