Monday, December 31, 2007

Greening Your Washing Machine

I would have written this review earlier but every time I sit down to write it, I remember I have a load of laundry to do and run down to drop a Dropps into my (top loading) washing machine.

Read More Here ...

And here is where I talk about ways that Dropps COULD get their message across and the marketing thought behind it.

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Saturday, December 29, 2007

Your womb...the perfect classroom.

The BabyPlus curriculum is a series of 16 naturally derived sounds that resemble a mother's heartbeat. ..The BabyPlus sonic pattern introduces your child to a sequential learning process, built upon the natural rhythms of their own environment.

BabyPlus is the first educational tool designed for prenatal use that has been proven effective. BabyPlus children have an intellectual, developmental, creative, and emotional advantage from the time they are born.

Only $149.00 on Amazon

This is the first I've heard of this and I'm speechless.

Fortunately, others aren't. Read more here and here.

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Introducing Great Literature? Beat it to Death.

I returned from the library yesterday with media selections. Well, I also picked up some books but the media drew all of the attention. Our local library has a great media room featuring a wide assortment of educational as well as entertainment DVDs and audio books. So, my son was thrilled when I came home with a special treat, grabbed it from my hands and ran up to his room to play it.

Dora?

Transformers?

Sponge Bob?

Nope, an Ivanhoe audiobook.

I’ve written before that the absence of television in our house leaves room for great literature. And so we buy him children’s version of classic novels, plays and operas – on CD, in print and yes, also on DVD.

Great Illustrated Classics

Barefoot Books

Jim Weiss CDs

All designed for kids age 3 or 4 and up…much more interesting for parents to discuss than the latest adventures of Dora. Introducing kids to classics serves several purposes. Educating them and, at least in my case, educating me too!

We generally pick one classic to concentrate on at a time. Then beat it to death. Children, it seems, prefer this method, as any parent who has read Good Night Moon 25 times can tell you. We often work our way up to a performance, the adult kind.

Right now we’re gearing up for a performance of The Magic Flute, an opera by Mozart. Since I’ve never been an opera fan; this is a new one for me too. I suspect I'm not an opera fan because my first exposure to it was a performance. In contrast, we've taken several months to prepare.

First we bought this CD

A few months later, we bought this book and CD

Then recently, we bought this book and CD too.

Then I hunted and hunted and hunted until I found a full performance of the opera where tickets weren’t $275 a seat. In January we’ll go to see it – the “student preview” (which I think means dress rehearsal). At $30 per seat, if we find ourselves leaving halfway through, that will be OK. Which may be because we are thrown out, since the opera is in German with English subtitles we’re still trying to figure out how to read the subtitles to the kids without disturbing the rest of the audience.

In the meantime, my son is engrossed in Ivanhoe.

This isn’t actually on our after schooling list right now. We do however have an abridged version with lots of pictures which my other half picked up one day to read to our son…and read to him and read to him. Since I got sucked in and then a bit tired of reading the same 200 plus pages over and over, I picked up the audio book at the library.

Cop out. Oh well.

When he finishes the 4 cassette abridged version he’s eager to rent the 14 cassette adult version. We’ll see about that as I suspect the abridged version cuts out some of the violence.

Visit The Carnival of Homeschooling here!

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Getting Messy May Be Good For You

The Hygiene Hypothesis:

Increased hygiene and a lack of exposure to various microorganisms may be affecting the immune systems of many populations - particularly in highly developed countries like the US - to the degree that individuals are losing their bodily ability to fight off certain diseases.

And...have you heard about the new book? "The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History," by Katherine Ashenburg The messy history of cleanliness, and why our obsession with dirt may be making us sick.

Become a Photo Hunter. View Blogroll

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Friday, December 28, 2007

The Not Quite Crunchy Review Policy

Just a little end of year housekeeping....

I’ve been doing product reviews since I started my main blog at The Not Quite Crunchy parent.com First I just reviewed products I wanted to share with readers (the few that I had). Then as my audience started to grow:

I began receiving offers to review products I might use

I began to get offers to review products I wouldn’t dream of using

That lead to my being invited to work with Ogilvy PR on their Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics. As a marketer and a Mommy blogger, I’m a bit of a unique position as I can readily identify with both the goals of the firms trying to get exposure for their products and bloggers who range from uncertain as to why they are receiving all this good stuff to those cynical about it.

This has, of course led me to my own philosophy on what I choose to review and how I conduct them. They are as follows:

I won’t review any product that I have nothing good to say about – that’s not necessarily journalistic ethics…that’s just me. If I review a product, I at least like something about it.

I won’t write about any product sight unseen. I don’t think it is fair to my readers to plug something I haven’t tried.

And here’s the big one…I write as both a marketer and a consumer

That means that when I write a review I consider not only how I personally like how the product functions or meets my needs but also delve a little deeper. Since I am in marketing I consider how the product is priced…which means I look at the competition. I review the ingredients and check them against the claims made by the manufacturer. and I look at the functions of the product and how it fits consumer needs. Sometimes this means that I make a suggestion (as I did here and here) that the manufacturer add something to the package.

Sometimes I get really involved and give all kinds of marketing advice.

Mostly, I try to give a fair and objective review, not a plug.

(Product Reviews appear on both the Not Quite Crunchy Parent and Not Quite Crunchy Reviews due to an increasingly Byzantine set of rules designed to satisfy both advertisers and P.R. folks.)

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Thursday, December 27, 2007

A Not-Quite-Crunchy Christmas Vacation

Now that the Christmas rush is over it’s time to figure out...what to do with the kids. Those of you who plan ahead have of course prepared a list of fun and exciting activities.

The rest of us get up every day and look at the hours stretching out before us and panic.

There is of course the “plant them in front of the TV, Wii, Gameboy, computer, screen” strategy. But then that wouldn’t be very crunchy.

An alternative is to follow the rhythm strategy and plan the day accordingly. I haven’t been very good at planning ahead but each day I do try to put together a plan so we aren’t sitting around staring at each other or worse.

So, I’ve put together a list of some activities we plan to do over the vacation that are…well a bit crunchier than watching videos…though we’ll do a few of those too.

Make play dough and use Christmas cookies cutters.

Go to an art store and buy some real art supplies. We’re going to buy charcoal and pastels to make cave paintings on a crumpled paper bag or craft paper.

Do some science experiments. There are lots of good resources on the web for these. Older kids can search and find the ones they prefer. Younger children…you get to pick!

Watch an old Christmas video. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or anything released prior to 1975. (You can count on better language and behavior by the characters in earlier films.)

Make paper airplanes or origami animals .

Have a snowball fight with crumpled up paper

Check out Living Crafts magazine for some ideas on Waldorf type crafts to make and start one.

Go outside on a nature walk. Supply each child with a bag or basket for collecting samples. Come home and organize them. (This works well as long as it isn’t raining- if it is, puddle jumping is a good substitute.)

Make a highway system with masking tape. My friend Tan’s kids did this in our playroom and created an entire city by laying masking tape all over the floor in a city street design…great if new toy cars were under the tree.

Put on a play. This is a great time to stage some of the classic Christmas plays using old boxes, and dress up clothes. Older kids will take charge and younger ones will…well, get in the way. Great when you have visitors.

Play some old fashioned games or look for some games from other countries and play them.

Read a historical novel or one that involves a foreign location. Get out maps, encyclopedias and globes. Find out where they went. Look up names of places that you usually just read and find them on the map. Explore, make a craft, draw a picture. Robin Hood, King Arthur even a Disney princess book or book of fairy tales can be used.

Go outside at least twice per day. This sometimes just means saying…”go out and play”. They’ll figure out something to do.

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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The Origin of Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells", also known as "One Horse Open Sleigh", is one of the best known and commonly sung secular Christmas songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and copyrighted under the title 'One Horse Open Sleigh' on September 16 , 1857 . The song has been translated into many languages.

