Cole's Toys, Games, Gift Ideas, and other kidstuff

I always knew his tongue would get him in trouble

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:00:43 PDT

That’s Cole, by the way.

Builder Boards

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:50:31 PDT

I often get unsolicited requests from lots of companies and individuals. I look at most of them, but rarely do I say “wow, I gotta post this now.” Jack McKee is a builder and designer that has come up with some fantastic ideas that get kids excited about building in general, and woodworking in particular. The Builder Boards (in the video below) look like a hoot. Jack sells the design so you can make them yourself. In fact, it was Jack’s do it yourself philosophy that interested me the most and made me want to share this with you. Be sure to check out the “Do It Yourself” section.

woodshop4kids.com

Learning the Fundamentals

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:14:53 PDT

I’m not a huge sports fan, but I am a strong believer in kids learning how to work as part of a team. Locking down the skills you need as a individual player in sports is important place to start. It instills not only self-confidence but your gives your teammates confidence that, at a minimum, you are pulling your own weight.

Football season has already started around here and we are spending a lot of time learning how to throw and catch. I found that it is helpful to have lots of foam footballs around so that we can spend more time throwing and catching than running after a missed ball. You don’t need anything fancy, quantity is as important as quality.

Poof Foam Football (EA)

Back in the saddle

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:53:09 PDT

It’s been quiet around here lately, you may have noticed. I got a little discouraged at the lack of explosive popularity of my little blog and decided to take a week or so off. A week went by, and just kept on going. For some strange reason, it hasn’t affected the traffic the site gets very much. I don’t understand it, but I have convinced myself that if I slow down the pace a little and not push myself to try to post something every day then I might even be able to make those traffic numbers go up… a little. Aside from that, I miss being around here, so stay tuned for a slow but steady trickle of posts from now on.

He's a Stay at Home Dad

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:33:56 PDT

- Watch more free videos

Aaargh! Pow! Bam! for your Ouchies

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:04:59 PDT

The "Comic Strips" band-aids are pretty cool. I especially like the "AAARGH", maybe it's because of this (the middle doll).

link (via Neatorama)

Balancing Act

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:51:37 PDT

Lauren Rosenbaum has some great photos of herself and her kids. Plus she has lots of toys. Look at her entire photostream.

Time To Retire Already? One Old & One New Coupon Code

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:37:33 PDT

Just a couple of bargain/coupons to remind you of today:

kimandjason.com 25% off coupon is only good through tomorrow, act now! Coupon code is COLESTOYBLOG. Don't forget to check out all of the other cool stuff there in addition to the cool toys and gifts.

Oompa toys is offering $5 off any order of $40 or more. Coupon code is BTS2008. The promotion ends August 31st, so you have a little time to plan out your purchases...

Would You Buy a $75 Truck?

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:58:44 PDT

$75 for a little wooden truck? Are they kidding? Not when it comes from FAO Schwarz. Do they really sell very many of these? I wonder. I guess when you sell a $5 toy for $75 you don't have to sell a lot of them to make money. There is set of four, which means you will shell out $300 for all of them. At least this makes spending $30 on an Automoblox seem justified.

click this link if you must: Bulldozer Chunky Wooden Truck by FAO Schwarz - Sustaina

The World is Square, No Wait... It's a Rhombicuboctahedron

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:22:21 PDT

Carlos Furuti has some awesome map foldouts that run the gamut from easy to "OMG don't even think about it". The cube above is a representative of the easy category, but you can test your papercraft skill as well as your geometric knowledge with 9 different shapes and 118 different maps. High and low resolution graphics are available, as well as blank practice shapes to save your toner when you throw the first few attempts into the trash.

link

Samurai Scorpion

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:50:36 PDT

Frigging sweet, a sweet build it yourself aluminum scorpion! It only has 30 parts including all of the screws and nuts and springs, so it's not like you are building the Death Star here. But it is perfect for 15 minutes of assembly followed by lots of play. I can picture Cole playing with the "giant robot scorpion" and attacking his Playmobil action figures with it. It would look pretty awesome just sitting on his shelf too.

