The Toy Report

Fred Snack and Stack – “Lego” silverware!

mrstoyreporter — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:34:55 +0000

I was just looking at these and a couple of 7 year old boys walked by and immediately said “I want that! Can we get those!” So now we have a pretty good indication of the target user of this especially cool spoon, knife and fork set. It is made by Fred and Friends (I Love Fred and Friends). They are dishwasher safe and feature Lego like silicone handles for eating and stacking fun. Looks like a great lunch box set.

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Soccer Horns? Get Your Own Vuvuzela

Remo — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:57:17 +0000

If your kids are football fans, or soccer as we call it here in the States, then likely you’ve heard the sound of the vuvuzela without knowing it. For those of you American’s living in a box, the World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with well over 10% of the population of THE EARTH watching the final World Cup game on television back in 2006.

The World Cup is back this year, being on a four year cycle similar to the Olympics. This time the World Cup is being hosted by South Africa and overshadowing the roar and hush of the crowd during an exciting game is the constant drone of what sounds like sad cows or buzzing bees.

That is the sound of the Vuvuzela, a collapsible plastic horn popular at Sound African sporting events. Many players and viewers find the constant drone a major annoyance and many have called for it to be banned. However, FIFA president Sepp Blatter refuses to ban them, saying these are the South African games and they must be allowed their traditions as they see fit.

Want some advice on how to reduce the sound of the Vuvuzela while watching a World Cup match? Check out the following video for some advice.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Buy your favorite little soccer/football fan their very own World Cup 2010 horn. For under $10, you can click here to own your own Vuvuzela.

Etch A Sketch 50th Anniversary

Remo — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:36:34 +0000

The Etch a Sketch is turning 50 years old! While it was invented a few years earlier in Europe and shopped around for investors and a manufacturer, the official birthday of the Etch-A-Sketch is July 12, 1960.

The Etch a Sketch was invented by Andre Cassagnes, an electrician in France and was originally called Telecran. It almost did not see the light of day.

Andre, who is also known for his kite designs, came up with the idea in 1955 after seeing an electrostatic charge make aluminum powder stick to a glass plate.

He didn’t have enough money for a patent, so he took a loan from an investor who applied for then had one of his employees apply for a patent. Thus the original patent for the famous Etch-a-Sketch is credited to Arthur Granjean, who is frequently mistaken for the inventor of the famous children’s drawing toy. He also came up with the name for the Etch-A-Sketch on the patent, L’Ecran Magique, which is French for Magic Screen.

The investor, Paul Chaze, took the toy to European toy fairs, no one was interested. The good folks from Ohio Art got a glimpse of it toy history was born.

And so, in honor of that famous invention, we give to you a sampling of some crazy good Etch-A-Sketch art:

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Has There Been A Silly Bands Recall?

Remo — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:38:22 +0000

Seems like with every super popular kids toy or trend, there are always rumors of a recall. The shelves empty, news reports that the popular toys are banned from schools, and suddenly everyone is asking if there has been a recall.

We get a decent amount of our readers from web searches like Google or Yahoo and can see a list of all the search terms people use to find our site. In this case, we’ve been seeing a bunch of searches for things like “is there a silly bands recall” and “silly bands recalled”

If you are impatient, as far as we know, there has been no Silly Bands recall. In fact, it would be hard to imagine a situation where they would be recalled. Most recalls involve something like a breakage hazard such as your kids scooters wheels falling off, or something intended for babies or toddlers that can result in strangulation, or something made of toxic metals or something inherently dangerous to all ages such as Jarts. Seems unlikely that there would be anything toxic about them, considering they aren’t intended to be ingested at all, but you never know.

With Silly Bandz we’re basically talking about rubber bands here, just not the traditional round shape. Yeah, it might hurt if you stretch them too far and they snap. Sure, you could hurt a person’s eye with them if you stretch and shoot them. But they’re essentially rubber bands, which have been around for over 150 years now. We don’t expect a Silly Bandz recall anytime soon.

