There are so many annoying toy lists out there – such as Yahoo’s Hot Holiday Toys for 2011 offering expensive and unnecessary gems like Sesame Street’s Let’s Rock Elmo ($60.00 for the Elmo doll, plus about 15 – 20 bucks each for his keyboard, drums and microphone! And I am guessing batteries are not included. ) Your toddler/preschooler will find many more things to do with a cozy blanket than with this single-purpose Elmo toy which they will soon grow bored of and will most assuredly grow out of. And then there is Common Sense Media’s 70+ Gift Ideas For Every Kid on Your List. This list is chock-full of electronic entertainment designed to keep our kids plugged-in. Apps, DVDs, websites to join – even the games they recommend are video games.  There are no board games to help families play together without a screen involved. What happens when the power goes out ?! (And where I live, that’s been happening a lot lately.) Thankfully, Common Sense Media does recommend some actual books for children.

In the midst of all the schlock being marketed to families and kids this holiday season, three cheers and a big thank you to the Strong National Museum of Play for recognizing the blanket as a toy worthy of honor. As they so aptly describe:

“In imaginative play and make-believe, kids have discovered the many playful uses for the blanket. It fills in for a king’s robe, a bride’s veil, a superhero’s cape, a Roman soldier’s cloak, a princess’s flowing gown, and a wizard’s flying carpet. Thrown over a table, it forms a tent; draped around two chairs, it becomes a fort; on top of the carpet, it serves as a safe island surrounded by sea monsters. In puppet shows, the blanket substitutes for theater curtains; for a magician, the blanket conceals the secrets of the show. And in tug-of-war, the blanket gets top billing. It is also suitable for tossing toys in the air or for parachuting them back to earth.” (photo credit to the National Toy Hall of Fame website, also! )

As a child I used a blanket for just about all of those ideas listed above. I even remember using a blanket for impromptu winter picnics on the kitchen floor. What do you remember I wonder? Did you have imaginative adventures with your blanket? How do your children play with blankets today?

The blanket also joins the stick, inducted in 2008, and the cardboard box, inducted in 2005. Nice!

For more info on this season’s most terrible toys, check out Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood’s TOADY Awards.

“Each year, the Toy Industry Association gathers to present its TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards.  In honor of the industry that has led the way in commercializing childhood, CCFC will present its TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the worst toy of the year.  From thousands of toys that promote violence and/or precocious sexuality to children and push branded entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC has selected five exceptional finalists. “

Voting for the TOADY award is open until November 28th!

And if you are looking for toy buying advice, you may want to check out TRUCE’s Toys, Play & Young Children Action Guide or TRUCE’s Infant – Toddler Play, Toys and Media Action Guide.

For a related posts see:

A Real Toy Story

Good and Bad Toy Ideas

Doing More With Less This Holiday Season

Tweet

Follow

The other day, one came in the mail. It was a tempting shiny-red tri-fold with a groovy Christmas tree and  the word “imagine” on the cover. I didn’t even see the ad first – my son did. Even though my sons are identical twins, one of them is way-more sucked in by flashy things (be they video games, commercials, cartoons or toy trends). He was the one who came up to me in the kitchen. His eyes were huge and he was jumping a bit – clearly excited. “Look mom! We can save 20 or 30 or 50 dollars!” He showed me the big green coupons on the center page.

“Yes,” I replied, “but look how much money we’d have to spend in order to save,” and I pointed to the small print that said, “Spend $200 or more and receive $50 off your order”.

He was crushed. He hung his head and his whole body slumped. “I feel so stupid,” he said softly. “Don’t feel stupid,” I explained.  “It was a trick. Look how big the words are that you saw. Now, look how small the words are down here. The marketers didn’t want you to notice how much you have to spend. They wanted you to focus on how much you can save. They did that on purpose to trick you into spending money.”

“Ohhhhh!” he said as he stood a little taller. He didn’t feel so bad anymore. He felt a little smarter because he knew the trick that the marketers were playing. This conversation led to more conversations about the mail that comes into our house. Now, when we open the mail, I ask him first to decide if it is an ad or not. If it is an ad, we look for some of the tricks that the marketers are using to make us want to spend money.

Very empowering for a six-year-old boy (and his 44-year-old mom!).

Tweet

Follow

Their first recommendation is the Leapster Explorer from Leapfrog priced at $70.00. This toy “has a touch screen and a stylus, so kids can turn eBook pages with the flick of a finger and write on the screen. Parents see what their child learns on a personalized Web page.” Here’s what I’m thinking: use the money instead to buy some great kids’ books to read with your child.  You’ll see what your child learns by watching how he or she interacts with the book; the questions he or she asks;  and the conversations you have about the storyline,  pictures and words. You’ll learn more about your child this way, as opposed to going online to check a personalized Leapfrog Web page – I promise. Author Eric Carle has some wonderful titles for this age group, but you can ask your librarian for recommendations (or order from The Book Vine Catalog - every book they sell is wonderful!). Along with the books, you could get a little chalk board and some chalk for your child to draw, scribble and write. Perfect!

