Posts Tagged ‘Toys’

Toys and Games That Both Parents and Children Can Enjoy Together

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

In this demanding and competitive world, many people find that they tend to work too hard to the extent that it is hard to achieve a proper work life balance. I don’t spend enough time with my kids? I am too stressed? Does this all sound familiar? If yes, you will probably appreciate this article which seeks to introduce to you selective toys and games that can be enjoyed by parents and kids alike. Hopefully, this will enable you to spend quality fun time with your children and at the same time takes your mind off work and relieves stress.

Remote Controlled Toys

Radio controlled toys such as helicopters and cars provide the excitement that both children and adults desire and encourage interaction between parents and their children. Depending on what you buy, these toys can be enjoyed inside or outside in the garden, yard or park. Most RC toys are relatively easy to control, especially when under adult supervision and are suitable for children 8 years and up.

Puzzles

I highly recommend puzzles. There is a vast array of interesting puzzles in the market place such as the Tripod puzzle, Cmetric Too and of course the highly popular Sudocube which comes in a cube just like the traditional rubik cube. These puzzles are created to stimulate critical thinking and encourage problem solving skills, combining education and fun.

Educational Solar Toys

In today’s climate of environmental awareness, solar powered toys and kits are not only great fun, but also introduce children of all ages to the concept of renewable energy and offer adults and their children the experience of building the toys together. Different solar toys offer different degrees of difficulty when it comes to assembling, hence, you can be sure to find one that is both challenging and fun for both parents and child.

Active Toys

As the risk of child obesity increases at an alarming rate, it is important that we continue to look for creative ways to add activities into the lifestyles of our children. There are a number of fun games that encourages physical movements and exercise. Games such as Dance Pad and racket ball games are great way to achieve this goal.

Homemade Toys

Finally, there are many inexpensive ways to engage your kids and is fun for parent and child. Nothing beats the old fashion way of paper plane and kite making. Kids’ sense of pride in their kites is undeniable. No store-bought kites could have brought these children as close to the mystery and physics of flight as their own creations. Parents would no doubt enjoy teaching their children how to make these toys which they themselves played with as children. Teaching children how to make a toy can be a memorable and meaningful way to spend time with them.

I hope I have provided you with some general ideas and concepts of how certain toys and games can be enjoyed by both parents and child which ultimately achieves the goal of spending more time with your kids and hopefully serves as stress relief from work. For specific details of some of the toys and games mentioned in this article, I encourage you to visit my website.

The Best Stress Relief Toys: For When You Want to Play Your Stress Away

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Remember nerf balls? Back in the ‘old days’, they were the ultimate stress relief toys. You could bounce one off your annoying brother’s head without fear of putting his eye out or giving him a cracked skull, regardless of how much you felt he deserved it.
In recent years, the popularity of stress relief toys has grown exponentially, and so has their variety. One of the earliest types was similar to the nerf ball: a small and squishy thing that you could hold in your hand and squeeze whenever you felt stressed. Then there was the tiny basketball hoop that you could attach to your wall. For many, the ‘ball’ was a scrunched up memo they just received from their irritating boss.
Dart boards often carried the face of that obnoxious boss. A neatly aimed dart provided the satisfaction the disgruntled employee needed.
Since then, great strides have been made in the development of stress relief toys. Using science and human senses, toy manufacturers have come up with some amazing items that do more than just give you something to crush.
New products are made from fascinating materials that provide immediate stress relief when touched, squeezed or stretched. Stress balls now come in beanbag or liquid types, or even the Chinese type that you roll in your hand.
The great news is that those toys do work, and that they are inexpensive. Here are five you can try for yourself:
1. Massage Toys
Massage has long been proven to relieve stress and anxiety while improving mood. Stress massage toys can provide these benefits as well. You can pick up an animal-shaped hand held mini-massager and immediately feel relief. Plush toys have the same benefits and have been popular for generations.
2. Meditation Toys
Puzzles have provided millions of hours of relaxed enjoyment for people worldwide. They redirect your thoughts to problem solving in a non-stress environment. The Rubik’s Cube, for example, was extremely popular back in the ’70s, but for many it produced more stress than relaxation as it appeared unsolvable. More recently, manufacturers have become extremely creative. Puzzles come in new formats to challenge your skills. Building blocks must be put together to eliminate any spaces between them while creating interesting landscapes.
3. Interactive Toys
Gardeners will love the new Zen garden stress relief toys. These are small boxes containing different features: a backyard garden, a sandbox, a construction zone, and others. To relieve stress, simply reach in and work your scene. Haul rocks. Move sand. Clean pebbles.
4. Funny Toys
Humor is the best medicine, especially for stress relief. Manufacturers have jumped on this fact and created some humorous toys you can enjoy. One of the most popular is the rubber stick-on toys. These come in various comical shapes. The idea is to fling them at the walls, ceilings and doors to see how long they’ll stick. They have the added benefit of landing in odd and unpredictable positions that can be quite amusing.
5. Slinky Toys
Slinky toys are back, but now they come in plastic as well as the traditional material. This makes them ideal for use in think tanks because they help you to focus while providing stress relief. Plastic slinkies do not make much noise so you’re not likely to disturb the other thinkers in the room.