Anamalz Panda

If you haven’t come across them already, Anamalz are the fantastic eco friendly toys which are just bursting with character. The adorable wooden wildlife characters were created in Australia but have since escaped and are speading all over the world, now inhabiting more than 30 countries!

Handcrafted from wood and textile components, each Anamalz creation is an individual.  They all have bendable limbs and can be posed in almost any position. This, combined with their very tastefully designed fabric features, results in a range of funky animals who always look like they have some sort of mischief in mind! There are four different ranges of these multiple award winning toys. The farm range, wild range, pre-historic range and the Australian range.

Anamalz Donkey

Eco Friendly Anamalz Friends

Anamalz are made from Maple wood which is obtained from sustainable managed forests. This means, whenever a tree is harvested for its wood, a new tree comes to maturity. But their contribution towards sustainability doesn’t end there - the waste wood from the manufacturing process is used to grow mushrooms! All Anamalz packaging is made from recycled paper.

Hand Made Quality Companions

Each Anamalz limb, horn or trunk is hand assembled and hand painted to ensure superb quality creatures.

Anamalz Misbehaving

Child Friendly Creatures

The Anamalz range of quirky characters are all natural. Why add nasty chemicals when the best is available straight from nature? Only water based paints are used and all fabric components are formaldehyde free.

Anamalz Saving Animals

Anamalz have established the Animalz Saving Animals (ASA) trust fund. The proceeds of Anamalz sales will be used to contribute to wildlife and children’s organisations around the world.

The Anamalz range of funky animal toys are all available at Wooden Toys Ireland (www.woodentoys.ie)

Anamalz - The Original Crew

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Jody Eco Issues, Product Announcements anamalz, animals, eco friendly, toys, wildlife, wooden toys

After discovering a potential safety problem, Baby Gap Ltd. has recalled baby toggle coats and baby duffle coats.

The coats have toggle fasteners made from plastic which may come apart and separate, resulting in a potential choking hazard to babies and young children.

In the USA, Gap have been made aware of 7 cases where the plastic toggles have broken while being fastened, but no incidents or injuries have been reported elsewhere.

This recall is in relation to three coats:

• The Mojave Toggle Coat (Style No: 600942)
• The Blue Toggle Coat plaid (Style No: 600942)
• The Pink Duffle Coat (Style No: 600344)

Toggle Coat Blue Plaid

Mojave Toggle Coat

Pink Duffle Coat

 

What should you do

If you have purchased one of the affected items, please return the item to the Gap store in Arnotts in Henry Street for a full refund.

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Jody Product Recalls duffle coat, gap, recalls, toggle coat

 

 

The Automoblox C9 R

Automblox have been around since 2004 but only first appeared in Ireland in 2008. The concept is simple and great but what really makes this toy special, in my opinion, is the style aspect to it. The vehicles really look fabulous. That’s because the deisgners developed their designs using the same engineering software that the world’s leading automotive producers use. 

 

 

Simple Concept

The concept is elegant and simple. Stylish cars composed of multiple interchangeable connecting parts. There are currently 12 cars in the main Automoblox range whose parts can all be interchanged allowing all sorts of combinations to be constructed.  The novel and clever connection system accomplishes a number of things. Firstly, the connectors are plastic. As a material, wood doesn’t work very well when used to connect things over and over again. Plastic is more durable. Secondly, the connectors are bright and colourful and help young children develop their colour recognition skills. Finally, they use a clever system of coloured shapes which only allows the parts to be connected the correct way around - this develops shape recognition and motor skills. Much more fun than a boring old shape sorter.

Innovative Connection System - Interchangeable Parts

No Shortcuts!

The Automoblox S9-R. Attitude Included.

This reminds me of the time we gave our younger daughter a shape sorting box for the first time. Her fine motor skills weren’t very fine at this stage. She got a shape and clumsily tried forcing it into a couple of the shaped holes without success. Then she stopped sat back a little and paused. After a couple of seconds she took the lid off, dumped the pieces in the box and went and did something else. Problem solved! Automoblox don’t suffer from this fundamental shortcoming - the shape recognition requirement can’t be worked around!

