When I was little, GeoSafari was the “it” toy for educational fun. And from what I remember, Educational Insights (the company that created the GeoSafari brand) was the first company to actually make a computer-esque learning game. Or at least the first ones to do it successfully. Now, there are all kinds of educational toys and brands out there to make sure your child is learning and having fun at the same time. However, that certainly wasn’t always the case.

Growing up, I owned a GeoSafari that had all of the different cards with maps on them. Of course, mine was straight out of the eighties with its bulky design that stood up so the card would continually fall off while I played it. Now, the GeoSafari devices have an easy-to-carry, laptop design with 63 two-sided cards and over 2,000 questions. I think mine had about 5 to 10 two-sided cards, in comparison. What amazes me more is that GeoSafari has created hundreds of other educational games, like a talking globe, a talking microscope and a fossil collection. You can find all of them at Arsa Toys, but I’m still partial to the original map or atlas GeoSafari game. It was educational, but my brother and I would still fight over it like kids do for the Nintendo controller now. Ahh … to be a kid of the eighties!

As the the global recession continues to take a toll on many family budgets, an increasing number of parents are looking to save money on excess expenses, such as toys. Until today, I had never heard of a toy library before, and I’m amazed by this fabulous and simple idea.

Just like traditional libraries, toy libraries lend items to members for a fixed amount of time. It’s not just a fun way to try out a toy, but it also helps parents and children learn to play together. Toy libraries are also provide valuable resources to children with special needs and disabilities, whose toys can be especially expensive but infinitely important in the development process of the child. Home school teachers also use toy libraries to access educational toys that are often found in a traditional classroom.

Toy libraries are popular in the United Kingdom and Australia, but are not often found in the United States and Canada. There is a US Toy Library Association, which offers a variety of resources, including a list of all toy library locations in the United States. If you’re interested in trying out a toy library in your home town, visit the link to learn more about the services the library provide and all membership fees.

If you don’t have a toy library in your town, talk to other parents in the community and see if you can’t set up an informal one through a playgroup, church or community center.

Lots of children are fascinated by the sky and outer space, and many parents want to encourage their healthy curiosity without investing in the Hubbell Telescope. As a kid, I had nifty glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling, but as my parents can attest, they were a pain to install and remove and didn’t have much educational value. Here are a few educational space and sky toys that don’t involve annoying stickers to scrape off the ceiling, no bits of sticky putty to get stuck in the pores of the walls.

Kids will love watching the planets (and Pluto) orbit around the glowing sun from their ceiling with this Solar System Mobile by Uncle Milton. This product does require some assembly and does not fit over traditional ceiling fans or lights. The device is battery operated (the first set is included) and features an automatic 15 minute shut off. This product comes with a educational CD/DVD and glow-in-the-dark star star stickers to complete the space effect.

The Moon In My Room by Uncle Milton is really a neat and educational toy. You simply mount the very realistic moon on your wall and watch as it illuminates through the 12 different phases of the moon. It comes with a remote control or which offers automatic and manual settings. It functions especially well as a fun and educational night light (it automatically shuts off after a half an hour).

This Rainbow In My Room projector by Uncle Milton is another great nighttime treat for kids. It projects a clear, beautiful rainbow across the room, acting as a great night light or decoration. Just like the Moon in My Room, it features an automatic shut off timer and runs on batteries. Plus it comes with a prism to learn how to make real rainbows.

It can be difficult to get kids to try new foods. As a child, my play food options were pretty much limited to a floppy rubber fried egg and a hollow plastic banana. Toddlers and young children really benefit from dramatic pretend play, such as playing kitchen or grocery store. Here are a few interesting (and rather exotic) food play sets designed to encourage healthy pretend play and food familiarization.

The Pretend and Play Multi-Cultural Food Set ($21.72 at Arsa Toys) is a great way to introduce children to a variety of foods. The 11-piece set includes familiar items like a hot dog and slice of pizza while introducing more exotic foods, like a croissant, flan, Spanish rice, egg roll, and salmon sushi.

Children can also learn how to “cut” food with the wood Cutting Food Box by Melissa & Doug ($14.49 at Arsa Toys). The kit contains a variety of meat, fruits, vegetables and bread that can be cut with the kid-safe plastic cleaver. The segments are held together with Velcro, which adds a fun crunching sound.

For children with more adventurous appetites, there’s the Sushi Slicing Box ($14.49 at Arsa Toys). The set includes shrimp, tuna and salmon roe, egg pieces, sushi rolls, condiments and chopsticks. Children can pretend to make their own sushi and chop it up with the included “cleaver”.

There’s even the Chinese-cuisine themed Good Fortune Food Playset ($8.70 at Arsa Toys) that comes complete with dim sum steamers, dim sum, chopsticks, lettuce leaves, a take-out box, tea and of course, a fortune cookie.

Children may not alwas want to taste these foods, but at least they can learn about other cultures and have a good time while doing so. Of course, there are many more food playsets out there so you can find the one that is most appropriate for the age and tastes of the child in your life.

