Rave & Review

We love the wheelyBUG Ride-On Toy from Prince Lionheart

My son is all about anything that vrooms.  Basically, if it has wheels, he loves it.  But, if that thing with wheels happens to be something he can ride on?  Well, that’s just amazing!

Such is the case with the wheelyBUG from Prince Lionheart that we received for review.  He loves it so much that whenever we are home he basically spends all day zooming around my house on it.  While we've had other indoor riding toys in the past, the wheelyBUG holds a special place in his heart as well as in my daughter's. 

And, really, can you blame him?  Look how adorable the Mouse wheelyBUG is!

Made in two different sizes and with numerous adorable animal designs to choose from, the wheelyBUG is clearly something special.  But, even more than how cute it is, what really makes it special is the way it moves.  Designed with castor wheels instead of traditional ride-on wheels, the wheelyBUG is multi-directional and allows children to spin 180s with ease and to maneuver into spots they couldn’t reach otherwise. 

Since the wheelyBUG is an indoor riding toy, this ease of movement is my favorite feature.  Because I don’t have an indoor track set up exclusively for riding {say what?! Yeah, I know, bad mom alert!}, I love that they can get around all the obstacles {AKA furniture, walls, and fixtures} and still have fun vrooming around.   

But, all this riding wouldn’t be fun if the wheelyBUG wasn’t all-day comfortable, so I love that it has a super cushioned seat that molds to the kids.  This cushioned critter seat is made from thick sponge covered with polyurethane leatheroid which is incredibly easy to wipe clean.  It has a small sturdy handle for pushing or riding as well as ears, antennae, tails, or accessories on most models. 

Because you are not limited to moving in straight lines and all steering is done with your feet, getting moving is so much easier on a wheelyBUG than other riding toys and it’s virtually frustration-free.  In fact, the wheelyBUG is the first choice of all the little visitors we have over that have never been on a ride-on toy before. 

Really, no matter what age child hops on the wheelyBUG, they instinctively know what to do and start zooming right away.  It’s this simple and straightforward design that makes it perfect for really young kids just starting out like my little guy or bigger kids like my almost 5-year-old. 

What's really cool is that as the kiddos ride more and their skill level increases, watching them on the wheelyBUG gets even more fun.  From controlled turns to spinning out in circles, the experienced riders really know how to tear it up and it's almost as hard to pull them off of it as it is the little guys.  With no right or wrong way to ride it and endless ways to play creatively with it, this truly is a ride-on toy that will last for years and through multiple children.     

The wheelyBUG is available from Prince Lionheart in two sizes and multiple designs.  The large retails for $79.99 and the small for $69.99.

A huge thank you to Prince Lionheart for sending the beloved Wheely BUG to be reviewed.  All opinions are 100% ours and no form of monetary compensation was received in exchange for this Rave Review.

Rainy day fun with imagine i CAN Knitting Beginnings from Manhattan Toy {Giveaway}

My daughter is constantly picking up crocheted and knit items she finds and asking me if I could possibly “yarn this” for her myself.  As much as I agree that whatever knit scarf/hat/owl/monkey that she holds up is cute, what she doesn’t understand is that I have never created anything out of yarn that I have been proud of. 

It’s not that I haven’t tried – it’s just that I never seem to get the hang of crocheting, and I am petrified to even try knitting.  Once upon a time I had this plan that I would learn how to do both by watching my grandmas making their various blankets/pot holders/dish scrubbies that they make, but I quickly realized I was out of my league as they usually lost me by the second step.

Obviously, what I need to do is take it a little slower, which is where the “learn to knit” set from Manhattan Toy comes in.  They sent me their imagine i CAN Knitting Beginnings set and I was incredibly excited to get it open.  The kit first caught my eye by how simply adorable it is and the fact that it is housed in its own retro-style lunchbox tin for easy storing and traveling, which I love.  But, once I opened it up, I knew it was going to be hours and hours of fun for me and my daughter.

Inside the kit is detailed instructions on how to get started as well as 5 colorful spools of yarn, 4 wooden knitting needles, French knitter with stick, 2 pom-pom makers, scissors, crochet hook with wooden handle, measuring tape, 3 sewing needles, felt sewing kit to store the smaller accessories, and then the tin to keep everything neat and organized. 

The learn to knit kit is recommended for ages 8+, which means it’s a bit advanced for my daughter.  But, I love this because that means it will be something that she can grow with and it will be something that is still fun for me.  I figure that even better than having mama “yarn” something for her would be actually learning how to knit with her and making something together. 

Since she can’t read on her own, she’s going to need my help a lot at first while she gets the hang of it.  But I’m hoping that this can be a really great hand-eye coordination task we can work on this summer when we’re looking for a fun and quiet activity to do together.  So, on rainy days we can spend our time learning simple stitches, making pom-poms, and eventually learning the elusive art of knitting together. 

The Knitting Beginnings set is part of the new imagine i CAN series from Manhattan Toy that features 28 arts and crafts, DIY, role play and playsets that kids can do on their own.  And, just like the Knitting Beginnings set, most of these sets come in adorable tins that make them perfect for home or away.  Whether your child is into castles, fairies, bugs, or rocks, there is an imagine i CAN kit that is perfect for them – and, at $20 and under per kit, they have a great price point to match.

