Friday, August 19, 2011

Imagine Toys Review - "In My Kitchen"







I recently received this awesome wood kitchen play set from Imagine Toys to review. They have a great selection of toys for imaginative play on their website and they happened to send me the "In My Kitchen" play set made by Alex Toys. It was a huge hit with my 3 year old daughter! She loves to pretend play with cooking, dress up, and make believe. Her eyes were so big when I opened the box and I was thankful that the assembly did not require tools.




This is exactly what is inside the box. The wood dowel hanging rack simply fits in the pre-cut holes atop the kitchen. There are metal hangers to hand pans, cups, or utensils (not included).





The wooden faucet knobs are labeled for "hot" and "cold" and they simply screw into their designated slots. The blue sink faucet rests in its place as well. Very fast and easy to assemble!





It didn't take long for my daughter to run and gather her dishes and play food so she could get cooking. The first thing she wanted to do was hand something from those curious hooks. The hooks are not easily removed from the dowel - even after a week, my kids have not figured out how to remove them.





The kitchen has knobs that turn, a removable plastic sink bowl, and oven door that opens. This is a small play set perfect for limited space and portable enough for on the go.





My daughter loves playing with this kitchen and makes something new everyday. On this day, I was lucky enough for her to make me some sushi!! As you can see by the smile on her face, she is enjoying playing with this kitchen. The "In My Kitchen" play set is for children ages 3 and up. It can be found on the Imagine Toys website, http://www.imaginetoys.com/ along with many other toys. They offer toys for the age range of 2 to 11+ and many interests such as artist, teacher, fashion designer, farmer, stylist, astronaut, along with many more.






"Imagine Toys is your online resource for all the playful components to raising healthy, imaginative, and curious kids!" Follow them on twitter here and facebook here.




I received this play set from Imagine Toys to review. I did not receive any compensation in exchange and all opinions are my own.





Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Was Your Little One a "Squiggle Wiggle"?


My daughter has recently been potty trained, but I remember diaper days quite well. My grandson is still in Pull-ups so I am still dealing with a "squirmy" tot on the go during diaper change time. It can pose quite a challenge sometimes when your little one is more focused on exploring and playing rather than changing his/her diaper. I used to tell my daughter she was a squiggle worm or Squiggle Wiggles. My grandson is my little booger boo. All my kids had different nicknames for being squirmy when they were babies, it is fun to reflect on those days- always makes me smile.

I can remember having to get my daughters favorite stuffed bear and distracting her with it while I changed her diaper. Sometimes it worked and sometimes not. She would wiggle and roll and try to get away from me. I have had to change outfits more times than I can count and she has also took off running without her diaper on. The best tip I have is to be quick and have everything ready. If your child is interested in music, wind up a toy or sing to them. Maybe that will give you the 1.3 minutes needed for a quick change. I always tried to change my kids in the same place so they knew it was time for business and not play. A changing table comes in handy and has all supplies readily available, but a squirmy baby may need to be changed on a bed for easier control.

Huggies has now come out with a new slip on style diaper that allows you to change your little bee-bopper while they are still dancing. I love this idea! Once my kids learned how to stand on their own, they didn't want to lay still for a diaper change anymore. The new quick change Little Movers slip on diapers from Huggies also have tear away sides for easy changing of soiled diapers. It now makes changing your little squiggle worm a bit easier and quicker.

I am thinking of all the times I had to change my daughter on a counter or my lap because there were no changing stations available. These Little Movers slip on diapers from Huggies would sure have come in handy!! Not to mention, avoiding those nasty stations all together when possible. I sure would have bought these for my kids that are now grown.

What are some of the nicknames you have for active little one? I would love to hear them! Also leave any diaper changing tips here to share with others.





I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Huggies blogging program, for a gift card worth $35. For more information on how you can participate,click here.

The Huggies® community brings parents together so that you and your babies fully enjoy every day, whatever the day presents. Enjoy the ride with Huggies®.

More info on Huggies: http://www.huggies.com

Wordless Wednesday 8/10



Essence of Summer