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By Mom Unplugged, November 14, 2007 8:19 pm

This is one that I don’t have yet, but that I am planning on buying for my almost 2 year-old for Christmas.

I like these wooden cube puzzles and we have had several of them, but usually the pictures are simply paper that is glued on to the block (including one that was a Melissa & Doug, I was very disappointed). Trust me, that never lasts long. Selecta doesn’t glue the image on, they use some sort of a transfer that doesn’t seem like it will ever come off (we have a few Selecta games with images on wooden tiles so I know how they do it and that it lasts).

Do the math, and you will find that these four cubes can make six different cute pictures. If you want to see them all, then click on the Amazon link.

Plus…Selecta toys are made in Germany. Need I say more?

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By Mom Unplugged, November 8, 2007 8:29 pm

None of my children has ever had a favorite lovey until my youngest. She has “Doudou” (baby French for “lovey”). This cute little green bunny in the photo. Other colors and animals are available, but I chose to feature my daughter’s special “Doudou.”

Santa brought Doudou for Christmas last year when she was nearly one. Pretty much from the start, she has loved him.

Now she is 22 months and takes every nap with Doudou, and of course sleeps with him at night. In the morning I ask her if she slept well. If I forget to ask her how “Doudou” slept, she will say to me “Doudou? Doudou?” Until I ask. (He always seems to have slept well thank you.)

He is very soft and comes in a lovely little round box that you will certainly want to keep (he is sitting on it in the photo). He is made in France (not China) by French company Kaloo.

I can tell you that my daughter’s Doudou has met with all manner of natural biological calamities and has been machine washed and tumbled dry numerous times. He always comes out of his bathing experience soft and intact.

My daughter and I cannot recommend him highly enough!

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By Mom Unplugged, October 29, 2007 9:54 pm

One of the things that bothers me about shopping for toys is that “need to have” feeling. It seems that there are two ends of the “need to have” spectrum.

One end is the commercial, media and advertising-driven branding that occurs, where children “need to have” the latest Tickle Me Elmo, or Bratz doll. As an unplugged household, my children are not subjected to the same barrage of ads so this is not such a problem. They do pick up some information on the playground at school (even at their small Montessori school). They know who Sponge Bob and the Disney Princesses are, but they really don’t know much about all the character toys out there.

Even if we venture to the toy aisle of Walmart or Kmart (unfortunately our only two local “toy store” options), they are interested in looking, and sometimes express interest, but don’t “need to have” those popular toys. They love inspecting toy catalogs that come in the mail and often see something in there that they “need,” especially my son (age 5) and especially if it involves a weapon (I feel another post coming on about that subject!). But they are blissfully unaware of what is truly popular.

The other end of the spectrum of “toy need” is that of the “natural” toys, Waldorf-inspired toys, or Montessori-inspired toys. I believe that this “need” is driven more by parents than children. Many parents, myself included, want to supply their child with good quality, non-toxic (hopefully), long-lasting, educational toys. We “unplugged parents” don’t believe in the huge wave of new electronic toys marketed as being educational. We believe in simple, classic toys without noises or flashing lights. Toys such as blocks, playsilks, simple wooden vehicles or dolls for example, are what we choose to buy for our children.

As a member of this second group, I love all those “Unplugged Toy Stores” that I link to in my left sidebar. The truth is however, that these toys are expensive for what they are, and the toys are often imported from Europe (which of course leaves a larger carbon footprint). Amanda of The Rowdy Pea recently wrote a wonderful post with some suggestions for making many of these toys yourself.

- Fun! (“Unplugged Project” anyone?)
- Inexpensive, or even free in some cases.
- And quality you can trust because you made it yourself!

I guess I’ll still seek out those websites, and buy those toys, but if I can make it easily myself, then I should really try to do that and feel a lot better about the whole “unplugged toy” shopping process! Thanks Amanda!

A few interesting toymaking links:

MotheringDotCommune-Toys and Dolls Page (discussion forum of Mothering.com) - interesting posts and suggestions for making your own Waldorf dolls and toys.

PlaystandPlans.com - plans for making your own playstands - $17.99 (but honestly, as Amanda points out, playstands seem pretty simple and a semi-decent handy-person should probably be able to figure it out.

(*Great blog!*) Echoes of a Dream - Basic instructions for making a Waldorf doll, her hanging fairies are lovely too!

Waldorf Doll photo from Wikimedia Commons, photographer Sebastian Sprenger, click here for full license information.

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By Mom Unplugged, October 29, 2007 5:45 pm

I recently found these sturdy cardboard puzzles at Cosco and they are really great!

Each puzzle represents a continent. At the moment the manufacturer, A Broader View, only makes four (North America, South America, Africa, and Europe) but I believe that more may be in the works. Cosco had them bundled in packs of two, so we ended up buying all four and I am so glad we did!

One of my pet peeves with some geographic puzzles is that often the pieces are cut out in such a way as to bear no relationship to the actual shape of a state or a country. Why? Wouldn’t it be much more useful and educational to follow the natural boundaries?

These puzzle pieces do follow the natural shape of each country or state (except in the case of very small countries and states). This makes total sense to me!

Capitals are labeled, as are other major cities, large bodies of water and even lat / long.

It would be nicer if these were made of wood rather than cardboard, but at least the cardboard is quite sturdy, and feels like it will last a long time. One word of advice though: the first time it is unwrapped, an adult should remove the pieces since they are stuck in there pretty hard.

If you can’t get to Cosco (or they don’t have them any more), then you can get North and South America from Amazon (links below). It seems that as of right now, Europe and Africa are out of stock. Hopefully they will return eventually.

You also can find all of them, plus some interesting-sounding global puzzles (a future post!) at the manufacturer’s store: Geography Zone. Otherwise, search online to check for other stores and pricing. It seems to vary between $7.00 and $10.00.

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By Mom Unplugged, October 18, 2007 7:53 pm

Open doors, close doors, open doors, close doors, etc. etc. etc. Toddler heaven!

These doors hide farm themed magnets that your little one can move around from door to door. I found this to be a great travel toy. There are magnets that could get lost, however they are not overly small and there are not many of them to keep track of.

The best age for this seems to be 2 to 3 (recommended for over 3 due to possibility of choking, so be careful). Ours has been on several plane and car trips and is still going strong. By the way, this is from Melissa and Doug Toys, so it is sturdy, wooden, and wonderful!