Check out the full line of imagine i CAN sets at Manhattan Toy and visit their YouTube page to see children playing with all of these adorable kits.  You can find out more at manhattantoy.com.

How would you like to try out one of these kits for yourself?  Well, you’re in luck, because I’m giving away one to a lucky reader!

One lucky Rave & Review reader will win an imagine i CAN set of their choice!

To Enter: visit manhattantoy.com and comment below with what kit you would love if you win {mandatory}

And, as always, there are extra entries available! {Please leave a separate comment for each completed}

2 Extra Entries - Post on your Facebook wall about this awesome imagine i CAN from Manhattan Toy giveaway {bit.ly/14xqT2j} with extra credit if you tag Manhattan Toy and Rave & Review

2 Extra Entries {per method} - Follow Rave & Review! Subscribe by RSS feed, Subscribe by email, follow on Pinterest, become a fan of R&R on Facebook or add R&R to your blogroll or sidebar.

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4 Extra Entries - Blogger Bonus. Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post and leave an address where I can find your writeup

1 Extra Entry - Comment love on any post, just leave a comment here as well.

On April 19th at 11:59pm PST a winner will be drawn, announced here and notified via email. Winner will have 24 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen.  US only.

This giveaway is now closed.  Thank you to all who entered and congrats to:

Suzie Williams said...I like the Imagine I Can Crafty Eraser Creations.

A big thank you to Manhattan Toy for sending a Knitting Beginnings set to facilitate this review and for offering a giveaway to our fabulous readers. As always, all opinions are 100% ours.

LEGO Star Wars ZipBin Death Star Transforming Toybox {Review}

Oh, Christmas, why’d you have to go and leave me with a huge mess of stuff?  Mounds of wrapping paper, boxes, and a million little toy pieces with nowhere to go now litter my living room waiting for a place to call home and it’s driving me nuts. 

While it might be tempting to simply scoop up the mess and dump it in the toybox that we just cleared out, I know that is not really a solution.  If we did that, all the little toy pieces would simply line the bottom of the toy box never to be recovered again.  But, worse is that the kiddos would be left with a whole bunch of incomplete toys that would never get played with. 

Thank goodness ZipBin yet again came to the rescue to save my sanity and help organize the kiddos’ mess of stuff.  While last time around we reviewed the Barbie ZipBin Dream House, this time I was looking for something to corral all my son’s little items and was thrilled when I saw this:

While we don’t let my son play with little LEGOs on his own since he is still so young, he’s very into building stuff and just got his first few sets of LEGOs Star Wars.  So, it was perfect timing to find the perfect way to store all the little pieces and keep it up out of the way unless he was playing supervised with all the little pieces. 

The LEGO ZipBin Death Star was perfect for storing the first few LEGO sets he has collected, as well as providing a great place to play when we bring them out to keep them from being spread all around the house.  I love that you can even separate the little figures from the blocks as they have their own elasticized holders on the perimeter of the Death Star, which we like to call “pods”. 

With a LEGO Star Wars inspired interior, it’s easy to pretend that our LEGO characters have boarded the Death Star and are on their way to some exotic Star Wars locale.  Whether they are manning the controls, locking down the corridors, or fighting storm troopers in the secured areas, there’s a place for everyone and the bin itself adds a storyline, which I love. 

Then, when we’re done playing, it’s a simple zip and everything is all in one place and easy to put up on the shelf for the next play time.  I love that the ZipBin is completely enclosed and even if it falls over or gets jostled, the contents stay put rather than ending up all over the floor in a colossal mess.  

It’s lightweight enough for my son to carry on his own and has an easy wipe-down surface, which makes it perfect for the day he insists upon taking it with us everywhere we go.  But the fact that it is soft sided and weighs almost nothing means it’s also great for storing little toys up high as I’m not worried about it falling off the shelf and hurting anyone.  

But, as I've raved before, what’s really wonderful about ZipBins is that putting toys away is fun when the container is a toy in itself.  You know the old adage that no matter how cool the toy is, they will still end up playing with the box?  Well, I figure I might as well make it a cool box. 

The LEGO Star Wars ZipBin Death Star is only 12x2.5x12.75" zipped, but it can hold a whopping 1000 LEGO bricks and keep them neat and organized.  When unzipped, it creates a nice 12x27" play area to keep the little ones building and playing for hours.  Have more bricks than this and need some major storage?  Check out the whole line of LEGO Star Wars ZipBin products to see everything from a TIE FIghter and the Millenium Falcon to a large toy box to house all your blocks. 

Are you celebrating January Storage Month by finally tackling your playroom?  If so, you're in luck, because Neat-Oh! has a variety of different bins, boxes, and playmats that can organize even the most disorganized spaces!

A big thank you to ZipBin for sending their LEGO Star Wars Death Star for us to play with.  As always, all opinions are 100% ours.

