Toddler Toys Get Kids Truckin’!

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Designing your very own a custom-built vehicle when you’re only three? How cool is that!?

And then building it yourself…from magnets?! Even cooler!

Working Trucks from the makers of Magna-Tiles give your little builder the chance to build a vehicle just like they do at the factory! Our Toy Experts think this set is pretty fun in that kids can build their very own imaginative creation or fun vehicles like bulldozers, police cars and fire trucks.

The 27-piece modular magnetic system comes with 4 wheeled base units and plenty of other pieces for little vehicle builders to create their own fleet. All of the pieces are held together with magnets, adding another element of fun, as well as the promotion of fine motor skills (no pun intended!).

Working Trucks Magnetic Combination Vehicles are perfect for children from ages 3 to 6.

Click here for more info or to purchase from The Learning Tree.

Crafting Fun With Brain Noodles

Using your noodle has never been this much fun!

We can’t quit playing with Brain Noodles™ …and neither can kids who come into our stores! These twisty, bendy crafts (think jumbo, oversized fuzzy pipecleaners) are bright, colorful and fun for all ages of kids and kids-at-heart. Jumbo silky fiber stems that bend any way you want, Noodles are amazingly versatile and can be turned into anything you can imagine. They can even be thrown into the washing machine if they get dirty!

Brain Noodles™ can be used again and again in unlimited ways. You can create free-form or follow instructions that explain how to make all sorts of things! Brain Noodles™ are perfect for crafts and quiet play time (they’d be incredibly easy to take along to a restaurant for any restless kiddos!), but they also make great party favors and birthday gifts. Turn Noodles into the recipient’s first initial for package-toppers (we’ve been known to bend and attach a Noodle or two onto gifts we wrap at our two stores)!

Use Brain Noodles™ to make:
· A Halloween jack-o-lantern or a gobbling turkey for Thanksgiving!
· A fuzzy tic-tac-toe game!
· A tiara for a princess
· A dinosaur or a dog or a bug
· Anything your mind can dream up!

Here at The Learning Tree we’ve got oodles of Noodles and would love for you to share in the fun!

Click here to learn more or to get Brain Noodles™ for yourself!

Keep Your Kids Healthy through Play

Healthy habits are much easier to maintain when started early in life. According to the American Heart Association, kids in the United States today are less fit than children of the previous generation. Even kids as young as two or three are spending more time playing video games and watching television than engaging in physical activity. This increases their risk for obesity and the many problems it causes including juvenile diabetes. It stands to reason we can best help our kids acquire healthy habits if we encourage them early, and participate with them. We can take some proactive steps to help our kids learn to enjoy physical activities and keep sedentary activities in balance.

It’s important to limit television and computer time and get kids outdoors to breathe fresh air and connect with nature. If your child balks at leaving the TV or the computer, find an activity that inspires them . Let them decorate a scooter or a flying turtle for their own sidewalk parade. Set up a bicycle racecourse for the Tricycle Tour de Sidewalk. Children instinctively know how to run, jump, tumble, and twirl. All kids need is for adults to provide the space, time and supervision they need to be healthy, strong and happy.

Play = Exercise. Engaging children in active play has many benefits. Muscle mass and bone strength are increased while body fat is decreased. Rousing physical play shrinks anxiety and improves mood. Nobody can stay mad after jumping on a Blast Pad or an Ultra Stomp Rocket ! Early physical activity can even be linked to a reduction in chronic diseases in adulthood.

An excellent way to introduce exercise for kids, especially 2 through 8, to physical activity is through daily walks. Is walking to school an option, or to a friend’s house, or the park? Now that fall is here, you can suggest picking up different colors and shapes of leaves along the way. Let your toddler pull a wagon or ride a trike . And don’t let “bad” weather stop you. A walk in the rain with umbrellas is fun for children of all ages.

Be a role model for your little ones, not only as an honest and kind person but as a healthy and physically active one as well Leave the car, TV and computer at home and get outside and walk, bike and run with your kids. The benefits will be life-long for all of us.

Indoor Camping Trip

On those long winter days, when my brothers and I were suffering from acute cabin fever, mom brought out the old comforter and let the fun begin. We draped it over the back of the couch then pulled some kitchen chairs in to hold up the other side. Voila! Our tent was built and we were ready for camping. Sometimes mom even lit a fire in the fireplace to add another element of atmosphere to our play. Just a simple snack to tide us over at our campsite and we were transported far away from the cold howling winds outside. Under that old comforter we “visited” everywhere from Alaska to Africa. We fished in mountain streams with yardsticks and we went on safari for elephants out in the Serengeti. Suddenly the afternoon had passed in a most pleasant way and we were begging her to let us leave our wonderful camp until tomorrow.

The only downside of our great camping adventures was trying to keep our “tent” secured to the couch and the chairs. We spent quite a bit of time re-draping it and trying to secure the edges. What reminded me of this is a product we started to carry last year – the Fortamajig . This clever toy consists of a large piece of rip stop nylon with lots of loops to secure it to chairs, trees, doorknobs or whatever is handy. It also has a door, a mesh window and even corner pockets for storage. Since it’s washable it can go outside for year-round tent building fun.

Kids love a little “house” of their own whether it’s under an old quilt, inside an appliance box or with a versatile toy like the Fortamajig . Add a snack, maybe trail mix or granola bars, a canteen or a travel bottle of water and send your kid on a “vacation” that they create. It’s an ingenious way to turn a rainy afternoon into an adventure.