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216 Piece Magnetic Balls Set From DinoDirect – Video

April 21, 2011 · by · 2 Comments
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This is a sponsored post from DinoDirect.com. They asked me to tell you about this product and their site in my own words.
DinoDirect Magnetic Balls Desk Toy

Magnets are a wildly popular toy for everyone from kids to adults. People post all kinds of videos on YouTube showing what they make with magnet sets, who knew? DinoDirect.com has a 216 piece Magnetic Balls Toy that makes pretty much anything you can imagine. Photos on their site show pencil and pen caddies, business card holders, crown and coffee mug sculptures, even pretend eyeglass frames!

I decided there HAD to be a video on YouTube showing someone making something with this set, and sure enough, I found it. Here’s a cool demo that starts with little triangles, joins them up to make flower shapes, then combines those into a six-sided triangle box:

Each of the Magnetic Balls in the set is strong enough to hold papers to your fridge by itself, so imagine how strong they are when combined! I’m already thinking ahead to Father’s Day – these would be great to include with my husband’s gifts, something he can take to work and fiddle with on his desk. Best of all they are only $21.79 with free worldwide shipping plus the site says “free gift with order” – bonus! Check out DinoDirect.com and decide for yourself!

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Win an adorable Baby Wumbler plush, three winners!

January 17, 2010 · by ·
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CLOSED – Congratulations to the winner, comment #49 from Monique!

Prizey Pick badge Pictures, Images and Photosedited to add: Thank you, everyone who came here from Prizey, for making this giveaway a Prizey Pick!

The Wumblers are the creation of Laura Wellington, mother of FIVE (congratulations on the new baby!) who used two tragedies to create a world of characters who learn about positive social and global messages while also having fun together. Her Wumblers Patch Store carries board games, books, CDs, DVDs, plush toys, puzzles, and even an iPhone app with a watermelon seed spitting game.  Laura sent Kaitlyn a Baby Girl Wumbler that she absolutely loves, as well as an Alphabet game. The Wumbler comes inside a fabric watermelon, you unzip it and turn it right-side-out, and it’s a plush baby Wumbler wearing a satiny diaper! Seriously, so cute:

From the site:

Laura Wellington, a mother and former teacher, created The Wumblers series and The Wumbler Patch brand to help her own four children cope with the three year passing of her husband from cancer. Not long thereafter, the tragedy of 911 marked a second opportunity for Laura to help children cope with the suffering they were experiencing as a result of the many personal losses plaguing their own families.

The outcome of the meaningful messages, uplifting story lines, and exciting characters embedded in both The Wumblers series and The Wumbler Patch brand was the rapid launching of The Wumblers series and The Wumbler Patch brand throughout the world. A combination of vast parent-child approval and appeal became the valuable seeds in which the success of both The Wumbler series and The Wumbler Patch brand were sown upon.

Baby Wumblers hatch from watermelons in the Watermelon Patch and are totally adorable!  And best of all,  25% of every Baby Wumbler purchase is donated to Tuesday’s Children, an organization that provides resources and support to families directly impacted by 9-11.  Laura and her team have generously offered three Baby Wumblers for me to giveaway to Table for Five readers!

WIN IT: For your main entry, visit the Baby Wumblers page and then come back here and tell me in a comment which you will choose if you win – a Baby Boy Wumbler or a Baby Girl Wumbler.  Shipping is U.S. only.  Enter by January 28th 2010 at 12:00 noon EST.  EDITED TO ADD:  I’m extending the giveaway deadline  because I had comments set to close after 10 days! SORRY!! I will choose three winners using random.org and then email them for their mailing information. Shipping will be provided by the sponsor.

BONUS ENTRIES: Leave a separate comment for each of the following that you do or have done:

  • Blog about this giveaway and leave the URL in a comment
  • Tweet the giveaway – you can do this once per day, leave a separate comment for each
  • Subscribe to my RSS or email feed
  • Stumble or Digg this post
  • Add Table for Five to your blogroll, leave your URL so I can add you back!
  • Friend me on Facebook

Thanks for entering and good luck everybody!

