Curious Mommy for Canadian Families

NEW BLOG!!!!!

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:51:42 +0000

So after much consideration and deliberation with my brother and mom I have decided to narrow the focus of my blog, hence you will now find me blogging at calgarymommy.wordpress.com

At calgarymommy.wordpress.com you will find a much improved blog. I hope you are excited as I am and I look forward to your continued support.

Fisher Price Teaching Clock

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:03:47 +0000

Remember when we were little and the majority of the toys we owned were not battery operated? Well, my dear sweet brother managed to find the Fisher Price Teaching Clock. In all honesty, I don’t know where he purchased this wonderfully nostalgic gift but I am very happy he did.

The toy sits in my son’s bedroom on his dresser and he either loves to play with it or loves to fall asleep to the music of the teaching clock. My daughter loves the toy as well and she loves to try to tell time with it now as that is what she is learning at school. I have nothing bad to say about the clock, it is a simple wind-up toy, that grabs the attention of both my children. Actually, perhaps there is one thing that I would change about the toy, I would love the catchy tune to last just a few minutes longer! The toy is turning out to be staple in our house.

As I mentioned, I am unsure of where my wonderful brother purchased the great toy, but the website I was able to find it at is http://www.backtobasicstoys.com/item/productid/7528/txt/Fisher_Price_Teaching_Clock . At this website I also find the Fisher Price Record Player, I remember playing with that; take a peek at the link and see what memories come back from your childhood.

I rate the Fisher Price Teaching Clock a 4.5 out of 5 and hope that you are able to find wonderful childhood memories in the toys that your children play with.

Tagged: clock, fisher price, nostalgia, retro, teaching clock

Laugh & Learn Shop and Learn Walker

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:48:24 +0000

This LAUGH & LEARN SHOP AND LEARN WALKER was a gift my son received for his birthday from us.

The LAUGH & LEARN SHOP AND LEARN WALKER is quite the attention grabber, it makes wonderful fun shopping cart noises that really grabs my son’s attention, when he needs to be pulled away but it has not been a toy that has maintained his attention. My son and daughter play with it occasionally but really it was just a toy that interested him while he was learning how to walk.

If I had a choice, I would not have bought that toy.

Over all I rate the LAUGH & LEARN SHOP AND LEARN WALKER a 2 out of five. It would have been great if this was our first and only walking toy.

Tagged: fisher price, laugh and learn, walker

Barbie Party Palace

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 06:53:38 +0000

I am not a fan of Barbie or Barbie ‘stuff’ but, my daughter wanted the above Barbie Party Palace so I decided to give this to her as a gift from Santa; so technically we never gave the Barbie Party Palace to her, Santa did! Great cover story – don’t you think

The Barbie Party Palace was a complete waste of money, it is very hard to put together, very hard to play with, not a very playful toy, and very hard to operate. I actually feel bad for my daughter, she had such high hopes and now the Barbie Party Palace sits on my dining room table barely played with. I kind of feel like she needs to be extra spoiled for her birthday because the BIG Christmas gift is a very sad and pathetic Barbie Party Palace.

The elevator does not run smoothly, the doll gets stuck in between floors, the turning dance floor does not fit all Barbies and thereby does not turn properly as you need to hold the Barbie up to turn her around to dance. The upper floor of the Barbie Party Palace has a bed that double as a closet, which makes no sense and frustrates my little girl. The two chairs that come with the Barbie Party Palace cannot hold up a Barbie in sitting position, rather the Barbie and the chair fall down without support.

I give the Barbie Party Palace a 1 out of 5

Chuck and Friends by Tonka

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:55:33 +0000

These are the two Chuck and Friends my son got for Christmas from my parents and brother and honestly I don’t think we could have asked for a better pair! My son LOVES Rowdy who is the green garbage truck and when you open the back of the truck there are a bunch of smaller cars in there. Chuck, the yellow and red dump truck, who is the main character is motorized and an absolute hoot! According to my mom, my brother loved them as well

Chuck is active he moves, talks, shakes, snores, he keeps the kids’ attention and if they lose interest periodically he does something to remind them that he is there. It truly is a must buy toy. I look forward to getting more of the collection for my son!