So instead of  this, try something like this… or even a library card and weekly trips to the library. Good for your pocket book, the environment, your community and your child. Nice!

Another “Best Toy” this year according to Good Housekeeping is Fisher-Price’s Dance Star Mickey, priced at a cool $90. This one is a no-brainer. Instead of spending almost a $100 on a stuffed animal that does everything for you (and comes with a name and fully-developed character), opt for a much less expensive generic fluffy stuffed animal that can be cuddled, snuggled, fed, tossed and loved. A generic, non-battery operated stuffed animal can become anything your child needs or wants it to become. It will be able to say and do ANYTHING your child imagines – at a fraction of the price.

So, instead of this try something like this… (Truth be told, when my sons were born, they each received one of these monkeys -  and they still love their monkeys like nobody’s business.  Please know that I am not getting any money for promoting this toy or brand.  It is just a good example of a generic stuffed animal. And it costs about 10 bucks.)

And here’s one more to think about: the Iron Man 2 Iron Trike for $40. Let me remind you that all of these toys are in the 3 to 5-year-old range. Iron Man 2 is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence and some adult language.  So here we have one of the thousands of toys for preschoolers that are linked to a PG-13 movie. It is confusing for parents and for kids  -  and it is just plain wrong. Enough said.

If you are thinking about buying something like this…

you might consider something like this…

or this or maybe this…

I realize that Hanukkah is over, so many of you are done with gift buying for the season, but if you are looking for gifts for children, check out TRUCE’s Toy Action Guides. They’ll give you lots of good ideas for infants and toddlers and for young children. And if you want to take action against all the marketing of PG-13 movies to young children – check out this information from Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

For a related post about gift giving, check out…Doing More with Less this Holiday Season.

Tweet

Follow

To support its decision to focus on feel-good stories rather than core curricula, the company proffers a six-month study of 2,200 parents of preschoolers the company commissioned and conducted last year. These Disney researchers found that when parents were asked what they most want for their children, the most popular reply was for them to be happy.

Well, here’s the funny thing. Watching television doesn’t make us happy. The  Kaiser Family Foundation study from January 2010 concludes:

Nearly half (47%) of all heavy media users say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly C’s or lower), compared to 23% of light media users. Heavy media users are also more likely to say they get into trouble a lot, are often sad or unhappy, and are often bored. Moreover, the relationships between media exposure and grades, and between media exposure and personal contentment, withstood controls for other possibly relevant factors such as age, gender, race, parent education, and single vs. two-parent households.

Ok. . . so the Kaiser Family Foundation research was based on 8 to 18-year-olds. But really, if heavy media use isn’t making our older kids happy, then it is a fair guess that it won’t make our preschoolers happy.  And we know that preschoolers are already spending 32 hours a week outside the classroom in front of screens  (Nielson Company, 2009). It seems to me that if Disney was truly concerned with parents’ desire to raise happy kids, then they would stop luring kids to the screen – and away from time spent outside, or playing alone, or playing with other children, or talking with their families.

And then there is all the marketing that Disney dumps on our children. Marketing of single-purpose, media-linked toys that entice our children with the promise of happiness – a happiness that doesn’t materialize. Check out this info from Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood:

The primary message of commercial culture is that the things we buy will make us happy. In fact, that’s not true. Research tells us that our sense of wellbeing depends on relationships, a sense of community, spiritual nourishment, and/or job satisfaction, not on acquiring “things.” Children who are more materialistic are less happy, more depressed, more anxious and have lower self-esteem.

So, did you catch that?  Relationships, sense of community, spiritual nourishment and/or job satisfaction…these are what lead to happiness. Materialism makes us less happy and more depressed. I think it is fantastic that parents in the U.S. are now focusing on ways to raise happy children. Perhaps we, as a country, are waking up to the fact that we need to readjust our priorities. That is a good thing. I just don’t think producing more television shows for our 2 to 5-year-olds is the right solution.

Here’s what I’m thinking: Going unplugged. Spending quality time together.  Tuning in to nature. Playing.  Building relationships through small, connected moments. And giving Disney Junior a pass.

