I have been thinking of some of the toys and games that we enjoy around here, and I thought to highlight some of them.
Leap Frog Word Whammer
— This is fun for refrigerator use (it is all magnetic) or for using off of the refrigerator. This has a variety of games, but our favorite for now is just trying to spell three letter words and having them say them back to us (and singing little songs). If they put in a real word, it spells it and says what they spelled. If they put in random letters, then it just tells them the sound each letter makes. I did read one bad review of the toy, and it was definitely something that I had noted. The person complained that it doesn’t say God when you put in G-O-D. It *does* tell the child that they made a word, but it doesn’t say the actual word. While I wasn’t pleased, it didn’t make me get rid of this very educational toy that actually kept my kids’ attention (and one that they go back and play with again and again).
Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Play — This toy is just like the Word Whammer, except that it only focuses on one letter at a time. It sings a little song for each letter and tells children the name of the letter, as well as what sound the letter makes (and, in the case of something like “C,” for instance, it tells them the two different sounds it can make. Molly (age 2) loves this, and goes around singing the songs. This also sings the Alphabet Song and we dance around the kitchen singing right along.
Nintendo Wii — Yes, this is a significantly more expensive game or toy than the others (since it is right at $250.00, and then you “need” other controllers, etc.). But, we finally got our hands on one, and we love it. It is great to have the kids up and moving while they are playing video games. And, seriously — who are we kidding? I enjoyed “boxing” with Eric and winning. (And, afterwards, I was sweating more than I had at the gym earlier that evening.) Right now, we only have the game that comes with it (Wii Sports). So, if you have any amazing game suggestions for us, feel free to comment about it!
Cranium Cariboo — An awesome “board” game for the younger set! The only bad thing is trying to keep track of all of the darn balls that go along with this fun game. Sadly, I will admit — we did not. I miss playing this game, and have even thought about buying it again so that we could have all of the various pieces that have gone missing in the black hole that is our home.
Plastic Food from Walmart — So…I searched around for a link to show these, but couldn’t find them. I purchased a big set at Walmart for just under $10. It contains a bunch of plastic foods that are actually food halves that are connected by velcro. The set also comes with a little “cutting” board and a “knife.” Kids can cut apart the food (good fine motor practice) and then use visual discrimination to find the matches to put them back together. My kids love this set, and so has every one of my kids I have done therapy for. Apparently there is something magical about “cutting” apart pretend food.
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