A new find!!! Go get it!

A new find! Go get it!!!
(January 2010)

So I don't normally get all "ga-ga" over things, much less a toy but I found something for Jacob that I have to say should become a "MUST" for all parents out there. Jacob has always been very very very good at sorting whether it was shapes, colors, etc.... about the time he turned a year old he got into the "I Spy" books and hasn't looked back. He loves anything "I Spy" and I don't mean the kids "I SPY" books but even the adult ones. You might have to help him a little (very little) with the adult "I SPY" books but not much and the childrens versions you don't have to help at all.

So recently we have moved into the memory games for children. Most board games are for 3+ years old which I have to agree with not because they are too hard but because Jacob still doesn't have the greatest of attention spans being not quite 2 1/2 years old. We have purchased two memory card games, one in "Thomas the Tank Engine" and one in "Super Hero Squad" (his new favorite with Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, etc....). The only problem with these is that even though he knows how to play it, the lure of 10+ cards laying on the ground just screaming to be thrown around can sometimes be too much for a little guy! So most games of Memory aren't finished because they get scattered. Which inevitably leaves myself or his father crawling around trying to find all of the missing pieces.

I knew I needed to find an alternative to this while still being able to teach him "patience" and "matching". I went on a search of the internet and found some online "memory" games but they were a little boring and not nearly as interactive since I was the one having to move the mouse and click the buttons (problem of only having a laptop). But then one day while the kids were sleeping I started searching the internet again and found the most AWESOME thing!! "Melissa and Doug" have fabulous toys and they have created a toy that is not only extremely educational but it is almost 100% mess free!!!!

The game can be found here and at Amazon (and probably a lot of other places too). The best part about it is that it comes with a bunch of cards for numbers, colors, shapes, farm animals, zoo animals, vehicles, and fruit. We have been working on colors and this is an added game that I can use to help with colors without Jacob feeling like all I do is "teach". Basically what you do is choose the card you want to play (each card is double sided for twice the amount of games) and then you can open up the blue wooden "doors" and see what is behind them. The "doors" are attached with elastic band so that they don't come off. The only pieces that you can lose would be the big cards and those will be hard to lose! Plus I have already decided that I could easily get a piece of card stock and use stickers to create a new card with other items on it. Most packs of stickers come with at least two of every sticker and being able to create new cards would make this game never ending. For when Jacob gets a little older "Melissa and Doug" even have other games that will great for teaching sorting, sequence, and memory.