The Fantastic World of Schleich Bayala {Review & Giveaway}

A few years ago, I fell in love with Schleich animals and we bought a handful of the beautifully painted figurines to occupy my daughter on a long plane ride.  Once we had a few animals, they became addictive and that handful became a bag full, and then a drawer full, and then a bin full as we began to collect them for learning as well as playing. 

Once my son started really playing with toys, he was immediately drawn to the Schleich bin and we became more serious about our obsession.  And, I do mean obsessed.  I diligently checked off each purchase in our free Schleich mini-booklet ensuring we didn’t end up with too many duplicates, and the kids would alert me when they found one at a store we didn’t have yet.

We started with their various Wild Life sections, moved on to the Farm Life figures, and finally started on the Prehistoric Animals {with the new dinosaurs with moveable jaws} until we had collected nearly every animal in the Schleich catalog.  But while my son is firmly planted in reality and prefers dogs to dragons, my daughter’s love for fairies knows no bounds, and her love for Schleich was renewed when we found the new Schleich Bayala series that focuses on fantastic and magical creatures, big and small.    

Like all Schleich, the new Bayala series features well-crafted figurines that simply beg for you to play with them.   They are separated into two categories: Iloris {elf children} and Arelan {heroes of Bayala} and each series has its own creatures, beings, scenery packs, and fun add-ons.  With each piece hand painted and detailed beyond belief, they are amazingly life-like and beautiful.

Seriously, just look at these faces – how could any child resist playing with these? 

My kids went crazy when a package of mythical beings and elves arrived last month to play with and they couldn’t wait to get them out of their display boxes. Can you blame them?

While the favorite of my kids is the Iloris & Leolynn mother/baby figures riding on the horse, the second favorite would have to be the Elf Swing that they use as a slide and swing combo.  We really want to add the Elf merry-go-round to go with it, and the kiddos have been watching everywhere for it in hopes we can make our own little fairy playground for the elf children.

It’s fitting that Schleich’s motto is “anywhere’s a playground” as this has been true more than ever with the Bayala series.  During every play time at our house, our bench becomes a fairy grove, our couches become a unicorn meadow, and our table almost always obscures an elaborate dragon village with valiant heroes beneath its tablecloth.   

Here's a Bayala maypole we created with a magic fairy wand of my daughter's.

Even though the kiddos have no real storyline they are following or movie they are quoting from, I love watching them work together to develop an elaborate scenario with plot points that build for hours and eventually culminate in a fancy party at the king’s castle {AKA the ottoman}.  It’s a world where unicorns are real, dragons can be good or bad, and elves dance and play for hours, and make believe is encouraged.  And I love it.

As much as I love that the Bayala series adds a whole new reach to the Schleich brand, I also love that their traditional animals can join in the fun as well.  Woodland Schleich creatures and forest animals are perfect for expanding your Bayala world, so I’m very thankful we have a whole bin full of animals for even more make believe fun. 

Since my son doesn’t necessarily gravitate towards elves and unicorns, I love that wolves, bears, deer and elk fit right in our Bayala world along with the creatures that come with many of the sets.  Adding his favorite real animals helps bridge the gap between fantasy and reality and makes Bayala something we can all play with together. 

If you have a little Schleich fan or a kiddo who loves make believe, the Bayala series is the perfect catalyst for hours of play.  Whether you have a few elves and animals or you have a whole Schleich collection, the Bayala series is an amazing amount of fun for kids and adults alike.

Want even more fun?  Head on over to Schleich to see their new additions for 2013 as well as download their super fun {and free} Schleich mobile app that my daughter loves.  You've heard of "put a bird on it", right?  Well, now you can put a dino on it, take your heroes with you wherever you go, and even learn your letters and numbers!

One lucky Rave & Review reader will win a Schleich Bayala prize pack with the following: 70462 Delicate Lily Elf, 70453 Dancing Marween, and 70459 Magical Asian Being

To Enter: visit http://www.schleich-s.com/ and tell me a figure, playset, or accessory you would love

And, as always, there are extra entries available! {Please leave a separate comment for each completed}

2 Extra Entries - Post on your Facebook wall about this awesome Schleich giveaway {bit.ly/VsN8yl} and tag Rave & Review

2 Extra Entries {per method} - Follow Rave & Review! Subscribe by RSS feed, Subscribe by email, become a fan of R&R on Facebook or add R&R to your blogroll or sidebar.

1 Extra Entry {daily} - Twitter.  Retweet this tweet

4 Extra Entries - Blogger Bonus. Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post and leave an address where I can find your writeup

1 Extra Entry - Comment love on any post, just leave a comment here as well.

On January 25th at 11:59pm PST a winner will be drawn, announced here and notified via email. Winner will have 24 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen.

Winner, winner!  This giveaway is now closed.  Thank you to all who entered and congrats to:  #181 Valerie Taylor Mabrey said... RSS Google Reader Follower

A big thank you to Schleich for sending some Bayala sets and for offering a giveaway to our fabulous readers.  As I stated in the article, we already own a ton of Schleich, which was purchased by us.  Because we're addicted.

