Olive packed her Totoro doll into her Totoro purse this afternoon, and we headed down to Times Square to see the latest Studio Ghibli film, The Secret World of Arrietty.

Judging by the half-full theater on this, its opening weekend, I’m sensing that this movie might be flying under the radar, despite being under the umbrella of the mighty Disney. The Secret World of Arrietty is based on Mary Norton’s series of children’s books, The Borrowers, about the tiny people who live under the floorboards, coming up to borrow only what they need.

The first 15 minutes of the movie were like a delicious but familiar stew of all of our Ghibli favorites. A boy befriends a mysterious magical girl who loves her family but yearns for adventure, as in Ponyo. Like My Neighbor Totoro, the country provides respite for the unhealthy as a child discovers something magical about his new home there. Arrietty, the star borrower of the film, bears a striking similarity to Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service. She’s reached the age where she’s ready to embark on her first borrowing, much as Kiki was ready to finally become a witch. She also has a bit of Kiki’s sassy relationship with the cat, who, relative to Arrietty, is on the scale of Catbus.

Soon, though, the movie settled into its own rhythm, and I fell in love with yet another strong girl from Hayao Miyazaki, who didn’t direct this one but wrote the screenplay. Arrietty is brave and loving, and it’s a joy to discover what it means to be a borrower through her eyes.

The borrower-sized scale of the movie allowed the animators to revel in the details of nature: a ladybug crawling up a leaf and flying away, individual blossoms on a flower, Arrietty wiping individual raindrops off her dress. Put those luxurious animations in a movie not afraid to linger, and I found myself grateful that this movie exists. It’s not in 3-D (nor would it work in 3-D if they tried). There aren’t jokes mixed in for grown-ups. Nothing about it is in your face, as a bunch of kids’ movies are.

The acting is great, though I sometimes got a bit distracted by Amy Poehler and Will Arnett as Arrietty’s mom and day because I’m such a big fan of the couple. Every once in a while a little Leslie Knope or Devon Banks would creep in (Arnett works in his super-low 30 Rock register here). Carol Burnett, as in genius Carol Burnett, steals the show as Hara, the caretaker of the house. She starts of a little creepy then works her way towards maniacal as the movie progresses, with hilarious results.

The Secret World of Arrietty has great characters, lots of action, plenty of suspense, and really lovely animation that celebrates nature. It’s great for boys and girls. Please go see this movie so they keep making more like this.

One theme that emerged as I walked the aisles of Toy Fair this year were toys to get kids enjoying the great outdoors, in all seasons.

Uncle Milton and National Geographic teamed up to equip kids with gear for the great outdoors. There’s a magnifying glass, a 4-in-1 navigation tool, nature collector tongs, a slingshot er… I mean… “Earth Tag launcher”, and best of all, expedition shoe lights.

Uncle Milton also added a new spin to the bug observation jar. What bug wouldn’t love to run around in this Roly-Poly Playground? Whee!

In the Kid O booth I noticed these lovely kits from Seedling. There were a bunch of cute art kits, but this Outdoor Explorer kit is the one that really caught my eye.

Should it ever decide to snow in the northeast this winter, we could build a Sno-Friends robot, or snowbot, I guess he’d be called. This kit comes with sculpting tools and a snow marker.

For the spring there’s Seed Bombs from DuneCraft. These can be chucked on top of the soil, and flowers will take root. I have big plans for the lot across the street from my apartment…

What says summer like ice cream? I’ve always wanted to try a ball ice-cream maker like this one from YayLabs. 20-30 minutes of ball play activity earns a delcious treat.

A less caloric and potentially more fiber-rich treat for the summer is a nice helping of sand cake, which can be made from this cute set by Haba. Sandspielzeug!

Take science outdoors with the Pop-Top Rockets from Be Amazing (the makers of Insta-Snow and Coke/Mentos geyser tubes). With these rockets, Alka Selter releasing gas in the enclosed space of an old film cannister (you remember film cannisters, dontcha kids?) sets off a big reaction, launching the foam rocket high in the air.

If bad weather keeps you housebound, why not do some indoor camping with this adorable playset from Campfire Kids? Look at the flickering campfire! Have a cookout over the open flames with some fish in your pan and marshmallows on your stick.

I particularly like the wood chopping set. What kid doesn’t need a toy ax?

Finally, I couldn’t be more please that Jakks Pacific is bringing back the Big Wheel. Now kids can spin out in style once more. I just wish they’d manufacture the grown-up size!

Stay tuned for more highlights from Toy Fair. And Skylanders fans, don’t forget to enter my Toy Fair Skylanders giveaway!

As with last year’s Toy Fair, one of the things I’m most excited about is Activision’s Skylanders. Of course, last year I was just getting my first look. This year Olive and I have been playing and loving it, and are clamoring to hear what’s new. If you haven’t heard, the news is Skylanders: Giants. These new figures are twice the size of regular Skylanders, they glow when placed on the portal, and they add a whole new dimension to gameplay. (Check out my post on GeekMom for more detail on the gameplay.)

