Gift Guide – Page 91

Spin Master Brings You Great Products this Holiday Season

November 18, 2017 By denise Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This is not a compensated or sponsored post. I was provided the product for review purposes only. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Hatachimals Glittering Garden

There was much excitement in the house when our Hatchimal from Spinmaster arrived! And they were pleased to see it was a glitter Hatchimal. The glitter Hatchimal is the same as the original Hatchimal; it simply has a glittery egg and a Hatchimal who is shimmery!

Along with the egg itself you can a guide of what the Hatchimal can do and also what the colours of its eyes mean; the colours are indicative of its mood and what it needs.

The egg itself is pretty fragile so you have to be careful of it. If you manage to break it before it has hatched then you completely miss the hatching experience.

Once you remove the egg from the box and also a base which is what stops it from hatching, you then have to look after the egg and play with it to get it to hatch. As soon as you remove the egg from all the packaging you can hear noises from within the egg. It is so exciting to hear the Hatchimal and just couldn’t wait for it to hatch! You could also see the lights in its eyes flashing through the egg.

It takes the Hatchimal around 15-20 minutes to hatch. As the hatching is one of the main unique points of the product it would have been nice if it lasted a bit longer…..but then the problem with that is whether the child would remain interested if it carried on for too long? You will be fascinated by the whole process so I think she would have been happy if it had gone on slightly longer. Ours started hatching after about what felt like 10 minutes.

It is so exciting when the Hatchimal started ‘pecking’ away at the egg to get out; the excitement was pretty infectious and we all couldn’t wait to see what came out! It did struggle at one point and we had to break a small piece away for it to keep moving. And once it had broken through you had to help remove the top part of the egg.

Once it is hatched you have to pull it out of the egg. That does require a strong pull and I was worried I would break it…..but it is pretty sturdy!

The thing with Hatchimals is that you don’t know which one you are going to get. There are different colors so it is a complete surprise when they hatch.

Hatchimals Colleggtibles

Following on from the success of the traditional Hatchimals toy late last year, which quickly became top of most children’s 2016’s Christmas wishlist, Spinmaster have today launched a range of new collectible characters, all of whom come in their very own miniature hatchable egg.

If they haven’t already done so, your children will soon be asking for some of these on their birthday or treat list – here’s everything you need to know about them!

Hatchimals CollEGGtibles are small, cute, loveable creatures with glittery wings that live inside the magical world of Hatchtopia – a world full of exciting hangouts such as Cloud Cove, Polar Paradise and Friendship Farm.

There are 70 Hatchimals CollEGGtibles in Season 1 (which presumably means there will be more seasons and characters launching at a later date!). Each Hatchimal CollEGGtible comes in its very own egg, which similarly to the original Hatchimal toy, needs a child’s love and affection to hatch.

Children will love trying to collect them all, ticking off the CollEGGtibles from the Collector’s list and trading their surplus eggs with their friends.

How does it work?

Hatchimals CollEGGtibles come in their very own individual blind bag or in multipacks.

These blind bags however are a little bit special in that once you’ve opened the bag, you have yet another surprise to come in the hatching of your egg!

When you open up your blind bag, you will reveal your CollEGGtible egg inside – each egg has different coloured speckles depending on which family of CollEGGtibles it belongs to. Each family has between 2 and 8 different characters to collect and pictures of all the characters can be seen on the Collector’s List. They are super cute, and include what look like different animals, such as dolphins, pandas, and bunnies. The hippos are my personal fave!!

Some are common, some are rare, and if you are really lucky, some are ultra rare or limited edition. This is where the trading part gets fun – if your child has already got all characters in a family, they can see immediately from the speckles and trade the unhatched egg with a friend, helping prevent duplicates and get them closer to hatching them all.

The Hatching Process

To hatch your CollEGGtible you simply rub gently on the purple heart on the front of the egg. After a bit of rubbing, stroking and patting, the heart will change to pink, at which point, it is ready to hatch. Unlike the original Hatchimal, the process is not electronic and can be done by hand. I actually find that a positive, as at Christmas Erin was a little bit scared and freaked out by the pecking! Once pink, you simply press down on the egg just above the heart to pop it open and reveal the character inside. You can check out your Collector’s List, discover it’s rarity, and tick it off, before visiting the Hatchimals website to learn more about his personality! Once it has hatched, you can peel down the top part of the shell to create a little nest for your CollEGGtible to sit. Children will love stacking them on display, and using their imagination to create their own Hatchtopia.

The Hatchimals CollEGGtibles are bound to be a massive hit with young children, who will love the double surprise element and the fact they can compare with their friends and try to collect them all. I love that these are a more affordable Hatchimal, making them much more accessible to children as a small gift rather than a big investment.

We are excited to see the new app coming soon, presumably so you can track which CollEGGtibles you have got and which ones are being that little bit more elusive.

Meccano Meccanoid XL 2.0 Personal Robot

The Meccano Meccanoid XL 2.0 Personal Robot is a build set comprised of a whopping 1014 parts that allows you to create your very own, roughly 4 foot tall, mechanical friend. Ideal for kids ages 10 and up, Meccanoid features large, expressive, LED eyes that can light up in over 500 distinct colours, and he can communicate over 3000 different pre-programmed phrases, including telling jokes, stories, words of wisdom, and fun robotic trivia. This represents a significant upgrade from the original Meccanoid G15 KS Personal Robot’s 1000 pre-programmed phrases, so this guy is pretty intelligent. And speaking of intelligent, Learned Intelligent Movement (LIM) technology allows Mr. XL to remember movements that you program into his servos simply by moving them about. Other Meccanoid play patterns include Motion Capture (played via the free Meccanoid App & using your smart phone) whereby Meccanoid watches—and mimics, your every movement, and the app based Ragdoll Avatar feature where you give Meccanoid movement commands by moving his avatar on your smart device screen. Finally, thanks to Meccanoid’s Voice Recognition Technology, you can give your XL 2.0 numerous voice commands and see how he reacts and responds. To me, this is probably the main way that you can interact with and enjoy your robot. It’s really fun!

