Top 12 Creative Toys For Christmas 2008

Christmas and creativity go hand in hand. We spend a lot of time during the holidays being creative - baking cookies and treats, decorating our homes and yards and thinking of just the right gift for loved ones. There is no more creative season than Christmas. But creativity is good all year round. Kids love to be creative and should be. Creativity helps them learn and grow. Did you know there are toys you can give to the children in your life that will help them be creative? Here is a list of the top 12 creative toys for Christmas 2008:

Alex Best Friends Bands Friendship Bracelet Kit

Kids of both genders are wearing friendship bracelets. They've become a fashion statement and are fun to wear alone, or as a colorful group of several. Your youngster will have fun creating friendship bracelets for him or herself and for friends and family.

Guidecraft Wooden Blocks

Although often thought of as a preschool toy, wooden blocks are fun for older kids too. Create castles and towns, skyscrapers and houses, roads and paths with Guidecraft Wooden Blocks. They come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors and give hours of creative enjoyment.

Legos

Legos, after being around for what seems like a hundred years, are still fun for kids of every age, and adults too. Younger children will enjoy creating with larger Lego blocks, and older children will have fun creating everything from battleships to cottages with yards with smaller Lego blocks.

Beka Double-Sided Easel and Supplies Combo

This creativity toy has everything a budding artist needs to create wonderful works of art. The easel is adjustable, so it grows with your child. The combo comes with marker and chalkboard surfaces, dry erase markers, chalk, paper holder and more.

Etch-A-Sketch

This classic creativity toy provides hours of fun to kids of just about any age. A wonderful quiet time creative activity, Etch-A-Sketch is perfect for the car, but is just as fun for an any-day art session. Make sketches that are simple or complex.

Melissa and Doug Wooden Bead Set

There are actually several different wooden bead sets in the Melissa and Doug series, so you can choose which your child will enjoy most. These kits are great for creating colorful jewelry and art objects.

Smart Lab Motor Mania Kit

Creative kids who are fascinated with how things work will love the Smart Lab Motor Mania Kit. The kit includes 46 parts that can be combined to build ten different motorized projects such as a car, a tram, a drink stirrer, a crane, a conveyor and more. Kids who like gadgets will have fun with this one.

Puzzibits

Puzzibits are flexible 3-D puzzle art kits that are part construction and part puzzle. Kids can create all sorts of things with Puzzibits - animals, theme puzzles (pirates or princesses, anyone?), and other fun things. Parents have fun working with Puzzibits, too.

Reeve and Jones Splash Art

Great for younger artists, Reeve and Jones Splash Art is a double-sided drawing surface that uses a water pen to help little artists create magic. This is a wonderful quiet time art activity for toddling artists.

Works of Ahhh Box Kits

Kids create their own keepsake or safe boxes with these wooden box kits. Comes with acrylic paints, felt liner, stencils and everything else needed to create a beautiful and useful place to keep one's treasures.

Growing Tree Large Tie Dye Kit

Kids can make up to fifteen groovy tie-dye shirts with this kit. It comes with dye, gloves and easy to follow instructions. Kids love to wear cool, colorful clothes. This is right up an artistic child's alley.

Kids Step Stone Kit

Kids can create a garden treasure in 3 simple steps. The Kids Step Stone Kit has everything needed to personalize and decorate a garden step stone that will last virtually forever. The step stones can be given as gifts to grandparents or other favorite people, or they can be placed in your own garden as a reminder of your child's creative spirit.

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A Fake Toy Watch

After my last piece about a Toy Watch, I have started to come around to the idea of owning one myself. My previous piece looked at what owning and wearing one actually meant in terms of a statement and the undertones of wealth and status they emitted. Admittedly, I'm not the most traditionally fashionable guy (but I do know my fashion) and generally do not follow fashion trends like the Toy Watch, but after researching them, I have actually grown to like them as an item of clothing and fashion accessory.

Anyway, I was flicking through a London newspaper on the way back from daily commute and noticed, partly with surprise, partly with knowing, some of the major UK retailers are stocking a fake looking Toy Watch, and more specifically the Toy Watch Fluo going up against major Toy Watch stockists!