More Wordless Wednesday

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Shopdropping Safety - Homemade Doesn't Mean Healthy

Funny article in today’s New York Times, Anarchists in the Aisles? Stores Provide a Stage…

Retailers typically worry about shoplifting at this time of year as in crowded malls frazzled shoppers intentionally or unintentionally walk off with stock. It seems they have the opposite problem too – customers adding to inventory.

Shopdropping, as it is called, involves protestors, self published authors and inventors bringing product to local stores and carefully placing them on shelves “for sale”. Actually what most likely occurs is confusion at checkout while both clerk and consumer hunt vainly for a bar code and shoppers in the line snaking out the door behind them grow irate.

A self promotion, public message and anarchy tool, this one seems to be yet another example of the changing landscape in retail and yet another reason for parents to shop carefully. I tend to view product made in someone’s bathtub or garage with much greater concern than one made in China.

That goes for Etsy too.

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Saturday, December 22, 2007

Where Have All of The (Recalled) Toys Gone?

A story that seems to have hit the major business press today concerns the fate of all of those recalled toys. Funny, my friends and I have been wondering about them for weeks.

It seems the various companies involved in the recalls have different strategies.

By law, they are required to hang on to all of those recalled toys until they can be tested for toxin levels…to get a final assessment on where and how they can be disposed.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency required companies to test their returned products for an aggregate level of lead to determine a disposal plan. If the tests came in at higher than five parts per million, companies were required to take extra steps to make sure the lead would not contaminate the environment. If the average was under that level, the toys could go in normal landfills.

If not…well there seem to be a variety of plans:

Mattel said it would try to recycle parts, such as pieces of the Polly Pocket magnetic toys, safely into items like park benches.

One company that recalled 350,000 lead-tainted journals and bookmarks plans to burn them in an incinerator.

Toy makers are investigating whether they need to treat their tainted products with stabilization chemicals or if they must seal the toys in giant polyethylene bags

I can picture it in my mind. Long, heavily attended meetings at toy company headquarters, the participants from various different departments are sitting around a conference table tossing out creative, often ridiculous, ideas for disposal. In the meantime the toys sit in warehouses and will for quite awhile.

Manufacturers caught up in multi million unit recalls must hang onto these tainted toys while they fight off (multi-million dollar) lawsuits. This of course will take years.

Perhaps some toys will accidentally slip back out onto store shelves. Perhaps some will be shipped overseas

Companies are allowed to export products they recall to resell in other countries, if the recall is based on a voluntary standard. Companies can not export toys with lead paint, since it was banned on toys in the United States. But they can export lead jewelry and some of the metal trinkets that had been part of recent recalls.

Oh and by the way…

American companies face strict regulations for disposing of recalled toys, but they are only responsible for the toys that show up. The other products left out there - and in many cases, that is more than 80 percent - fall out of their purview, a crack in the recall system that consumer advocates say leaves a giant question mark over the trail of recalled toys.

In other words…it’s not illegal for someone to sell lead tainted toys at their next garage sale, on E-bay or on Craig’s List –unethical, often unintentional but, not illegal.

Despite the best efforts of the big resale sites, E-bay and Craig’s List, the diligence of parents and the publicity on this issue, I’m assuming toxic toys will be with us for quite awhile. This makes me more determined than ever to stick with American and European made brands I can trust.

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Where to Buy Last Minute Gifts for Crunchy Children – Including Yours

No more Toy Guides.

If you haven’t finished your holiday shopping by now, you’re in big trouble.

OK –that’s not true, you can still run out and buy some last minute gifts for any crunchy children in your life.

And, that’s my list for today…places to go to do that.

If you are interested in WHAT to buy check out my Best Toys for the Holidays lists:

Best Toys for The Holidays Part I - Blocks

Best Toys For The Holidays -Part II- Dolls

Best Toys for The Holidays- Part III – Books

Best Toys For The Holidays - Part IV Cars, Trucks and Things that Go

Best Toys For The Holidays Part V - Arts and Crafts

Best Toys for The Holidays- Part VI -Action Figures

For now though, I’m taking a break for on the lists. If you have a toy topic you want me to research, leave me a comment and I’ll cover it in a few weeks, once we get into birthday season.

Meanwhile here’s where to go for those last minute gifts of natural wood, fabric and organic toys..

Tuesday Morning – This closeout store used to have a wonderful selection of Haba wooden toys, Playmobil and other natural brands. It’s still good but, the popularity of those toys has made it less so.

Whole Foods/ Wild Oats – Surprisingly, these huge natural grocery stores sometimes have an extensive selection from such manufacturers as Melissa and Doug.

Target – One of the Target toy aisles is dedicated to open-ended, imagination building toys, including wood and “play figures” (as opposed to action figures) for boys

Pottery Barn – Great selection but a bit pricey.

Teacher supply stores – many teacher supply stores also carry a selection of toys, often from smaller less well known manufacturers.

Craft stores – There are lots of craft kits out this year but, avoid them and buy real art supplies instead.

Fabric stores – Kids who love dress up will have a great time with a few yards of various different fabric. Tulle for fairies, leatherette or suede for native American dress-up or just fun patterns.

Costume Store – It’s a great time to visit a costume store and most kids love costumes!

Independent book stores – These are where you find the best books and often a selection of small toys too.

Your Local Waldorf School store – many Waldorf schools have a store attached where you can find really unique gifts for kids and adults.

Marshalls – Another store that used to be great for wooden and natural toys. It’s hit or miss now.

Ikea – A great place to buy wooden train sets and child size metal pots, pans, and ceramic dishes for the kitchen play set.

Toys R Us …way in the back – Yes, in the back of many Toys r Us stores you can find a nice selection of Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Wooden Train sets, Legos and science toys…oddly enough right besides the “Princess Barbie Laptops”.

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

New Use for Old Standby - Parchment Paper

Reynolds Corporation recently sent me a package of parchment paper to review on this site. Actually, they sent me a lovely cookie tin filled with recipes from Robin Olsen, plus the parchment paper samples.

Since I wanted to bake some cookies this year with my son, this was a product I thought it might be fun to review. And, since I barely know how to make boxed brownies, this was an opportunity to learn a bit more about this standard baking supply, which I …had only vaguely heard of before. (My baking skills are generally limited to stopping by the local bakery for cupcakes, though as I have been getting crunchier and craftier each year, this hopefully will soon change.)

I baked the cookies. The parchment paper was great. The cookies didn’t stick. They were nice and evenly browned. Clean-up was easy. Good. Done.

Now, write the review.

I baked the cookies. The parchment paper was great. The cookies didn’t stick. They were nice and evenly browned; clean-up was easy; blah, blah, blah…snore.

Hmmm, I guess I COULD say all those things that people who actually bake already know but, hmmm…let’s do a little research first. Ah ha! I’ve found a way to get off track…delightful!

This is better.

An excellent use for parchment paper is …in the microwave!!! Wait, you say, crunchy people don’t use microwaves. Yeah, yeah…here I diverge.

We use our microwave frequently. Though recently with glass or ceramic dishes and covered with a, often leaky, paper towel rather than cling wrap!

I've been pretty freaked out about the whole phthalates- Bisphenol A thing, as you know - I do NOT want those nasty chemicals leeching out of anything plastic I put in the microwave and into my food - so goodbye plastic in the microwave.

So, I read that parchment paper is an excellent substitute for cling wrap in the microwave! Cool!

Not content to just read the material I was sent, I called Reynolds customer service. They were out to lunch.

Well, not figuratively. When I did get them a little later they gave me a little canned speech about their product that was...surprise, surprise very helpful!

It's coated with natural silicone rather than quilon or chroma, often used in industrial applications.