Wide Age Range of Appeal

Wide Range of Appeal

So - Automblox aren’t just great looking and fun, they have an educational and developmental dimension to them too. Another aspect of this toy is the wide age range of appeal. Younger kids, from 3 upwards, will love to play with them. They are big, chunky and durable - perfect for small energetic hands.

Slightly older children, from 5 onwards will love building them and taking them apart. When they have a few, they’ll love combining the parts into their own unique creations.

Finally, older children, from 8 upwards, will love to collect them. They are modern and sylish looking, appealing to the increasingly sophistacted tastes of older kids.

The Mini Range

The Automoblox Mini Range

The Automblox mini range is basically a shrunk down version of the main range. This allows the shopper on a tighter budget to buy into the Automoblox concept. The mini range have a slightly simpler connection system while still allowing parts to be interchanged to produce new combination vehicles. 

That’s all very well, but where can I get one?

The full Automoblox range is available at ToysOnline.ie.

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Jody Uncategorized Automoblox, developmental toys, toys

The Berg Moov: Build it and climb on!

Imagine a Lego or Meccano set that was big and strong enough so that you could climb onto and drive!

Well this is the fantastic new concept from Dutch toymaker, Berg Toys: A ride-on construction kit! As an engineer and overgrown child myself, I’m regretting not being born two decades later so I could get my hands on this - surely it’s every child’s fantasy to build their very own scooter, go-kart or trike?

The wonderful thing about this toy is that no tools are required. The chunky wooden, rubber and metal parts can all be hand assembled and is within the capability of a typical 5 year old - that’s if he can get dad out of the way, that is!

The set consists of 175 sturdy pieces and instructions are provided for 4 ride-ons including a scooter, go kart, trike and recumbent bike.

One box, many outdoor toys

It’s like Lego meets the soap box! Not everyone has a workshop and spare sets of wheels, but with the Berg Moov, that won’t prevent your child having the wind in his or her hair as they thunder down the hill in their very own creation!

175 Pieces of outdoor construction fun

In a refreshing twist, as the rest of the world’s manufacturing migrates eastward, the Berg Moov is actually manufactured in the Netherlands. I find this comforting, but I can’t find a politically correct way of expressing why this is!

The Berg Moov retails for €299.99 at ToysOnline.ie

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Jody DIY Toys, Product Announcements, Retro Toys berg, berg moov, construction toys, go kart, Lego, moov, soap box

The Most Popular Boy's Name

We sell a number of personalised products for children which feature the child’s name. We’ve been looking through the data and thought it would be interesting to see what the most popular names for boys and girls in Ireland are today. The products would typically be bought for children from birth to, perhaps, 6 years old, so the data is representative of children in that age range. This is interesting as it gives an idea of the most common names of children from a wide age group, rather than looking at birth statistics.

And the results are:

Top 5 Boys’ Names:

Thomas
Darragh
Jack
Benjamin
Luke

 Top 5 Girls’ Names

Sarah
Caoimhe
Chloe
Emily
Emma

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Jody Did You Know? children's names, irish names, names, popular names

Irish Creative Stamping Kaleidoscope in Packaging

Irish Creative Stamping has recalled Toy Kaleidoscopes as a precautionary measure. The issue came to light on foot of a notification from the German authorities.

Due to the excessive length of loop of cord, there is a possible risk of asphyxiation for children, particularly those under the age of three.

The product has been on sale in Ireland since 2001.

Irish Creative Stamping Kaleidoscope

What to do

Immediately ensure that children no longer have access to this product. Irish Creative Stamping has advised consumers to return the item to the store where purchased. A full refund will be made.

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Jody Product Recalls, Toys and Parenting recalls, toys

Imaginosity - Great day out for everyone

I had heard positive things about Imaginosity and was determined to find out what all the fuss was about. We eventually got around to going last Sunday and thought we’d share our experience here.

What is it?

Well, they call it “Dublin Children’s Museum” but I think the title is a little misleading. Basically, it’s two floors of indoor fun for children of all ages. There are many different play areas each with their own play themes and accessories. We’ll describe it all in more detail later.

