Monoprice Light Box and Giveaway

Flash Flyer, Doodle Track Car, & GIVEAWAY

Graham, Parker, and I received the opportunity to check out some pretty cool toys from Daydream Toy.  We received a Doodle Track Car and a Flash Flyer!!

The Doodle track car is pretty cool.  You draw a line on a piece of paper, turn on the car and watch it go! The car will follow any line you draw, all by itself! The Doodle track car takes 2 triple A batteries and It comes with a marker, but you can use any marker with it. We really enjoyed playing with it!! My older son who is 13 also enjoyed the Doodle track car!

The Flash Flyer is actually our favorite, you attach the disc to the handle, pull back the string and let it go... it will fly across the room and flash red and blue colors!! This toy is best used at night and in low light or in the dark. We first tried it out during an evening of glow in the dark play. All 5 of my kids love this toy! It really adds a lot of fun to any glow in the dark play!!

Doodle Track Car  (GIVEAWAY below!!)

 Flash Flyer

To win your very own Doodle Track Car for your children or grandchildren, please follow as many of these 6 steps as you can:    

1. Follow this blog   (the blog you are at now)
2. Like Caution! Twins at Play's BRAND NEW page on Facebook
3. Like Daydream Toy on Facebook
4. Follow Caution! Twins at Play on Twitter
5. Follow TwinsRock on Pinterest (this blogs pinterest)
6. Leave a comment on this post, letting me know what you think of this blog and confirm that you did steps 1-5 and if you did the bonus entries too.

* If you do not have twitter or pinterest, you can omit it.

BONUS entry, Like Caution Twins at Play's OLD facebook page, (which was the original page for this blog. This blog used to be a group blog about twins/multiples)

2nd Bonus entry, add 1-3 of your blog posts links to the Learn Through Play Linky Party

This giveaway contest ends on Tuesday May 8th at 12:01 am, winner will be announced by Friday May 11th at 12:01 am!!

First Art for Toddlers and Twos (and Threes) - GIVEAWAY

I would like to introduce a really awesome book called First Art for Toddlers and Twos. The book is an open ended art activity book for children ages one, two, and three years old. The book is categorized and coded with icons to help you find the types of activities that you might want to do with your children, at any given time. What makes this book so unique is that it packed full of 75 fun filled art experiences for your children. Personally, I believe that most of what is in the book can be done with older children as well. There really is no limit to art. Whether you are an artist, art lover, art dabbler, or art virgin, this book is for you and your children. Children need art, it helps them to grow, expand their mind, broaden their horizons, and it is just plain fun.

First Art is not a limited art book. This book gives you so many simple but yet creative ideas, that soon you will feel like an art expert. The art activities in this book can be done with one child or a group of children for a playdate. You will see that common items around your household, will soon become tools for your childrens art exploration. What's amazing about this book is that a child with no art experience will learn so much, themselves while experiencing the activities with their children. This book as inspired me to come up with a few unique ideas of my own.

In this book you will find art experiences that include any one or more of the following materials......

• water
• food coloring
• chalk
• coffee grounds
• flour
• shaving cream
• tempera paint
• fabric scraps
• ziploc bags
• tape
• a cardboard box

....and those are just a few of the fun materials needed for the art that you will be exploring with your children!

This is a really great way to bond with your children and have some good old fashioned messy fun. Try to remember that messy fun is an important part of living life for your children.

Give art a chance!    ;)


First Art for Toddlers and Twos from Gryphon House

To win your very own first art book for your children or grandchildren you must follow these 6 steps:

1. Follow this blog   (the blog you are at now)
2. Like Caution! Twins at Play's BRAND NEW page on Facebook
3. Like Gryphon House Books on Facebook
4. Follow Caution! Twins at Play on Twitter
5. Follow TwinsRock on Pinterest (this blogs pinterest)
6. Leave a comment on this post, letting me know what you think of Caution! Twins at Play and confirm that you did steps 1-5 and if you did the bonus entries too.

BONUS entry, Like Caution! Twins at Play's OLD facebook page, (which was the original page for this blog. This blog used to be a group blog about twins/multiples)

2nd Bonus entry, add 1-3 of your blog posts links to the Learn Through Play Linky Party

This giveaway contest ends on Wednesday March 28th at 12:01 am, winner will be announced by Thursday March 29th at 12:01 am!!

WINNER -- A kids day visual routine chart

The winner of our visual routine chart from A Kids Day is:

Kate Goodrich

             Congrats to Kate Goodrich!!!   Thank you to everyone who participated!!  