It's gluten free

It' great for steaming as well as baking
The paper is bleached white with chlorine - hmmmm. Not so good.

Unfortunately, the chlorine used to bleach the parchment paper white, while not harmful to us is not so great for the environment. The bleaching process releases dioxins into the air - these are present in most paper products that are white.

This last point is somewhat of a big deal within the green demographic. You can already buy unbleached parchment paper here and here and often at the larger organic grocers like Whole Foods.

And since it is somewhat of a big deal, I expect to see Reynolds launch an unbleached version of their parchment paper soon.

And, by the way, Reynolds marketing team... here's the part of the review where you get unsolicited marketing advice.

You probably have a pretty limited budget, since this product is late in the life cycle but, you have a great chance for revitalizing this line. Don't do it piecemeal though.

Start with the unbleached line extensions - targeted to natural consumer bakers, who will pay more for greener products.

Add line extensions in a smaller size for microwave use. There's a real opportunity to provide an alternative for consumers concerned about plastics and...with the recent "made in China" scare it's top of mind.

Reposition your line beyond baking. The powers that be consider your line an old declining cash cow - show them it doesn't need to be.

Oh, and by the way...I'll be watching. I'm really sold on this product...just ditch the chlorine, please!

For more great Works for me Wednesday ideas visit Rocks in My Dryer

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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A Tree of One's Own

Decorating our playroom Christmas tree. The kids are in charge.

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A Peek into The Publishing Industry With Scholastic

An article today in The New York Times, Scholastic Plans to Put Its Branding Iron on a Successor to Harry Potter, gives some insight into, at least a portion of the publishing industry.

In case you were not aware, The Harry Potter series of books, by J.K. Rowling was published by Scholastic in the United States. This was a fairly traditional distribution deal. The first Harry Potter book was initially published in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing; Scholastic picked up the rights to publish the book in the U.S.

J.K. Rowling kept the all the other rights to all of the Potter books. She had and has the choice on what and when additional types of products including movies, games, toys, etc. etc. will be made based on the books…and who will do it.

Harry Potter was a huge winner for Scholastic.

The fastest-selling book in history, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling’s sixth Harry Potter book, was released on July16, 2005 with a first printing of 10.8 million. It sold 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours. All six Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as well as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince have been number one bestsellers in the United States, Britain, and around the world.

The Harry Potter Books spun off movies, games, toys, backpacks etc etc through a wide variety of licensing deals…of which Scholastic got not a penny…since J.K. Rowling retained the rights.

The buzz on Wall Street recently, since the last Harry Potter book was published this year has been…and so now what Scholastic?

The answer appears to be another magical series entitled: The 39 Clues. This series will have 10 books and Scholastic will release one every few months. What’s interesting here is that unlike the way we think about bestsellers being published – the way Harry Potter was published:

Author writes book

Author sends manuscript out to 10 to a zillion publishers hoping someone will want to publish it

One lonely agent agrees to represent author and gets a deal with a publishing house.

Book is published to little fanfare but readers love it

Author goes on to fame and fortune.

The 39 Clues, in contrast, is being developed the same way one might develop a new line of snack foods.

Rick Riordan , the best-selling author of the Percy Jackson series (published by Scholastic), which includes “The Lightning Thief” and “The Sea of Monsters,” … has written the first title in this new series, “The Maze of Bones.” He has also outlined the stories for the next nine installments.

The balance of the books will be written by a variety of authors with whom Scholastic has worked before, in a neat, assembly like way.

Scholastic then can market the books anyway they choose, including putting huge amounts of advertising dollars behind them. And since they retain the rights to each book, if the series does turn out to be a winner Scholastic can work directly with movie studios, toy manufacturers, game developers, etc to develop complementary properties.

It also allows them to build upon the growing interactive part of their company by creating and managing web sites and online games to attract kids who read the books.

With all of the marketing muscle Scholastic puts behind this venture this is expected to encourage kids who might not normally read… to read, as the Harry Potter books did. That would be a good thing.

What it doesn’t do is create great literature.

Working on a tight time frame to create product to be pushed through a sales cycle rarely gives an author time to think or write great thoughts. Since the books and all of the related materials will be developed concurrently, the authors may be faced with a variety of, non plot related requests,

“Hey, we’re going to offer some trading cards with this book, make sure you put in something that kids can collect.”

“Don’t forget to think about the visuals, we’re going to be making this into a movie.”

“Make sure you have a lot of action in the book since we’re going to have an interactive game on the web site.”

What we have here is not the lone author in his tower bedroom scribbling away trying to put deep thoughts to paper, carefully honing each phrase and checking and double checking grammar. What we have is…writing by committee.

I expect readers won’t benefit from seeing a well turned phrase, a carefully thought out paragraph or a well developed story line. They won’t then learn how to construct any of these themselves.

From a marketing standpoint, this strategy makes good business sense. I just might have thought of doing this myself was I working for Scholastic.

Good business sense doesn’t always make good literature though.

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Monday, December 17, 2007

Hottest Tech Toys - Uh, Never Mind

Sometimes you read a mainstream news article that just strikes you as hilarious. Bare with me a minute while I give you some background...

Back in February I wrote a post, Where are The Toys at Toy Fair? , bemoaning the batteries and bells in the hottest toys at the show - this is, um, not an unusual type of post for me.

Then in June, I was, oh, I don’t know, speechless I guess, since I wrote very short post.- Plug “Em In, featuring an electronic toy.

Well now, it seems it’s time to talk about this again because…

…one of the toys I mentioned is on the top sellers list this year!!!

An ABC news article, Hot Tech Toys Worth the Buzz? features and then (fortunately) questions the value of three electronic top sellers.

EyeClops

Jakks Pacific, www.EyeClops.com, $49.99, for ages 6-up, plugs into TV

Smart Cycle

Fisher-Price, www.Fisher-Price.com, $100, for ages 3-6, plugs into TV.

Easy Link Internet Launch Pad

Fisher-Price, www.Fisher-Price.com,, $30, for ages 3-7, works with a PC.

Jinny Gudmundsen, the author (who also writes The Computing With Kids E-zine ) does a nice job of exploring the pros and cons of each toy, from a mainstream perspective, and then finishes the article with this little tidbit…

American Academy of Pediatrics Warning: All three of these toys use either a TV or computer monitor screen and thus create "screen time" for children, something the American Academy of Pediatrics advises should be monitored. They recommend that children over age two have no more than one to two hours a day in front of media screens.

Oh, by the way…Never Mind...

Did anyone else find this hilarious?

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Sunday, December 16, 2007

Webkinz – Marketing, Manufacturing and Moms' Outrage over Advertising

This post is part of a continuing series in which I make a wild attempt to deconstruct how marketers develop, package and advertise products in an attempt to get you to buy them. Hopefully this evens the playing field a bit.

There is a bit of a Brouhaha going on over at Outside the Toybox and Corporate Babysitter , two sites I read regularly. about Webkinz. Actually there is outrage all over the web about a new twist in the marketing of this product.

Webkinz, in case you’ve been living under a rock, “… are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code” that the owner uses to log onto the Webkinz website. Launched in 2005, they’ve become the latest hot toy…kind of like a “Beanie Baby” for the digital set. And it’s been a phenomenal success.

The Ganz company, which makes this product has been a leader in plush toys for half a century. However, the plush category has been declining as kids move more and more to digital fare. This of course is the reason the founder’s grandson invented Webkinz, to appeal to the millennial child who spends so much time online.

Each Webkinz comes with a secret code that allows a child feel access to the Webkinz website for one year. And, um...they're doing rather well.

Webkins.com, launched in April 2005 and geared to children six through 12, is the most-visited virtual world for children in the U.S., according to CCFC. As of 2006, the site had a million online accounts. Ganz subsequently stopped releasing online and sales figures. However, Nielsen//NetRatings showed the site drawing over 4 million users in May and 7.9 million unique users in October

Fast forward. Webkinz is a super hit. The next big thing, parents love them. Webkinz starts posting ads on its site... instant outrage!