That being said, you might have trouble finding them at you local toy retailer. As they become popular with kids, they tend to sell out quickly. And nothing serves to drive a toy’s popularity than to ban it as some schools have already done, citing the shaped rubber bands as a “distraction” to kids during the school day.

If you have trouble finding them locally, you can always order them at reasonable prices and shipping by clicking here.

Note that Silly Bands are marked as not for kids under three, as they do present a choking hazard when balled up. Also, remind kids that they should NOT be stretched and used as a necklace either.

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Silly Bandz Silly Rubber Bands

The best popsicle makers

mrstoyreporter — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:19:42 +0000

A friend (thanks E.!) just sent me the link to this popsicle maker from Williams-Sonoma and I felt the need to share. It seems to have a base that is frozen in your freezer like an ice-cream maker. Then you put in your popsicle ingredients and it freezes them in 7 minutes! Instant gratification and yummy home made popsicles all in one! Behold the Zoku Quick Pop Maker

For those of you who feel that $49.95 is too much to spend on instant gratification in popsicle form, I have alternatives for you. Tovolo makes amazing popsicle molds, but you will have to wait for them to freeze in your freezer at the normal rate. My favorite is the Tovolo Freezer Jewel Pops.

They are little, just enough for kids to eat before they melt. The popsicle bases are shaped like rings so they can be worn like ring pops while eating. We have these and they work great. Te base keeps them standing straight in the freezer and they come out of the molds easily (sometimes we run them under warm water for a few seconds). The best part is we only use juice that everyone likes so we don’t get stuck with a freezer full of lonely purple popsicles that no one wants to eat.

Also cool is the Tovolo Blue Rocket Pop Molds. Because juice pops are more delicious when shaped like a rocket. You could probably freeze in stages and make realistic replicas of the ice cream truck red white and blue rocket pops. If you are feeling like being more adventurous in your summer popsicle creations you can always try the book Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone. It looks quite fancy, as popsicles go.

Kung Zhu Warrior Hamster Update

Remo — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:02:09 +0000

Looks like Cepia, the maker of the smash hit toy Zhu Zhu Hamster line of Christmas 2009, has released more details on their new Kung Zhu ninja hamster line recently. These little robotic hamster warriors were announced at the New York Toy Fair earlier this year, and they are about to be released!

Kung Zhu Release Date

First off the ninja hamsters now have a shipping date. These Zhu Zhu warrior furballs are set for a release date on June 20th, 2010.

Click HERE for more details including how to pre-order the Kung Zhu and their accessories.

What are the Kung Zhu? A new line of mechanical hamster warriors that are designed to drive the 6-12 year old boy crowd into a frenzy in the same way that Bakugan and Pokemon do.

Will it work? Hard to say. Young kids are a fickle bunch and you never know what will drive them to beg their parents for one toy over another. In this case, both Bakugan and Pokemon had two things the Kung Zhu do not:

A Japanese anime TV show that hit the airwaves the same time the toys did. Toys first and show later seems less likely to work (the Smurfs not withstanding)
A point system that required the kids to constantly seek to acquire higher level items or cards and thus drive future purchases.

Of course, the good folks at Cepia did NOT consult with the toy marketing geniuses here at The Toy Report and thus seem to have failed to include these two kids marketing mainstays in their Kung Zhu line.

None the less, there is still an excellent chance that the Kung Zhu will be the next hot toy for boys this year, especially during Christmas 2010.

What’s in the new Kung Zhu warrior hamster line from Cepia?

Kung Zhu Ninja Warriors

Cepia wanted to create a little “good vs evil” mythology behind these fighting hamster robots, and thus the Zhu Zhu Ninja Warriors were born. Seeing as how Cepia is a US company, we can only assume that the Ninja’s are the BAD Kung Zhu, while the Special Forces hamsters are the good guys.

The Kung Fu hamsters that make up the Ninja Zhu are named Yama, Azer, Thorn, and Drakyko.