The New Era of Handheld Electronic Games: Sifteo Cubes {Review & Giveaway}

Remember when being a “gamer” meant you loved board games?  Now there are handheld games, computer games, console games, electronic games, and more that all compete for this title, most of which are missing the collaborative and tactile nature of board games of our youth.

And, that’s where Sifteo Cubes comes in.  Sifteo is a unique electronic game made up of three separate touchscreen cubes {up to 9 additional cubes can be purchased for even more fun} that communicate wirelessly with each other to shake your game out of the box and allow you to take gaming to a whole new level.  Instead of a joystick and A/B button combinations, you simply shuffle the cubes around, place them side-to-side, tilt or shake them, or press on their touch screens to play.

Unlike other electronic games that are almost always single-player and excludes everyone else in the room, I love that Sifteo can be played alone, with a partner, or in groups just by dividing up control of the cubes.  A hybrid handheld game that plays more like a traditional board game that you manipulate by hand, Sifteo is the latest and greatest electronic gaming system and sure to be the big buzz this year. 

I’ve been a fan of these little cubes since I saw them showcased at BlogHer this summer and was thrilled when I found out I would get a chance to play with the newest version of the Sifteo Cubes this fall.  Honestly, my first reaction was that it was almost as if someone surveyed me and asked all that I would look for in a game and then created this system just for me.  With a little bit of brain teaser and handheld game mixed with my crazy love of puzzles and with a whole lot of addictiveness built in, it’s clear that this is no ordinary game system, it’s something much, much more. 

But, while it may be hard to describe what they are and the various ways to play, it’s quite easy to get the hang of it once they are in your hand.  This is partly because the Sifteo system doesn’t require a computer system, a game console, or a specialized handheld video game system to play; all of the brains are built directly into the cubes themselves, which makes them very intuitive and easy to grasp. 

While you can connect them to a computer to download additional games, the Sifteo Cubes come pre-loaded with 4 games so they are ready to play out of the box – just insert the included batteries and press the power button on the base and all the cubes automagically pair with the base for play.  On one cube you will see a menu that allows you to select which game you’d like and you can tilt that cube to select your choice and then you’re ready to play. 

And, that of course, is where the real magic is.  Within moments, we were off and running, playing different games and learning how the cubes recognize each other and work together seamlessly so you can play math and word games as well as strategy and adventure games. 

Each of the four pre-installed games starts out easy enough with helpful tips and prompts along the way, but as you continue playing they get harder and harder.  Before long you will realize that hours have passed and you’ve been playing educational games well into the wee hours of the morning. 

Whether you use Sifteo Cubes as a relaxing distraction on your desk in between meetings or to decompress at lunch or you like to get the whole family involved and make a competitive game out of it, Sifteo Cubes are a great bet.  These fun and addicting little cubes are not only a great way to blow off steam, they are also fun to challenge yourself and your friends to see how quick you can think and how creatively you can solve problems.  They are recommended for ages 7+, but younger kids can play them as well with a little bit of help. 

Geek alert: Did you know you can even write your own Sifteo games?  I heard that rumor and didn’t believe it was true, but then I found this blog post, which seems to confirm what I had believed all along: Sifteo is the coolest game ever. 

The Sifteo Cubes Starter Set retails for $129.95 and comes with 3 cubes, the Sifteo base, a USB cord and a soft storage pouch so you can take your gaming on the go.  Additional cubes can be purchased for $29.95 each, directly from Sifteo or on Amazon and ThinkGeek which will allow for even longer words and more twisting, turning, sliding, and tilting fun.  Each starter set comes with a free game download but you can also download additional games for $8-$12 from Sifteo by purchasing their credits that you can redeem for games.  Psst, you can also get FREE SHIPPING at the Sifteo site thru 12/18/12! 

Visit Sifteo.com and connect with them on Facebook and Twitter.  You may also want to watch this little video, which can explain everything I just did in a fraction of the time:

One lucky Rave & Review reader will win a Sifteo Cubes Starter Pack that includes 3 cubes - wooohooo!

To Enter: visit Sifteo.com and tell me something you learned about the company

And, as always, there are extra entries available! {Please leave a separate comment for each completed}

2 Extra Entries - Post on your Facebook wall about this awesome Sifteo giveaway {bit.ly/Y08HLE} and tag Sifteo and Rave & Review

2 Extra Entries {per method} - Follow Rave & Review! Subscribe by RSS feed, Subscribe by email, become a fan of R&R on Facebook or add R&R to your blogroll or sidebar.

1 Extra Entry {daily} - Twitter.  Retweet this tweet

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1 Extra Entry - Like Sifteo on Facebook

4 Extra Entries - Blogger Bonus. Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post and leave an address where I can find your writeup

1 Extra Entry - Comment love on any post, just leave a comment here as well.

On December 29th at 11:59pm PST a winner will be drawn, announced here and notified via email. Winner will have 24 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen.

This giveaway is now closed.  Thank you to all who entered and congrats to:

#152 Michelle Tucker said... One of their core values is "Treat your customers like you would treat your friends." Love that!