“One of the reasons why parents buy Webkinz for their children is the expectation that the site will be free from advertising,” said Susan Linn, The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s director. “It’s disappointing that the site is choosing to maximize revenue at the expense of children.”

Now, I support The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, and as my regular readers know, bemoan the commercialism and consumerism our children encounter everyday but… this seems a bit disingenuous… perhaps only because I worked in the industry.

It is not free to operate a web site. The $10.00 - $15.00 or so that parents spend for a Webkinz does not cover the cost to enable a child to spend countless hours on a web site for a year. How exactly did parents expect that the company was paying for that free web site usage?

Let me run some typical costs by you.

Say you buy a Webkinz for $10.00 from Amazon . Amazon takes $5.00 of those dollars (more or less) leaving the company with $5.00 per Webkinz. Now, it takes a dollar or so of course to make these babies. And then don’t forget shipping by truck, rail and ship to get them from Asia, to the port, through customs, etc., etc. That is usually about half of the wholesale cost of $5.00.

Now we’re down to $2.50 per doll…of which some covers Webkinz that are tossed for manufacturing issues, some are returned, etc. etc. I worked for a company like Ganz ( Applause Toys in the ‘80s) and this is a tough business. Multitudes of marketers, artists and engineers are running around at the company coming up with an entirely new set of hundreds of products UP TO NINE TIMES PER YEAR. A few will be a success, most won’t sell enough to cover the cost to develop and manufacture the product and then ship it to stores.

Though Ganz is certainly making millions now, in a year or so when the Webkinz craze passes they may find themselves going the way of many toy companies before them – out-of-business, sold to a competitor or bankrupt. It’s a tough industry!

The fact is, the toy business is no longer fun and games. It's a harsh, corporate world, driven by social and demographic changes, concerns about stock prices, and fierce battles between global brands.

The rewards for success are enormous: A top toy can earn billions. Likewise, the cost of failure can be catastrophic -- the battlefield is littered with the corpses of once-successful toy companies whose multimillion-dollar gambles did not pay off.

I’m not advocating for the toy companies, I’m just looking at the reality of American business today. For parents faced with advertising creeping up in unexpected places, the only option is anticipation. Branding expert, Laura Ries said it best, I think

… it may be unrealistic for parents to expect zero advertising on most any site--never mind hope to shield kids from all advertising in today's world. "Do you think Disney isn't marketing to my kids on their site?," she notes, adding that she feels strongly that it's incumbent on parents to educate children early on, in an age-appropriate manner, about advertising and how it works. Webkinz appears to be taking a selective, "not overwhelming" approach to ads. "Even PBS is taking advertising or sponsorships now, and in my mind, Webkinz's approach seems to be akin to that model--at least as things now stand on the site," she says.

Unfortunately toy shopping in the 21st century seems to mean thinking carefully about what we buy and every single little contingency. If I buy this and then that happens or perhaps that...maybe this other thing...? Whatever happened to taking things at face value?

Anyway, what seems to be happening today is not always what we can count on to happen tomorrow. Embarrassingly, I'm finding that out the hard way- check out my post on Pokemon creep.

BTW- my DS, at 5, has had very little contact with Webkinz so I haven’t had to face the pressure to buy one. He has seen a few at friend's houses but, hasn't really played with them. He also doesn’t play on the computer.

What would I do if he were a few years older? I’m not sure…what have you who have been faced with this situation done?

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Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Craft Fair Meets E-bay Online at Etsy

If you haven’t yet heard about the site, Etsy , it’s a bit like a crafters version of E-Bay. Imagine your weekend fair featuring artists showing their wares...online.

What E-Bay did for the yard sale, Etsy does for the craft fair. This two year old site seems to have really caught on this year and is growing exponentially.

It’s definitely caught on with crunchy types as you can find:

55 pages of items tagged as “Waldorf” including a really cute basket of knitted fruit titled” Farmer’s Market You pick vegetables”

740 pages of toys. Including wooden vehicles at roughly the same cost or cheaper than at traditional natural products stores

52 pages of baby slings made from everything from silk to ultra suede

The site works quite a bit like E-bay though the fee structure is less expensive and a whole lot less complicated. The pricing is a throwback to E-bay in the early days. In other words, sellers still aren’t quite sure how to price their items so you can pick up some deals.

This isn’t though like shopping at one of your favorite online sites for natural products. These are hand crafters – one gal or a few gals (guys) sitting around making this stuff. If too many orders come in or if life just gets too busy or if the crafter gets bored or really tired of making the same thing over and over…oh well….no more of that product available…from that seller anyway.

It’s going to be trial and error on this site for awhile but if you like to buy or sell handcrafted items or hang out with crafty types and want to be in the know, this is a site you want to check out.

Tomorrow: I’ll talk a bit about the business behind Etsy

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Friday, December 14, 2007

A Small Problem

Our small tree for the playroom did not come with a tree stand. This is what happened when we contrived one out of a bucket filled with sand and rocks.....and then tried to move it.

oops!

Become a Photo Hunter. View Blogroll

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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Toys for The Terrified- A Headline You Gotta Love

Word out this year is that wooden and natural toy manufacturers are definitely seeing an increase in sales. There are numerous stories out about the trend. The best headline that describes it all, I thought was:

Toys for the Terrified

That so describes me and many of my friends.

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Best Toys For The Holidays Part 6 – Action Figures or “Boy” for Doll

This week’s edition was suggested by a reader, Melitsa in the comments on one of my earlier posts, The Right Doll at The Right Time- or Making The Best of Barbie.

You can read my other posts on Best Toys for the Holidays at:

Best Toys for The Holidays Part I - Blocks

Best Toys For The Holidays -Part II- Dolls

Best Toys for The Holidays- Part III – Books

Best Toys For The Holidays - Part IV Cars, Trucks and Things that Go

Best Toys For The Holidays Part V - Arts and Crafts

Whew!

OK, this current edition took a little research since first I had to find sources to back up some of my knowledge about the action figure category from working in the industry. Then I had to write an extensive post on action figures here. (Note: I had to otherwise this post would be REALLY LONG!!!) Then I had to find the recommendations...why am I doing this? Remind me.

Anyway, let's start with a little background on action figures.

Guess what!

"Action Figure" is a marketing term.

It is commonly defined as: “Boy” for Doll

The term "Action Figure" was first used by Hasbro in 1964 , to market their G.I. Joe figure to boys who wouldn't play with dolls.

Ah ha, now you know why we call them "action figures". I don't know what they called them before...anybody?

Anyway, let's look at the role of doll play - for girls and boys.

After the age of 3 or 4 or even before, girl doll play differs from boy doll play. Girls tend to act out home and community related scenes (hence the use of dollhouses), boys focus more on stories that take place out of the home (hence the use of pirate ships/castles/fire stations). This relates to what child development experts say is the “community building” source of girl power and the “rescuer /avenger source of boy power.

And also... the greatest creative play comes when children, boys or girls, play with dolls without a back story.

A figure with a back story, of course is one based on a movie, TV show, or even in some cases a book. Though, depending on the hype…that is how many different episodes or sequels the back story has there actually may be some play value in a figure with a tiny little back story – that is perhaps one based on a historical character or legendary hero.

Which is why I find 99% of currently available action figures developmentally inappropriate…i.e, I try not to buy them.

This does, of course, leave me with a very short list of action figures to recommend.

The problem with back stories is that children tend to act out the same story they saw or read over and over rather than creating original stories. An action figure that is associated with a particular character MUST stay in character and does not have the freedom to act in an inappropriate way… say, a Transformer suddenly building a campfire.