I used random.org to generate a random number to choose the winner. 

All winners will have 48 hours to email me with name and mailing address. 

If not, in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Email Contact

LAST DAY FOR THIS GIVEAWAY!!

A Kids Day Visual Routine Chart Giveaway


click the link to enter!!!

WINNER - Imaginets giveaway

The winner of our imaginets giveaway is:

 

The Zoo

             Congrats to The Zoo!!!   Thank you to everyone who participated!!  

I used random.org to generate a random number to choose the winner. 

All winners will have 48 hours to email me with name and mailing address. 

If not, in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Email Contact

WINNER -Rainbow People Mover giveaway!!

Our Winner of the Rainbow People Mover giveaway is....................

Kory

Congrats to Kory!!!   Thank you to everyone who participated!!  

I used random.org to generate a random number to choose the winner. 

All winners will have 48 hours to email me with name & mailing address. 

If not, in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Email Contact

A kids day visual routine charts & GIVEAWAY!!!!

We love our chart from A Kids Day!!

Graham and Parker were lucky enough to receive a beautiful custom made chart and labels from A Kids Day to help plan their daily schedules!  A Kids Day is a really awesome family owned and operated company. Traci and Alan, from A Kids Day have really come up with a wonderful product for young children. They have several designs for their charts to choose from, which are all completely adorable. After you choose your chart design, you tell them what you want on your customized magnetic activity labels!!!  How awesome is that!!  It gets better, they are adorable hand drawn labels!!!

Please see their chart library here
Learn more about their customized magnetic activity labels here

This is our tree chart. I thought that my Twins would like the tree design the best!!

It is very easy for a child to place the activity labels on the chart!

You tell A Kids Day what you want on your customized activity labels!!

A Kids Day is offering a great deal for the next 3 days!! Each chart ordered through their website will receive a bonus 10 extra activity labels (5 labels for the small charts). Click here to order








A video on how A Kids Day charts are used!! 


To win your very own beautiful handmade visual chart and customized activity labels from A Kids Day for your children or grandchildren you must follow these 6 steps:

1. Follow this blog   (the blog you are at now)
2. Like Caution! Twins at Play's BRAND NEW page on Facebook
3. Like A Kids Day on Facebook
4. Follow Caution! Twins at Play on Twitter
5. Follow TwinsRock on Pinterest (this blogs pinterest)
6. Leave a comment on this post, letting me know what you think of this blog and confirm that you did steps 1-5 and if you did the bonus entries too.

BONUS entry, Like Caution Twins at Play's OLD facebook page, (which was the original page for this blog. This blog used to be a group blog about twins/multiples)

2nd Bonus entry, add 1-3 of your blog posts links to the Learn Through Play Linky Party

This giveaway contest ends on Wednesday March 14th at 12:01 am, winner will be announced by Thursday March 15th at 12:01 am!!

Imaginets and GIVEAWAY!

We had the lovely opportunity to receive a set of Imaginets to play with!! They are pretty amazing! Both of my twins really enjoyed playing with them.  Imaginets come in a folding, hinged, wooden case with rope handles that unfolds to reveal two magnetic whiteboards, 25 double sided building idea cards, and wooden, magnetic, shapes that come in orange, green, blue, yellow, and purple. Imaginets are made to boost fine motor skills as well as visual thinking skills. Graham and Parker both took the initiative to follow the cards and build what was on the cards they chose. They are a lot of fun to play with. We even used our magnetic play tray to build on a larger space too! Imaginets are perfect for travel play too! They would be great in the car or on a plane! They would also be a good toy to take on vacation, the case is very compact and sturdy. plus a latch to keep it closed and carrying handles! We really the Imaginets set, they are very fun to play with and are indeed a good brainy toy! They are recommended for ages 3+.

The companies that sent the Imaginets set to us were:

Montessori Services and For Small Hands

You can find Imaginets on both of their websites:

http://www.montessoriservices.com/imaginets

or http://www.forsmallhands.com/imaginets

Imaginets case opened

choosing design cards

Graham is building, Parker is still deciding

checking out a design card

Gathering pieces to make their designs

checking to see if he has the right piece

Look!!  a person!!

so cute!

finishing up a duck

;) adorable!