A big thank you to Sifteo for sending a starter pack to facilitate this review.  As always, all opinions are 100% ours.

JumpSport ProFlex Basketball System for Even More Trampoline Fun {Review & Coupon Code}

When I was young, my family bonded over basketball.  It was where we talked through any problems we were having, celebrated our successes, and laughed about the funny things that happened that week.  No matter what was going on in our lives, getting out in the fresh air with people who loved you made everything else just disappear.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are practicing layups, playing H-O-R-S-E, Around the World, and more with my parents and siblings until the sun went down and we were forced to come inside.

Because I really wanted to share this form of bonding with my own children, my one regret with buying our current house is that it came with a very “urban yard” and there was simply no place to put a basketball hoop.  Well, I’m happy to say we’ve come up with a solution that might make this a positive instead of a negative: Bouncy Hoops.  Bouncy Hoops is the very made up name of our new favorite game with our favorite new accessory, the JumpSport ProFlex Basketball Set.

You may remember our JumpSport Elite 12ft Trampoline review or perhaps our #1 post of all time, 50+ things to do on a JumpSport Trampoline that continues to get hundreds of views every single day.  If you read either one of those, you probably got the gist that we were head-over-heels in love with our JumpSport Trampoline.  Well, I’m happy to say that after months of bouncing and jumping and playing, we actually love it even more than we did before.  While I could go on and on about the ways it has changed our lives over the past few months and made getting out and staying active a family affair, it’s nearly impossible to explain just how much we love it.

For instance, when it’s my daughter’s turn to pick what she would like to do for the day, her answer without fail is, “I-want-to-jump-on-the-trampoline, please” and any day that it’s not raining {and some days that it is}, you will find my son longingly looking out the back door at the trampoline saying, “bounce?”.  Whereas most kids choose ice cream and treats, ours choose the trampoline for rewards.  30 minutes for that glowing teacher report, 15 minutes for helping mama clean up, and another 15 minutes for staying quiet during that important conference call is an hour of good exercise and a great way to motivate without sweets. 

But, now we’ve got even more motivation to get outside and stay active with the addition of the JumpSport ProFlex Basketball system.  It comes with everything you need to take your jumping to a whole new level, including a full-size backboard, cushioned hoop with heavy-duty ProFlex hardware, a 5" soft rubber inflatable basketball, and my favorite feature, triangular side nets to divert stray balls back into the trampoline. 

It’s no joke when I say that this basketball hoop is literally the only thing I wanted for the holidays this year, and it really was like Christmas morning when we got it all installed and ready to play.  I had visions of all of those nights we spent playing basketball when I was young and all the family memories we’re going to create throughout the years with our own hoop and it honestly made me a little weepy. 

All a mom wants is to see her family laughing and bonding together, and this is a sure way to do that even into the dreaded tween/teen stage and beyond.  There’s something special about the combination of physical activity, friendly sport, and fresh air and I was thrilled that we won’t have to miss out on that bonding because of our lot constraints.

And, once the kiddos got outside to check it out, I realized quickly how incredibly right I was.  Between gales of laughter and fits of giggles, the kiddos made their first baskets and were so proud of themselves. 

Here’s my daughter showing off how many baskets she made. Wait, is that 2... or 4?

And, look at these DIMPLES! Doesn't he look like an NBA pro?

While we did make very good use of those side nets that help us contain all of their {many} air balls, they actually did better than I thought they would at hitting the backboard and rim.  I’m pretty sure I’ve got basketball legends on my hand, which is a good thing we got them an amazing hoop so early on.

The kiddos were even nice enough to let hubby and I try it out and we were both impressed with the quality of the hoop and the ingenious design.  The first thing we both loved is that instead of merely being mounted on top of the safety net, the ProFlex Basketball System is actually integrated into the safety enclosure frame itself to give it extra stability.  But, in addition to offering more stability, moving it onto the enclosure frame moves it out of the bounce area and leaves less opportunity to accidentally hit the padded rim. 

Which leads me to my biggest rave: like the trampoline itself, the ProFlex Basketball System has all sorts of safety features built into the design.  From the reinforced and durable backboard that was made to withstand the elements to the padded and cushioned hoop with heavy-duty ProFlex hardware, this is not some doorway basketball hoop rigged up to a trampoline, it’s the real deal and built to last. 

I have absolutely no doubt that the ProFlex basketball hoop that our kids are making their first baskets on will also be the one they learn their first layup on and the one they reminisce about once they leave home.  We may not have our own half court, but you can bet my kids are going to grow up around basketball and bonding over games in our backyard now that JumpSport has made my dreams of owning a hoop a reality.

I know many of you are thinking about getting a trampoline this Christmas, and this is the perfect time to bring home one of the world’s safest trampolines.  Your kids will think you are the best parent ever and you will wonder why you ever waited so long. 

And, if you act fast you can get the ProFlex Basketball set for a shocking discount just in time to have it delivered for the holidays.  From now until December 25, 2012, simply enter the coupon code ABLOG50COUPON at JumpSport.com and you'll receive 50% off your purchase of a basketball hoop when you purchase a trampoline.