One of the things I’ve been hearing about is supply not meeting demand when it comes to the toys. Sounds like Activision has been ramping up production, and some of the stores that carry them have begun to set limits. Activision has been falling short on my household’s demand for girl Skylanders, so it was with great delight that we received the Toy-Fair-only limited edition Cynder. I took her home and Olive and I had to immediately start playing with her and her awesome and deadly lightning bolts.

If you’re thinking “Aw, man, I want one, too!” Don’t worry! Activision gave me another one and I’d like to give her to you!

You can enter to win her by doing one or more of the following (with up to three chances to win):

1. Leave a comment on this post. I’d really like Cynder to go to a good home, so let me know why you feel up to the task of taking her on.
2. Tweet this: “I really want the limited edition Cynder Skylander from @mediamacaroni http://tinyurl.com/6vtgfed”
3. Like Media Macaroni on Facebook and leave a comment there about Cynder and Skylanders.

I’ll pick a winner at noon on Sunday, 2/26.

I have lots more Toy Fair recapping to do, but in the meantime you can pop over to Facebook and see my ongoing photo album of the show.

Toy Fair usually begins for me on Saturday morning, with the annual parade of Hasbro toys. Today was no exception. After a cup of coffee and a cupcake for Mr. Potato Head’s 60th Birthday, I got a look at what’s new. One thing that really caught my eye is the way that Hasbro is using apps to enhance their existing product line, and create new things as well. There’s an upcoming Battleship app that will work with Battleship toys, and a Lazer Tag gun ”blaster” that you can slip your iPhone into and really look like you’re shooting lasers at your friends/opponents.

Hasbro is calling the integration of apps into its board games “zAPPed Gaming”. See what they did there? In addition to Battleship, The Game of Life and Monopoly are getting zapped. I received The Game of Life zAPPed as a parting gift today and Olive was super excited to try it out. (She’s a fan of the original game.)

The first thing I noticed is that setup is WAY easier. Plop your iPad into the middle of the board, fire up the app, give each player ten grand, and you’re good to go. No more piles and piles of cards to sort out. You choose a car and peg for the board, and then you can customize your peg in the app, giving it a bit of personality. The spinner is in the app, and anytime you land on one of the special spaces (stop, payday, Life spaces, etc.) the app walks you through it. It’s easy, and it generally feels like a faster game than the classic board game.

One of the strangest choices they made for this game, though, is filling the app with grainy home movie clips presumably culled from You Tube. Graduate from college and you might see some dude doing backflips to get his diploma. Land on a Life space and you might get someone in a bear suit scaring someone else in a warehouse. What? So strange. The clips generally made Olive giggle, but I would have preferred they stick to the peg animations with the kind of text that would have been on the board spaces.

Speaking of the peg animations, the personalization of your pegs is a great addition. They may be faceless, but you can start to imagine little personalities for them. The jobs have changed to, ranging from web tycoon to fashion designer to mad scientist. You can choose the kind of wedding that you have, and even the gender of your children.

When we play the classic board game, house rules dictate that you can start off as any gender you want and you can marry a peg of any gender as well. I was so curious to see if the app would support this play pattern, and it does! I totally got gay married today! Here’s me (the Extreme Explorer), my lovely wife, our eldest daughter, and the triplets. Rock on, Hasbro. This is awesome.

After playing through a couple games, the fam is feeling like we like this better than the classic board game. And it takes up about half the shelf space, which is pleases me and our apartment greatly.

The Game of Life is available now, with a retail price of $24.99 plus, you know, the cost of an iPad. The app is free though! Monopoly will come out in the summer and Battleship in the fall. Look for Lazer Tag in August.

Stay tuned. I’ll have lots more on Hasbro, as well as the rest of the Toy Fair goodies I’ll be seeing. In case you missed it, here’s a bit of Skylanders news. And you can check out my ongoing photo album of Toy Fair 2012 on Facebook.

My friends at Scholastic put together the charming ebook app, I Love You Through and Through, based on the book by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak. It’s a sweet book and simple app experience perfect for your toddler Valentine.

The text, written in first person, talks about all the ways the boy is loved.

I love your top side.

I love your bottom side.

I love your inside

and outside.

The narrator is a woman and the book has the feeling of being read by a mom. You can turn the narration off, as well, to be able to read it to your little one yourself all cuddly-like.

Each page has a simple illustration of a boy and a teddy bear that reacts when the iPad is tilted, and also when they are touched (hence the Scholastic Touch & Tilt moniker). This isn’t a pull-out-all-the-stops bells-and-whistles kind of ebook, which in this case is kinda nice. It’s a good book and app for littler ones, so the simplified interactivity seems age-appropriate.

The price seems a little high at $4.99, but I’m trying to get over that. I wouldn’t bat my eyes at spending that on a board book. It’s those $0.99 apps that have caused me to lose all sense of reason when it comes to these things. Five bucks is a bargain for my little Valentine.

I received a review copy of this app. I also know the gang at Scholastic who made it and they’re awesome. 