The knowing inside me was the fact I knew these watches are still a fairly high priced watch for your average Joe, with a limited amount of disposable income or even somebody of the younger generation, who hasn't the pocket money(!) to purchase a sparkling Toy Watch Fluo. As with most "in" brands in the fashion world, there are always cheaper alternatives, with Primark being a prime example; so I was not surprised to learn of a cheaper version of the these fashionable watches!

The surprise in me was the fact anybody would wear a cheaper version of a cheaper version - if that makes sense! In my last piece, I explained, that Toy Watch are a fairly low-cost version of a Rolex and Swatch, using similar designs, mechanisms, but cut corners in some areas to reduce the price. Now I know they are still priced at over £100, which is enough to make a cheaper version, but as a spiritualist and someone who is (supposedly!) against consumerism, buying a cheap version of a these upmarket watches is fairly ludicrous - there is something wrong with our society if this is what we have come to! Besides, they are only half the price, why not pay that little bit extra!!

Toy Watch are so good because they are a well engineered watch, but are cheaper. Buying a cheap version of that pretty much defeats the object of having a one in the first place.

However, this brings me nicely full circle to some points I made in my last article - the beauty of Toy Watch, is they are well made and durable, but the media and the fashion industry has made them in to a symbol of fashion status, so all that matters is what it looks like, and what you as a person looks like.

Personally, I think save up a little more and get the real thing, because not only will you look the part, but you will feel the part too.

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This set of three stackable cups will offer tons of bathtime fun! Each cup has a different "pour" that kids will love to play with over and over again. Great for the tub or the beach.

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Christmas Party Games Young Children

When planning Christmas games for young children, the options are endless. Make sure you provide room to run, do a little planning and the kids are sure to have a good time.

Let's start with a few relay race ideas. Begin with a candy cane relay. Give each team 4 candy canes (and be sure to have a few more in case some break) and have the child who's running hold the candy canes between their fingers, with the crooked part of the cane hanging over their fingers. But tell them not to use their thumbs. The canes should be just carefully perched between their fingers.

The children run to their teammate, exchange the candy canes (again, only using fingers), and that teammate runs to the other end and does the same. The game is over when only one team still has candy canes that haven't dropped on the floor.

Another fun relay that kids love is pass the ornament. In this game, each team gets one ornament (a lightweight, basic thin glass one is fine) and a straw. They must blow through the straw to get the ornament down the line, then the next child blows on their straw to get the ornament back down the line. Make sure each child has a fresh straw, as you don't want everyone to get sick.

This next simple relay game can be played with just about anything that signifies Christmas. You could have the children pass a Santa hat (perhaps requiring them to wear the hat as they run down the line) or have them wear Christmas socks that they then have to take off and get to the next child during the relay.

"Santa Says" is a fun game that all children will know how to play because it's just like "Simon Says". Before playing it, confirm that each child is familiar with "Simon Says" and then create a series of orders from "Santa", like "Santa says, touch your toes", "Santa says bend your knees" and so on. But sometimes leave the "Santa says" part off and trick the children. Always a popular game!

Young children love the "freeze dance" which is often played in preschool and kindergarten. Only in this game, you create a Christmas freeze dance: here you play some Christmas music, let the children do a little dance, then turn the music off and the children must "freeze". If there will be several sit-down games played at the party, this is a great way to let the children use some energy before they have to sit down and focus on the other games.

Young children can play the "clue" game as long as the questions are kept to their knowledge of various things surrounding Christmas. The game is played like this: the teacher gives a series of clues about something Christmas related and keeps giving clues until someone shouts out the answer. It might go something like this:

Answer: Santa's sleigh
Clue: I'm thinking of something big
Clue: It helps Santa on Christmas Eve
Clue: It holds a lot of presents
Clue: It's very fast

You keep giving clues until he children figure out the answer. Since these are young children, don't give clues that are too difficult or beyond their knowledge.

Kids love toss games, so why not create a snowball toss game at Frosty's belly? Get or make a large cardboard cutout of Frosty the Snowman and cut a hole in his stomach. You can create snowballs out of several things. Take plastic bags and put mini marshmallows inside, or use Styrofoam balls. If you use the latter, don't make the children throw the "snowballs" very far since the Styrofoam won't go that far. Have the children stand a distance back from Frosty (you can determine this depending on the age of the children and space you have available) and have them toss the snowballs into Frosty's tummy. First one to get all 3 snowballs in the tummy wins a prize!