To win your very own set of Imaginets for your children or grandchildren you must follow these 6 steps:

1. Follow this blog   (the blog you are at now)
2. Like Caution! Twins at Play's BRAND NEW page on Facebook
3. Like Montessori Services on Facebook
4. Follow Caution! Twins at Play on Twitter
5. Follow TwinsRock on Pinterest (this blogs pinterest)
6. Leave a comment on this post, letting me know what you think of this blog and confirm that you did steps 1-5 and if you did the bonus entries too.

BONUS entry, Like Caution Twins at Play's OLD facebook page, (which was the original page for this blog. This blog used to be a group blog about twins/multiples)

2nd Bonus entry, add 1-3 of your blog posts links to the Learn Through Play Linky Party

This giveaway contest ends on Monday March 12th at 12:01 am, winner will be announced by Tuesday March 13th at 12:01 am!!

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER OUR OTHER TOY GIVEAWAY!!!  CLICK HERE!!

Rainbow People Mover & GIVEAWAY! CONTEST CLOSED 3/10/12

Meet the rainbow people mover 

Would you like one for your children or grandchildren? 

Graham and Parker had the pleasure of getting to play with the rainbow people mover and give me their feedback. It was a hit!! Our rainbow people mover came from a lovely website called

A Toy Garden

The rainbow people mover is a really cute solid wooden vehicle with ten equally cute, colorful, removable, wooden people in it. The wooden people are a very good size. This toy is great for matching, putting in and out, lining up, learning colors, and order. The people mover reminds me of a cute little school bus filled with children. The wheels turn perfectly for regular vehicle play. The people fit perfectly in holes on the top side of the people mover. The people mover is rubbed with nontoxic food grade mineral oil. The people are colored in the U.S with nontoxic paint. The people come in red, blue, green, yellow, and purple colors. In the photos above and below, Graham is playing with the rainbow people mover. He played with it on the floor, on a fuzzy rug, and on a set of wooden nesting block boxes. As you can see, he set up an incline and moved the rainbow people mover down the incline of wooden boxes, he lined them up and played with them like little action figures. I will be posting more pics in a blog entry I am posting this weekend with both Graham and Parker playing with this toy. It is GREAT for twins to top it all off!!  Its a really cute, natural toy. I definitely recommend it to anyone with children under the age of 6. I think it would be a great addition to anyone's home!! 

Check out the giveaway details below these few pictures. The giveaway is open to anyone with children or grandchildren. Thanks for reading!!  ;)

To win your very own Rainbow People Mover for your children or grandchildren you must follow these 5 steps:

1. Follow this blog   (the blog you are at now)
2. Like Caution! Twins at Play's BRAND NEW page on Facebook
3. Like A Toy Garden on Facebook
4. Follow Caution! Twins at Play on Twitter
5. Leave a comment on this post, letting me know what you think of this blog and confirm that you did steps 1-4 and if you did the bonus entries too.

BONUS entry, Like Caution Twins at Play's OLD facebook page, (which was the original page for this blog. This blog used to be a group blog about twins/multiples)

2nd Bonus entry, add 1-3 of your blog posts links to the Learn Through Play Linky Party

This giveaway contest ends on Saturday March 10th at 12:01 am, winner will be announced by Sunday March 11th at 12:01 am!!




CONTEST CLOSED 3/10/12
WINNER ANNOUNCED HERE

Step2 LifeStyle Master Chef Kitchen



The Manufacturers Photo

  I had the opportunity to receive the Step2 Lifestyle Master Chef Kitchen for review.First off, let me say it is a really cute kitchen. The design of this kitchen is a little bit different than most of their standard kitchens. It has more of a rounded shape to it. The fact that it is a rounded design, allows more room for stylish placement of the kitchen in your children's play room. There is a peep through area in the backside of the kitchen, This could be for imaginative play, like passing a plate of play food though or simply to let in some light if placed by a window in the daytime. The kitchen could also be placed nicely against a wall by other toys or in a corner.  I like how this kitchen has so many electronic components. The rear stove burner not only makes sound when a pot or pan is placed on it, but it lights up and flashes too!! This is really exciting for the little ones. For a younger child, under the age of three it is like instant gratification that they put something in the correct spot. They are rewarded with flashing lights and bubbling or boiling water sound if they place the pot on the rear burner. If they place the pan on the rear burner they get flashing lights and a sizzling or frying food sound.  The flashing lights are not crazy or over done. They would not be a hazard or obnoxious in any way. The microwave and the oven also both have sound as well. They both have a keypad on them with lots of cute little buttons to push. Every button makes a different sound. My Twins love all of the sounds this kitchen makes! None of the sounds are loud or obnoxious either. That is always a plus for any parent, especially a parent with multiples or many children in the household. There is a light above the stove on this kitchen as well. This is a really neat feature. It really adds to the kitchen for evening play. There is a phone included that makes sound too!!  I am always impressed with the quality of Step2 toys. I have been buying Step2 toys since my first child was born. She will be 15 in the spring! Believe it or not we still have one of her Step2 Toys and it is in near perfect condition!