Are you looking for something a little odd for your Valentine this year? If so, I’ve got just the book for you. Love the Beastie is Henrik Drescher’s spin-and-play follow-up to his Pat the Bunny parody, Pat the Beastie.

The story begins with Beastie and his best friends, Paul and Judy. Paul and Judy used to do naughty things to Beastie, like pull worm boogers out his nose. But then Beastie ate them, keeping them in his stomach until they were ready to be nice. When they promised, he spat them out. In this book, you can yank on a tab to make Paul and Judy go hurling out of Beastie’s mouth.

What follows are all of the fun things that the trio do together, like spinning on a carousel until they’re dizzy, playing hide and seek, playing dress up, and even brushing Beastie’s gunky teeth. Of course, the reader gets to do all of these things along with them. They don’t call it a spin and play book for nothing.

The illustrations are cool, bordering on creepy, but the playfulness keeps the book rooted in a kid’s world. If you have a Valentine with a dark sense of humor, this book will do the trick. Nothing says Valentine’s Day like worm boogers, snuggle farts, and fuzzy-tongued kisses. Right?

Note: Love the Beastie came to me as a Valentine from Workman Publishing.

January: the month we introduced Olive to Star Wars, Ozzie to robots, and the whole family to something Harry Potter would eat. Here are my posts from GeekMom in January.

Silly Dragon, Robots Are for Toddlers – Skylee, Wappy, Spider… these robots haven’t held Olive’s interest, but Ozzie loves them!

Molly Weasley Comfort Cooking – My review of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. 

Star Wars MMXII: A New Hope – Finally it was time to introduce Olive to Star Wars. Here’s what happened.

This is going to blow Ozzie’s mind. He’s already OK Go’s number one fan on You Tube, and now they’ve teamed up with Sesame Street to make something even more appropriate for the toddler set. Here’s “3 Primary Colors”:

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at the spring and summer books coming from LB-Kids, aka Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. At the event was a gallery of original artwork from their new picture books. Varied in style, each artist’s work made me eager to read the book it’s featured in.

The first thing that caught my eye when I walked in the door were prints of amazing dinosaur-truck hybrids wreaking havoc on the city. These came from Chris Gall’s follow-up to his book, Dinotrux, called Revenge of the Dinotrux. Spoiler: the dinotrux were none to happy to be left in a museum at the end of the last book, so they break free. Can’t you just hear the roar of Tyrannosaurus Trux atop the Empire State Building?

The next thing that caught my eye were these charming collage paintings on wood by newcomer Naoko Stoop. Here’s where it’s fun to get the back story of these things from the people who brought them to life. Apparently, publisher Megan Tingley was off on a quest to buy a roast chicken. On her way, she passed a pop-up gallery in Brooklyn with these lovely paintings of a little girl in a red knit hat. She tracked down the artist to find out if there was a story associated with this little girl, and, as you can guess by the existence of the book, Red Knit Cap Girl, the answer is yes. One fine detail about the art: Stoop heads to the lumber store and tests the workers’ patience by looking at every piece of wood to find one with a grain that will work with her painting.

My favorite illustrations of the night were these lively collages, full of wonderful energy. If you had paid to name the famous author/illustrator who made them, I would have never come up with Marc Brown.

Yes, Arthur Marc Brown! Look, you can even see an Arthur cameo in this book, If All the Animals Came Inside.

Marc Brown gave a delightful talk about how he considers himself an illustrator much more than an author, and has now freed himself to illustrate the books of others (If All the Animals Came Inside was written by Eric Pinder). I was recently thinking about how one of the first interactive books I ever saw, loooooong before all these ebook apps, was an Arthur version of a Living Book on CD-ROM. In light of Maurice Sendak telling Stephen Colbert earlier this week about how horrible ebooks are, I asked Marc Brown what he thought of the trend. In the spirit of the early adopter that he is, he said that not only does he love the trend, he looks at all of his projects now for their digital potential. To this I blow raspberries at Maurice Sendak and say hurrah, Marc Brown!

Look for more detailed reviews of these books as they’re released in the spring and summer. Good times ahead!

My latest obsession is Pinterest. Are you on it?

If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, yes, it’s yet another social network. However, unlike my dust-covered Google+ account, I’m finding great uses for it. It’s completely image-based. Whatever you see you can ‘like’ or ‘comment’ on (as with Facebook), but then you can also ‘re-pin’. This means pulling the image (and its associated web link) into a category of your choosing. You can also ‘pin’ things from various web sites as long as there’s an image or video associated with the link.

I’ve found that Pinterest is particularly great for finding projects (for you and your kids) and recipes (also for you and your kids). When a birthday rolls around I’ll actually have all of those cupcake ideas saved to a single place. This beats the “oh, I saw something in a magazine that I was going to do but I can’t remember what it was or which magazine” thing that always happens to me. In fact, so long as these magazines keep putting their awesome content up on the web, I’d be happy to let Pinterest take the place of their print counterparts. (Sorry, publishers!)

One thing Pinterest has made me realize is that I have seriously undervalued paint chips.

I’d love more people to follow, so let’s connect on Pinterest. You can find me here.