And so, I prefer to purchase play figures for the young boys in my life rather than action figures. (Phew, and you thought I was just going to bag on this list, didn't you?)

There are, fortunately a variety of good play figures available; ones that tap into a boy’s need for action and hero/avenger/rescuer play but, also allow him to use his imagination to make the character do whatever comes to mind.

I feature both plastic and natural wooden on this list – some available at most stores, some only available at specialty stores. All are more or less open-ended toys with lasting play value.

1.Wooden Play sets with wood or cloth figures here or here

2. Papo Knights – These plastic figures are made by several companies including Schleich available at Target and “made in China” cheaper ones available in many larger toy stores.

3. Flexible dolls – Evi dolls for boys or girls- fun poseable, bendable figures available from several companies including Kathe Kruse– these often have clothes that can be changed.

4. Plan Toys - better than Spiderman action figures for little ones. The selection of play sets is somewhat limited at this point but I expect this natural, made from sustainable forest toy line to grow.

5. Playmobil – These made in Germany figures are some of our favorites. There is a huge range of products available including knights, Romans, soldiers, firefighters, airline pilots, etc. They are best ordered from their website as there is only a limited selection available in stores. Be forewarned though – they can be addictive.

6. Rescue Heros . While these tend to have a pretty well developed back story…if your child doesn’t watch the show, he doesn’t know it so creates his own adventures.

7. Plastic figures in Tubes. A few different companies make these and I worry a bit about the lead content in the cheaper versions. I like the Toobs brand and those sold in museum shops. There are a variety of sets including, space, Wild West, etc.

8. Bible Action Figures(really, that's what they call them!?) – great if you have a child interested in bible stories. The play value however, may be a bit limited. Though these figures tend to not have much of a back story – parental stricutures on what these heros SHOULD do may limit children’s ability to be creative. In other words, the adults around might get squeamish.

9. Eco Play sets I really like these adventure type play sets. Some though feature a Steve Irwin doll which may or may not be to your liking.

10. Miniatures – we buy small people at craft stores!

11. Wooden modern dolls or Wooden career dolls

12. Lego Mini Figures - though generally thought of as a building toy, many sets come with tiny figures. You can purchase extras to go with a child's creations.

13. Finger puppets, stuffed animals and of course….a boy baby doll , dressed in blue. Boys may not play with dolls the same way that girls do…but they will play.

The prevailing thought in the toy industry is, Boys with Dolls? Not anytime soon. But, it really depends on how you look at it.

More Thursday Thirteen

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Action Figure = "Boy" for "Doll"

A truism I learned early in my marketing career from a slide at a conference for Marketing to Children is:

Action Figure = “Boy” for Doll

While some may believe that “boys don’t play with dolls”; they do. They must. There is a developmental need of all children to act out stories and process events using tiny play figures. In our often macho society however, we label these for boys: “action figures”.

Since I have a general dislike of modern action figures, I’ve resisted creating a list of them in my “best toys” series. I was afraid that the list would look something like this:

None

However, a reader of course requested one. And while I don’t always take readers suggestions ( it’s MY blog after all) I felt compelled to face my reluctance straight on. I believe it might be good for my soul.

You can read my recommendations at:

Best Toys For the Holidays Part 6 – Action Figures = Boy for Doll.

But, first, a little history:

An action figure is a posable plastic figurine of a character, often from a movie, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures usually are marketed towards boys.

The term "Action Figure" was first used by Hasbro in 1964, to market their G.I. Joe figure to boys who wouldn't play with dolls.

You can read more about the evolution of action figures here.

OK so, what purpose do these "dolls" serve? Remember “play is children’s work” so even though we say, “just let them play”, the toys they play with serve a greater purpose than just entertainment.

So, here’s what the experts say about doll play.

Up until about age 3 or 4…doll play, which is what we’re talking about here (Remember “action figure” is merely a marketing term: “boy” for doll) has one purpose. That purpose is nurturing and imitating what they see adults do with infants.

Toddler boys may or may not talk to cuddle or pretend feed a doll ( or stuffed animal – which is the “acceptable doll” for toddler boys in many households).But, if you watch, boys will do many things that adult males do with children – roughhouse, push in a stroller and ~~tell them what to do~~ talk.

Doll play is important in helping children explore how to grow up and take on the role of the future adult. The care, feeding and nurturing that is brought out in doll play is basic human instinct. By encouraging this capacity in young children, we help instill the ability to give selflessly and care for others, and we hopefully help raise a more caring adult.

Which is why it is somewhat bizarre to find a 2-year-old boy clutching a hard plastic Transformer Action Figure brandishing a futuristic weapon. Yet another example of how we let marketers tell us through ads and commercials what is appropriate for our children.

At around 3, children of both sexes start to act out stories with dolls or action figures This is the point where tiny figures (Flexi dolls, small animals, small figures) are used – girls tend to act out home and community related scenes (hence the use of dollhouses), boys focus more on stories that take place out of the home (hence the use of pirate ships/castles/fire stations). This relates to what child development experts say is the “community building” source of girl power and the “rescuer /avenger source of boy power.

Now, historically, girls have always played with dolls without a back story. That is, dolls that tend to be generically, “Mommy” or “baby” or “little girl” or even “big girl” and have no associated book, movie, cartoon, story, or movie associated with it.

Girl doll play centers around a familiar community. Girls can select from a variety of easily accessible characters in their lives to give a generic doll a personality.

Boy doll play however has traditionally centered around dolls with some sort of back story but, a simple one – a hero, a firefighter, a knight. In ancient times boy played with clay and wooden soldiers which they imbibed with the personality of the latest hero – from Ulysses to King Arthur. (Even G.I. Joe has no real backstory as there isn’t a movie/TV show craze associated with this doll.)

And so here’s the problem I see with most modern action figures – too much back story! I accept that at some age (certainly not 2 though) boys need to add an additional form of role play beyond nurturing. There is that psychological need of boys to rescue, save and avenge.

That’s fine. But today’s’ action figures often leave little to the imagination. The entire story has already been created by an adult to sell a movie, TV show or book. The small boy has little room to create his own play.(Though the more imaginative will create new scenarios for Spiderman or a Transformer.)

Compare this to girl doll play, where the possibilities are endless.

On top of that obvious flaw, action figures often tend to be horribly violent...in an adult way. Small boys usually can be perfectly content with a semblance of a gun (often created with thumb and finger) or a sword devised from a tiny stick. Action figures designed by adults often are arrayed with an AK47 or some other, far too violent weapon.

So between the overly violent weaponry and the extensive back story, the toys we give our boys often leave little to the imagination.

Play with such toys is merely physical, for the (psyche has) no outlet when confronted with a finished product. Boredom sets in easily, and the only solution appears to be buying yet another toy to add to the collection. The (young child) is already learning how to become a consumer, rather than a creator.

OK, now that you have some background, you may want to read my recommendations here.

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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

A Heifer For Christmas - Charitable Givng For Kids

I’m giving a Heifer for Christmas this year. Or perhaps I’ll give a flock of ducks.

No one I know lives on a farm, so perhaps this is not the most appropriate gift. Or perhaps it is.

If you are struggling right now to find a gift for a child that isn't made in China, has no batteries and is developmentally appropriate...this may be it.

Heifer International works to end global hunger and poverty by providing gifts of livestock and plants to impoverished families worldwide.

They fight world hunger by giving families a way to help themselves. So, it's a gift you know will go a long way.

And, If you like me struggle with ways to introduce your child to charitable giving in a meaningful (for kids) way...this may be it. Heifer's website is filled with terribly cute pictures of the gifts they offer and kids can help you choose among:

A flock of chicks- $20

A water buffalo $250 (or a share of one for $25)

Honeybees - $30

A trio of rabbits - $60

etc.

