KIDS MUSICAL TOYS - HOW CHILDREN DEVELOP: 6 - 12 Months

Hi Guys, well we have looked at what happens to baby in the first 6 months, so lets move on to the next 6 months, from 6 to 12 months.

Things are really starting to happen and your baby is starting to become a little person and much more interested in what's going on around and would probably benefit from a baby play mat. He or she will start to try and communicate (in a baby kind of way) by gurgling and maybe blowing bubbles, they will also start to sit up, turn over and before you know it, they are starting to crawl.

It is at this stage that you really need to have eyes in the back of your head, but it is so important to keep baby safe and make sure that everything that could be harmful, is out of reach as the word "No" has not much effect at this age. Its a good idea to get down on your hands and knees to get a baby's eye view of what is around that baby may like to pick up and put in its mouth.

Once baby is crawling it won't be long before they are trying to stand and take their first steps, so make sure that you protect them from any sharp edges on furniture with pillows or cushions, especially low tables.

I remember when my daughter was about 2 and she fell against the corner of a coffee table and cut her head open. I landed up at A&E with her under one arm and my 9 month old son under the other. Not a great experience.

Your baby will now be very curious and want to explore and play with all manner of things, so make sure they are only the things that you want them to play with like cot toys. Make sure you protect electrical outlets with safety plugs, remove electrical cords and lock cabinets.

Although not essential, at this stage you may want to think about a playpen, as this will allow you a little time to yourself once in a while.

With this in mind you may like to take a another look at the Fisher Price Little Playzone

which I reviewed in a previous post - "Summer is Coming", or The Baby Activity Gym by Fisher Price featured on the Post "Baby Comes First".

Be sure to check out my next post, when I will continue with Kids Musical Toys - How Children Develop...........

KIDS MUSICAL TOYS - HOW DO CHILDREN LEARN - O - 6 Months

Hi Guys, it has been of great interest to me to try and understand how children learn during their various stages of development, so for the next few posts I am going to be looking at a baby's learning process from birth to 24 months.

From birth to about 6 months a baby learns primarily through the various senses of sight, sound and touch. It takes a while for a baby's sight to develop, in fact they are not able to focus properly for a few weeks, but can detect shapes and movement, which is why baby mobiles and cot toys can be both stimulating and comforting.

A baby is already used to the sound of its mother from the womb and will continue to receive a great deal of comfort from hearing her talking or singing. This reaction can be reinforced with the additional sounds that can be provided from musical mobiles attached to the cot.

As baby continues to develop they will become more interested in their surroundings and start to develop their sense of touch and explore their hands and feet and anything else within reach, which is a good time to introduce them to soft cot toys. These will give baby the opportunity of learning about different shapes and textures.

I believe that apart from anything else, the most important part of a baby's development during this early period is without doubt the love and attention it receives from its parents.

To round off this initial post on how a baby learns I have reviewed a Musical Mobile which I think would make a perfect gift for a newborn baby.

Geenny Lavender Butterfly Flower Musical Mobile

A beautiful crafted Baby Musical Mobile from Geenny covered in a soft and soothing lavender fabric with butterflies and flowers and soft calming music to send your baby to sleep.

Fisher-Price Friendly Firsts Smart Response Musical Mobile

Now when baby wakes up and starts to cry, you'll have some extra help. If crying lasts for more than eight seconds, the Smart Response Musical Mobile automatically responds with sweet music, soft lights and gentle motion to help soothe baby back to sleep. It's easy to attach to most crib styles even sleigh cribs, and when it's time to remove the mobile from the crib, you can keep the base attached as a soothing music box with night light. This requires three batteries to function.

If you are interested in these products just click on the above links.

Be sure to look out for my next post on 'How do Children Learn".

KIDS MUSICAL TOYS - TOP TIPS TO ENSURE A GREAT START TO SUMMER VACATIONS!

Hi Guys, I guess at some stage during the summer vacations you will be spending time in a car, plane, airport or maybe a bus or train, either way you will want to be prepared, so here are my tips to help you get your vacation off to a great start.

• Plan well before you start your vacation - planning and preparing what you are going to take with you in advance will help to avoid last minute panics and reduce both you and your kids stress levels.

• Pack all your favourite kids musical toys, activity toys and puzzle toys in one place ready to load, or at least make a list and don't forget to include spare batteries or chargers.

• Expect the unexpected and plan for it - if you expect to be delayed on your journey and plan for it, you can turn what could be a very frustrating situation into an adventure. Kids copy what you do and pickup on how you feel, so the chances are that if you are enjoying yourself then so will they.

• Making sure you have all of their favourite kids musical toys, activity toys or puzzle toys or even something new that they are not aware of in one place and at hand will help to keep them entertained and you happy.

To help with your travel plans I have been reviewing some ideal kids musical toys which are both compact and portable and I am sure will give both you and your kids hours of entertainment, just what's needed when you are traveling.

