I have found that children love the hands-on part of cooking.  They love putting their little fingers in dough, rolling it into little balls and then patting it out.  I have also found that if they have a part in creating it, they will be more likely to eat it, which is a great trick to getting them to eat healthier foods.   They might not eat raisins or celery alone, but show them how to create “Ants on a Log” and you might be surprised to see them gobble it down.

Cut up a bunch of vegetables and tell your child to arrange them on a big platter any way they want.  This helps them use their imagination and even develop an eye for art by creating a way for them to learn how to combine colors and arrange shapes.

Don’t feel you have to follow a recipe exactly.  Who says that the only thing that goes on a peanut butter sandwich is jelly?  Let them decide what they think would taste good.  If you’re the type that stresses over a dirty kitchen, take a deep breath and just let them do their own thing for a bit.  You’ll be glad you did.

]]> http://outoftheboxcrew.com/index.php/2010/02/23/fun-times-in-the-kitchen/feed/ 0 http://outoftheboxcrew.com/index.php/2010/01/20/thinking-ahead/ http://outoftheboxcrew.com/index.php/2010/01/20/thinking-ahead/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:23:12 +0000 Lorie http://outoftheboxcrew.com/?p=49 My six month old grandson is growing like a weed, and it seems like every day he reaches a new milestone.  One week he was opening and closing his little hand as though he was a rusty tin man badly in need of an oiling, but the next week he was grasping a teething ring and plunging it in his mouth as if he had been doing it his whole, albeit short, life.  

I know all the baby books and websites give schedules about what babies will be doing at certain ages, but let me share with you a little secret:  babies and children follow their own schedules and couldn’t care less about statistics and well-controlled studies.  My daughter started walking when she was just seven months old, well ahead of the nine to twelve month time frame most books give.  That’s why I like to think ahead and be prepared.  For Christmas I bought my grandson several toys that I knew he wasn’t ready to play with yet, but I also know his little brain and body are developing so rapidly that it would be hard to pin point the exact moment he will be ready to graduate from shaking a rattle to putting little wooden shapes into their matching shaped holes.  The toys are ready and waiting for him to explore and play with, even if he doesn’t “do it right.” 

One of my gifts to him was the EverEarth Activity Walker.  He loves looking at the bright colors and touching the little knobs and buttons and I believe this helps his little brain to process information such as colors and shapes and also to develop hand/eye coordination, even if someone has to hold him up to it right now.

It’s often helpful to think slightly ahead of schedule for toy buying; that way children can grow into their toys.   Of course, some toys are off limits at young ages because of choking hazards or other dangers, so parents should evaluate each toy carefully and always be closely supervising.  But many toys are age-labeled as a general guideline. The great thing is that my daughter has some toys in her closet to pull out when he shows signs of needing more stimulation and activity.

Let me tell you a little about Luxury Walking Sticks.com. We discovered these extraordinary walking sticks by Bridges and decided to offer them to the public via our Toy website even though they did not seem to ‘fit’ with our other products. We are now in our third year of selling the Bridges Walking Companions. These canes are unique, reasonably priced and very high quality. Our customers love them so much, we decided to open a separate website dedicated to these special walking sticks. Please note: We are not the manufacturer of the Bridges walking companions.

Be sure to let us know what you think!
By the way…no baby yet! But it could be any day now!

I am going to write about some of the things I remember from the original business days. I remember when there was no “warehouse”, when virtually everything that had to do with the business was stored in two rooms in our home! When the mail delivery man would scratch his head and wonder… “what on earth do they do with eight rolls of bubble wrap every other week!?” These are the things that made our home business fun and exciting.

The sound of tape guns screeching, paper crackling and bubble wrap bursting was once the soundtrack to myeveryday life. Oh, the memories of living with a home-based internet business! I loved working with Out of the Toy Box, packing and shipping surprise gifts from a Grandparent, to an excited birthday girl or boy! Later receiving stories of the child’s delight in opening the package to find a Pretend Food Birthday Party!