Purchase your gift online then send a card to the recipient letting him or her know about your gift. I did this last year for my, then 4-year-old, nephew. My son and I made the card using images from the Heifer website and mailed it that day.

Unlike the usual reaction to anything that wasn't a toy - both were tickled pink and proud to give and receive this gift.

Hey, that works for me!

For more great Works for me Wednesday ideas visit Rocks in My Dryer

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Defining Play

In the past, children played with their toys; today, in the electronic age, we might say that the toys do the playing, and the child watches.

It make look the same but, it isn’t.

More Wordless Wednesday

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Don’t Drive Your Sport Utility Vehicle to The Farmers’ Market

Don’t drive your sport utility vehicle to the farmers’ market, buy one food item and drive home again. Even if you are using reusable bags.

So starts this article, If It’s Fresh and Local, Is It Always Greener? in The New York Times. For those of you not terminally hip, eating local, that is trying to consume only foods grown and manufactured within a reasonable distance from your home, to reduce travel time and therefore one’s carbon footprint… is in.

The trend even has a name. Practitioners call themselves “locavores”.

Now it turns out the science is not clear. How unusual.

While the research is not yet complete, Tom Tomich, director of the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, said the fact that something is local doesn’t necessarily mean that it is better, environmentally speaking.

The distance that food travels from farm to plate is certainly important, he says, but so is how food is packaged, how it is grown, how it is processed and how it is transported to market.

In general, the argument boils down to not only where the food product was grown but, in the case of animals what it was fed. Grass raised cattle use fewer non-renewable resources than grain fed. How it was transported; trains and ships are more efficient than planes or, as at the typical farmer’s market, pick-up trucks.

And finally, exactly how fuel efficient are consumers who travel from Wild Oats, to Costco, to the Farmers Market to Trader Joes to their local grocery store...in their Cadillac escalades REALLY being.

This of course supports my Not-Quite-Crunchy lifestyle argument. Do what you can to live green. Don’t be smug about it!

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

Flu Vaccines Required...Hah!

This from The New York Times:

A Proposal to Require Flu Vaccines for Preschool

Hah! I don't even know where to start...not a chance in...ummm...well you know where this will pass!

Where do I start:

1. Flu vaccines tend to still contain mercury - a hotly debated topic - many parents believe this has contributed to autism in their children.

2. Many parents, in general believe that other preservatives in vaccines are harmful for some children

3. Flu vaccines tend to be concocted from MOSTLY LAST YEAR'S flu virus...not the current year's ...for obvious reasons... in the several months between formulating the vaccine and administering it, the viruses – which are naturally constantly evolving and mutating – may have changed, or new ones may have emerged

4. What about the opt out provision? Will that still apply? Sounds like it will...most states have that provision.

5. It's actually often better for children to get sick in preschool...it helps to build the immune system.

Wow- I can't wait to see the debate.

The CDC's take on Flu vaccines...cautiously optimistic...we'll see how they weigh in on this debate.

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No Toys For Tots – Donations Down This Year

I just finished reading this press release on giving this year. I’m not surprised – Toys For Tots is Running Short This Year. Every time I see a charity sponsored toy collection bin…it’s empty.

Somehow this doesn’t surprise me. In the past, I blithely picked up an extra toy while shopping at Toys R Us or Target and dropped it in a donation bin. This year I’m not shopping at Toys R Us or Target for toys. This year I’m buying fewer toys. This year places I buy toys don’t have collection bins.

This year I’m AFRAID to drop a toy in the collection bin…what if I end up donating a toy that contains lead????

By the way….what safeguards do these charities have in place to ensure that they aren’t distributing lead, cadmium, arsenic, and phthalates ridden toys?

Well…many thrift shops are not accepting used toys aren’t accepting toys. But, what about new toys?

Many parents are leery now of buying any new toys made in China for their children, afraid it will end up on the recall list any day now. We also, well, me anyway are afraid to buy a toy made in China for charity. This moves the whole donation process from an afterthought to a full blown project.

I suspect charities have their lead testing kits running at full speed. I hope so anyway. Meanwhile, I guess I’ll buy an armload of books at The Scholastic warehouse sale I’m attending next week and keep them in my car to drop in the many charity bins I pass each day.

Check out your local book store for giving opportunities too. Neither Barnes and Noble or Borders seems to have an easy to find online site for donations at this time but, maybe that will change in the coming weeks!

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Friday, December 07, 2007

Eco Holiday Decorating on a Budget

Everything is getting harder for parents this holiday season. No more infant cough and cold medicine; medicine. Toys for Santa to bring- make sure they are lead free. Holiday decorations, plates, wrapping paper – make sure they’re not made in China…who knows what scary chemicals lurk there.

Looking for Eco choices…better get out your wallet!

I’ve been cruising around the web looking for eco ideas for the holidays. There are some great ones out there from Danny Seo, from Green Guide, from Tree hugger . The problem is though…they tend to be fragile and expensive! Much more suited for adult homes than those with kids.

These eco choices are lovely, beautiful and environmentally friendly. It isn’t I’m sure though, very eco of ME to buy these decorations and then have to repurchase them again next year because they have been handled, played with, tossed and oops…somehow broken by the inhabitants of my home.

And so, as I drag out my decorations this year, I think about which, possibly toxic, surely not eco, items to pitch and which greener items to purchase. And, of course, what I a not-quite-crafty parent can dream up to make from what I already have.

Since becoming a parent I have resisted the urge to purchase mountains of decorations for each holiday, preferring instead to buy or make one or two items. While our house is less pleasing to the super holiday decorating crowd, kids don’t notice, at least for awhile that one’s home doesn’t resemble the seasonal display at Target or Pottery Barn.

That said, there are a few green decorating items I’ll trade out and bring in this year, starting with switching to LED lights . Both a money saver and a planet saver – these seem to be a no-brainer.

We’ll of course, purchase a natural Christmas Tree. We always purchase a real Christmas tree. In my childhood home, flock was scorned. So, this one was easy for me. If we had a yard in which to plant one, I’d buy a live one.

I’ll do most of my outdoor decorating with home made wreath and garlands. I learned a few years ago that free garlands and materials for wreath-making are easy to find simply by lurking at the Christmas Tree lot and picking up the scraps. You can find directions for making garlands here and wreaths here. These are the easy version – which I think is appropriate since why put all that effort into making something which will be composted in January?

Fortunately, as a long time cat owner, my entire collection of tree ornaments are already wood. (Cats tend to climb the Christmas tree and/or bat the ornaments – so most cat owners who don’t feel like locking kitty away, prefer to just pick up all ornaments that have been knocked off each morning.)

Indoors I’ll also use free natural ornaments as much as possible. I’ll string a few more garlands and display pine cones, collected in our neighborhood, in various baskets. I have a stash of Christmas type ribbon to weave into my everyday baskets or drape over the garlands.

Since candles are a yearly repurchase, I’ plan to invest in some beeswax or soy ones this year. I do love scented holiday candles. And I’ll continue my trend of buying eco table ware. That is regular dishes with a holiday theme to use each year. I have 3 snowman plates bought on sale last January (They only had three so I guess I’ll introduce a second theme this year.) I’ll also add to my collection of holiday linens including cloth napkins. Since it seems most folks have a house full of these, they are quite easy to find at estate sales and thrift stores….beautiful ones if you live in an area with many elderly residents!

And lastly, I’ll bring out my crafts. Last year we made a St. Nicholas table decoration and salt dough ornaments. This year we will make more.

Otherwise I’ll pass on more decorations. I’m, afraid to buy the ones I can afford since they all seem to be made in China.

Visit The Carnival of the Green here!

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Dinosaured out! An Update on Our After Schooling Adventure

It’s probably time for me to give an update on our afterschooling adventure. If you’ve been reading my posts on this subject you know we started back in August with a plan to afterschool to supplement what we felt were weaknesses in elementary subjects particularly world history and, to some extent, science.