All of the products reviewed are aimed at the slightly older kids as they tend to get bored a little quicker and need more entertaining.

I have featured the BeBop Carry-a-Tune MP3 Player in a previous post, but make no apologies as this is a great musical toy.

The new Carry-a-Tune MP3 Player has a tough rubber housing, built-in speaker and volume limiter and is made especially for young kids with safety in mind. Parents can control the 5 volume settings with the highest being 80 decibels (the maximum recommended by the Child's Hearing Council).

Features include: 1 Gig of memory, Backlit LCD screen, 4 auto shut-off settings, one hour of preloaded music and audio books from Music for Little People and Soundprints, library ports for earphone or amplifier with speaker cable for the bedroom. B cable for downloading additional content. Open system allows you to load and play your own music as well. Battery powered (batteries included) or AC Adapter (sold separately). For ages of 2 + with great reviews and currently at a bargain price.

I would certainly recommend the use of good child friendly earphones with this product such as the Kids Safe Head-Phones.

My next pick is for kids who like to keep up with all their favourite DVD's while on the the go. The Kid Tough Portable DVD Player is a real grown up musical toy made to withstand all the tough treatment kids can hand out.

The Kid-Tough Portable DVD Player is the first portable DVD musical toy that is tough and easy enough for kids to use. It is designed to be kid-tough and survive drop after drop.

Features include: a 3.2 inch color TFT screen, which may be a bit small, but no smaller than a phone, rechargeable batteries with 2 hours of life, battery charger or wall power unit, sturdy dual-rail DVD drive, digital anti-skip buffer for the ultimate kid-tough viewing experience, dual grip handles, kid-friendly DVD door and DVD controls, CD playback capability, handle for portability, kick stand legs for hands free viewing, video out jack and headphone jack. Not particularly cheap, but a good quality kids musical toy that is very tough and packed full of features.

Hope you have a great vacation and don't forget to look out for my next post.

KIDS MUSICAL TOYS- A BABY AFFAIR!

HI Guys, its Fathers Day and my wife and I have been invited to a BBQ with our daughter, her partner Stephane, who is a wonderful French guy and our granddaughter, along with all Stephane's family, including his two sisters and their new babies.

As you know we live in France so this is a typical French BBQ, everything comes except the kitchen sink and starts with the obligatory aperitifs, pink champagne and Ricard (a kind of aniseed liqueur mixed with water) but very potent, followed by a very protracted meal including plenty of wine. This was the first opportunity we had to see the two new babies and to give them their first of many Baby Musical Toys.

It was great to see them introduced to their new Musical Baby Toy, which they just loved and our granddaughter, who is now 30 months, was also well in on the act. Having had first hand experience of seeing their delight in their new toys, I thought it would be good to review these for you today.

The first is the Fisher Price Go Baby Go - Crawl-Along Musical Ball:-

This is the latest addition to the Go Baby Go line and it features an adorable monkey balancing on the top of a brightly colored musical ball. As baby bats at the monkey, the ball rolls along and the monkey bobbles while he tries to balance on top. Baby is rewarded with one of 2 fun tunes and 3 silly sound effects, encouraging them to bat the ball again and again. It requires two "AAA" batteries which are included. Good reviews and value.

Next is the Fisher Price Crawl-Along Drum Roll:-

Whether sitting or crawling, baby can make exciting things happen with the Crawl-Along Drum. Sitting babies can tap the bongo drums for fun music, sounds and lights. And when they're ready to crawl, the fun's ready to roll! Baby can chase the rolling drum while music, lights and fun rewards and encourage movin' and groovin'.

The drum plays four fun songs and features colorful spinners, busy activities and dancing lights to delight baby. Measures 4.6"H x 5.5"W x 11"L. Requires 3 "AA" batteries, included. Great reviews with an affordable price tag.

Be sure to check out my next post when I will be highlighting my top Kids Musical Toys for the summer vacations.

KIDS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - SOMETHING UNUSUAL!

Hi Guys, I am always on the lookout for something unusual or different for Kids Musical Toys or Kids Instruments, which I think would be fun for all the family and not just for the kids.

While recently watching an episode of the UK series of 'The Apprentice', which also has a USA version with Donald Trump I saw a great Kids Musical Instrument being demonstrated on one of the tasks set for the apprentices. The candidate demonstrating this Kids Musical Instrument on a TV Shopping Channel also turned out to be the eventual winner of the series and she certainly sold me on the product so I thought it was worth sharing this with you.

This is a really cool and fun Kids Musical Instrument that is bound to be a hit with all the family, weather it be in your living room or at a party with friends or family. It's sure to keep everybody amused for hours. I am talking about the 'TakaraTomy Air Guitar' which is a very novel and unusual electric guitar.