The company (Owi) also makes a praying mantis, a rhino beetle, and a butterfly. Although it is not eligible for Amazon's super saver shipping the price is still less than you might think.

Samurai Scorpionat Amazon.com

Any Table, Ping Pong Table

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:28:06 PDT

The folks at tithi.info put together a "take anywhere" ping pong table kit so you can get your table tennis fix just about anywhere. It is basically a green felt tablecloth (with a line across the center) and a net with clips on the uprights. Simple and ingenious. Easy enough to make yourself with a trip to the craft store (for fabric and fabric paint) and a trip to the sporting goods store )for the paddles, balls, and net). The clips you might find at the craft store too or maybe Home Depot/Lowe's. Amazon sells some adjustable bracket posts cheap if you can't find them anywhere else, although you might want to glue some of the extra felt to them so they don't scratch your table.

Now you have an even better reason to clear the dishes from the table after dinner.

link (via Neatorama)

Best Water Guns

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:53:35 PDT

Popular Mechanics enlisted a group of middle-schoolers to test a group of water guns. Not a definitive guide (they only look at four guns), but it is a decent representative sample of the four different types of water guns out there. I just wish they had video of the tests, I'll be they were a lot of fun.

link

The Non-Newtonian Fluid Dance

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:29:26 PDT

This is too cool, I can't stop watching it. (via Neatorama)

New Playmobil Sets Reviewed

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:35:26 PDT

Mr. Stinkhead at NonToxicReviews and Millionaire Playboy has done it again, made a grown man jealous of another man's toys. He got his hands on three new Playmobil sets coming out next month: a remote control pick-up truck, a custom auto-body shop, and a car wash. Check out his review, which includes lots of 8x10 color glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one (bonus points if you get the reference there). The remote control truck is especially interesting because it is modular. The motor can be removed and put into other remote control cars to be released by Playmobil later, while the truck makes a handsome toy with or without the motor. Take a peek at his video review also.

Kudos to Stinkhead for videotaping his kid's first automatic car wash experience. I remember Cole screaming like a banshee his first time, I just wish I had it on video...

Playmobil Oddities

Playmobil Romans

Ice Ice Barbie

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:35:59 PDT

Am I the only one that sees the resemblance here? On the left is the Barbie® Prince Antonio(TM) Doll, on the right is... what was his name again?

The Kazdin Method for the Defiant Ones

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:37:35 PDT

("Time Out Chair" photo courtesy Mark Griffith at Flickr.com)

The other day I was looking at The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child then today GoodyBlog mentions it in a post on getting your child to sleep on their own... Coincidence?

I know this is a toy blog and I try to keep it light around here, but it is also a "daddy blog" and parents have the responsibility of raising their kid(s) as well as they can. Cole is having some "listening problems" recently, which means that he tends to ignore his parents and teachers and do whatever he wants. Part of me likes the fact that he does not blindly follow directions, but at the same time part of me wants him to do what he is supposed to do most of the time so I don't have to punish him (plus he will have more time to play then).

From what I have read in Kazdin's book (and what I remember from behavior modification classes back in college) punishment is at best only mildly effective. This is probably not a surprise to anyone. The trouble is, for most parents, that is the easiest to reach tool around. But classical behavior modification has two other major tools available. Here are definitions culled from my dusty college archives (my degree is in Psychology):

Positive Reinforcement - AKA "you get a gold star" - used when the correct behavior is performed. The reward is associated with the behavior making it more likely to occur in the future (I may be mixing behavioral and cognitive psychology terms here but you get the idea)

Negative Reinforcement - ~~AKA "No gold star for you" - used when the incorrect behavior is performed. This is not punishment - nothing is taken away, but no reward is given either.~~ AKA "Be good and I'll make it stop" is defined as the removal of an aversive stimulus. I'm interested in knowing how this would be used with kids. Thanks Micah for pointing out how faulty my memory is and how little attention I actually paid in psychology classes!

