November 25th, 2009 Ryan
Good luck shopping for the upcoming holiday season. One thing that you should see is major discounts from the biggest retailers including Toys ‘R Us, Target, Walmart, Amazon, and of course the Comic Vault on Ashland and Montrose. I have received several emails this last week from Amazon looking at 25% off all sorts of toys including Mattel, Disney, and Toy Story.
There is no substitute for getting toy recommendations from friends and family or just by watching Saturday morning cartoons and letting your kid point out what they want during commercials. However, there are a couple of resources you can use if you are looking for what is hot including the Toy Insider and Dr Toy. Below are the toys we had the most fun with this year in no particular order:
- Seven in One Maximus Draganoid. We would recommend any of the Bakugan toys and getting involved in this franchise but the Seven in One combines puzzles, action figures, and Bakugan all rolled into one.
- SORRY! Sliders. What a phenomenal sequal to the always fun classic SORRY!. This combines the gameboard with some physical skill and the ability to crash into your opponents sending them off the table.
- Nerf or Nothing. the new Nerf guns are wickedly fun. If you aren’t into play guns skip this recommendation, but you can get Nerf toys in all shapes and sizes that can shoot across the room without anyone getting hurt. They even have accessories for you to play capture the flag and Nerf dart tag.
- Battle Strikers. Battle Strikers is unique, fun, challenging and exciting. Using battery powered spinners, drop your battle strikers (each looks different, has a name, and certain qualities) on the play table and see which battle striker is left standing as they bang, spin, and crash into each other. Use the finger magnets to try to keep your battle striker spinning and crash into your opponent.
- Dive Sticks. Affordable, simple, and hours of entertainment in the pool. These simple dive sticks blink, glow, sink, and float in the pool. They help your kid learn to swim (and sink) while still thinking they are playing.
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November 19th, 2009 Ryan
Yes, we have had some good luck with the weather, but it continues to get colder and colder. A great way to warm up this winter is at Magic Wings in South Deerfield, MA. This butterfly conservatory is guaranteed to be a quick fix for when you are in the mood for some tropical weather. The 8,000 square foot conservatory is home to nearly 4,000 butterflies and is quite impressive.
With two large rooms, the conservatory is fairly spread out and has wide, paved, walkways making it easy to get around, even with kids. They ask that you leave any strollers outside. Be sure to walk throughout the entire conservatory as there is much to see. Fruit and sugar water feeders are everywhere for the butterflies to land on, making it easier to get that perfect picture.
A hatching station is behind glass so you can get up close and see the butterflies emerge from their cocoons. Baby quail are running around everywhere, so watch where you step! In the middle of the first room is a Koi pond and a little bridge, and in the middle of the second room is a gazebo. Benches are throughout the two rooms, providing a great opportunity to rest and enjoy the scenery; sit still and perhaps a butterfly will perch on you. They also have a great display of tropical animals. Most are in the second room, but there is a giant iguana in the first room.
There are a two different food options at Magic Wings. Monarchs Restaurant is a full-service establishment and a food court serves up standard burgers, sandwich, pizza and salad items.
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November 11th, 2009 Ryan
The Children’s Museum in Easton packs hours of hands-on activities and learning into an Old Fire Station in North Easton, MA. The cost is $6.00 per person (over 1) for the day, and for $60.00 you can get a family membership for 2 for a year.
Inside the museum you will find three floors of interactive exhibits. Next to the museum is an outdoor learning center called ‘The Wild Place,’ which is open from April through November. The Wild Place is a park with at least 10 different learning areas, ranging from paleontology to nature tic-tac-toe to musical pieces of wood. They also have several picnic tables for group lunching and snacking. We’d recommend visiting on a nice day so you can spend time in this area.
You enter the museum on the ground floor, where you pay at the desk and jump right into the activities. Among the things you’ll find here are a replica train, a large wooden train track, a pretend camp and cabin (completely with tent, fire pit, and story books), a performance stage, a fishing boat, a puppet theatre, and one of the highlights – a Rube Goldberg-like set of chutes, chimes, and tunnels that your kids can send golf balls through. The cool part is that to send the balls into this apparatus you have to climb about ten feet up a set of stairs. There is also a real fireman’s pole that your kids can climb to ring the bell at the top.
Downstairs is split between an eating area, which is open during lunch-time hours, and the FETCH! Lab. Based on the PBS Kids show, this area features various science experiments and loads of puzzles. A museum employee was actively showing kids and parents what to do. Bring your own food as they don’t sell any, but have a nice area to eat.
The top floor is geared a bit towards the older kids with a room dedicated to everything wood. Hammer nails into pieces of wood or lock a piece of wood into the vice to saw some off. The room next to it serves as a doctor’s office, complete with an incubator for the baby dolls. Another large room is dedicated to arts and crafts with lots of different projects to do. From paper and markers to cloth and pipe cleaners, this area was staffed with a museum employee to help out the kids or give parents some tips. The remaining area is for free play. There is a padded corner for the youngest visitors to play in while the older ones play in the kitchen, on the fire truck (with the dalmations!), or in a treehouse-like structure.
Mom Says: I like that they proactively offer hand sanitizer and a sign encouraging its use before you even walk in the door. It was great to see a staff member working with families in the arts & crafts and giving them ideas.
Dad Says: This is worth a trip and if you live nearby, I’d think about a membership. We could have easily spent close to a full day here between the museum and the park area. This isn’t the biggest facility, so I assume on rainy days it gets crowded.
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November 5th, 2009 Ryan
With frosty nights becoming the norm here in New England, it may seem like an odd time for us to be writing about the Mass Audubon, a group which manages 47 wildlife sanctuaries across the state of Massachusetts. A recent trip to the Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary reminded us of the beauty of the Fall season and the great work Mass Audubon does maintaining these sanctuaries.
The Mass Audubon sanctuaries take many different forms, from beaches and salt marshes on Cape Cod to woodlands and mountains in the Berkshires. Mass Audubon’s land protection efforts protect more than 34,000 acres of ecologically significant land in Massachusetts.
Through November 30, 2009 the Mass Audubon is running a Fall special on family memberships for $29.00, which normally costs $58.00. In addition to being tax deductible, membership gives your free access to all wildlife sanctuaries in the state and discounts on educational programs. Entry to the sanctuaries varies, but at $29.00 for the year, you only have to make a couple of trips to make this one pay for itself.
You can check out a list of the sanctuaries in your area using the Mass Audubon website.
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