To find out more about all of their amazing products and hear about all of their promotions, connect with JumpSport online at JumpSport.com on Facebook and Twitter as well as on Pinterest.

A big HUGE thanks to JumpSport for providing the ProFlex Basketball System for review.  All opinions are 100% ours and no form of monetary compensation was received in exchange for this Rave Review.  NOTE: I am not a physician, do not work in healthcare and in no way should you take medical advice from me.  As with all sports and exercise activities, you should consult a doctor before attempting anything you see above.  This is especially true when small children are playing, but goes for all ages.  We supervise our children during every activity outdoors and this includes the use of the trampoline. 

Eitech 50th Anniversary Space Needle Building Kit {Review}

Remember last year when we raved about the Eitech Classic Construction Vehicles Set?  Not only do we still love it and look forward to building with it every chance we get, now we’ve added to our Eitech love with the addition of the newly released Space Needle model.

To commemorate the building’s 50th anniversary, Eitech has released a mini model of Seattle’s iconic needle that is sure to delight any little builder as well as anyone that loves Seattle.  Since we fall into both of those categories, I was really excited to get my hands on the set and see the finished product.

As soon as our metal building kit arrived, I dumped the contents on the counter and we all got to work.  I was extremely relieved that even their mini sets come with all the tools they need for assembly as I didn’t want to have to go digging for mini tools in order to start, and I was also relieved that it looked like a fairly easy build.

The kiddos were extremely interested in the project so we had to keep it up high and away from our little guy, but our 4 year old daughter turned out to be quite the little builder.  While the instructions are all step-by-step and detailed, they have tiny little details that would be hard for her to get from just a picture, so we simply explained the instructions or showed her a piece we had already built and had her replicate it.

I loved seeing her look of concentration as she built and watching her fine motor skills improve with every bolt she tightened.  Since hubby loves building things and tinkering with models, she’s going to have a lot of building experience by the time she hits her teens, and I love that Eitech is the perfect medium for getting her started and we can simply move up to more advanced models as she is ready.

Even with letting the kiddos help, we still finished our project in record time.  A little over an hour after we started we had our finished Space Needle model and every last nut and bolt was tightened.  Immediately, it was clear to everyone that the Space Needle was simply too adorable to take apart and it wouldn’t be going back into the box in pieces.  Luckily, at 6 1/2 inches, the Eitech Space Needle is smaller than I had anticipated which will make it perfect for displaying in the office year round or even up on the shelf in the world traveler bedroom. 

If you love Seattle or even if you just love building, I would highly recommend the 50th anniversary Eitech Space Needle as a great project.  Not only is it fun to build either alone or as a team, the finished model is absolutely adorable and sure to be a great conversation starter.  Be sure and check out Eitech’s full line of building kits this holiday season to keep any little builder busy.  From working models to solar powered motors, Eitech has you covered.  

Connect with Eitech on Facebook and Twitter to see all of their holiday promotions and to see amazing projects built by their fans. 

A big thank you to Eitech for sending their Space Needle Building Kit to facilitate this review.  As always, all opinions are 100% ours and no form of monetary compensation was received in exchange for this Rave Review.

Zometool Building Sets: Where Science and Art Meet {Review, Coupon Code & Giveaway}

It’s a rare activity that keeps a 4-year-old, 12-year-old and 30-{something}-year-old entertained for hours, but I think I’ve finally hit on the holy grail of all ageless activities – building stuff.  I figured this out this Thanksgiving with the help of Zometool and our holiday gatherings will now never be the same again.   

Thanksgiving up until now in our family consisted of two separate camps – the grown-ups and the kids.  Unfortunately, my 12-year-old niece was born in the gap between generations that left her too young for grown up activities but too old for the youngest generation who are mostly in diapers.  Usually, she passes the time by sitting with the grown-ups and looking slightly amused, but not this year.


This year I brought two sets of Zometool to the gathering specifically for her and told her to have fun.  I brought Ice Crystals and Stars with 90 pieces because I thought we could make some fun holiday snowflakes and designs and Crazy Bubbles with 52 pieces as I thought bubbles would be fun even for the younger kiddos. 

Many there had never heard of Zometool, so we gathered quite the crowd as I explained that they are the new highly addictive building sets designed for kids aged 6-16.  They may be made for kids, but they are also used by Nobel Prize winners, teachers, and apparently, 30-somethings.  At first glance they look like your typical rod-and-connector building sets, but once you start tinkering with them, you realize they are so much more than you imagined. 

Sure, you can randomly connect spheres and rods as my 4 year old did, but the fun really starts when you figure out that the connector pieces are not simply spheres with holes all around them, those tiny holes are actually different shaped openings that only certain rods connect with.  This makes building with them more challenging than a child’s toy, yet more fun to try and master as you create larger and more complex shapes and structures.


The three of us set up shop in the back living room and emptied all 142 pieces onto the table as well as the instructions included in both kits.  And, as it turns out, in addition to being beautiful, my niece is also incredibly creative and extremely talented because she barely needed instructions, she instinctively knew just what to do.  While I must admit my learning curve was much slower than my niece’s, once I “got” it, it was only a matter of time and I was creating more and more advanced shapes for our first bubble experiment.