Using an 8 week model we set forth to do the following:

July 15 – September 15

Science: Rocks

History: The Paleozoic period

September 15- November 15

Science: Weather

History: The Mesozoic period

November 15 – January 15

History: The Cenozoic period

Science: Volcanoes and Earthquake

The first 8 week period went great. We finished reading the books, we did some experiments and projects in each subject and the kids extended the learning with their own ideas.

The second 8 weeks were a little rocky. We switched history (or in this case prehistory) books halfway through deciding to use the Barrons Prehistoric World series of books.

We managed to cover the water cycle and make a weather station for science but, much of what we wanted to cover was a little much for the parents to actually understand let alone the children. And I was a little lame preparing science experiments.

During the third 8 week session everything…um…sort of fell apart.

First, my son was petrified by both volcanoes and earthquakes (even though a few weeks early he was enthused) and refused to study them. Then Crystal bogged down with holidays, birthdays and such never quite got around to writing up the planning grid for history for that session. (We decided to write up objectives, resources and activities for each 8 week session in advance. I wrote mine up for this session but….due to the “fear factor’ never followed it.)

We decided we’re trying to do too much…duh!

So, for this session we’re winging it. My son seems to have gotten over his volcano fear so we’ll gingerly start doing a bit on that subject. I have a great science experiment for it!

We’ll also read as much of the two history books that cover this period as we can. Crystal says both she and her boys are “dinosaured out!”. We are a bit too!

So, we’ll regroup. Starting in January we plan to start following The Well Trained Mind’s History curriculum, which consists of reading perhaps 10 pages of The Story of The World each 8 week period rather than a whole book or two. For science I’m considering using the Kingfisher Encyclopedia of animals and doing a few pages each session.

We’ll meet and brainstorm and try again. Don’t they say you should learn from your mistakes?

Visit The Carnival of Homeschooling here!

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Giveaways and Contests

I don’t know why I get so excited about giveaways. I’m not the only one though…maybe it’s a Mom thing. They certainly are popular in the blogsphere though.

Until I started blogging my experience with them was close to nil. I rarely won anything. Actually my entire experience with giveaways online has been limited to:

Winning a reusable grocery bag from Eco Child’s Play ( Which incidentally, I will be writing for soon…more on this later)

Holding a giveaway sponsored by Kodak printers and having somewhere around a zillion people visit my blog when I listed it on Shannon’s site .

This may change since I just found another site for giveaways: Prizey.

What is PRIZEY?

PRIZEY is a blog which lists giveaways and contests on other blogs and websites. To do this, our bloggers monitor giveaways on top consumer blogs, follows and offers sourced listings from other contest blogs, and search the Internet for great contests and giveaways from retail and company websites.

Prizey is focused on giveaways of products for Moms and children. If you enjoy entering giveaways you can search listings on the site and click through to the sponsoring blog. I entered “eco” and found a number of giveaways I wouldn’t mind entering.

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Test My Toys – New Website Offers One Stop Toy Safety Search

The buzz on Wednesday was about the launch of a new site, Healthy Toys.org which promises to be a one stop shop for parents seeking safe toys this holiday season.

I wanted to check out the site that day but the strong publicity program they launched meant heavy traffic all day. That should continue since this is a very comprehensive site that enables parents to check by name, brand or type of toy to see if it is safe. And, they are certainly getting the word out!

If the toy in question isn’t listed, you can request that your toy be tested.

Now that’s cool!

Tests by the group on more than 1,200 children’s products, most of them still on store shelves, found that 35 percent contain lead — many with levels far above the federal recall standard used for lead paint …so, as we suspected, it’s probably a good idea to check every single friggin’ toy you own or want to own.

On this site you can do it! Maintained by The Ecology Center, working with a large consortium of non-profit groups to compile information, Healthytoys.org bills itself as “The Consumer Action Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys”.

The site also features a list of the top ten WORST TOYS

Top 10 with Lead

Top 10 with Cadmium

Top 10 with Arsenic

And it goes on…and last year I only worried about “small parts”!

Update: One thing I actually forgot about was mentioned by Christy Matte at Family Internet at About.com. Even if you do find your suspect toy at Healthy Toys.com, you may not find out if the toy you own is safe because different batches of toys can use different raw materials...sigh!

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Thursday, December 06, 2007

Best Toys For the Holidays Part 5 - Arts And Crafts

This week’s edition was suggested by a reader, Jenny-junebug, in the comments on one of my earlier lists:

Best Toys For The Holidays - Part I – Blocks

Best Toys For The Holidays -Part II- Dolls

Best Toys for The Holidays- Part III – Books

Best Toys For The Holidays - Part IV Cars, Trucks and Things that Go

As I once consulted for an arts and crafts company (working on a Lynette Jennings line of home décor products – remember her?) and have undertaken a number of crafting projects both during and since my Waldorf playgroup days, I felt fairly comfortable tackling this subject…until I started asking questions. Like:

Why do we buy our children arts and crafts supplies – besides to keep them busy for awhile?

What should we look for in an art or craft supply?

What do the experts say about children and art?

Spurred by a revival of interest in knitting and the increasing popularity of scrapbooking, crafting is booming. The Craft & Hobby Association trade group values the entire craft and hobby industry, which covers everything from card-making supplies to needlework tools and accessories, at $30.6 billion.

There are simply hundreds of options for arts and crafts supplies for kids. Many of them quite are quite good. Many of them are well made. Some of them are expensive kits that are used up quickly and replacement materials are difficult to find. Some of them are cheaply made and break after one or two uses.

How does one choose?

If you’ve been reading some of my posts tagged, Marketing for Moms, you probably have some idea of how products are marketed for children. That is, the focus is not necessarily on what is the best product for children’s development but rather, what is most likely to sell and sell again. This often means a glitzy, exciting art or craft kit that capitalizes on a current trend, has a limited use and increases a child’s interest in buying another kit.

Now, this is not necessarily bad…but should be considered whenever purchasing these types of gifts for a child. A gift of a craft kit this holiday season is bound to be used and forgotten by spring…just warning you…I often send kits to my niece but…know that they will likely be history by the next time I see her.

So, like most purchases for children, buying arts and crafts supplies takes a bit more thought than one would think …sigh.

OK, so here are several guiding principles to consider:

If a child is “artistic” – you might want to consider buying him or her “real" art supplies. Unlike those marketed for children, quality art supplies have richer pigments, smear less and apply easier. Using quality art supplies builds interest in art history, technique and the study of art.

Good art supplies – pastels, pencils , charcoal
Drawing books - for kids – For parents and kids
Paints – watercolors or oil paints for older kids

If a child is a visual or kinesthetic learner, you might want to consider buying crafts that relate to what they are learning in school.

Teachers said that hands-on projects help students understand basic ideas as well as
broader concepts and help children to apply information in new or different situations.
“Kinesthetic and visual learners really benefit. They are much more apt to
transfer their expertise and enthusiasm to reading and writing activities after
having experienced the concepts with their eyes and hands.”

If your interest is in buying safe non-toxic natural supplies you might consider:

Beeswax modeling material - brighter and more eco than traditional wax crayons – they do not smear or bleed. Beeswax comes in a hard strip that softens and becomes pliable when warmed in the hands -
Beeswax crayons – purer, brighter and smelling better than traditional wax ones
Natural Handwork and Felting supplies

If the child has a strong interest in handcrafts...

Sewing Machine and supplies
Quality Pottery wheel and clay – the cheap ones tend to not work well and fall apart so spend a little more for one that will last here
Knitting crafts – knitting forks, finger knitting supplies, knitting spool (scroll down on linked page)
Weaving Kit

Here are a few resource sites you may also want to review.

