Playmobil Advent Calendar

The PLAYMOBIL Advent Calendar is an innovative and inexpensive way to build excitement during the 24 days leading up to Christmas, and allows children ages four and up to continue playing with their new playsets long after the holiday season comes to an end (each day reveals a new toy and by Christmas the child has a complete playset).

New for 2010 are PLAYMOBIL Advent Calendars with Pony Ranch and Dragon’s Land themes. With a total of five different play worlds in all, each advent calendar is as unique as the imagination of the child who plays with it.  Please click on the following link to see all of the 2010 themes: http://bit.ly/dbv7iP

Advent Calendars from PLAYMOBIL retail for $18.99 and are available at specialty retailers nationwide.  

We were sent one of the Playmobil Advent Calendars to review, and I was really happy with the surprise package on my doorstep. I had seriously wanted to do an advent calendar this year, and this is a great way to introduce the kidlets to one.  Unlike the traditional advent calendar, where you get a piece of candy or a little trinket from the opened window, you get a little Playmobil piece to go with the city scape. The one we were sent was the Advent Calendar "Police". Each spot contains a little person, pieces for the person, pieces for the city (like a toilet!), and when you have all your pieces are out, you can open up the cityscape and play! I foresee a lot of fun opening this advent calendar during the holidays.

Wild Dill

Have you ever come across one of those sites where you can find all kinds of goodies and you just want to sit there and oogle the site all day? Well that is exactly what happened when I came across Wild Dill. All thanks to Facebook for having their little ad up while I was on.

You will find clothing, toys, art supplies, and gifts all on the Wild Dill website. And making the products even better is the fact that they are organic, eco-friendly, and even fair trade. They use bamboo and soy for most of the products that are sold on the site. The art supplies are all made from soy, which means if your monkey eats the glue, it'll be okay.

We were sent some of the art supplies that are sold on Wild Dill made by Clementine Art. As soon as the box was opened, we had to unroll paper and get to painting. I don't know a kiddo alive who doesn't like art in some form or another. Many children who have sensory issues and can't take the feel of the paint on the fingers, still love to look at beautiful pictures painted by other kids. And many children who can't enjoy the visual beauty of a painting, still enjoy feeling their fingers in the wet paint. Art is just one of those things that can soothe a soul and help you find joy in your day!

The Clementine Art Natural Rock Crayons were a big hit as well in the monkie house. The kids all oohed and ahhed over the way cool crayon rocks. Which kinda looked like little nuts.

The Clementine Art Natural Glue surprised me quiet a bit. It actually works. I wasn't expecting it to work as good as my trusty Elmer's, but I got pleasantly surprised when we tried it out. It holds papers tight, and dries pretty quickly. The drying time did seem to be a little longer than with regular glue, but it wasn't so bad that I would say it was a negative to purchasing the natural glue.

You can also find markers and modeling clay from Clementine Art. Wouldn't this make a lovely gift basket idea for your art lover? Just add some sketch paper, paint paper, and other little art supplies and you have a creative minds best gift EVAH! Check out Wild Dill for all the great products that they offer. You can follow them on Facebook to keep up with sales, new products, and discount codes.

Speaking of discount codes...Use code 15off when you make a purchase at Wild Dill and receive 15% off your total purchase!

Check out the Flickr set for our Wild Dill paint fun!

Learning Curve Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway

Great products for little minds seem to be abundant in the toy industry. But finding a company that has toys that have been parent tested, parent approved, and that offers a range of toys from infant to preschooler is a harder job. Thankfully we have Learning Curve to turn to!

Learning Curve offers developmental toys that engage children, and provide parents with peace of mind, knowing their children are being inspired and enlightened by safe and quality playthings. And our care, safety, feeding and soothing products provide you with solutions to day-to-day needs at mealtime, bedtime, at home and on-the-go..

One of the newest additions is the new Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway. This wooden railway set is perfect for introducing your little one to the joys of trains. The age specified for the products are 18 months+. My boys being 3 and 5 are a bit older than that, but they still had a blast putting the pieces together and building the railroad. We were sent the Early Engineers Roundabout Station Set to review, and I will have to say that my first thought was that this was going to be super easy for the boys to put together and take apart on their own. It is. 

The Early Engineers line offers young train lovers their first stop in wooden train play. Chunky vehicles, sturdy tracktiles, and simple destinations are just right for little hands. And, since Early Engineers is compatible with any Thomas Wooden Railway products, the journey continues as your toddler grows

The Roundabout Station Set includes Tracktile, Maithwaite Station, Thomas, crossing gate, spinning cargo and two track connectors. It can easily be added to with the other pieces in the Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway line. I do plan on purchasing more of these for Christmas for the boys. It makes a great item that they can all share and play with together. Especially when we get a couple of more train pieces and some more track to add! At a cost of $24.99 it isn't too bad a deal for the brand you are buying and the durability of the product. I can really see this toy lasting for a while around here. 






You can purchase all your Learning Curve products from www.learningcurve.com or you can find a store located near you by visiting the Where to Buy page on the website.