Click HERE for more details on the Kung Zhu Ninja Warriors.

Kung Zhu Special Forces

The Special Forces Zhu Zhu’s apparently stand in opposition to the evil Ninja’s and come in a variety of khaki and camouflage green colors. They have various military ranks and markings on them. The Special Forces hamsters include such notable Kung Zhu warriors as Sgt. Serge, Stone Wall, Rivet Duke, and Rock-O.

Click HERE for more details on the Kung Zhu Special Forces team.

Zhu Zhu Training Grounds and Battle Arenas

Of course, what warrior hamster’s life would be complete without a Training Ground in which to learn the ways of the hamster fighter, and a Battle Arena in which to do battle! Check out this video for what happens when a Kung Zhu passes through the Training Ground and into the Battle Arena, transforming it from a simple lovable robot hamster into a machine of hamster doom!

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Stroller toys

mrstoyreporter — Wed, 26 May 2010 01:00:15 +0000

I was thinking about stroller toys earlier today. I have absolutely no idea why, but the human mind is a strange place and so for no apparent reason I was thinking about stroller toys. We have never been big stroller people, not for any particular reason except I am lazy and carrying a baby seems easier most days than pulling the stroller out of the car. (As an aside – I loved that scene in Away We Go where one of their many crazy friends said “Why would I want to PUSH my baby away from me?!” – Hilarious!) Nevertheless, there are times when a stroller is important and stroller toys can make a shopping trip much more bearable. Well, I have discovered that cute stroller toys are difficult to find, but I have done to work for you and found not one but two cute stroller toys. The first is the Manhattan Toy Snuggle Pods Travel Toy.

It clips to a stroller, car seat, or just about anything else. The adorable snuggle pod baby comes out if your baby needs it to (and he/she will need it to come out for snuggling and possible chewing).

Also cute is the Tiny Love Sunny Stroll Arch.

I love the yellow sun prism and the crinkly butterfly. These toys do not detach so they might be better for babies than toddlers. The upside of toys that do not detach is that they also don’t get dropped or thrown on the ground.

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Beach Toys

mrstoyreporter — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:52:33 +0000

When you have three kids who each need their own sand toys the beach toy bags can get a little bulky. There are many toys that can be shared, but everyone realy needs their own bucket and shovel. I am seriously considering, in the interest of saving space in the beach bags, switching to collapsible sand pails. I especially like the Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Cinco Starfish Collapsible Bucket.

Not only for the cuteness (but really, the cuteness!). Holds sand or water and can be smushed flat for ease of storage.

Honestly, this along with the Melissa and Doug Cinco Starfish Scoop and my kids can entertain themselves for hours at the beach. We often bring other toys too, but sometimes if I am the only grown-up and I can’t manage to carry more than the snacks and towels then we jettison all the toys except what the kids can carry themselves. We have found that with a bucket and shovel each, they don’t really need anything else.

For the days when we bring the larger collection of beach toys, I am thinking we may need one of these Melissa and Doug Sunny Patch Clicker Crab Hourglass Sifter and Funnel. Can be used with either sand or water, I can envision the boys timing beach races with this hour glass.

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More Melissa and Doug Sand Toys

mrstoyreporter — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:34:52 +0000

Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch sand toy week continues. I really like the general baking set.

Officially called the Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Seaside Sidekicks Sand baking Set, it performs all the basic functions of any sand bucket set. It has a mixing bowl/bucket with a lid that doubles as a sifter. It has a mixing spoon/shovel and a whisk. Also includes three measuring cups, perfect for sand baking.

I am also a fan of the Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Speck Seahorse Sand Ice Cream Set. It comes with an ice cream bucket, ice cream cones that you can scoop sand into with one of the ice cream sand mold scoops and a shaker for sand sprinkles. Because these toys don’t include the kinds of little molds that the cookie set and the cupcake set, I think they have a wider age range, fun for kids as young as one or two. The youngest kids may not get that they are scooping ice cream, but they will have just as much fun with scooping sand into different containers and dumping it out.