Booking

The Imaginosity website advises booking in advance if you intend visiting on weekends or school holidays. Booking online was painless, just enter the date of your visit at https://www.imaginosity.ie/book/index.php and then click on the 2-hour time slot that suits you (only available time slots are shown). In the end, we needn’t have booked, but it was a nice day and perhaps less busy than normal.

Getting There

Getting there was almost easy. I printed the Google Maps directions which are conveniently accessed from this page on the Imaginosity website. However, once you are on Blackthorn Road in Sandyford, it is extremely easy to miss. I was expecting a prominent enough sign, but there was none. I should also have printed Imaginosity’s directions.  Imaginosity is in the Beacon complex if you look closely enough and squint, you’ll see Imaginosity on the small signs.

First Impressions

Our slot was 10am on Sunday morning. The entrance is bright and cheerful and the staff were extremely friendly. You know you’re somewhere child friendly straight away. We were visiting with our two girls aged 6 and 2.5 and they both got stamps on their wrists upon entering.

First Floor - Miniature Town - Role Play

This is where we spent the first 45 minutes of our visit and is where our girls had the most fun. The area is laid out like a miniature town. There’s a garage, supermarket, bank, doctor’s surgery, diner, library and post office. The first thing to strike you as you enter is a full sized smart car modified for junior drivers. The interior is fitted with a monitor and touch screen control panel. Using the steering wheel and foot pedals, you can “drive” the car like you’re in a video game. This is really only suitable for older children as younger ones won’t reach the pedals. It took a while to work out how to get the car started.

We felt most activities could benefit from either more interaction from staff, explaining what is to be done and how, or, at least, instruction signs or sheets, explaining how to use stuff.

Next was the super market. This is, by far, the most fun activity in Imaginosity - for us anyway. This one had our whole family involved. You get a shopping list and trolley and must go around the supermarket and find all the things on your list. The supermarket is very well stocked and has tons of play food stalls. There’s a butcher, a section for fresh bread and pastries, fresh fruit and vegetables, tinned foods and drinks. Once your child is done filling their trolley, it’s checkout time. The checkout is fully equipped with a manually operated conveyor belt, cash register and beeping bar code scanner. This is where a parent or sibling can come in. We had great fun… daddy operated the conveyor, mummy scanned the items and little sister was the volunteer from the local school packing the bags and putting the toiletries in with your fresh meat.

This activity too could have benefited from a little instruction from staff. It was a little while before we realised there were shopping lists and initially our elder girl just went around filling the trolley. The shopping list makes it more fun and sets the child an objective. It makes all the difference. A little engagement from staff could help kids get a lot more from the experience.

Next was the Eddie Rockets style diner. This is where our younger girl (2.5) had a real blast. There are tables and stools for customers and a fully equipped kitchen. There are menus and our girl got a great kick out of taking our orders. There are drinks machines that make gurgling noises when the button is pressed. I had at least 20 coffee refills! My toast was actually a bread loaf from the super market - but we thought it wise not to complain to the manager! Little sister got so into this activity that she started stealing orders indended for other kids and was brining coffee and sandwiches to the other parents!

During our shopping antics, I accidentally scratched big sister on the cheek. There was only one thing for it. She had to be rushed to the doctor’s surgery. I placed her on the examination table and used one of the 50 stethoscopes to listen to her heartbeat. I also listened to her forehead, feet and elbows. That got a bit of a laugh. An X-ray was required. There is a box full of real x-rays and one of those x-ray display thingies that you’ve seen on telly. It would be a lie to say that the kids were the only ones fantasising in here!

Once big sister had made a full recovery, it was time to deliver the post. The post office was full of letters and parcels to be delivered all over town. So off we set… a small letter for Dr Appleaday’s Surgery - in it went into the letter box. A big parcel for the Garage, a letter for the bank.

For the under twos, there is a closed off cushioned area which has the same idea. There is a little house with a door and doorbell. Visitors must ring the bell and normally get invited in for a cup of tea. The little ones then get busy in the fully equipped kitchen rustling up tea and biscuits for the visitors. Only one problem… no tea cups!! This brings up another grievance we had. Maybe Imaginosity is suffering from a little wear and tear, but it seemed that some activities were missing the critical bits and pieces needed to fully exploit idea.