We sat and worked together building all sorts of crazy structures and designs for hours and hours, only stopping for a quick turkey dinner and to test our structures in the bubble mixture outside.  After two rounds of bubbles, we then switched to creating snowflakes and stars and kept on creating until the party came to an end. 

At the end of the party, my niece and I were both hooked and she told me that she loved playing with the Zometool all day long.  I know she would really like the Plato’s Solids Zometool set, so even though I’ve already got her gift this Christmas, I’m passing along the info to her grandma.


And, now her grandma can snag an awesome 15% off and free shipping because I’ve got an exclusive coupon code to share with you!  Simply enter the coupon code Rave at checkout on Zometool.com and you can score some Zometool sets of your own until November 30th.  Perfect for holiday shopping for all those kids interested in science, architecture, art or engineering, as well as those kids who need a little less screen time. 

Zometool sets are made in Colorado and have won all sorts of awards just in the past year.  They have many kits available as well as creator sets that give you open-ended fun for hours.  What set would you choose?

One lucky Rave & Review reader will win a Crazy Bubbles kit or the Pyramid Puzzle!

To Enter: Visit Zometool.com and tell me something you learned or a product you'd like to try out in a comment below

And, as always, there are extra entries available! {Please leave a separate comment for each completed}

2 Extra Entries - Post on your Facebook wall about the Zometool giveaway {bit.ly/10VC0O0} and tag Rave & Review and Zometool

2 Extra Entries {per method} - Follow Rave & Review! Subscribe by RSS feed, Subscribe by email, become a fan of R&R on Facebook or add R&R to your blogroll or sidebar.

1 Extra Entry - Like Zometool on Facebook where you can see awesome creations from fans

1 Extra Entry {daily} - Twitter.  Retweet this tweet

1 Extra Entry - Follow Zometool on Twitter

2 Extra Entries - Blogger Bonus. Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post and leave an address where I can find your writeup

1 Extra Entry - Comment love on any post, just leave a comment here as well.

On December 1st at 11:59pm PST a winner will be drawn, announced here and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen.

Winner, winner!  This giveaway is now closed.  Thank you to all who entered and congrats to:  #31 Jenn said... email subscriber

A big thank you to Zometool for sending samples to facilitate this review.  As always, all opinions are 100% ours and no form of monetary compensation was received in exchange for this Rave Review.

HABA Wins 2 FamilyFun's 21st Annual T.O.Y. Awards {Henry HABA Strong Armor and Expedition Dino Review}

With the holidays on the horizon, many of us are searching to find the best of the best to wrap up this year and toys have always been my biggest challenge.  With so many new products that flood the market each year, it’s hard to determine which will have staying power and what will fade into obscurity before spring. 

Many years ago I found the FamilyFun T.O.Y. Awards and was very glad I did while shopping for all of my nieces, nephews and friends without kids of my own.  Years later, the T.O.Y. (Toy of the Year) Awards are just as crucial to my holiday shopping as they were when I was cluelessly shopping and begging other parents in the aisles to help me decide on the perfect gift.

FamilyFun recruits real families to test the toys that are submitted and work hard to provide the best of the best based on a variety of factors, and they really do find the gems each holiday season.  This year they tested over 300 toys for kids of all ages and selected 30 lucky winners out of the bunch that were given the coveted award.

While perusing the winners, I found not one but two favorites from HABA that made their list this year, the Henry HABA Strong Armor and the HABA Expedition Dino Game.  You probably already know about how much love I have for HABA and all the ways it encourages my kids to use their imaginations, learn about the world around them, and take playing seriously.  But, you probably don’t have any idea just how much my kids love the brand. 

If I could invite you all to take a tour of our toy box, the first thing you would notice is that all of the toys encourage open-ended play.  You would also find that most of the toys on top that are played with most often are made by our friends at HABA.  The makers of good quality, classic toys that just beg to be played with over and over again, HABA has been delighting little ones since 1938 and filling our toy box since 2008. 

A few months ago we fell in love with the HABA Pirate’s Treasure Play Tent and even though I swore toys wouldn’t take over our main living room, this has been up since the day it arrived and we have no plans to take it down.  And, how could I possibly take away their “castle”, their pirate cove, distant tower, play house, grocery store, school… and whatever else they dream up? 

Since the HABA tent is their castle at least a few times each day, I knew as soon as I saw the Henry HABA Strong Armor that it was going to be a big hit.  But, “hit” doesn’t even begin to describe the love my kids have for playing princess and knights with the new play armor. 

The dragon-encrusted armor is soft and padded and the kids will wear it for hours, pretending to be the valiant knight through squeals and giggles.  Even my little guy who hates to be restricted loves the armor and would wear it all day if he wasn’t limited by things like sharing with his sister and sleep.  Since they love it so much, I’m happy it can fit a variety of sizes thanks to the adjustable belt fastener, which means they can wear it for years to come. 