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New sand toys

mrstoyreporter — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:32:56 +0000

The Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch collection includes some great new sand toys perfect for the beach (or sand box) this summer.

Every year I like to put together beach bags for the kids. I salvage anything that can be saved from last yer and pickup some new sand toys. We spend a lot of time at the beach in the summer and some simple shovels and buckets see the most use. You can find past sand toy reviews like the sand sac here and sand wheels here.

Well, thus year Melissa & Doug have outdone themselves. I love their food themed sand toys and I know my kids will too since they frequently serve me sand cake and sand ice cream. The first is this Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Seaside Sidekicks Sand Cookie Set (that is a really long name).

It comes with a rolling pin, cookie cutters, plates and a sprinkle shaker for sand sprinkles. Best of all it comes in its own mesh bag (I love toys that come with bags to help keep them all together).

My other favorite is the Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Seaside Sidekicks Sand Cupcake Set.

It comes with hinged cupcake molds, a “baking” tray, and different shaped frosting molds. It also comes with a handy mesh bag for storage. I can just see my kids digging out a sand oven to bake all their sand treats. I can also see Rainbow trying to sell his treats to other beach goers (he is on an earning money kick).

These toys look like so much fun, but the molds maybe a little fiddly for younger kids. I think four and older may have the most fun with these. Have fun digging!

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I really need one of these!

mrstoyreporter — Wed, 12 May 2010 03:09:58 +0000

Have you seen the pictures of the AMAZING (yes, if ever CAPS were deserved, there are deserved now!) replica of Bilbo’s Hobbit hole, Bag End? You must see them!

I first saw this on Ohdeedoh. This was made by a woman named Maddie in her spare time. You can see all the pictures at her blog, she even tells you all about how she made it. It is so incredibly detailed. See the round green door and there is a map inside and barrels of pipe weed and a fully stocked pantry (of course, Hobbits live here!) and a sign on the gate saying “no admittance except on party business” and Wow! Just wow. We are all big Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fans here at chez Toy Report and I am so very impressed by the beauty of this and the attention to detail. I really really want one.

More Sewing Kits For Kids

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:51:26 +0000

Yes, I may be a little obsessed with The Little Experience lately, but their kits for kids are so great I can’t help it. There is nothing like that “I made it myself” feeling.

I gave this Create-it Flower Jewelry Kit to someone recently

and look at the cuteness of the Create-it Daisy Chain kit.

We gave this to the Princess’ friend for her birthday and she had to sit down and make it right away. The great thing about these kits are perfect for younger kids, like ages 3 to 7.

And if you have someone who is more into monsters than flowers, they have a kit for that too.

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Seven Year Old Girl Birthday Presents

mrstoyreporter — Mon, 03 May 2010 01:47:51 +0000

We attended a birthday party last week for two 7 year old girls and got them each the same thing. This stitch-it doll kit from The Little Experience.

Adorable and the box turns into a chair for the doll.

Also, a copy of Babymouse: Queen of the World. Everyone loves Babymouse.

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Cool Kids Night Lights

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:45:44 +0000

A few years ago the boys wanted night lights they could take to bed with them. We finally found some kids night lights at Ikea for their 6th birthday.

I recently saw these OXO night lights and I know what to get if we need new nightlights. I love these blue and green OXO Candela Tooli lights. They are rechargeable and have a safe recharging base that has no exposed electrical parts. They will light for 8 hours and can be lighted while recharging (in case you forget to charge it during the day). They also come in orange and pink. Having twins, a set of two is perfect for us, but you can also get a single OXO Candela Tooli.

Now, are you ready for the best one? The new OXO zoom light.

Awesome, no? I know so many kids who would love to take this light up rocket to bed. I think these sorts of things make great presents for kids when you don’t really know what to get them. Great for a wide range of ages and you don’t have to know whether they prefer pirates or dragons or princesses or baseball.

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Silly Bandz Silly Rubber Bands

Remo — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:15:29 +0000

Wearing a wrist full of colored bands has finally returned!