Waldorf Philosophies of art

Art education Links

Green Guide to art supplies

Institute that lists for non toxic art supplies

Some great Waldorf craft Books

Whew! OK-, I've done my part.

Now, what are your ideas?

More Thursday Thirteen

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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Free Rice For The Holidays

Give a few minutes of your time online to feed someone this holiday season.

Visit Free Rice.com – spend a few minutes and they’ll make a donation to The United Nations to combat hunger. It costs you nothing except your time.

Read more about it here.

There is some pooh-poohing about this site as it does collect ad revenue...but, the rice really does end up in the hands of hungry people or at least in the hands of those who distribute it at the U.N.

More Wordless Wednesday

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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Let's Take some honey, Honey- Study Shows Honey More Effective in Treating Kid’s Colds Than Cough Medicine.

This just in: Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine found:

… a small dose of buckwheat honey given before bedtime provided better relief of nighttime cough and sleep difficulty in children than no treatment or dextromethorphan (DM), a cough suppressant found in many over-the-counter cold medications.

This is particularly good news since an FDA advisory board recently recommended that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines not be given to children under 6 years old due to of their lack of effectiveness and the potential for side effects. Some of these medicines have since been voluntarily recalled.

I wrote about this issue here and here a month or so ago. In those posts I included some links to lists of alternative methods of relieving coughs. Some, but not all of the sources I quoted included a tiny little mention of honey as a cough reliever.

I guess someone noticed the…um…”tinyness”…the study I quote above was sponsored by….

…an unrestricted research grant from the National Honey Board, an industry-funded agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Hmmm…. What exactly does that mean? Well, let’s take a look.

The Honey Board began over fifteen years ago when a group of honey producers and other industry representatives got together to discuss a powerful new idea: What would happen if they pooled their resources to work to spread the word about honey? By working together, they theorized, the industry could advertise, conduct research and promote honey in ways that were simply too costly and time-consuming without a cooperative effort

The National Honey Board …conducts research, advertising and promotion programs to help maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets for honey.

The Board consists of 12 members, including producers, packers and importer/exporters (of Honey), nominated by the industry appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture.

OK- so the group that sponsored this study is an industry group of honey producers whose job is promote honey. That doesn’t necessarily mean the report is suspect. Almost all research studies are sponsored by one of several entities: industry groups, the government, private investors with an interest in proving one thing or another.

Did you think scientists went into their own pockets to fund research? Oh, you thought that studies were funded by schools or by the government. Actually, I did too and that is often correct…however, most research is funded by grants. That is, a scientist comes up with a study idea and then apply to a variety of different “money pots” to fund it. These money pots can be private or industry supported boards, government agencies or private individuals with gobs of money. In any and all cases…everyone has a vested interest in seeing a certain outcome.

Now, generally, the scientists are not in the business of tweaking the results to please their sponsors. But, once the study is complete how does the word get out to consumers? Well…through the publicity efforts of any organization that benefits from the study results.

Ergo, Honey Board pays for study to be conducted. Results say, “honey is great for coughs”. The Honey Board sends out press releases to every news outlet they can touting the results of the study.

And so, one must take this new information with a grain of salt. Actually, I like to take all information I receive with a grain of salt.

Did you know that a salt water gargle is also great for relieving a sore throat? (I wonder if I know that because of a study sponsored by the Salt Board.)

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Sunday, December 02, 2007

The Trend Toward Natural – It’s Only a Matter of Time for Toys.

This post is part of a continuing series in which I make a wild attempt to deconstruct how marketers develop, package and advertise products in an attempt to get you to buy them. Hopefully this evens the playing field a bit.
My loyal reader, Jane made a comment on one of my posts last week

“… I am very encouraged by the blogging community. If the parents out here are any indication, I think there could be a return to traditional toys soon. How can we get the toy manufacturers to read the parenting blogs?”

My answer...

Toy manufacturers DO read blogs and do know there are folks like us out there. There are encouraging signs that retailers are starting to carry more natural toys. It's a process though. This small niche now may and probably will grow...think about organic foods...

This perhaps needs a little expanding upon. I like to use the growth of organic foods from available only in small health food markets to available at Wal-Mart as an example. Manufacturers and retailers respond to DEMAND generated by consumers.

To some extent this means, the more consumers ask for products that retailers don’t carry, the more retailers ask manufacturers to make those product. The retailers and the manufacturers both calculate the demand and, in today’s highly automated world try to determine if it’s worth it for them to use assets (machines, employee and management time, etc.) to make those products or…if those assets might be better used making some other item which will bring in more money to the firm. (like Twinkies or Barbies) These are businesses after all.

So, the more consumers that demand an item, the more manufacturers make an item and the more retailers carry them on their shelves for us to buy.

In the 21st century, media plays a fairly big role in this process.

Once upon a time the whole process was driven by consumers stopping by their local general store and asking the owner to carry a certain item they needed. This was low risk for the store owner. He or she only had to order a few. It was low risk for the small manufacturer to make a few.

That was before 70% of grocery stores were owned by 3 large chains, Two discount stores dominated the whole country and two large Home improvement stores sold most of the hardware in the country.

It was also before Wal-Mart, K-mart and Target sold close to 50% of all toys and Toys R Us sold another 20%. Yes sir - 70% of all toys sold by a few large chains. (I used statistics from here and here to calculate this.)

Why is that important to consider? Well, when Wal-Mart makes a decision to carry a selected toy, they want to find toys that can be carried in all of their stores…not just in those in Marin County, or Boulder or other “crunchy” enclaves. (Trust me, the paperwork, shipping and sheer mechanics to ship toys to only a few stores is a total headache for a big chain. They do it sometimes...but as little as possible.)

And so, that is why you tend to find toys favored by only a small number of consumers carried at smaller retailers on and offline…and made, of course by smaller manufacturers. (The headaches associated with trying to make a small quantity of anything are, perhaps, even bigger, for a large manufacturer than for a big retailer.)

“Wait a minute”, you say, “What about the media… you mentioned media…where does this come in?”

I’m getting there; I’m getting there.

As anyone in entertainment marketing will tell you, media both introduces growing trends to a national audience and reflects back the larger trends going on in the country….whether that be in fashion, food, music or toys. Since much of the industry is based in LA and New York…trends that start there get reflected first on television and in movies. Then trends started elsewhere, once they make their way to these centers, get their 15 minutes or more…or much more on national TV.

You may have seen this happen with organic foods. Started in crunchy centers like Boulder and New England and San Francisco, the benefits of organic foods then migrated to the Coasts and became all the rage in Hollywood and New York. Appearing in numerous movies and television shows, the word spread across the country, fueled by the internet and a growing and more and more vocal group of consumers.

Who…looked for them at their favorite markets...in vain. Small health foods stores, which carried them were then followed by health food supermarkets (Wild Oats, Whole Foods) that carried them by Wal-Mart offering a wide selection. The demand was there. Both large retailers and large manufacturers could sell enormous volumes of this healthy food and make money.

Which is why you now have Heinz Organic Ketchup.

The same thing can happen and, I believe, with traditional toys – wooden, natural, open-ended, non-electronic toys. There are, as Jane pointed out, quite a few of us out there who buy these toys now and we tend to be ~~annoyingly and often smugly~~ vocal.

You can find us in crunchy enclaves all over the country. Given a dramatic push by the recent China scare traditional toys have gained momentum in stores in New York and LA where the wealthy trend setters shop.It's only a matter of time before we
see them featured in every sitcom playroom. And then we'll know it won’t be long until they are featured at Wal Mart.

The uber trendy will just have to move onto something else.

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Monday, December 31, 2007

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Friday, December 28, 2007

Thursday, December 27, 2007

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Monday, December 17, 2007

EyeClops

Smart Cycle

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Sunday, December 16, 2007

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Sunday, December 02, 2007

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