The Step2 Lifestyle Master Chef Kitchen has a lot of accessories. I was actually quite impressed with the number of accessories it came with. There are plastic bins that slide into various spots on the kitchen to store play food and play dishes in them There are several spices and even a pepper mill that you can crank the handle on! It has a set of dishes for two. There are cooking utensils and a built in rack to hang them on, and even a cute little pot holder!!  One really cute accessory is the coffee pot, there is even a special spot for the coffee pot to sit in the back wall of the kitchen. It is really well done! The cabinets are so nice too. I love how you have so many cabinets and spots to place the accessories and the play food, as well as the play dishes. Very Nice!!



See screw in center.

 My only complaint about this kitchen is that the sink is fully removable and the rack for the cooking utensils to hang on pops off very easily. The fact that the cooking utensil rack pops off so easily, can actually be frustrating for both the Mom and the children playing with it. I don't like how the sink can be removed easily because it is just another piece that can end up away from the kitchen and lost in a toy box. Oddly it is a little easier to keep track of the accessories than it is to keep track of something like the sink or a cooking utensil rack. The cooking utensil rack is simply a rounded plastic, c shaped part with hooks that pops onto the pillar in the center of the kitchen. When the child removes a cooking utensils, 8 out of 10 times it pops off right with the utensil. However there is a very easy solution to this issue. I added a small screw to hold it into place. I did the same with the sink. One thing you need to realize is that with any toy you buy, there are always parts that can easily be removed, that you think to yourself, oh why can't that be bolted down!! I give this kitchen a 9 out of 10 on all aspects. So seriously, don't allow the fact that I have pointed out two items that can be a little bit of a nuisance deter you from purchasing this kitchen. I promise you that adding a screw to bolt down the kitchen utensil rack and the sink was VERY easy.  I promise it was easy. I am so happy with the results too! It helped so much!



See screw in center.



 I assembled this entire kitchen by myself without a power screw driver.drill. I did it all by hand with a regular philips head screw driver. There is definitely some hard work and sweat involved with the assembly of the kitchen. Have you ever purchased a high quality, long lasting, durable toy that was very quick and extremely easy to assemble? Doubtful. These toys last a lifetime. They are built strong and well to last through children and even grand children if you make sure they are well taken care of. I would certainly now allow my children to be rough with any toy but if you have a rough child, Step2 toys can generally take the heat AND stay in the kitchen, no pun intended. I need to be clear that these two "flaws" which I am using the term flaw very loosely, are NOT in any way safety issues. They are just annoying aspects of the toy that are completely remedied by a screw for each one. Just one screw, that is all!

Now on to play! My Twins, Graham and Parker are really enjoying this kitchen. It has really been providing a lot of fun for them. My Twins will be turning three in April. I am watching them blossom in front of my eyes in the aspects of learning through imaginative play. This kitchen really sparks the imagination in a small child. They actually own an older Step2 Kitchen that I purchased for my daughter Mackenna, who is turning 11 this month. I purchased it back in mid 2001. They have a new version of that kitchen now, that looks much nicer than the one we have. It is also a really nice kitchen but I never saw it spark as much imaginative play as this one. They have been exploring the kitchen now for a day and a half. They are really enjoying it. I watch them have conversations about making food and pouring coffee. They talk about where certain things should go, like which spices into which cabinets. They stir the play food in the pots and pans while the burner sizzles or bubbles. They press all of the buttons, open and close all of the cabinets, refrigerator, oven, and microwave. They re-arrange how they have the dishes set up. They like to serve me coffee and tell me I have a call on the phone. They are having so much fun!!  They could hardly contain themselves when I was assembling the kitchen. They kept coming over and asking me if they could play kitchen yet. They have a really big interest in playing with this kitchen. They know how I love Starbucks coffee, anytime we drive to or past the plaza that my favorite Starbucks is located, they say "Coffee, Mommy??" Now they love having a coffee pot and cups to "make" me some coffee. The cute little squeals they make when I pretend to drink the coffee are adorable. We love this kitchen, Thank you Step2.

We added some food!