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Kaitlyn needs a plane ticket. And a passport.

December 28, 2009 · by · 11 Comments
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Littlest Pet Shop playsets come with a little booklet that shows all the pets you can collect, with convenient check-off boxes so you can make sure you are being the BEST PARENT YOU CAN BE by buying your child every single pet. Kaitlyn has been carrying one around since Christmas Day, studying it thoroughly and occasionally thrusting it under my nose saying “can I get THIS ONE? Pleeeeeeaaasssseeeeeee?”  It doesn’t matter that she got eleventy-billion Littlest Pet Shop toys for her birthday and Christmas, she needs more. It’s the American way, after all.

So, I was poking around various websites looking at LPS toys, and I found one that I knew she would love, the Playful Paws Pet Daycare. I was about to click “add to cart” when I realized I was on the U.K. version of the Littlest Pet Shop site. Kaitlyn, who was of course looking over my shoulder, started wailing when I clicked away from the site to go to hasbro.com to look for the playset there.

Kaitlyn (wailing loudly): why are you leaving that screen? I want to look at that!!! (waaaaahhhhh)

Me: because those toys are only sold in England

Kaitlyn (after pausing a few seconds): Do they allow kids in England?

Me: yes, why?

Kaitlyn: So we can go to England and BUY THOSE TOYS!

Good thing for me this old Compaq laptop doesn’t work or she would TOTALLY be tweeting about how MEAN I am  :P

*********************

p.s. those two glowing things in the top right corner of the photo are the eyes of our cat, Blackdrop, a.k.a. Kitty.  And yes, she’s huge.

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Last Minute Gift Idea-Taylor Swift Dolls from Jakks Pacific

December 22, 2009 · by · 4 Comments
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I am such a huge fan of JAKKS Pacific, because they make my daughter’s absolute favorite toys in the whole world – Puppy in My Pocket & Friends™ pets. Kaitlyn was beside herself the other day when a box arrived from JAKKS, with a Puppy in My Pocket, Kitty in my Pocket, and Jungle in my Pocket set. I have a Playmobil advent calendar on my desk that comes with little animals, and the Puppy in My Pocket & Friends animals have become part of the advent calendar scene. She can spend an hour sitting there playing with them all, it’s so cute. I highly recommend any of the “in My Pocket” sets as a terrific stocking stuffer or gift!

JAKKS Pacific also manufactures and licenses products for older kids, including a very popular doll this year based on singer Taylor Swift. Although I haven’t reviewed the dolls personally, I promised Janis at Jakks that I would spread the word about the dolls starting with a post here, I’m sure there must be someone reading Table for Five who has a Taylor Swift fan on their holiday shopping list!

There are two dolls available now – the Taylor Swift Performance doll for $19.99, and the Taylor Swift Fashion doll for $14.99. The “You Belong To Me” Performance doll includes an outfit featured in the music video and plays about 30 seconds of the song. I’d suggest calling ahead to Walmart to make sure they have the doll in stock.

The Taylor Swift Fashion Doll from Jakks will each be wearing an outfit based on a real outfit Taylor wore to an awards show, concert performance or TV appearance. The current doll is wearing a fitted black top, black and white ruffled skirt, fishnet stockings, and thigh-high black boots. According to the Jakks site, the Fashion dolls also include a second outfit in the package.

edited to add: The doll shown above in the black outfit will not be available until SPRING. That was my mistake. Shown below is the Taylor Swift Sundress Medley Fashion Collection doll, which is available now:

So, in addition to the dolls I showed you here, new Taylor Swift Singing and Fashion Dolls are expected to be available at all major retailers nationwide in Spring 2010.  I hope this helps some of you with your last-minute holiday shopping!

