Discovery Toys

I was introduced to Discovery Toys a few months ago by my sister-in-law. I loved the toys and the fact that they are educational, sturdy, have a lifetime guarantee, and each toy is labeled based on what skills it develops... not to mention they are colorful and FUN! Anyway, I threw my first party in Feb. and from that I got a bunch of toys for TJ. Every day since that time he has literally played with one of his Discovery Toys. I thought I'd share a little bit about some of his favorite toys:

Busy Farm

This comes with a set of colorful little farm animals that are in and of themselves fun to play with. It also comes with 20 or so cards that are really fun to play with and teach all sorts of things. Right now TJ can maybe play with half of the cards since they get progressively harder, but it's nice that it will grow with him. Some of his favorite cards are matching cards (put the orange duck on the orange duck), sorting cards, alphabet card, and the one that has items that the animals produce, such as wool, and then you match the animal to the product: sheep on wool.

Roll and Play

This is the best game for toddlers/preschoolers that I have ever found! This is definitely TJ's favorite of his Discovery Toys and he plays it at least twice a day. There is a big soft cube (about 8 inches big!) that has a different color on each side. You roll/throw/kick the cube and find a card that matches the color you got. You then do the action pictured on the card: ex- flap your arms, play hide and seek, hug Mommy, draw a picture, put on a hat, etc. TJ can play this by himself or with us (it's a GREAT family night game). I'm also excited to have the colored cube if I ever teach primary again....

Playful Letters

This is a pack of traceable sturdy letters (one uppercase and one lowercase) that TJ loves to get out and play with. He'll use them to make words on the carpet or put them on his paper and trace them to write his name. He thinks its wonderful to be able to write letters and he uses these quite often. They also hook together, but TJ hasn't figured that out yet. My only complaint about these is that he uses them so much that we are constantly picking them up... but I guess that is a good teaching moment too:)

Wipe Clean Books 123s and ABCs

I wasn't sure if TJ would like these books right now or if we'd have to wait a while for him to use them. He loves being able to color on these books and then clean them off (he can do both great!). These have turned into great church books and they keep him quiet and entertained for a long time. They also come with stickers to put in different places (I think they come off again, but I'm not sure). We are just saving the stickers for when he is older since he has so much fun with it as it is right now. (Notice the playful letters in the picture- he loves to trace those into this book). My only problem with these books is that TJ uses them SO much that we had to buy more dry erase markers, but even after all the time he used them they still clean up great and look brand new.

We also have these toys which TJ likes, but I don't have pictures of:

Zip Track- TJ loves this Zip Track and it works great, the car is self powered and the track is easy to assemble, change, and take apart. I think Jeff has as much fun with it as TJ does.

The Potty Train (book)- This book is SO cute and the pictures are just wonderful. TJ loves reading it and gets so excited about going potty when he does. I love how it talks about how it can take a while and sometimes there can be accidents or nothing happens, but that's ok. Whenever TJ goes potty he likes to say, "Chugga-Chugga Poo-poo!!" (Now, if we can actually get him going poo-poo that would be great).

Labyrinth (game)- This is a great game for older kids and adults. It's easy enough for school-age kids (though TJ plays it with us with help), but fun enough for adults. Also another fun game for family night.

Baby books and cds- I also bought a bunch of baby books and cds for gifts. I have a lot of friends that have just had babies, or are going to have babies, and these have made such great gifts. The books are so cute and of high quality and the cds are really sweet. I LOVE that I have something nice to give them instead of going to Wal-Mart and trying to find a nice baby book there...