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 NEW
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Rainy Day Rescue
By Karen
Mendez Smith
March 1, 2003
Be prepared for April showers with toys that will entertain even
indoor-bound kids.
MYVERYOWNHOUSE |
Play
Time
Paint it, color it, glue stuff to it! Get kids’ creative juices
flowing with Pharmtec’s
U.S.A.-made MYVERYOWNHOUSE, $29.99, in Cottage
or Mansion styles, a colorable heavy-gauge cardboard playhouse with
windows and doors that open and shut and including a set of washable
markers. Since it’s completely collapsible, after the fun
it can be neatly stowed for another rainy day or spread out as a
play mat.
Game
Time
Let’s
Learn Toys provides the perfect finishing touch to
any fantasy world. Both boys and girls 2+ will be captivated by
My Home Town (31.5” x 42.7 carpet) and Learn
the ABC’s (25” x 83” play mat), both
$30.00. Action dragging? Pull out a roomy racing Potato Sack, printed
with numbers, shape sets and English, German, French and Spanish
words. Ready, set… Go!
Plush
L’il Pal Pack |
School
Time
Back inside the playhouse, Teacher says it’s time to play
school. Plush L’il Pal Pack, $19.95, and
Lil’er Pal Pack, $15.99, two backpacks from
The
Five of Us, Inc. made in the shape of fanciful circus
and farm animals--like Roxy, the Purple Cow--make a perfect place
to hold supplies. Each pack can hang open on a door or wall to display
non-educational treasures, too.
The
Blue Kangaroo’s Bag of Stories |
Story
Time
The teacher of the day can count on The
Blue Kangaroo’s Bag of Stories, $19.95, a creative
storytelling game that relies on brain, not battery-power. A cloth
gameboard and a deck of storytelling cards lets kids make up their
very own fairytales.
Show
Time
Play day wouldn’t be complete without Puppet
Partners’ Petite Performers, $21.99. Velcro-friendly
bodies and a variety of sold-separately props turn the basic Boy,
Man, Woman, Girl or Grandma hand puppets into any fantasy character
they can imagine.
Nap Time
Rest stop! Hopefully busy caretakers can have a little R & R
too. Not just for kids are AMG Canada’s Coke Contour
Puzzles, packed in decorative tins. Just the thing to while
away the hour . . . before the kids are up again asking, “What’s
there to do?!”
Writer's Bio: Karen Mendez Smith has been involved in children's
media for over twenty years as a literary agent, writer, and creator
of animated television and film. Co-founder of Satori Organics and
M/Path Press, she is a parent to eight children and five incredible
grandchildren (and counting).
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