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Zhu Zhu Pets Are This Year’s Tickle Me Elmo

November 15, 2009 · by · 11 Comments
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Zhu Zhu pipsqueak Some of you might be too young to remember the year that Tickle Me Elmo was released, and toy stores were overrun with shoppers desperate to snatch one up before they sold out completely. I reviewed Zhu Zhu pets back in October on MomReviews, and I predicted that they would be the hot, hot, HOT toy for 2009. Now I know I was right!

We went to Target yesterday and as I was walking to the bathroom, I walked by the notice board where they post the current week’s ad. On a piece of paper, in big letters, was a sign that read “Due to limited supply, Zhu Zhu pets will be limited to four per guest”. So then I checked Toys “R” Us, and they are limiting the purchase to three per customer!  Who would have guessed that a battery-powered hamster that moves on it’s own and makes adorable noises would be the hot, hard-to-get toy this year like Tickle Me Elmo once was?

They really are adorable, and come with tons of accessories like habitats, a car, skateboard, surfboard, rolling ball, ramp, and slide. It’s like having a hamster for a pet but with no messy cage to clean!  Zhu Zhu pets are sold at Target, Toys “R” Us, and Walmart, plus I’m sure other big stores will at least try to get them, so if you think someone on your holiday gift list would like one, go buy it NOW!

SHOPCOMSPONSORED

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Apparently, Tonka does not read this blog

October 30, 2009 · by · 17 Comments
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Tonka truck
Image by unloveablesteve via Flickr

Just over two years ago, on October 19th 2007, I wrote a post titled  Tonka Trucks: “built for boyhood”? in which I called Tonka to task for their commercial showing boys playing with Tonka dump trucks,  a commercial in which not only did they insinuate that Tonka Trucks are built specifically for boys, but used the phrase “boys are built different” several times. A phrase, as one commenter pointed out, that isn’t even grammatically correct.  The point of my post was to point out that GIRLS also play with Tonka trucks, so obviously their products are built for girlhood too.  My comment that playing with a dump truck does not cause a girl to grow a penis or anything was a big hit with my readers back then.

Well, Tonka, you did it again.  In heavy commercial rotation right now is an ad for Chuck the Talking Truck. It goes like this:  “Hi, I’m Chuck. Your BOY’S friend”.

*insert sound of facepalm*

Tonka, Tonka, Tonka.  You really need to get over this archaic notion that children can only play with gender-specific toys.  While I recognize that there are parents who don’t let their sons play with dolls or play kitchens, and don’t let their daughters play with toy guns or pretend power tools, what about the rest of us? What about those of us who want our little girls to truly believe that they can be ANYTHING they want to be when they grow up?  Are you telling my daughter that she shouldn’t play with your dump trucks because it’s not like she’s going to grow up and OPERATE ONE some day?

We bought a Chuck the Talking Truck for the boys for Christmas one year when they were probably 4 and 2, and it was a huge hit. I’ve saved it all these years in a tub in the basement because Tonka products are so well-made.  Seeing that commercial reminded me that I still have the toy, and I’m planning to dust it off, insert some fresh batteries, and surprise Kaitlyn with it. I predict she’ll love it. The way the toy works is, you clap your hands and call to it, and the truck rolls to you.  I bet she plays with it like that for a while, and then loads up the truck bed with My Little Ponies and uses it as a transport vehicle.

I know I’m not going to change the advertising strategies used by Tonka.  But I just had to write this follow-up to that 2007 post and point out that like the French say, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – the more things change, the more they stay the same.

oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, I work with Hasbro, the makers of Tonka, on lots of campaigns. I LIKE Hasbro. I LIKE Tonka! I just don’t like this particular choice of words for these particular commercials.

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PLAY-DOH Burger Builder Review

October 30, 2009 · by · 1 Comment
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PLAY-DOH Burger Builder is the 2009 Family Fun Toy of the Year Award Winner!

