by Jeff McKinney (follow me on Twitter)

The Nickelodeon animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, is getting the Hollywood treatment with a big-budget Summer movie from M. Night Shyamalan, due in theaters this July. The film, The Last Airbender, originally included the cartoon’s “Avatar”, in the title but dropped it to avoid any confusion with a little indy flick that you might have heard of from James Cameron.

Below is the first trailer for the movie, which will be shown during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Adidas has teamed up with Star Wars on a line of shoes and clothing inspired by iconic Star Wars characters and vehicles. Recently Snoop Dogg dropped by the Adidas shop in NYC to help launch the new line.

Adidas Star Wars apparel, such as the Death Star sneakers below, should be in stores now.

Every week, Time To Play’s Jeff McKinney, reviews a game that your family, friends and you will love to play.

This week’s game is World Of Zoo from THQ.

Here’s an exert from the review:

“Virtual Pet games have come a long way since the first Tamagotchi pets arrived in our pockets. While Tamagotchis are still around and getting more sophisticated all the time (best feature, the pause button so mom and dad don’t have to babysit), the current trend in virtual pets is bringing the pets out of pockets and onto game systems. Nintendogs revolutionized the category when it launched on the DS and now World of Zoo brings the long-running craze to the living room. Like all virtual pets, World of Zoo requires you to care for and raise an animal. However, this time there is a whole zoo full of animals.”

You can read the full review in our Video Game Review section by clicking here!

by Jeff McKinney (follow me on Twitter)

UPDATE!! The page to vote for the Madden NFL 11 cover-athlete is now officially up at www.snackstrongproductions.com. Once there you have three athletes to choose from: Reggie Wayne (Colts), Drew Brees (Saints) and Jared Allen (Vikings).

Do you like football? What about Doritos? If you enjoy both of these national past-times then why not have your voice heard in selecting the cover-athlete for the next Madden NFL video game? That’s the premise of a new Doritos promotion set to launch tomorrow (February 4, 2010).

Specially marked bags of Doritos are in stores now but it doesn’t look like you need a unique code or even have to buy the Doritos to vote for the cover athlete. All you need is this web address – www.snackstrongproductions.com.

The contest officially gets under way tomorrow so huddle up with your family and decide who you want to be on the next Madden NFL cover then check out that website. In addition to selecting the athlete, you’ll also be entered for a chance to win some cool sounding prizes like a trip to the NFL Draft!

Book Of The Week is a new feature section on TimetoPlayMag.com. Every Tuesday, we will share our favorite book of the week and tell you why we selected it.

This week’s book is Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC by June Sobel.

From TimetoPlayMag.com:

“Pirates remain a popular theme for kids of all ages and June Sobel’s rhyming tale takes readers through a pirate adventure using the alphabet. A simple plot has the crocodile captain ordering his crew of pigs, foxes and other animals to sail the seas and “capture” all the letters of the alphabet.”

You can read our full review and find out why we selected this book by clicking here.

By Christopher Byrne (Follow me on Twitter)

Boys are freaking out about their bodies. As a parent or caregiver, you may be aware of how conscious girls are about their weight and appearance, but how about the boys? A recent article in the New York Times about boys and grooming describes the increasing number of products sold to boys. What’s remarkable is how many of these boys cite “confidence” as a reason to douse themselves in cheap cologne. The wonderfully quirky ABC show “Modern Family” has an 11-year-old character who frequently bolsters his ego through liberal application of aftershave.

I’m not so worried about this, and I’d rather that the junior high school halls smell like the fragrance aisle at CVS than a locker room. This is a current fad, driven, as usual, by aggressive marketing that plays on the insecurities of this target audience.

What I am concerned about are the drugs, supplements and drastic diets that many of these boys are putting themselves through to achieve results that may not be possible. I have spoken with a 7-year-old who was distraught because he didn’t have a 6-pack. He doesn’t know that he hasn’t matured enough to have one yet. All he sees are images and feels the frustration that he can’t be like the images he’s bombarded with on TV.

Over the past several years as I’ve interviewed kids and coaches, I’ve also found that boys are much more likely to be secretive about what they’re doing. Girls are, too, particularly in the early stages of anorexia when they are starting to binge and purge. Boys, however, are very likely to hide things like steroid use, which has grown every year among high school students according to The Association Against Steroid Abuse.

The risks are huge in any of these extreme measures. Perhaps, though, the most important one for parents to understand is that their sons and the boys in their lives feel pressured to achieve results that are not physically possible at their ages. You can’t look like a 25-year-old bodybuilder at 15, no matter how many drugs or supplements you take.

Parents and caregivers can’t do anything about the societal pressure facing boys. In a world where a good physique seems a ticket to fame as with “The Situation” on “Jersey Shore,” it’s natural that insecure kids will want to achieve that—and that they won’t tell you.