Second Floor - Create and Imagine

There are two main themes to the second floor. The first is a construction/creative theme. There are a number of activities involving building and construction that will especially appeal to boys. One of my favourites was the giant sized wooden blocks. We made a huge building that DD decided was a church. We attracted lots of diapproving looks when the demolition started.

One of the main features of the second floor is a fully equipped theatre. There are controllable spot lights and a fully equipped wardrobe and stage. This activity really needed some co-ordination and structure. It’s a little much to expect kids to conceive and carry out their own theatre productions in the space of a half-hour. It really needs the involvement of staff to put some structure on it. Perhaps this happens on occasion - but while we were there it was completely unattended.

Also, on the second floor there is a big doll house, musical activities and an area for the under ones.

The second floor would be of more interest to older children - it wasn’t very interesting for our 2.5 year old who was a little lost there. It wasn’t long before they were asking to go down.

Half way through the visit, the roof garden was opened up. This is a curious affair. There is a underground play badger house that smells like an underground badger house. As an engineer, the most curious feature of the roof garden was a solar panel that was in the shade at 12pm!

Food

At 12:30, little sister was getting hungry and just a little cranky. We decided to eat in the in-house cafe. Mum and dad had the Pannini and coffee deal for €6. The kids had ham sambos and Caprisun. I don’t remember how much they were but it all seemed reasonable enough and the quality was good. The coffee was excellent!

Conclusions

All in all, a terrific 2.5 hours of fun for both girls. Neither wanted to leave and we’re now under pressure to commit to a date for the next visit! We had two gripes. Firstly, we felt that most activities could benefit from the engagement of staff to put a little structure on things and help the kids get the most out of each activity and tell them what they’re supposed to do. In the absence of participation by staff, we felt there could be a lot more by way of instruction. For some activities it can take a while to establish what the objective is. Secondly, much of the equipment seems to have fallen into a state of disrepair. A lot of the equipment wasn’t working and in some cases, this ruined the whole activity.

Toy Blog Tips:

• Read the website directions (don’t rely on Google!)
• Don’t forget the shopping list in the super market!
• Kids will get a lot more out of it with parent participation
• Go for the 10 to 12 slot at weekends. From 12 on it was getting busy and competition for equipment etc. is likely to increase after this
• Keep an eye on your kids if they go into the climber, we witnessed more than one distressed child inside

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Jody Reviews, Uncategorized days out, Imaginosity, Reviews

Why pay for what you can make at home?

The perfect solution for a rainy day at home. Combine some home baking fun with a great versatile toy as the end result.

If you’re like us, you’ve tried doing this before, but your dough went green and mouldy after a relatively short amount of time. Using a little salt can cure this problem. Also, a little cream of tartar will prevent your dough from crystalising and going hard. Finally, you can add some natural food colouring to brighten up your dough.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vegtable oil
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon cream of tartar

All these items are available in Tescos - I checked their online store.

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a pot. Cook and stir over low/medium heat until dough is formed and no longer sticking (too much) to the side of the pan. Allow to cool and when it’s not too hot for you to touch, knead it until you have a smooth dough. This is the time to add colouring if you’re going to use it. Knead until colour is distributed throughout. Store in an airtight container.

How long will it last?

Your virtually free toy should last approximiately 6 months. In our experience with the store bought version, we will have managed to forget to put a lid back on at some stage way before 6 months - so this shouldn’t be a limiting factor.

Optional:

To make your dough more pleasant smelling and to give it a smoother consistency, you can consider replacing the vegtable oil with baby oil.

Imagine - Create - Play

Now that you have your playdough, it’s time to get creative. When you’ve finished making ever animal you can think of, you could get the digital camera out and try making your very own animated production featuring your play dough creations!

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Jody DIY Toys DIY Toys, play dough, recession busting, toys

The DC3

These times of recession are great for rediscovering your childhood. We’ve just discovered paper aeroplanes in our house. Children are great. The plain and obvious to you is the new and undiscovered to them.