Punishment - AKA "go to time out" - where some kind of aversive stimulus is applied when the incorrect behavior is performed. Used sparingly and in the right circumstances it can be effective. (definition updated to be more precise -Pop)

Kazdin's method involves the application of the tools above in the right mix and the right situations. The book is in the mail, and I look forward to reading and using it. It sounds a lot like Reality Therapy by William Glasser (which I actually remember reading in school) but while Glasser's approach apparently works wonders with adults and adolescents, Kazdin's book specifically targets kids.

Has anyone else read/used this book? Do you have other suggested reading or methods?

Eat Your Spaghetti Ice Cream or No Dessert!

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:26:19 PDT

I think the important thing to avoid when making spaghetti ice cream, is not to get too carried away trying to make it look like real spaghetti. The picture above is vanilla and strawberry ice cream with strawberry sauce and shaved coconut. At a glance it looks like the real thing, but a second look reveals it to be both novel and delicious.

The spaghetti ice cream maker comes with three stainless steel inserts to make spaghetti or lasagna noodles, or... wait for it... asparagus ice cream. Finally, all those evenings spent trying to get your kid to eat their ice cream are over.

Buy it at KimAndJason.com

(delicious bowl of ice cream photo courtesy of reiner.kraft at flickr)

Do I Have Something On My Face?

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:36:24 PDT

This is a picture of my little bundle of joy/ball of fire (Cole's little sister). I had no special toy to post today, so I'm taking the easy way out and posting this picture to (hopefully) make you say awww.

Even Aliens Need Some Cuddle Time

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:31:32 PDT

If you know who Cthulhu and H.P. Lovecraft are and you know my affinity for unusual plush toys, then you knew it was probably only a matter of time before this one came around. How many kids get to cuddle with an extraterrestrial waiting to exert his dominion over the Earth? Oh wait, maybe those aren't as rare as I thought: example, example, example, and does this count too?

Mini Cthulhu Plush Toyat Amazon.com

C'mon Get Happy

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:30:50 PDT

It is common nowadays for companies to use a Youtube video to promote their products. It is rare for them to put together one as entertaining as this one:

The bubble gun that co-stars in the video is available at a great little website called kimandjason.com. You can spent several hours there (I have) looking at toys and other products and reading their blog and other sites (like adultitis.org) You can pick up the gun here, but be sure to look around while you are there.

Does anyone else remember this old Partridge Family song or am I just old? Or a dork? Or both?

update: Use coupon code COLESTOYBLOG for 25% off until the end of July at KimandJason's shop.

Ask Not

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:40:16 PDT

Mother's day may have passed by already, but there's no reason you can't go ahead and get this hanging tile for the mothers in your life (possibly including yourself).

Mother Tile at Perpetual Kid

Where the Wild Things Are

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:11:29 PDT

Remember this? You should. You should also share it with your kid(s).

The Scariest Video I've Seen All Day

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:38:53 PDT

I am posting this because it is a kid in the video and, bless him, at least he is outside and being active. But this video is still very scary. I had hoped to never hear that Boy George song again... the horror! Oh, and the knives are kinda scary too.

Woe to the Lonely Superhero

noreply@blogger.com (pop@colestoyblog.com) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:04:42 PDT

I was looking at a couple of Cole's toys the other day when I realized how strange some of them looked. I don't remember where they came from, but he picked up a Flash and Superman somewhere that look a little... shall we say... strangely proportioned. They both have large rippling muscles and six-packs. But whoever designed these action figures didn't stop there. The arms are much too long, reaching below their knees, the hands are huge, and the calves, biceps, and forearms are freakishly inflated.

It would be easy for me to rant about the dichotomy between the lame daddy characters on television (see the post before last) and the uber-human super-heroes that regular dads will never be able to match in their children's eyes. But instead, I will let the pictures speak for themselves and just be glad that most dads will never (hopefully) be compared to either. I think I finally understand the complaints women have made for years about Barbie.