The first thing that bears mentioning about this toy is its intensive build process. It took somewhere between 5-10 hours to complete this time around. I can’t really be more precise than that because I kept leaving and coming back to it. These include whether you’re building it alone or with help, whether you focus fully on the project.

These instructions, while highly detailed & extremely comprehensive. Even so, I’m sure that there are many people that would absolutely love the challenge of building something with this level of complexity. If this is you, great! If, however, you (or your child) are an impatient person, this toy could potentially drive you crazy!

The Meccanoid only has to be built the once. And, once he’s been fully assembled, he becomes a whole lot more fun to those that are not mechanically inclined! I personally enjoyed giving him voice commands above all other play patterns.

Meccanoid is a whole lot of fun and I definitely recommend him to anyone that enjoys building toys, educational & STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology, & Mathematics) toys, interactive toys, and just plain old fun robots. I didn’t personally enjoy the building process all that much this time around, but once he was built, I certainly had heaps of fun playing with him.

This is going to a lot of fun this season.

Hammacher Schlemmer-The Tight Space Bathroom Organizer

November 18, 2017 By denise Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This is not compensated or sponsored post. I was provided the product for review purposes only. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Space can be pushed to the max in a bathroom. Essentials, such as towels and toilet paper, join sometimes-bulky hair tools, along with cosmetics, bath and body products, and even bath toys if you have kids or pets. All that stuff squeezed into a small space can make your bathroom far from the relaxing retreat of your dreams.

Created only for Hammacher Schlemmer, this is the cabinet with a narrow footprint but large capacity that adds organization and storage to a tight bathroom space. Ideal for snug powder rooms or storage-starved washrooms with only a pedestal sink, the 9″-wide organizer slips beside a toilet or tub to unobtrusively hold personal items and cleaning products in five separate compartments. The bottom drawer rolls out to reveal a tall cubby for stacks of toilet tissue or a plunger. Two shelves behind this fit spray bottles and soap, while an upper drawer stows cosmetics, razors, and other small articles. The cabinet top conceals a nook for medication and other essentials that need to be accessed easily yet hidden from view. With a clean white finish that blends with any décor, the clever organizer is crafted from wood and rolls on four casters

KinderLab-KIBO 21 Robot Kit

November 18, 2017 By denise Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This is compensated or sponsored post. I was provided the product for review purpose only. All opinions expressed here are my own.

The wonderful world of engineering with children and inspiring them to continue their STEM education. We are always drawn to tools that make teaching engineering concepts more engaging and hands on for children …The KIBO robot does just that.

KIBO is a robot kit specifically designed for young children aged 4-7 years old. It is different from any other kit out there because it appeals to both technically minded kids and those that connect more to arts and culture or physical activity. Young children learn by doing. Children build their own robot with KIBO, program it to do what they want, and decorate it. KIBO gives children the chance to make their ideas physical and tangible—exactly what their young minds and bodies need. And KIBO does all this without requiring screen time from PCs, tablets or smartphones.

Designed for open-ended play, KIBO lets children make almost anything – a character from a story, a carousel, a dancer, a race helicopter – anything that they can think of. The child creates a sequence of instructions (a program) using the wooden KIBO blocks. They scan the blocks with the KIBO body to tell the robot what to do. They press the button and the robot comes alive. With KIBO, young children can become programmers, engineers, designers, artists, dancers, choreographers and writers.

Coding (or programming) is a new kind of literacy. But it exercises mental muscles that are useful for many other activities and skills. When playing with KIBO, young children learn programming ideas that are directly related to foundational concepts in math, literacy, science and humanities. These include sequencing, modularity, cause-and-effect, and patterns. Research shows that sequencing is foundational for academic success, for math and literacy development, as well as for executive function. Furthermore, children engage in habits of mind such as: design process when they iteratively develop and test an idea; problem solving when their KIBO programs don’t work the way they want; and executive functions when they plan and execute their projects with different kinds of constraints such as time, resources or materials.

Young children love to make things, and they love to make things that move and respond to their commands. Robotics brings together atoms and bits – the physical world and computational world. Robotics is a natural fit for young children’s interests and curiosities. Research shows that young children will learn programming and engineering at a very early age if they are given tools that are developmentally appropriate.

Research also shows that children are most open to new ways of thinking about themselves when they are under the age of eight. So to ensure that their self-image includes enjoyment, understanding and competence in working with technology, it is best to expose them to it while they are open to soaking it up. That way they will grow up to have skills that give them both improved employment opportunities and a healthy outlet for self-expression.

Furthermore, research shows that from an economic and a developmental standpoint, educational programs that begin in early childhood are associated with lower costs and more durable effects than interventions that begin later on. Research also shows that introducing STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Math) in early childhood might help to avoid stereotypes. However, one of the major impediments for bringing technology and engineering into early childhood education is the lack of developmentally appropriate technologies. KIBO addresses this need.