How to Make Bath Time More Enticing for your Toddler

Sometimes it can feel like no matter what you do, your little one just doesn’t want to take a bath. It can end in a tantrum too if you push the point. So what can you do to make your little person squeal with joy at the words ‘bath time?’ Here, we’ve listed some clever tips that might just work wonders. From getting creative with bath time toys to experimenting with the best time of day for a bath, we’ve got some great ideas that might just change this difficult task for you and your child:

Timing
You know what it’s like after you’ve had a long day. If someone asks you to do something you just don’t feel up to it and you are more than likely to drag your feet. This is the same feeling your child may be having. If bath times are usually in the night, try changing bath time to just after or before nap time, or much earlier in the day when they aren’t exhausted from the days activities.
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3 Benefits of Sustainable Toys

It is more important now than ever to lessen the impact we have on the planet. Sustainable options are the way forward, and while we understand what that means in terms of our homes and our cars, do we really know what it means in relation to our children’s toys? Here, we discuss three benefits of choosing sustainable options when it comes to toys.

Education
A huge benefit of buying sustainable toys for your children and others is that it allows you to open up a good conversation about the reasons for buying green and looking after the planet in a way that children are able to understand. Explaining the reasons why your daughter’s new dollhouse is made from recycled wood, for example, or helping your son understand that his water pistol is made from non-harmful, recycled plastic contextualises the important issue of sustainability in a children’s framework and allows them to get on board in a meaningful way.
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3 Valuable Lessons Your Child Learns Through Play

It’s not exactly news that children learn through play–in every culture in the world, since the beginning of time, children have discovered the world around them through play. We know that from spacial awareness to hand-eye coordination, toys and the act of playing with them are how our kids learn to navigate the world. It’s also true, however, that there are some important emotional and social lessons that toys can teach children. It’s not just about the act of playing with toys, it’s the process of discovering things with friends that often leaves our kids with the most valuable lessons. Here are three lessons you might not have realised toys were teaching your kids…
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Problem-Solving and Toys

Problem-solving. Hone your skills in this area enough and there’ll be little that can stand in between you and success. From a young age we start to develop our problem-solving strategies, and they come to define much of who we are and how we live as adults. Think of the adults you know in your life. We’re betting if you think hard enough, you can identify different types of problem-solvers. There are those who always manage to think outside the box, find creative solutions and see a way through the confusion to clarity. There are also those who rely on others to solve their problems for them, who give up when something poses difficulty, and who instead complain out of a sense of entitlement. Which kind of problem-solver do you want your child to be? Obviously, we all hope pour children develop into capable, resilient adults, and there are several ways in which you can encourage this from an early age in the way that you approach toys and playtime. Here we show you a few ways in which you can help your child, through play, develop excellent problem-solving abilities:
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Young Girls and Body Image–How to Protect Their Self Esteem

These days, it seems that the age at which girls want to grow up and be more adult-like is getting younger and younger each day. Idols such as Miley Cyrus, while fun for girls to watch on TV, are getting around in less and less clothing, which can make the issue of girls and body image rear its head sooner than you’d anticipated as a parent. Tweens on diets, 8-year-olds wanting leather skirts, more and more unrealistic images being pushed out to the public…So what is a parent to do? How much can we protect our daughters from having an unrealistic view of what they should look like? There are so many influences in our children’s lives these days, and from toys to magazines and TV to their friends at school, it seems as though an unrelenting stream of ideas on what girls should and shouldn’t look like are filtering into their everyday lives. Perhaps, then, trying to prevent them from coming into contact with these influences is not the answer. Perhaps its a case of ensuring our daughters know the difference between what is real and what is not. We’ve put together a small guide in the hopes of providing some tips for parents with young girls who are trying to navigate the tricky subject of body image.
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The Power of Imagination: 3 Ways to Boost Your Kids’ Creativity

Of all the dreams we have for our children–for them to be successful, find love, make an impact on the world–one of the most common wishes we have (apart from them being happy and healthy) is for them to be creative. A child who learns creativity early in life is more likely to find solutions to problems on her own, be able to self-soothe, be more resilient and be more successful in the workplace. Creativity isn’t just about being good at art or music, it’s about harnessing the awesome power of the imagination and learning how to access it in any situation. When it comes to the toys your kids are playing with and the games they are playing, there are countless ways in which you can encourage creativity. Here are three ideas to get you started…
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The Forgetful Aunty or Uncle’s Guide to Great Gifts

If you’ve got nieces and nephews but don’t have children yourself, it’s likely that at some stage or another (unless you’re very organised, in which case, well done) you’ve experienced that pang of panic when you realise that it’s your niece/nephew’s birthday in a few days and you’re yet to organise anything. If this is you, don’t worry. It happens to plenty of aunties and uncles around the world, and the way we usually cope with the guilt of forgetting is to overcompensate with expensive toys, so everybody wins! Here, we’ve put together a guide for creating great gifts that don’t require a visit to the toy store. Click Here To Read More

Toy Timeline: 110 Years of Kids’ Toys

From the simplicity of teddy bears and lego to videogames and online toys, we’ve looked at each decade from the last 110 years and chosen one toy from each that truly changed the game.

1900s

While one may assume the teddy bear has been around for centuries, it actually first appeared in 1902. When former US president Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt refused to shoot an injured bear on a hunting trip, the incident was the subject of a political cartoon in The Washington Post. Inspired by this, a fellow named Morris Michtom created a stuffed bear toy and put it in his shop window with a sign that read “Teddy’s Bear”. As more of these bears were introduced, the name stuck.
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5 Secrets to Keeping Your Kids Active

Keeping your kids active is important to ensure the continual development of both mind and body. These days, many toy stores and online toys providers give special attention to promoting toys that encourage physical activity. Here we look at a few tips you can keep in mind to ensure your kids are kept active.

1. Lead by example

If you lead a healthy and active lifestyle, your kids are likely to follow your lead. You can teach your children healthy habits from an early age simply by practising them yourself. Go for walks or jogs regularly; if you have a family dog, take it out with you to add some extra purpose to your exercise. If you lead a busy lifestyle, become a member of the gym and make sure the kids know you’re attending every now and then; they’re bound to take note of this behaviour. It can even be something as simple as parking your car a bit further away when at the shops; encourage your kids to think of movement as an opportunity and not an inconvenience.
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7 of the Best Educational Toys

Toys aren’t just for mindless entertainment; they play an important part in the educational and social development of your child. These days, toy stores and websites selling online toys all pay extra attention to providing strong educational options. Here we look at some of the best educational toys for your child.

Building…

For infants and toddlers, wooden blocks are a great first toy to have. These have many benefits; for example, they can teach children about shapes and colours, and can help with their cognitive skills as they sort the shapes and colours into the appropriate groups. They’re also wonderful for developing the imagination as children create their own mini-masterpieces. There’s the added bonus that blocks are generally big enough that they don’t provide a choking hazard for young children. As children get older, Lego or Mechano sets can help to continue the development of cognitive skills and imagination, as well as helping them to follow instructions, as these usually come with manuals.
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