Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Blocks: Review and Giveaway

If you build it, he will come...

 There’s a new rule in our house; Peanut will not tolerate stacks to stand. A gathering of three or more blocks constitute a stack, and Peanut will do his best to demolish them. In fact, he will stop in his tracks, do a 180 and with great speed and voracity for an 8 month old, he’s on top of those blocks.

For these reasons, we love our latest review and giveaway offering from Peaceable Kingdom. If you are a fan of Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault’s Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, a delightfully rhythmic and brilliantly colored alphabet book, you will love Peaceable Kingdom’s Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Blocks. Even if you’ve never heard of the book, you will still love the bright colors illustrator Lois Ehlert featured on these delightful toys.

The 16 blocks feature all 26 capital letters, 48 lower case letters, and quotes and illustrations from the book. They come in a durable storage box with magnetic closure—very handy when trying to pick up after play time.

The blocks are glossy and constructed from paper. When we first took them from the box, Rich and I feared they wouldn’t last long. However, they have held up to several weeks of rough play, being kicked, tossed and rolled over. They have even survived the ultimate test of toy durability—our monster dog Roz, who has a habit of carrying them around the house.

The block size is perfect for Peanut’s hands. He is able to grab, manipulate and maneuver the blocks straight to his mouth. With the number of falling block stacks in our house, I’ve also come to love the lightweight construction. I really don’t have to worry that Peanut will injure himself with this toy. It’s definitely one of our faves.

Buy It: Block sets retail for $17.99 on Amazon. Purchase these and other great Peaceable Kingdom games, books and toys from their website http://www.peaceablekingdom.com/

Win It: If you’d like to win a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom block set or one of your choice, enter my giveaway by leaving comments below. Be sure to include your email address and enter extra entries as separate comments.

Mandatory Entry:

Visit Peaceable Kingdom's website and comment here on which block set you will chose if you win. Remember to leave your email address in your comment.

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Giveaway open to US only.  Giveaway ends May 17 at 12:00 a.m. EST. Winner will be chosen at random via random.org. Winner will be contacted via email and must respond within 48 hours. Product will be mailed directly by the company.

I was supplied the above mentioned products by the described company/ PR representative.  I was not compensated in any other way for this review.  The opinions are entirely my own.

Mr. Can't Sit Still: B. Toy's Wacky Ball Review

Peanut is a very active little boy. Most kids learn to sit and then work on crawling. Peanut has no inclination to sit. Sure, he physically could sit if he wanted to. Alas, he has no desire to remain sitting.

At least that was the case until we were given the chance to review the Whacky Ball by B. Toys. Peanut loves it and we love that it is the first toy we have given him that he will sit still for.

In theory, the child uses the mallet to strike one of four colorful balls. The ball then travels through ramps and shoots, reflected by a mirror like background and comes out at the bottom. Okay—so he doesn’t sit perfectly still, because he likes rolling the balls around the room and following them too.

Peanut uses his hands rather than the mallet, which is okay by us. Although one side of the mallet is a little springy with a squeak, overall the plastic mallet seems a little hard. The way he uncontrollably swings objects we could see the potential for minor drama. For the most part though, peanut thinks the mallet is a teething toy.

The entire toy is bright and colorful. Though I would not personally pick the colors used, I do love how they complement each other. I also love that they are not your typical child toy colors—aesthetically, I think it’s probably a good idea that as with his foods, he is exposed to a variety of colors too.

The balls are brightly colored as well and two of the four feature an interesting pattern. They are the perfect size for peanut; neither too big to be picked up, nor too small that they’d pose a choking hazard. If I were to change one thing about this toy, I’d love to see a simple drawstring bag to keep the parts from ending up everywhere.

I also like that the base and tower components of the toy are not fully interlocked. This makes storage of the set a little easier since it disassembles into two flat pieces. Based on peanut’s play, I could see him breaking one from the other if they were constructed to be permanently joined.

Yes, this is not a totally original and mind blowing children’s toy. There are several similar products out there. What makes me a fan of this toy and what will make me a B. Toys customer are the unique and responsible ideas presented by the B. Toys company.

The Whacky ball is not boxed in cardboard, covered in plastic, attached to bases with twist ties and all manners of excessive packaging. If you’ve ever survived Christmas morning with more than 4 small children at grandma’s house—you know the indescribable amount of waste of which I speak. Brand new, the wacky ball is simply covered in a clear plastic cover. More amazing, the plastic is recyclable #1 plastic (a recyclable plastic that’s pretty universally accepted). I LOVE THAT.

I love that for every B. Toy purchased, 10 cents is donated to Free the Children. Doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up. And it’s certainly more than most toy companies give on a regular basis. For more details about B. Toy’s involvement in Free the Children visit http://justb-byou.com/ftc/

The final detail which really made me a B Toys fan was a small booklet included with the toy. Not something I’d share with peanut, but something that as a parent made me smile. The booklet contained funny quotes from kids. You can read some of these quotes and view other B. Toys on their website http://justb-byou.com/ .

B. Toys are available at Target. Shop here: www.target.com/Btoys.

This product was provided by B. Toys for the purposes of this review. I received no additional compensation. The views expressed are 100% mine.

Crafty Goodness

I've been pretty swamped with course work, regular work, job hunting.... I haven't had much time to quilt, but I have had a little weekend time to get some sewing in. Lately I've been making stuffed toys. My first effort was the bunny. I used a simplicity pattern that was easy to follow and some yellow and white striped flannel. The button eyes came from a shirt we were getting rid off. The nose is embroidered, though you can tell that I've never embroidered. The accent ribbons were leftover from the flower girl baskets. I think the next time I make one, I want to use chenille.



I also made this geometric toy. Essentially it's three oval cuts of fabric stitched to form a single piece. Each is turned out, stuffed, and hand stitched close. Four units are stitch together to make a ring. Three rings combine to make the toy. I was glad to have had heavy duty thread on hand--I had used it to repair Rich's hockey gloves earlier in the summer. The stronger thread was harder to work with, but should hold the toy together well.