Toys
Museum-quality kids’ fun
My sister came home from St. Petersburg — not Florida — with a suitcase full of these stacking dolls and the ability to pronounce “matroyshka,” the name for these dolls, like she was born there. And now that it’s birthday season, I’m hunting around wondering where I can find the kind of cool toys she […]
Author: Kat Powers | May 12, 2008Even cows do Jumping Jacks
When I saw these at the Blue Cloud Gallery, my local gift store in Somerville, Massachusetts, I had no idea these toys were California dreamers.
Blue Cloud’s Jumping Jacks started life in Ventura, California in Terrie and Richard Floyd’s workshop.
I’m used to seeing figures like Santas or jesters made into Jumping Jacks — pull the […]
Author: Kat Powers | April 28, 2008When your buddy is a penguin
There are people out there who get crazy about penguins. My best friend’s mother, who took us to the Aquarium to see penguins, found out my son named a penguin balloon Toni in her honor. Overjoyed, Grandma Toni hit up the Penguin Place in Brooklyn, NY, to get him another penguin.
And another. And another. They […]
Author: Kat Powers | April 11, 2008To the beat of your own drum
If you’re wondering if you child will be the next Carlos Valdés, head over to Strike up the Band.
Between the stacks of sheet music books and the music lessons offered in the back, they have “REMO Konga” conga drums that are not only kid-sized but they’re decorated in rain forest themes to make them kid […]
Author: Kat Powers | April 7, 2008When you need a gift that is slightly off center
You know the person with the odd taste in things? You know, the one who sends photos of deodorant testing as a birthday card? I think I found a fun gift for her.
The Gund Kids Bug Alongs Ladybug is one of those toys that is very cute, but odd enough to appeal to the […]
Author: Kat Powers | April 4, 2008Staging a tea party for your little monkeys
My kids love Curious George. (He’s a monkey, so he can do things you can’t do.)
They also love trying to do adult things, and like George, they sometimes succeed, but it’s better to get some practice at adult things like carrying a tray full of tea cups.
Luckily, we’re not very far from the Curious George […]
Author: Kat Powers | March 24, 2008An angel for your little angel
This is Sunray Bear. He’s an angel, born in an attic, and he plays with his other angel friends, which include a bunny, a cat, a dog, a pig and a mouse.
He and the other angels have sprung whole from the mind of Newton cartoonist Mark Marderosian, who has made them real so they can […]
Author: Kat Powers | March 20, 2008It’s raining? Pull this out of the closet
What do you call this?
I scribbled the outline of a TinkerToy on a pad in my office. My kids are learning about molecules and construction principles, and what better way to teach them but with TinkerToys?
“That’s a TinkerToy,” came the chorus in my office. Then I heard each person tell me a story of what […]
Author: Kat Powers | March 14, 2008Glide on the Piece Train
You may call it the Melissa and Doug Stacking Train. My son looked at the 18 pieces that could be stacked together and come apart in pieces and called in the Piece Train.
So for his parents, raised in an era knowing Cat Stevens, that name stuck. The train is three interlocking bases with pegs […]
Author: Kat Powers | February 21, 2008