What better way to let your kids sing to their own tune than with a musical toy?  Interactive and just plain fun, these colorful toy instruments will bring hours of fun to any music lover. 

The Kidz Kawasaki Rock It guitar lets you create your own music by recording and playing it back.  With 20 musical sounds, three instruments in one, and a professional headset, this toy guitar will keep any young star entertained (and entertaining) for hours.  $21.90

The Kidz Kawasaki 37 Key Keyboard, complete with a mic and stand, allows you to sing and play at the same time. Play around with 16 rhythms, 16 musical instrument sounds and four drum sounds.  For ages 5 and up.  $27.90 

These Rock Beat Rhythm Sticks (BEST SELLER at ArsaToys.com) will be an instant hit with any kid who enjoys creating beats.  All you have to do is turn them on and drum away!  With the push of a button, transition from the sound of a snare drum to a tom-tom to a crash cymbal.  You also have the option of playing a snappy rock tune that you can drum along to.  For an extra touch, the ends of the sticks light up with each beat.  For ages 3 and up.  Uses 4 AA batteries (included).  $14.50

Why not give the gift of knowledge to children in your family this Christmas?  This DK Children’s Encyclopedia will open children’s eyes to the world around them.  From DK’s critically acclaimed Eyewitness series, this fantastically rendered encyclopedia promotes learning by stimulating a child’s natural desire to explore. While most encyclopedias are software versions of traditional texts, Eyewitness Children’s Encyclopedia breaks the mold by presenting creative 3D landscapes which transport children to virtual worlds- from the rain forest to the inside of the Earth, from their backyard to deep space- in which every scene and object is linked to exploring a child’s natural curiosity of the “how” and “why” of their world.

The encyclopedia is extensively cross-referenced and you can leave “sticky notes” on screens as you go along so you can go back to favorite sections. Far more than a collection of information, the Eyewitness Children’s Encyclopedia is an absorbing interactive experience that teaches by letting children explore the world!

Ages: 7 to 12

Features:

• More than 6,000 screens and pop-ups
• More than 750,000 words of text
• 3,000 key word glossaries
• 50 interactive videos
• 200 animations
• 700 biographies
• 100 digital maps
• 2 hours of full audio
• 20 3-D environments to explore
• Topics: English, Science, Geography, History, Math, Art, Music

Buy now for $26.10 at ArsaToys.com.

I read an interesting article on The News & Observer regarding a new series of games released by Hasbro that help preschool-age children improve their social skills.  The series includes three games that focus on different lessons: sharing, listening and good manners.  They follow a group of kids in a fictional town called Noodleboro as they navigate tough social situations.  Players are rewarded not for a particular dice roll but rather for listening carefully, sharing tokens with friends and saying “please” and “thank you.”

This new series comes after Hasbro conducted market research indicating parents are much more concerned with imparting basic social skills than academic skills to their young children.  More Noodleboro games will be released next year.

One of the top projected trends for 2008 in the toy industry is in the area of education/science, including mostly toys and products for children and parents.  Over recent years, the debate as to whether children are receiving adequate education and weekly instruction in science and math to keep the United States competitive has become louder, growing a new trend of educational products and websites geared to assist educators and parents.

Mini Me Geology (www.MiniMeGeology.com) is the first company to take this area of science to a new level for children and educators, offering rock samples from around the world and interactive projects.

Tracy Barnhart, a professional geologist, discovered children’s interest in science after visiting her son’s kindergarten class for career day. Positive that none of them would quite understand what she did at an environmental consulting firm, she took rock, mineral and gemstone samples with her and explained what a geologist is, and what they do. The children were thrilled! Later Barnhart learned that her son was spending roughly an hour a week learning about science, and it got her thinking.

Barnhart started Mini Me Geology in March 2007 and it is the only company in the world offering a diverse line of geology kits, individual rocks and related products along with an online component that keeps educators and children coming back to learn more.

With all of the mindnumbing games and toys out right now that threaten to turn kids into zombies, it’s refreshing to find some “educational” musical toys and games that stimulate a child’s brain and can foster a lifelong appreciatoin for music.  Here are three of my favorite musical toys for children.

This easy-to-play frame drum looks like a big lollipop and comes with a multi-color mallet. The easy-to-hold drum on a stick. Kid’s love the colorful lollipop design.

Schylling’s Roll Up Piano is a sophisticated keyboard with such features as volume control, recording, demo mode and tone & rhythm control.The piano keys are embedded inside a molded rubber case so they will roll up for easy storage and travel. Requires 4-AA batteries, not included. Measures over 25″ long rolled out. Ages: 3+

This karaoke system is the perfect “toy” for all ages!  Your portable compact disc and graphics karaoke system will provide you with many years of fun and entertainment.  Be the “star” as you sing along with your favorite recordings. Listen to your voice with the music through the system’s speaker as you read the lyrics on your television screen.  With features that make it super easy to capture crisp digital video and perfect stills, you can let everyone else do the filming. First-timers? No problem. The Picture Stabilization System minimizes vibration and shake for a crisp picture.