So, what to do? Here are several tips from doctors, trainers and coaches:

• Diet. Every doctor I’ve spoken to says that at the end of the day, the way to achieve an athletic, healthy body, is to have the calories expended be equal or greater to calories taken in. Educate yourself and your kids about diet and how it affects the body. Number one doctor recommendation: eliminate all soda.
• Learn. One thing common to personal trainers and athletes is an intimate knowledge of how the body works and what’s best for it. This will help avoid injuries and build a lifetime base of health.
• Emphasize Process. Even “The Situation” didn’t build his abs/identity in 20 minutes three times a week. Fitness is a lifelong, daily commitment, but doctors and trainers consistently say “health first.”
• Get Real. Some male cover models will go without water for two days before a photo shoot to look more sculpted. Not a good idea, say coaches. Plus, it sets up an unrealistic expectation. No two bodies will ever react the same way to an exercise of diet regimen. We’re all prisoners of our genetics, but that doesn’t mean you can’t strive to be your personal best.
• Wait. Girls are getting cosmetic surgery for their “Sweet 16” presents. Not a lot as a percentage of the population but enough to trigger the “eeewwwwww” response. Teen boys are also asking for liposuction. “Don’t,” say doctors. No one should undergo procedures until their bodies are mature. Tell your kids that Heidi Montag is creepy. Discuss.
• Indulge. If you’re following these tips and, most importantly, are watching and talking with your kids, there’s no harm done in the liberal application of body spray. It will wear off by the time they get home from school. Try to remember whatever it was that was fashionable for us when we were in school that made our own parents shudder.

Health and well-being come first; that’s your job. You can marvel at the marketing savvy of the people at Old Spice who made your grandfather’s boring aftershave hip for today’s kids later.

By Holly Zegalia, Founder, I like it Frantic
You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook

I know many people will say I’m too young to know an “old fashioned” way to play. But there is a difference in the way our children play and the way I played as a child. For our family, we are getting back to basics. The toys are wonderful, and the more modern ones the better.

But there seems to be a disconnect between a lot of parents and their children. I worked in daycare for five years. The other classes would play on the computer, watch TV and play with toys. Our class was developing in a different way. We used simple items that are already in most homes to explore our world: shaving cream and a drop of food coloring to paint pictures, a drop of peppermint oil in a tub of water to calm us as we splashed (trust me, I know it sounds contradictory but peppermint is actually a very calming scent) and a sheet to build a fort.

In this economic crisis, many families cannot afford to buy the latest and greatest toy. The “old fashioned” way to play can cost absolutely nothing. Many activities will use items from around the house.

The next time your child asks you to play, turn off the phones, computer and TV. Turn on the imagination and try one of these:

• Grab your favorite music. Move the furniture out of the way and dance the blues away.
• Build a fort. Use a simple blanket or sheet and you can pretend to be campers or pioneers.
• Write a list of items in your neighborhood and go on a scavenger hunt.
• Take the time to do a silly walk. Every few steps call out a different way to walk: waddle like a duck, stomp like an elephant, run like a cheetah.
• Grab a jar, poke a few holes and catch some fireflies, caterpillars or worms. Remember to discuss that these are outside animals and while they are nice to watch for awhile before you go inside you should set them free.
• Play flashlight tag. Pick someone to be the tagger. The tagger counts to 10 and goes hunting. If you are found with the flashlight beam you become the tagger. This is great to play with the neighborhood kids when it’s dusk and they have pent up energy from being in school all day.
• Make your own Play-Doh or Silly Putty.

By Jim Silver (follow me on Twitter)

The holidays have come and gone. In your mind, you’re thinking that you have to wait until fall to see new toys make it to the retailers; In reality, new toys are hitting the shelves as you read this.

New Zhu Zhu pet characters are already for sale. Lego has introduced their “Atlantis” collection. Ben 10 has come out with a new line of Alien Force construction toys. There are also new construction toys from Mega Bloks featuring Dora the Explorer and Thomas the Tank Engine, brand-new additions to the Barbie Fashionistas line and totally new Barbie “I Can Be” line. If you haven’t yet seen the Vectron Wave, it’s a new radio control toy that uses your hands to control the action. There are also new toys from Playdoh and cute little Snuggimals from the Furreal Friends.

Over the next month, tons of new toys will be coming out, and this years new outdoor toys will also start becoming available. We will be reviewing and showcasing the best as they hit the shelves. So, if you are looking for a new toy for a birthday, or just because your child needs something new to play with, there’s plenty to choose from.

by Jeff McKinney (follow me on Twitter)

Here’s the drill, you are stuck in a long checkout line with a bored child who is way past his or her tolerance for adult to-do list errands. What do you do? What do you do?

Answer, grab your iPhone or iPod Touch and play a video game! No, I’m not suggesting you tune the child out and escape into a game on your own. But find a game that you can both play together like Issac Newton’s Gravity from Namco.

Issac Newton’s Gravity is a new game in which you arrange objects like ramps, gears, bumpers and blocks in order to guide a falling object to hit a switch. This is a great game to play with kids because you can handle the iPod but rely on your child’s input and creative ideas for where to place the objects in the game.

The game costs $3.99 and can be purchased through the iTunes App Store. While there, take a look at some of the other hundreds of games available and see if you can find the perfect game to play with your kids.