The Classic Dart

I came in the door one evening last week and my 6 year old girl was running around with a fairly primitive under performing model that my wife had rustled up. Apparently, the art of the paper aeroplane is rather under-developed in France. This wouldn’t do at all. When I placed that A4 piece of paper on the table, my hands started folding the paper all by themselves, just like it was 25 years ago! Shortly after its pretty successful maiden flight, which saw it soar through the gap in the conservatory doors, my “Classic Dart” went into mass production. Every eye in the house was at risk with paper aeroplanes flying everywhere. Brilliant stuff. They provided a full evening’s entertainment and I’m still being asked to make them days later. Fun, free and wholesome entertainment! After a little Googling, we can do a whole lot better than the rudimentary Classic Dart.

This page claims to have the best paper aeroplane in the world. After a quick glance at its main features, it’s hard to disagree.

The Best Paper Aeroplane in the World!

This page has instructions for no less than 27 different types of paper aeroplane, all ranked by difficulty level.

But that’s not all the fun you can have. I remember as a child, I had a book about space which came with a cut out and fold space shuttle which could “fly”. It also came with a cut out landing strip. Your objective was to glide your space shuttle onto the landing strip, just like the real thing (of course you know that the real space shuttle has to perform a glide landing too). So, with a little imagination, some A4 pages, a marker and some sellotape, you can create your very own runway and try to land your creations on it.

So there you have it - some simple, creative and inexpensive ways to spend quality time with your children.

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Jody Retro Toys, Toys and Parenting paper aeroplane, recession, toys

April 22nd 2009 is Earth Day. The objective is to highlight the importance of altering our way of life in the interests of the survival of the planet and its ability to support the range of diverse life forms which it does today. From the WWF website:

We’ve reached a critical moment in the history of the Earth and it’s Time for Change. In the 50 days leading up to Earth Day 2009, we will be asking all people to help World Wildlife Fund protect the future of nature by pledging to make change.

Is this just scare mongering? Is there a real threat to the Earth’s ecosystems and their ability to support the diverse range of living organisms that it does today? In 2008 the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released its Living Planet Report which attempts to quantify Humankind’s demand on the Earth’s resources and calculated what is sustainable based on the Earth regenerative capacity and Human activities. The results are alarming.  The report states:

Whether we live on the edge of the forest or in the heart of the city, our livelihoods and indeed our lives depend on the services provided by the Earth’s natural systems. The Living Planet Report 2008 tells us that we are consuming the resources that underpin those services much too fast – faster than they can be replenished. Just as reckless spending is causing recession, so reckless consumption is depleting the world’s natural capital to a point where we are endangering our future prosperity. The Living Planet Index shows that over the past 35 years alone the Earth’s wildlife populations have declined by a third.

By using measures such as Humankind’s demand on fresh water resources and land area for food, our “Ecological Footprint” was calculated.  

The Earth’s ability to support life is then established by calculating factors such as fresh water replenishment rates and soil nutrient cycling rates. Humanity’s impact on this in the form of pollution,  habitat loss and climate change etc is also factored in.

The results are alarming. On the one hand, Humanity’s demand on the Earth’s resources is increasing while, due to our actions, the ability of the Earth to support life is decreasing. Both these trends are illustrated below.

The Earth's ability support life relative to 1970 levels`

Humanity's ecological footprint relative to Earth's sustainable capacity

 

The top graph shows the “Living Planet Index” which represents the Earth’s ability to support life relative to 1970 levels. It can be seen clearly that this has been been decreasing steadily for the last two decades. The second, bottom graph shows Humanity’s demand on the Earth’s resources, such as fresh water and soil nutrients. The horizontal green line is the Earth’s regenerative capacity. It can be seen that as of 2005, we have been using the Earth’s resources 30% faster than they can be replenished. The consequences of inaction are obvious - shortages in the basic resources and services to support life.

 

So surely the objectives of WWF Earth Day are worthwhile. There is no escaping the fact that Human behaviour must change if the Earth is to retain its ability to support the enormous diversity of life that it does today.

The Living Planet Report can be downloaded here.

To celebrate WWF Earth Day on April 22nd, Soft and Cuddly is offering a 10% discount off their brand new Eco-Plush range with products from the Aurora Naturally range by Aurora World and the Eco Mouse by Happy Horse. Also, there is now 10% off all WWF plush animals.

For more information on WWF and how to help, please visit http://www.worldwildlife.org/

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Jody Eco Issues climate change, earth day, environment, soft toys, wwf