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Sparkle with Great Winter Wedding Ideas

Welcome to the WWI - that's the Winter Wedding Ideas page. But first, congratulations, both on your upcoming wedding and on the fact that you were clever enough to see the value in a winter wedding. You see, the fall and winter season's are the off season for most of the wedding industry (this may not be true in places like Aspen, Colorado where their winter landscape is a prime draw) so you have a better chance at negotiating a great price on everything from your photography to the wedding / reception location. So hunt away, if you haven't already, but not until you've settled on the winter wedding idea that you want to make come to life.

Christmas Wedding Options

The first among winter wedding ideas is the classic Christmas wedding and is a natural for those who absolutely love all the decorations, smells, and sounds of Christmas. Because this option is so rooted in your own families' (including that of your future husband) traditions we won't linger here except to point out that this option presents a number of fun opportunities for wedding favors. For example, you could thank your loved ones by giving them a handcrafted wedding cake ornament that will serve as a reminder of your winter wedding every year when they look at their Christmas tree.

Winter Wonderland Options

Another option from the winter wedding ideas department is to create your own winter wonderland wedding. Imagine a wedding that is a study in shades of whites, silver, and ice blues. Your wedding cake could be a gorgeous mountain of white on white. Go for the smooth simple lines of elegance by adding a grand ice sculpture to your wedding reception. Or if you want to make it a little more light hearted you can take advantage of the plethora of snowman themed decorations that are available today. Either way, you might want to consider the silver tree place card holders or snowflake bath confetti (it's great as part of your decorating too!) as your wedding favors. Its clean lines make it fit beautifully in almost any winter wedding setting. Or for a whimsical touch, perhaps miniature snow globes are the way to go.

Respite from the Cold

Finally, go for the warm colors as you create the atmosphere of something like a mountain ski lodge with a roaring fire, warm drinks, and lots of friend around the celebration. For this winter wedding idea you might want to consider giving gifts of specially packaged wedding coffees, teas, hot cocoas, or a tea infuser (either with or without the ceramic tray).
There really are so many winter wedding ideas to consider. Dream. What part of the winter season gets you excited? Once you've decided, personalize your winter wedding ideas and you'll be on your way to an unforgettable wedding experience.

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Reality TV and U$ Culture, Mumia Abu-Jamal

'Kid Nation': CBS' New Reality Show Creates Little Capitalists By Ellen Goodman "When they write the cultural history of childhood in 21st-century America, I hope they leave room for a few unkind words about "Kid Nation." CBS' latest new reality show -- that wonderful oxymoron -- is about 40 kids from 8 to 15 years old who are dropped into a ghost town in New Mexico with only a production crew to call their own. The kids' task, we are told in the best go-team fashion, is to "try to fix their forefathers' mistakes and build a new town that works." Their real job, of course, is to attract viewers who want to see what happens to the "first ever kid nation." Will kids left to their own devices create a democratic idyll or a savage anarchy? There is nothing particularly new about the conflicting images of children as innocents and children as beasts. It's as old as mythology. It lives on in the heart of every parent who's seen her child turn from a screaming sociopath at the supermarket checkout to a philosopher king at the beach: "Who painted the sky blue?" But the real founding fathers of "Kid Nation" leave little to chance or choice. It's the producers, not the so-called "pioneers," who determine the structure of the town called Bonanza. It's the adults who lay the cultural grid down the main street. And this makes "Kid Nation" an entry into the annals of childhood as it's now lived and argued about in America. You see, this is what the adults brought with them from ...

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My granddaughter LOVES the Singing Monkey; she is one year old and it is one of her very favorite toys.
Very colorful and full of activities. I would very much recommend this toy to anyone.

Infantino Musical Toy, Singing Monkey Feature

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Customer Reviews

Loud, annoying toy - Silver Spring Shopper -
The title says it all: With no volume control and the most annoying voice used to sing the "songs," this toy is a parent's bad dream. Songs are sung too quickly for little ears to understand, and the timbre is often shrill. Avoid this toy at all costs, and please don't give this to others (as ours was gifted to us). The stars are given only because my kid liked to look at the brightly colored monkey.



niece loves it - Geno Cianfaglione - ct
gave this to my niece for christmas she is 18 months old plays with it all the time







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