It’s always great to see an old fashion mainstay come back to be enjoyed by another generation. Being a guy I never owned leg warmers (my sister certainly did), I did have quite a Jams collection, as well as a pile of paisley ties. I had a large drawer full of rubgy shirts and wore the collars up of course. I never did get into the wearing a giant pile of rubber bands and bracelets up and down your arm but Mrs TR certainly did, as did many other teenagers of the 80s.

Well, Silly Bandz are all the rage with kids these days. If these funny shaped rubber bands haven’t caught on at your little one’s camp or school or neighborhood, it soon will.

The Silly Bands are created by a company called Brain Child and they are the new hot toy collectible of the spring season. What are they? Well, they are simply rubber bands in fun shapes. They retain they shape even after being used for a while, so they can keep your hair up or close a bag of chips for a while, then go back to their fun shapes.

Some of them are just colored, but some packs include glow in the dark and sparkle bands as well.

The other great thing? They don’t cost much! A bag of 24 fun shaped rubber bands costs about $5-7, typically with free shipping, so they won’t break the bank and make a great gift.

Click on any of the pictures below for more details and pricing on each set:

Of course, being rubber bands these are not for children under three. If balled up, they can be a choking hazard for children under three, and should never be placed around necks, either your own or a pet!

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Gardening with kids

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:25:55 +0000

It is officially spring and after spending so much of the cold months stuck inside kids are eager to get outside and dig in some dirt! Put them to work with some garden tools their size. The Toysmith kid’s big tool set looks just like the grown-up version which will appeal to kids who love to help in the garden. If you want to “plant” something for the doll house garden too, try the Plan Toy doll house vegetable garden, We have this and boy is it cute. You can plant the wooden carrots and radishes and then pick them and serve them to the dolls for dinner.

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Grow Your Own Butterfly Armada

Remo — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:59:29 +0000

About a year and a half ago when we started this site, I wrote a review of the Live Butterfly Garden and how much the boys loved getting the butterfly caterpillars in the mail and then watching and waiting for them to crawl up and start making their cocoons.

Waiting for the butterflies to hatch, feeding them and finally releasing them is a great learning activity for kids and prompted a ton of questions about where they come from, what do they eat, how do they spin their cocoon and on and on and on.

With spring finally here, it’s a great time to start thinking about outdoor toys for kids and growing your butterflies is a great way to get kids interested in nature before the summer hits.

If you’ve been planning a summer outdoor event such as a graduation party or wedding, ordering a small number of live butterflies will cost you a small fortune, at around $250 for 25 butterflies shipped. Bah! Raise hundreds of your own instead for under $75!

We’re talking about a 30 day lifecycle from larva to butterflies, and you’ll want to go through 2-3 life cycles, so plan ahead for that big day!

Start Small With A Butterfly Growing Kit

First, your best bet is to start with a butterfly growing kit. While you can order butterfly larva directly from a number of sites without buying a kit, you’ll need somewhere to hang them after they form their cocoons as well as somewhere to keep them for a few days before letting them go outside. Plus the larva you can order through the mass produced kits are less expensive than just ordering directly.

The Live Butterfly Garden is a good kit and the one we used with the boys a few years back. At around $15-$20 online, it’s a good deal considering what you get. In fact, if you’re looking for a refill on a butterfly growing kit that you already purchased, it’s actually cheaper to order a new one. Reordering a refill of 5 larvae from the company is $14.99 plus shipping vs a kit for $15 that includes a coupon for the larva with free shipping in many cases. Sad that it’s cheaper to buy a new kit and a whole new butterfly home, but we can always re-purpose the old one as another spot for toy storage for those smaller stuffed animals..

Here is how it works.