As completely adorable as it is to see a kid in a suit of armor, when you add in the adorable matching accessories {including an opening and closing helmet, mace, soft sword, and shield}, the play gets even more fun and the smiles even bigger.  We are hoping to add the Henry HABA Strong Hobby Horse to the ensemble in the future to up the cuteness and creativity even more.  As if it wasn’t heart melting enough.      

The second HABA item to win the award is the awesome Expedition Dino game.  Unlike a traditional board game that is flat and dull, the Expedition Dino game moves into the 3D realm and makes it fun for even the littlest players.  Armed with a hammer, a chisel, and your own dinosaur explorer, Tim, you become the excavator of prehistoric giants.  Taking turns rolling the dice and using the equipment granted to you, the object is to carefully collect petrified bones from the rocks before the trapped dangerous dinosaur is exposed.

Even though my daughter is on the younger side for dino exploration at age 4, she was absolutely mesmerized by the game.  It was a great way to practice the abstract idea of board games in a really fun way that makes it seem more like a toy than a game.  By taking turns and having her count each of the dice rolls and then move Tim the correct amount of spaces, it was a great introduction to the world of strategy games instead of just color-coded preschool games.  Of course, the hammer and the chisel did make it an easy transition.     

I love that even though the game was fun at age 4, there are many more variations we can try out as she gets better at excavating.  With how much fun she has had playing the game these past few days and how many times she’s asked to play it again, I know that Expedition Dino is going to be a fun game we return to over and over, which is perfect for all the rainy days of fall and winter ahead of us.

As you're out shopping for the holidays, you should definitely check out the FamilyFun T.O.Y. Award winners, starting with these two from HABA.  They would be the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for preschooler and a great addition to any childhood toy box.

A big thank you to HABA for sending the Henry Strong Armor and Expedition Dino game for review.  All opinions are 100% ours and no form of monetary compensation was received in exchange for this very Rave Review.

Polly Pocket Stick 'N' Play Fun {Review}

A few months ago, my daughter was introduced to the world of Polly Pocket.  Since that day, we’ve lived in a world of teeny tiny dolls and they don’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon. 

But, I can’t say I’m surprised in the slightest.  It’s not hard to see why my daughter fell for Polly: she’s been an avid doll person since she was tiny and she loves anything miniature.  In short, Polly Pocket was made for girls like her.

As much as my daughter loves all the little Polly Pocket dolls, it’s really the accessories that make her squeal with delight.  And, oh, the accessories!  From stretchy plastic shoes, clothing, and more, Polly’s world has just about anything you can imagine.


But, now Polly’s world has literally been flipped upside down with the addition of teeny tiny suction cups.  Suction cups may not seem like much, but when added to shoes, bases, accessories and more they can make an ordinary playset extraordinary by allowing you to configure it however your heart desires.    

The first thing we did when we opened the Stick 'N' Play Polly Pocket Hangout House Playset and the additional Game Room was to just see how everything works.  With a hand-operated elevator and a gravity-operated corkscrewing platform, as well as walls that move and a pool that becomes a bed, there’s a lot of fun to be had just by getting the house ready for move-in. 

But, the real fun starts when you begin moving in all of Polly’s furniture, pets, and more and you can really see the possibilities of the little suction cups on the bottom of each piece.  Because they secure to any flat surface, you can set the playset up as a regular house and obey the laws of gravity, or you can defy physics and suction everything to the ceilings and walls and see Polly’s world flip all around her.

We’re talking bathtubs hanging off of a support beam, refrigerators on the ceiling, toilets on the bottom of the pool, and tables with chairs stacked on top of beds.  Basically, anything crazy you can dream up you can build.  Oh, and because Polly herself has suction cups on her shoes, she can flip right along with her house. 


As much fun as it is to see my daughter set up the playset like a little house for all her Polly Pocket friends with all the accessories in the correct room, I love hearing her giggle as she puts the bathtub upside down off the roof saying, “the water’s going to splash right out!”.  Thank goodness the playset and additional room both came with a Polly and a pet with suction cup, because nothing makes her giggle quite like a kitty on the ceiling or Polly hanging upside down from a swing.

If there ever was a possibility of Polly Pocket being a passing phase, the addition of the Stick 'N' Play design has completely taken that out of the equation.  Since Polly now has the added dimension of being able to stand or hang on her own, it’s easier than ever to incorporate Polly into our play.  My daughter loves to set up the Hangout House just so and secure everything down so there’s no possibility of my little guy {AKA Brozilla} vrooming a car through the house and destroying everything she worked so hard to set up.    

And, as great as Polly Pocket is at home, it’s now easier than ever to take Polly with us on the go.  Since the pieces can stick to any flat surface, just about anything can become her hangout and fun can go anywhere.  Then, when you’re done playing, you can easily secure all the little pieces inside your carrying case or portable playset and you’re ready to go. 

Being this portable is great because it would be a hard battle to leave Polly behind on anything longer than a day trip these days.  Whether the kiddos are over at the grandparents or hanging out with friends and cousins, Polly’s been coming with us.

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Mattel Polly Pocket. I received a product samples and a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.  As always, all opinions are 100% ours.