Overall I give Chuck and his friend Rowdy a 5 out of 5.

Tagged: chuck and friends

Bruin Preschool Disco Mircrophone

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:37:11 +0000

I purchased this gift months ago and kept on holding on to it until Christmas, it was probably the cheapest of all gifts and it has really more than paid itself off. Both my children love it! Easy to use, you really have to try it to realize how much fun it is, their voice is enhanced, it has a clapping button, a cheering button, the disco lights really light up and they are great when the room is dark.

Overall I give the toy a 4.5 out of 5.

Tagged: Bruin, disco mic, mic

Let’s Go Around Town Light and Sound Cloth Book

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:24:11 +0000

One cloth book is like any other cloth book and that is the case with this one as well. Does not keep my son’s attention at all, in fact he throws it aside. However the police care sound is extremely realistic.

Overall I give this toy a 1 out of 5.

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Tagged: book, book with sound, Cloth books

Alex Shrinky Dinks Mermaids

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:08:26 +0000

I have to say right of the bat this toy is not worth the money, even if it is just a loonie! It doesn’t work, my daughter was so excited about this toy and it was very disappointing, there is not much more to say

I rate this toy a 0.5 out of 5 because the toy did not do perform as it said it would, infact nothing happened.

Tagged: alex toys, mermaids, shrinky dinks

Alex Rub A Dub Fountain Float Boat

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:00:30 +0000

It is as cute as it looks and is even cuter in water. It is great fun for the kids as the little water activated boat drives itself around the tub, and sometimes in circles, to the joyous laughter of my 4 year old and the screams of excitement of my 15 month old. My son likes to take it apart more than my daughter. It is a simple two pieces, the boat and the small spinning top, the water-spout with or without the spinning top. It is a very fun toy and keeps the kids’ attention.

The toy is battery operated and is supposed to work once placed into a tub filled with water, and it is supposed to stop functioning once the taken out of the water and all the water has drained; the theory is good but it does not always work that way, we often find ourselves running and looking for a screwdriver to either help jump-start the toy or to turn the toy off. Even with all the hassles our kids enjoy the toy so we will keep it in the baths and have the screwdriver handy (I hope!).

Overall I give the toy a 3 out of 5 rating because it does not always function as it should but the fun factor keeps the toy around.

Tagged: alex toys, bath boat, bath toys, boat, rub a dub fountain float

Nutcracker Performed by the Alberta Ballet

curiousmommyforcanadianfamilies — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 06:15:59 +0000

My daughter, who is now 4, is a student at the Alberta School of Ballet. Mind you she is in the preschool division and quite enjoys her classes. As a treat this year I took her to see the NUTCRACKER performed by the ALBERTA BALLET, at her request.

After doing two performances of her own with her little ballet friends we headed off to see the NUTCRACKER performed by the ALBERTA BALLET, my daughter was impressed – me? Not so much.

I went in expecting so much more, as I have been privileged enough to enjoy the ALBERTA BALLET’s performance of A MID SUMMER’S NIGHT DREAM and I was blown away by all aspects, so obviously I expected a lot, but today I was not blown away by the performance of the the NUTCRACKER peformed by the ALBERTA BALLET.

The sets were very well done and the costumes were spectacular but the interpretation of the NUTCRACKER performed by the ALBERTA BALLET was lacking. Large parts of the story were skipped, scenes were shortened immensely to where 2/3 of the performance was simply dance. Do not misunderstand me, I do know that ballet is a dance but with ballet a story must be told and today a story was shortened immensely to allow for a lot of dancing that did not entail the wonderful spirit of story telling through dance. Having said that, my daughter enjoyed it immensely and today was all about her; I am glad she enjoyed and I do look forward to going next year in the hopes that the interpretation will include more of a story and that the sets and costumes will continue to amaze.

Thank you to the ALBERTA BALLET for putting together a production of the NUTCRACKER that my daughter enjoyed. I look forward to bringing both my children and my mom in the years to come.

I rate this year’s production of the NUTCRACKER by the ALBERTA BALLET a 2.75 out of 5.

Tagged: alberta ballet, ballet, nutcracker