THE BUTTERFLY LARVAE DO NOT COME IN THE BOX. This seems to be a common mistake that people make when they give this as a gift. You buy the kit and use the coupon to order the butterfly larvae from the Insect Lore company via a provided form or the company phone number, which costs $3 for shipping if you have the coupon. If you’re giving it as a gift, you can crack open the box and call the company to order the caterpillars ahead of time.
The butterfly larvae arrive in the mail a few weeks later. They are quite slow and hardly move at all. Don’t assume they’re dead, because they really only move an inch a day. Keep them out of direct sunlight and don’t disturb them.
A week or so later, they’ll climb to the top of the container and form chrysalises. Wait a few days after they do this.
Transfer them to the Butterfly habitat, where they’ll hatch about a week later. Feed them with fruit and sugar water after they hatch.

Grow Your Own Small Butterfly Army

Now the fun begins! You could just release your five butterflies and watch them fly away. But what fun is that! Instead, spawn and grow a couple generations for your very own butterfly armada and let them go all at once on a nice summer day

What you’ll need:

A Butterfly kit from above. Again, the Live Butterfly Garden is your best bet. Cost ~$20
A bunch of Hollyhock plants or seeds. The Painted Lady variety of butterflies that come with the Live Butterfly kit like thistle, hollyhock, daisy and burdock plants. Of all those, hollyhock is their favorite, is a bi-annual (will grow twice a year) and the easiest to grow. Be careful going down to your local garden center and buying plants, sometimes they are treated with insecticide to prevent caterpillars from eating them! To be sure to prevent this, order some hollyhock seeds and make another project out of growing them. Cost ~$5
A pile Painted Lady Butterfly larvae food culture. The larvae can live off the hollyhock plants, but seeing as how the numbers of larva we’re talking about would devour a small hollyhock in a few days, and if you go away for the weekend they’ll die, you’ll need some extra artificial food. The larvae feed both during the day or at night, so if you are the type of person (read: me!) who would forget to feed your caterpillars fresh hollyhock leaves 2-3 times a day for weeks, then go this route. This is the right stuff to feed about 80 larvae from birth to hatching as butterflies, so it will feed a heck of a lot more as a supplement to the Hollyhock leaves. Cost ~$20
A Tent to store the final butterfly masses – check here for a list of good indoor tent options here, including one for about $20 shipped. Cost ~$20
A bunch of glass or transparent plastic jars – to store the larvae as they grow. Cost ~$20. You can always go cheap here and use plastic cups, plastic wrap and some rubber bands instead and save some cash. If you have any old glasses or jars lying around, you can use those. Just don’t forget to poke holes in the lids!

What to do:

Plant a bunch of the hollyhock plants, both inside and outside. The inside ones are caterpillar food, the outside ones are important to keep the butterflies hanging around after you let them go. Reuse some of the hundreds of plastic containers you recycle (you do recycle right? RIGHT?) as pots for the indoor hollyhocks. Don’t forget to make drainage holes in the bottom or they’ll drown when you water them.
Order the larvae from the kit, follow the instructions above and included with the kit to hatch the butterflies.
After the butterflies are hatched, place a couple of hollyhock plants in the bottom of the habitat. This allows the existing butterflies to lay their eggs on their natural food. Once you notice a bunch of eggs on the plants, you can let the butterflies go outside. Check this page for images of the butterfly eggs and larva so you know what to look for. You’ll be in good shape if you get 30-50 eggs.
Ideally, you would let the butterflies go outside to enjoy the rest of their lives out in the open.
Prep the plastic jars or cups. Make lots of SMALL air holes in the top of the lid and secure the lids loosely with a paper towel underneath each lid for the caterpillars to attach to when it’s cocoon time. Add a 1/4 inch of butterfly larvae food culture to the bottom of each cup by microwaving the food until soft (or following the instructions included with the food if you go with a different source) and pouring into each cup. Prepare around 7 cups. Use only one of the cups of the larvae food culture.
Once the eggs hatch, use a toothpick or matchstick to VERY GENTLY transfer ~6-7 larvae into each jar. It’s easier if you wait a few days for them to grow bigger, but by then they may have acquired a “taste” for live hollyhock and may ignore the artificial food if you go that route.
Try to feed them fresh hollyhock 2-3 times a day. The leaves dry out very quickly and then the caterpillars won’t eat them. Ideally make a small “vase” for each hollyhock leaf out by wrapping a small amount of paper towel around the stem and then a small amount of aluminum foil over that to keep the water in. This will keep the leaves alive and edible for days.
Follow the same steps as the original kit once the caterpillars cocoon themselves. With luck you should have ~50 cocoons at this point. Put all of them into the original Butterfly Pavilion. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but they’ll fit.