I loved to see every new product that came in, it was so exciting! Melissa & Doug shipments always had new things for our website. Some of my favorites were the Band In A Box, and several of their Puzzles! We all had a blast playing with the new products that we “tested”. Abigail was particularly intrigued by the Magic Sets, and ambushed the entire household with her “magic tricks” daily.

That’s all for now! Happy Spring!!

Wow, we are really impressed with the way things are going. There are a lot of cool new features, like a mini-cart that shows everything that you have selected, without actually going into your cart. This should make shopping much easier. I love to shop online and really appreciate an easy-to-use site. As a matter-of-fact, most all shopping for the recent wedding was accomplished online. It was fabulous…but I think that is a topic for another time.

I love the new enlarged photo that seems to magically appear when you hover your mouse over the image. This feature is inside the actual product description page, not the category pages. Here is an example: 60 Standard Unit Blocks. To see a completed category page, visit Castle & Pirate Ship Toys.We are on the cutting edge of technology and it is exciting.

I will let Joshua, our resident computer-geek, tell you about some of the other fab-o, change-o, technical wizardry. He will use the right terminology.

We have also made a switch to Scan Alert who will provide a daily scan and assurance that our site is hacker-proof and safe for our customers. You will soon see the Hacker Safe logo on our website and will probably recognize it from many other and very prestigious online stores. We are pleased to have been given a very positive rating with no changes required in order to meet their very strict and high standards. Now you can be even more confident that we are a safe and secure website!

Thank you for your patience as we complete all the changes. Some pages may have an unfinished quality for a few days. But we will be working enthusiastically to get all changes implemented asap.

Be sure to make note of our new Out of the Toy Box logo. Thanks to Joshua and Cybergate for such nice work!

So, why are we doing all of this extra work? Because we want you to enjoy shopping with us at Out of the Toy Box. We want your experience on our website to be enjoyable, simple and easy-on-the-eyes. Have you ever tried to shop on an ugly website? It can be quite a challenge. But another really good reason is that I just love to re-decorate. We have been remodeling our old home, off and on, for 27 years. Maybe it is time to find a new project.
Okay, I have rambled long enough and barely scratched the surface. I will save the rest for another day.

One of my ‘jobs’ is to choose new toys and games for our website. It is fun but can also be a daunting task. The products we look for must be wholesome, worthwhile, a good value and qualify for many years of family service. We recently received a shipment of new games that we have been waiting for since January. It was so exciting to finally see them.We are very impressed with this new line of Past-Tyme Classics from Melissa and Doug Toys. Some of the games included in the line: Chinese Checkers, Pick-Up Sticks, Backgammon and more. The line is beautifully made, and designed to be displayed and stored on your wall. As an avid organizer and mother of a fairly large family (always needing better ways to store things), I love the idea.

We were thrilled to find a game that truly fascinates everyone in our family, from our seven year-old to our new son-in-law to the (maybe-I-shouldn’t-tell-you-how-old) Dad. I suppose there is a reason that this game of Mancala has been around for centuries, after all. It is fun!

Did you know that Mancala is believed to be one of the most ancient of all board games? The word Mancala means “to transfer” in Arabic. This game challenges players to move pieces from bin to bin. Many rule variations exist, and Mancala is played in some form in almost every African country. Intrigued? You can find more detailed historical information about Mancala here.

The funny thing? They weren’t sales. It was family members claiming first dibs on them.

It started small enough, with Miriam, Abigail and Lydia getting a set to play with. Then Caleb and I decided to get one as a gift for our Aunt Laurie. Then Naomi — Yes, the -1 that I mentioned last time. — demanded repayment for some groceries and snacks she had picked up for the family. But she didn’t want payment in cash. She wanted payment in Mancala.

So here we are at the beginning of the Christmas season and half our Mancala stock is already gone. If you want one you’d better order it now.