Strollerderby : toys for kids

Like Netflix for Your Toybox

Madeline Holler — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:06:00 GMT

File this one under Why Didn't I Think of That. (I know why: too lazy). A Houston mother of twin boys launched an online toy rental service last fall which might solve the duel problem of (1) shopping for toys with your kids and (2) being buried in crap.

Her service works like Netflix -- you pay a monthly subscription fee, pick out a set number of toys that you get to keep for a specified amount of time. You return the toys in the postage-paid box. New toys are shipped out as soon as others are returned.

Baby Plays stocks all the stuff you see in stores -- VTech, Playskool, LeapFrog -- and also more unusual stuff from Europe. She searches toy catalogs, picks easy to clean toys with few or replaceable parts. And she checks for lead before sending new products out. She also watches carefully for damage and safety hazards.

Four toys a month costs $28.99. For six toys a month, it's $35.99. Families who sign a yearlong contract can get six toys a month for $31.99.

What do you think? I'll pay extra if there's a part of the service that quenches grandparents' rabid thirst for buying one of each item in the toy aisles of Target.

Photo: AP

Delicious Droolicious: Huggy Sluggys Are Saving the Earth and Sending Kids to Therapy

Kelly Mills — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:28:00 GMT

Posted by Mir

I really want to like these. I do. The concept is brilliant -- each Huggy Sluggy has a pet environmental cause, and they're cuddly plushes made with organic cotton, shipped in a reusable bag along with a book made of recycled paper. Plus, they're made here in the USA. Each pack retails for $34.95. It sounds great, right?

In reality, the "reusable bag" is a burlap sack; no sane person wants to cuddle with a slug, much less a disturbingly anthropomorphized slug who cares about the environment but is wearing lipstick (or, if you check out the other drawings on the site, a bra top); and the kicker, of course, is the Huggy Sluggys' notable similarity to something most of us would rather not have our toddlers wandering around clutching. They may as well revise the website to read, "Save our trees," "Protect our animals," and "Always wear a condom."

Other yeas and nays at Droolicious:

Delicious Droolicious: 5 Other Things to Do With an Optimus Prime Voice Changer Helmet

Kelly Mills — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:29:00 GMT

Posted by Aaron Burgess

If you've been scanning the "hot holiday toy" lists this season, you've no doubt seen many shots of Hasbro's Optimus Prime Voice Changer ($29.99), a big plastic helmet that lets your kids play as the Transformers hero and Autobots leader, complete with digitized robot voice. Of course, kids aren't the only ones who've taken to Optimus -- see these YouTube videos (some of the least unfunny, at least) of grown people geeking out over the thing.

This one's made the rounds (and is still the best):

Go, Malaysia!

Optimus doesn't need to show ID:

Optimus will pwn you:

I would've let him in free:

Other things gettng shouts on Droolicious:

Weekly Check Up: Good Workout Toy

Kelly Mills — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:24:00 GMT

I'm a big fan of the "old-fashioned" kid workout: you know, tag, hopscotch, kickball, stuff we used to think of as fun rather than childhood-obesity reducing exercise. But I also embrace the new, and that's why my family is currently all over this Hyper Dash toy. It is, as my child says, "hecka fun." You get this tagger thing, and you have to tag these targets in the order the tagger calls out while it times you. There's something a little "Simon" (remember that game?) about the whole thing, and lemme tell you, set those targets far enough apart and you end up doing some serious running. Um, I mean, your kid does.

Anyhow, I like the athletic nature of it, and there's even a level that requires some basic math computation as part of the course that might be helpful for kinetic kids who have trouble with numbers. We haven't tried the hide-and-seek setting yet, but I'm sure we'll get around to it, as soon as I whup Hyper Dash ass just one more time... And my kid is now getting the additional workout of wrestling the tagger out of my hands.

Matchbox Car Guy, In Memorium

Kelly Mills — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:56:00 GMT

Jack Odell, the guy who invented matchbox cars, died this month. There's lots to love about matchbox cars: they are fun for lots of ages; they are inexpensive enough to stock up on; they require imagination rather than whamming kids with lights and beeps; and they come in such a variety, there's a car or two for every kid.

When I was a kid, my dad gave me a set of cars from his own youth, and even though they had survived high-speed races and attack by dinosaurs, they were still in good shape. I supplemented the collection with cars I bought with my allowance, and mounted some wacky NASCAR races: Model T against Corvette, and so on. Now I'm thinking I'll follow Geekdad's advice and get a couple for my kid in honor of Jack.

Odd Toys: Jousting Knights

Kelly Mills — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:00:00 GMT

There's something very A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (almost a lit major) about the idea of remote controlled knights. But I love the honesty of these, because what else are you gonna do with remote controlled toys except try and crash them into each other? Instead of "crashing" we'll call it "jousting". Fun for the whole family. I want them.

Because I am pragmatic, I envision a tiny knight repeatedly bumping into my ankle while I try and carry my dinner plate to the table. I'll have to turn to my better half and say, "You have until the count of five to put down that remote or, so help me, you'll need a suit of armor yourself." Meanwhile our child will be crying from the other room, "You guys never give me a turn! It's not fair!" But hey, I'm afraid chivalry is dead around our house.

Lots of Dolls With Disabilities

Kelly Mills — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:23:00 GMT

Working at programs for college students with disabilities taught me two important things: One, you should never assume someone's disability is a good reason to pity them, and two, people with disabilities probably experience more discrimination than any other group. So I love this round-up of dolls with disabilities. Most of them come with accessories such as wheelchairs, arm braces, or darkened glasses, and some have things like prosthetic limbs or physical rehab equipment. A few are undergoing chemotherapy. They also come in a variety of ethnicities.

While these dolls are designed to be a companion to the child with a disability so that he or she has a toy that looks like him or her, I think they'd be great for all kids. If discrimination poses the biggest limitations for folks, then helping all kids become comfortable with disabilities at an early age could go a long way. I know my child was highly jealous of my co-worker's wheelchair. And my Deaf colleagues jokingly referred to a hearing friend who didn't know sign language as "signing impaired," so there you go.