Take your guitar air moves to a new level. This Kids Musical Instrument features the upper neck of a electric guitar and an infrared sensor at the base, which allows you to strum the guitar as your finger passes through the sensor. Just strum the air to create the sound. It features 7 buttons that represent the chords and additional buttons on the sides for major and minor modifications and it also includes 10 songs to get you started. It also features audio in and out port for an MP3 player and speaker and headband inputs. What more can you ask for.

A real party stopper for a great price of less than $20. If you are still not convinced check out the YouTube video footage and see the UK Apprentice winner Kate Walsh strutting her stuff on TV by clicking the following link. Kate Walsh Air Guitar


Have a great Fathers Day and be sure to take a look at my next post on great Kids Musical Toys.

KIDS MUSICAL TOYS- PLAY IT AGAIN SAM!

Hi, I was watching a program on the TV last night about child musical prodigies, or more particularly a very talented 16 year old composer and conductor who was searching for a number of special child musicians to play his new composition.

I was absolutely amazed at the incredible talent of these children as young as 8. He traveled to China in search of a pianist and interviewed 5 musical prodigies from ages 8 to 13 and finally chose the 8 year old. It was also very revealing to see that there are over 30 million piano students in China, that's the equivalent of half of the population of the UK or France, which shows the value they place on learning to play an instrument and how it helps with a kids education. It also showed the dedication made by both the parents and kids to ensure the development of their obvious talent, like practising 5 hours a day, every day!

Obviously these kids were special, but they all started young from about the age of 4, so its never to early to start to encourage kids and what better way than to give them the opportunity to interact with kids musical toys or instruments.

So the kids musical toys I have featured today is a Baby Grand Piano, a novel Roll Out Keyboard and a Learn to Play the Piano E-Course.

The Schoenhut's award-winning Pink Baby Grand is elegantly designed, yet extremely durable and sturdy. Although classified as childrens musical instruments the 30 full-sized keys provide your childthe opportunity to learn proper "finger stretch," basic music concepts and playing skills.

Lovely chime-like tones are produced by small hammers striking metal rods. Chromaticallytuned, the tone never changes nor will the piano ever need tuning.

The patented Learning System includes a removable color-coordinated strip that fits behind the keys to guide small fingers from chord to chord. The accompanying songbook contains a collection of familiar tunes. High-gloss finish. Measures 20.5"L x 19.9"W x 19.3"H. A well constructed baby piano with great customer reviews and at a great discounted price.

This extremely cool electronic keyboard by Giovani unrolls to 251/4" long x 51/4", but the 1/8"-thick rubber-membrane keyboard rolls up around the sound module to become the exact size of healthy ham and cheese sandwich. It has (26) different tones, (99) rhythms, (10) demo songs, a (3) octave range and it runs on (3) "AAA" batteries that are included.

The business end has volume, power, function, start and stop controls, a built-in 13/4" speaker, headphone output and jacks for a 6VDC 300mA adapter 3.5mm plug (not included). And if you let the cat play on it, we bet you'll get Phillip Glass tunes. Great value for money for the get up and go budding pianist.


ROCKET PIANO COURSE! If you want you kids to learn to play the piano, the best thing you can do is to give them a head start with some meaningful lessons. The Rocket Piano Course by Ruth Searl is a great way to introduce your kids to the piano and as an ebook you could have it today at a great price of $39.95, just CLICK HERE! to check it out.

Be sure to look out for my next post on kids musical toys coming soon.

Kids Musical Toys - Going back inTime

Hi, I have been thinking lately that when you buy kids musical toys, a musical baby toy or musical mobiles you also have to buy batteries of one kind or another to make them work. OK in a lot of cases they are supplied by the manufacturer, but not all and they still need to be replaced quite regularly.

Kids musical toys have been around for thousands of years in one form or another and obviously the early musical baby toy did not need batteries, because they had not been invented. So I have been looking around to see what kids musical toys are available that don't need batteries.

Let me tell you it has not been easy to find a musical baby toy that does not require batteries, but I have found a few which may appeal to the purists amongst you.

The following are a few cute examples of a wind up musical baby toy that should keep your baby amused and save you some money in the long term.

Taggies Wind-up Musical Menangerie is a cuddly classic brown teddy bear in light green pj's - 13"in height and plays Teddy Bears Picnic. The special sewn-in outfit even coordinates with Taggies Rubacub onesie. There are no current customer comments, probably because very few parents know that these toys are still made, so why not be the first to comment.

Wind-up Musical Little Lady Bug is a musical infants toy playing "You Are My Sunshine", inside a Pink and Mint-Green decorated Lady Bug, with embroidered mouth, eyes and body decorations.

Guardian Angel Wind-up Musical Doll is a blond girl angel in a purple dress that plays Amazing Grace.

These kids musical toys may appear quite basic but it is sometimes the simple things in life that get the most attention.

Be sure to check out the full particulars by clicking on the links above and don't forget to look out for my next post coming soon.

Cheers!