Butterflies: The Next Generation

Once they start to hatch, break out the tent and set it up inside somewhere. Open the now full Butterfly Pavilion inside the tent and give the butterflies some breathing room.
Same as before, but this time place a bunch of hollyhock plants inside the tent. Be careful here. Without sunlight the hollyhocks will die but with too much sunlight the tent will heat up and the butterflies will cook. Try to rotate the plants out if possible a couple of times a week and don’t forget to water them.
Same as before, collect the larvae and put them into jars. You could go the “feral” route at this point and allow the caterpillars to roam free around the tent and devour all the hollyhocks if you wish, but you’ll very likely get more butterflies in the end by preparing another larger round of the jars with the butterfly growth medium.
Again, release the butterflies after you see enough eggs to suit your butterfly army needs!
Hang the cocoons on the sides of the tent this time, there will be far too many for the old Butterfly Pavilion
With luck this time you could have upwards of 200-300+ butterflies in this generation.
If you want, rinse and repeat the whole process for an ongoing butterfly extravaganza. Or just open the tent on a nice summer day and enjoy!

Now that you have all the equipment, doing the same thing next year is far cheaper, only the cost of the extra food and another starter set of larvae.

We’ll post some pictures later in the summer once the third generation hatches.

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Hoppy Easter!

mrstoyreporter — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:22:20 +0000

I can’t resist a good bunny pun! This Wonderworld Hopping Bunny Walker is the most adorable bunny toy I could find, and the cutest walker ever. All my kids loved walking toys when they were learning to walk and they have all done double duty as shopping carts, doll carriages and wheelbarrows after their steadying influence was no longer needed. And look! Bunnies!

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Dollhouse for Boys

mrstoyreporter — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:08:26 +0000

I don’t know if this is new, of if I just missed it when I reviewed the KidKraft alternative doll houses a couple of weeks ago. It is also made by KidKraft, and it is perfect for underwater exploration enthusiasts (and I know a few kids who fall into that category). The KidKraft Fun Explorers Submarine Ship looks seriously fun. I think this submarine paired with the book The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino would make the perfect present for any kid who is fascinated by marine life.

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Passover Toys

mrstoyreporter — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:44:43 +0000

Passover begins today, and in honor of that I present the KidKraft Passover Set. It includes all the things you need to have a pretend or practice Seder. Looking for a book to teach more about Jewish traditions? I like the book Kiddish Yiddish: Jewish Traditions and Cultures in Rhyme for younger kids.

The Toy Report

Fred Snack and Stack – “Lego” silverware!

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Soccer Horns? Get Your Own Vuvuzela

Most Commented Posts

Etch A Sketch 50th Anniversary

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Has There Been A Silly Bands Recall?

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The best popsicle makers

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Kung Zhu Warrior Hamster Update

Kung Zhu Release Date

Kung Zhu Ninja Warriors

Kung Zhu Special Forces

Zhu Zhu Training Grounds and Battle Arenas

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Stroller toys

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Beach Toys

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More Melissa and Doug Sand Toys

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New sand toys

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I really need one of these!

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More Sewing Kits For Kids

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Seven Year Old Girl Birthday Presents

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Cool Kids Night Lights

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Silly Bandz Silly Rubber Bands

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Gardening with kids

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Grow Your Own Butterfly Armada

Start Small With A Butterfly Growing Kit

Grow Your Own Small Butterfly Army

Butterflies: The Next Generation

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Hoppy Easter!

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