Tweet

Follow

As a young child I visited Disneyland and watched the Mickey Mouse Club on TV. These were fun times, no doubt. However, Disney has taken advantage of the trust that parents have in the Disney name. As an adult, I now worry about the vast influence that Disney has on our children and on us. Disney encourages young children to play online with websites such as Club Penguin and World of Cars. Disney confuses parents about how babies learn by selling Baby Einstein videos. Check out this list of companies owned by Disney, complied by Lisa Ray. (Her family is documenting their Year Without Disney!) Disney controls so much information – that just cannot be good. They also market heavily and directly to children – including the brilliant move to market all the Disney Princesses together in a way that has appealed to girls the world over. But what messages do the Disney Princesses send our girls? Check out this short video about the Princess Effect from the Empowering Girls to Fly High.

And check out what the updated TRUCE Action Guide says:

If you are one of the tens of thousands who will be attending the conference, please stop by and visit us in the exhibit hall. We will have copies of our free guides on hand and we’d love to talk to you. We’ll be sharing booth 1044 with TRUCE steering committee member Hugh Hanley and his Circle of Song!

Tweet

Follow

For one thing, you have have a flexible structure for them to work within. Setting the parameters, and giving choices within them, goes a long way in keeping everyone actively engaged. Second, you find materials and experiences that are open-ended and usually quite simple. Think natural materials such as water, sand and wooden blocks; and art materials such as  finger paints, paper, crayons, markers and clay. Nothing fancy or gimmicky here,  and definitely no batteries required.  Of course, what a 4 year-old and 13 year-old chose to do with blocks, sand, clay or finger paints will vary. Their methods, attention span and ability to coordinate their play with others will look very different, but isn’t that the beauty of open-ended materials? In these instances, the child is in charge of deciding the how and the what; the grown ups are there just to provide the materials, the time and the space.

“Quiet Time” in the afternoons gave us all a chance to relax, take a deep breath and entertain ourselves individually. Within the “Quiet Time” framework older campers read novels and wrote in their journals; younger campers read or looked at books and drew pictures; and our youngest campers took their afternoon nap. And singing was something we did daily together – with lots of songs that have become family favorites – including call and response songs which everyone (including the youngest non-readers) can enjoy. Our oldest camper even taught the rest of us a new song – now a favorite – which we will add to our growing songbook.

But there is one more crucial ingredient – interesting adults.  This year, we had a rotating list of aunts and uncle who came and shared their interests, time and talents with the kids. One of my brothers, a former art teacher, made paper with the campers. Another brother is a talented musician, and he joined us with his guitar for some of our singing sessions. My sister came one day and shared her talents in the kitchen to help our campers make lunch and snack for that day.  Launching rockets, starting a campfire, pitching a tent, telling a funny story, performing a skit…so many interesting grown ups spending time with the campers…sharing laughter and love and making memories.

So, how do you keep kids engaged? Open-ended and simple materials. Flexible structure. Quality time spent with interesting  and caring adults.  These make for a fantastic summer camp experience. And you know what…pretty great for school, too. I remember times in my second and third grade classroom at Mission Hill School – when things were feeling stressful and unproductive, and our insightful principal Deb Meier would say to me, “What about making the classroom feel more like summer camp?”  That question would help me tweak my routine, materials and attitude in a way that could get us back on track – and making it fun for all ages.

See a related post: KEVA planks – creating fun for everyone

Tweet

Follow

I’ve also been reading the Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession With Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health – and a Vision For Change by Annie Leonard. It is a real wake-up call. I try to be environmentally conscious – but by reading this book I’ve realized there is so much more we as a country can – and should – be doing. Leonard reveals, “We have a problem with Stuff. With just 5 percent of the world’s population, we’re consuming 30 percent of the world’s resources and creating 30 percent of the world’s waste. If everyone consumed at U.S. rates, we would need three to five planets!” My only hope is that this horrifying oil disaster will be the rude awakening our country needs.

(It’s not a spill, by the way. A spill is what my son does with his glass of orange juice. It’s a pain to clean up the spill, but we can do it in a few minutes. What is happening in the Gulf of Mexico is a man-made disaster. Definitely not a spill.)

Do the world a favor and forgo all the thousands of Toy Story 3 plastic junk, and all the other aggressively marketed single-purpose toys, and opt for good old fashioned imagination-inducing fabric scraps, empty containers of any type, art supplies, pebbles and the like. Its not easy to break the habit of consumption – believe me, the LEGO situation in my own house is admittedly out of control. We are working on it, though, and my husband has finally agreed that there is such a thing as “too many LEGOs”. Check out this fantastic article Children, Commercialism, and Environmental Sustainability by Tim Kasser, Tom Crompton, and Susan Linn.

Related posts:

Reduce, Reuse and Re-imagine!

Empowered by Play’s Toy of the Year Award: Nature!

When Did Sesame Street Become $esame $treet?

Way Too Many Toys

Announcing TRUCE’s Infant-Toddler Toys, Play &  Media Action Guide!

Tweet

Follow