PlayDohBurgerBuilder

Cook up something extra special with this fun PLAY-DOH set and its tons of burger-building accessories! Mold pretend “burger patties”, “onions”, “lettuce”, “pickles” and more, press out “fries” and then use your special TWIST-A-CHIP tool to crank out the coolest pretend potato chips you could possibly serve up! · Super-fun PLAY-DOH set lets kids press, mold, twist and “cook up” a “burger” and “chips” meal that looks almost good enough to “eat”! · Includes 5 56.6g cans of PLAY-DOH compound, molds, press, plate, plastic knife, rolling pin, and TWIST-A-CHIP tool. · Ages 3 and up. Notice Parents: Contains Wheat. Non Toxic.

Hasbro sent us a Burger Builder set to review, and I have to admit, it’s pretty clever.  Once I showed Kaitlyn how to pinch off a piece of the colored dough and press it to form the “burger” parts, she had fun making the parts for me to assemble.  Here she is hard at work:

Kaitlyn with Play Doh Builder

Your child can get as creative as they want with the colors, make a green burger on a red bun if they want,  I’m just a stickler for doing things the way they are “supposed” to be done, so I encouraged Kaitlyn to make the components the “right” colors. Here’s our finished “burger”:

Burger

The only part we had problems with was the extruder that squeezes out yellow strips that are supposed to be french fries. They come out in short little stubs that don’t really look fry-like at all, so we didn’t make too many.  Then I hit on the idea of rolling out the bright yellow Play-Doh into flat sheets and cutting it into squares to make “cheese” for our burgers. That’s how we like to eat  ‘em anyway!  Kaitlyn was happy with our finished result:

Kaitlyn with Play Doh Burger

Hasbro’s PLAY-DOH Burger Builder has a suggested retail price of $14.99, but I found it through my Amazon Associates link for only $10! Click this link if you’d like to buy it from me and help me earn a nickel :)  - Play-doh Burger Builder
It’s a recommended gift for the holidays!

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GX Racers Playsets by Jakks Pacific

September 24, 2009 · by · 3 Comments
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Nathan, my middle child, is 10.5, and it is NOT easy to find things that he still enjoys playing with.  I was happy to discover him and his best friend who is the same age happily playing with the GX Racers 360º Spinway Playset, 1/4 Pipe Ramp, and GX Street Force Skate Pack that I received from Jakks Pacific for review.  Nathan’s friend collects mini skateboards and always has at least one in his pocket when he comes over, so between those and some toy cars, they spent a good hour playing, which is a lot for video game obsessed boys!

What’s unique about GX Racers is the gyro spinning action.  The cars don’t just go forward, they spin on their sides!  Keeping the cars moving AND spinning is the challenge! This is the Spinway Playset, which is a molded plastic track with a handle at one end.  It comes with plastic flags that can be set up to make an obstacle course, then as the car is spinning it’s way across, you turn the handle to move it from side to side. It’s hard but it’s fun!

GX_Racers_360Spinway

For more gyro spinning fun, there are GX Street Force Skate Packs, with a mini skateboard that also comes with a gyro. Designed with different cool street styles like camouflage and graffiti, these skateboards practically fly when launched! I recommend setting up the skateboards at one end of a LONG hallway, because they move fast and travel an insane amount of distance. Definitely a cool toy for kids who like skate/fingerboards!

GXBoards.4

To go with the GX Skateboards, there’s a 1/4 Pipe Ramp with two sides that double the fun! Launching them onto one side of the Pipe Ramp sends the skateboard flying straight in the air, the other side launches the skateboard into the distance. Like I mentioned, this was also fun for the boys to use with their own mini skateboards, pretending to do the skate tricks they’ve seen on TV.

GXBoards.4GXRamp

Put GX Racers Playsets on your birthday or Christmas gift list for kids who love cars and skateboards! GX Racer sets are available at Walmart, Target, Kmart, Amazon, and Toys R Us. Thanks again to Jakks Pacific for sending us these cool toys to review!

