Monthly Archive — May 2009

  • Time to Play: In The Garden

    What better way to teach your children about healthy living than growing your own vegetables together? Kids are natural gardeners. By the time they’re about 4 years old, they’re eager to help and ready to learn about growing veggies. Plus, children are more likely to eat – or at least try – vegetables they’ve grown themselves.

  • Toys R Us buys FAO Schwarz

    In the early evening on May 27, Toys R Us announced that they purchased the FAO Schwarz stores, their online store, and catalog. This is good news for toy shoppers.

  • Summer Semester: Get Out and Play

    A lot has changed since I was a kid. You probably don’t want to know this, but we had ready access to cherry bombs, M-80s and other things that blew up. A pack of matches, the gas can out of the garage and a bucket of army men was enough to entertain us for the afternoon. Left to our own devices, we had many a wonderful day, and without ongoing parental supervision, well…let’s just say it’s a good thing we all have all our fingers and toes. But it does strike me as alarming that with all the constant mini-explosions going on in our neighborhood (53 kids under 13 spread out over two city blocks), that no adults ever seemed to be worried. “Be careful,” “Outdoors with that,” and “Not near the cat,” were the most dire warnings we got. We were turned outdoors after breakfast, expected back for lunch and had to come in after the street lights came on. It’s not like that today.

  • LEGO Battles Trailer

    In this week’s Wednesday Gaming update, I’ve got the first official trailer for Warner Bros. LEGO Battles.

  • Wal-Mart Testing New Game Buy-Back Machines

    Wal-Mart and Ohio-based kiosk operator e-Play, are currently testing a new vending machine that will allow you to trade-in used games.

  • “Toy Hunting”

    There’s a new radio control toy hitting the shelves, and this one will have people talking. It’s called Duck Hunter, and it’s exactly how it sounds. I first got a chance to play with this toy when I visited Interactive Toy concepts six weeks ago. There’s a radio control duck that flies around and you use your infrared shooter to first stun the duck, and on the third hit, the ducks wings will disengage and the duck will fall to the ground.

  • Time to Play: The Name Game

    The decision is one of the hardest, yet most important you’ll ever make – what to name your baby. It seems easy and straightforward, right – I mean it’s just a name. We all have one. How hard could this be? No pressure – but your decision will impact and influence their entire life.

  • Laugh It Off – Why Humor Matters

    When I would crash my bike or fall out of a tree, which happened a lot as I was a really active kid, my parents’ admonition was always, “shake it off.” (Not that I didn’t get proper medical attention when broken bones and concussions were involved.) I learned to do that, and later, coaches would admonish me to “walk it off” if I got the wind knocked out of me playing sports. It’s great advice. I learned that my spirit was stronger than any injury, and I learned how to avoid that horrible epithet—”cry baby.”

  • Spore Gives Rise to Two New Nintendo Games

    Exciting news for Spore fans as two new Spore games have just been confirmed for the fall. This week I take a look at the two new games plus provide a little refresher course in case you aren’t sure what Spore is all about.

  • Learning to Be a Pro

    Throwing a wiffle ball allowed you to feel like a major league pitcher. You could throw rising and sinking fastballs, or a curveball that really broke. It’s one of the most underrated games ever made.