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Wordless Wednesday- Mrs. Potato Head

August 12, 2009 · by · 10 Comments
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Potato Head Teeth

I’m waiting for my new Mr. Linky code so in the meantime, leave the link to your Wordless Wednesday post in the comments! As always, comments left with keywords instead of real names or blog aliases will be deleted. No exceptions.

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Giveaway-Win a smart-e-bear, dog, or kitty!

December 10, 2008 · by · 55 Comments
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This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner, Alisha from Izzy ‘N Emmy!

Combine an extremely cuddly stuffed animal with music, games, stories, and learning activities, and you have smart-e-bear, the brand new, super-hot-for-the-holidays, award winning, customizable stuffed animal! Smart-e-bear has won the NAPPA Gold award, was a Dr. Toy’s Best 10 Technology Toys and Best 100 Products, Top Kid Tech Gifts in Tom’s Guide, won a Greatest Products award from iParenting Media Awards, and was Featured Item in Toy Wishes holiday magazine! Intellitoys smart-e-bear is a joint venture with award-winning Kids Preferred. Together they created the newest software tucked in a very soft bear, dog and cat. These technology-friendly pals are simple to program and easy to customize. Parents need only connect, click and then hand over for cuddling. The toy comes with a beginning selection already downloaded, additional songs, stories and games can be purchased right on the site.

You simply plug in the included USB cable, download the smart-e-software to your desktop, then visit the smart-e-store to choose which songs, stories, games, and activities you want on your toy. Once you’ve made your choices, you click the Synch button, wait a few minutes, then hand over the loveable, huggable friend for play time. You can create multiple “playdates”, so you can have an “active” playlist with songs and activities like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, or you can have lullabies and gentle stories to lull your child to sleep at naptime. And get this- you choose your child’s name or nickname from a long list, and when you first turn it on, it greets your child by name! I was so thrilled to find “Kaitlyn” in the list, and you should have seen the look on her face when her smart-e-kitty said “Hi Kaitlyn, would you like to play?”

Easy to locate and push buttons are on the animals’ hands and feet, and they are each a different color. We played “Simon Says”, which involved pressing the “red hand” or the “blue foot”, although the whole “I didn’t say Simon Says” concept was over her head. The animals’ fur is super soft, too. Some talking stuffed animals have a hard core that makes them not too cuddly; the smart-e-animals have just a small power box (with volume control, YAY!) so they are wonderfully cuddly. I can see this being a toy she will reach for over and over. Here’s Kaitlyn listening to smart-e-kitty tell her the story of the Three Little Pigs:

Smart-E-Kitty

The retail price for the smart-e-bear, dog, or kitty runs around $70.00, you can get one for FREE by winning my giveaway! woo hoo! Here’s how to enter:

WIN IT: For one entry, go to www.smartebear.com and click on Learn More to take a tour that explains the product. Peruse the Musical Artists, Games and Stories available, then come back and leave a comment with your real first name or blog alias, valid email address, and the answer to this question- which song, game, or story would you download if you win this giveaway?

EXTRA ENTRIES: Leave a separate comment for each thing you do or have already done:

1.Post this button on your blog and get one entry into every giveaway! Let me know in a comment so I can keep a list of everyone posting the button.

Copy and paste to link to me using this badge:

2. Link to http://table4five.net on your blogroll.

3. Use social media to spread the word about this giveaway, by posting the link to StumbleUpon, Digg, Kirtsy, Twitter, or posting it on a Forum. You must leave your username for that site in your comment so I can check. This is a great way for non bloggers to earn an extra entry! Links are at the end of the post.

4. For FIVE EXTRA ENTRIES, mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back to this post. Please include that it ends Monday, Dec. 15th at 09:00 AM ET.

Don’t forget to leave a comment telling me who you’ll give the game to if you win, good luck!

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