AquaDoodle Classic

My brother and his family visited us a couple weeks ago and brought an early 2nd birthday present for our son: the AquaDoodle Classic Mat. It has quickly become one of his favorite toys, and mine as well.

The mat consists of a square white fabric area in the middle, maybe two feet across, surrounded by a printed fabric border with the AquaDoodle name at the top, and the alphabet with accompanying doodles the rest of the way around. It's backed with plastic. You fill the included felt-tip-like pen with water and draw with that. The mat turns blue where you draw. As the water evaporates, which varies with how wet you get the thing, and it fades back to white. (My sister-in-law recommends keeping a camera handy to capture masterpieces right away.) The letters and doodles on the border are simple and thick-lined, and other than being filled in with colors they should be easily copied by a budding artist. There are a couple short ribbons at the top for tying it when rolled, and a loop for holding the pen;.so far we've never put it away so I can't say anything about their function or durability, but they look ok.

I did a search to find out how it works and managed to find a link to the patent. From reading that and examining the mat, it appears the drawing area fabric is white, printed with a blue square covering the drawable area, and covered with a white porous coating that turns translucent when wet. evidently the coating may be just a little bit water-soluble, because when my son left the pen resting on it a few hours with the tip touching the mat it made a big blue area that then faded as normal but with a faint blue ring around the edge and a somewhat less responsive drawing area inside it. They say to empty the pen between drawing sessions, and I have to agree with this recommendation. It's not a big problem, but I don't know if the effect would accumulate if it were done repeatedly.

The first time our son played with it I showed him how to make lines and he took right to it, initially making lots of straight parallel lines, pulling the pen toward himself. He still often likes to make lines, but now prefers to make them with a quick sideways stroke accompanied by a whoop or squeal. Mostly, though, he makes dots, some vigorously with splatters, and squiggles. He's also made lip prints; if I draw a face he will often point & laugh then kiss it. There's also been a sneeze or two; the spray of blue dots resulting from first one took me a bit by surprise.

He's also been learning the alphabet, or at least learning to recognize letters and their names & sounds, both from the LeapFrog My Own Leaptop he got for Christmas, and from a website my sister-in-law recommended: starfall.com. I mention it because when I wrote an "A" for him on the AquaDoodle he was able to name it with very little prompting and will now point out As around the house and elsewhere. We've been working on the rest of the alphabet since and he's able to tell me the names and sounds of a growing number of them as I write them.

All in all I'd say this was a very fun and, in the right hands, a very educational toy.

Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube

The Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube has been one of our son's favorite toys. It was given to him by his grandmother last Christmas and he's enjoyed it ever since.

The toy is basically a five inch cube with rounded rubber corners and a big square back-lit button on each side. Each side is a different color. Five of them each has a a picture and the name of a different musical instrument printed on them - flute, violin, harp, piano, and french horn - and the sixth has an orchestra. There is also an on/off switch on one edge, next to the battery compartment door. The instrument buttons turn each instrument on and off, letting them join in on playing one of several Mozart compositions, flashing as they play each note. The orchestra button will start them all playing, and will switch to the next song if it is in the middle of one.

It's very simple, really, but he loves it. Early on he would roll it around with his hands, pressing the buttons pretty randomly. Now he presses them fairly deliberately, and seems fascinated by the flashing. He's also discovered the switch, which has caused him some frustration when he turns it off and the buttons stop working, but he seems to be picking up on switching it back on. Sometimes he can't quite get it, though, and brings it to one of us to turn on.

It takes three AA batteries. You might not expect that just looking at the size of the battery compartment door, but after you unscrew it the battery case slides out.

I've been trying to figure out what kind of lights it uses - LED or incandescent. I suspect incandescent due to the warmth and spread of the light, and the fact that they seem to have a very brief fade in and out unlike the instant on and off of an LED. That might make for shorter battery life, but I think the light is more pleasing this way. We've only had to change the batteries twice in the last year so it's not bad.

Playskool Explore and Grow Busy Ball Popper

For his first Christmas our son received, among other things, the Playskool Explore and Grow Busy Ball Popper. It's a pretty fun toy, but younger toddlers might not take an immediate liking to it. At least our boy didn't. He was a bit shy about it at first, but within a month or so he was pressing the button himself.

One thing you should know about this toy: it's one of the louder musical toys and there's no volume control I've been able to find. I suspect that's intentional to drown out the sound of the blower which might otherwise alarm small children, but the loud music itself might have a similar if lesser effect. At one point we had a play yard set up in the den, and when he woke up early when it was my turn to get up with him I would put him in there after feeding him and take a catnap on the floor outside it. That was difficult on the mornings when he would decide to play with the popper.

At first the balls tended to get thrown forcefully enough to often end up bouncing away from the toy (we still can't find the purple one) but in time the batteries lost some of their charge and that happened less. For an older kid that might be dissapointing; we're told his preschool- and school-age cousins were really enjoying chasing the balls from the one that a same-age cousin received. In our son's case, though, he was perfectly content when the charge got even so low as to just lift one ball up to hover at the opening where he could grab it or shove it aside for the next one to come up. As a result, we only just recently had to change the batteries: 4 D-cells.

He likes to grab the balls and put them directly into the intake by the button. He also occasionally slips in a Mega-Blok. A week or so ago he managed to get five of them in. The fresh batteries blew them all out when I tilted it over.

Recently he received another toy: the V Tech Count with Me Hippo. As it turns out, the balls are about the same size and weight, so as to be compatible with the ball popper. It came with three balls, so now he has the popper loaded with seven balls. (Yes, it was his idea.) The balls for the hippo are made of a harder plastic, though, so there's a bit more clatter. He loves it, though, so we can put up with it.

Curious George 15" Plush Doll

One toy our son has had for some time is his 15" Curious George plush doll. For the first year of his life we took his picture with it every month, except once at six months when he was sick with a cold.

I remember him crying the first time we laid it down next to him in the crib. But now, at 16 months, it's a different story. He's in his lovey-huggy stage, and the most frequent recipient of his hugs and kisses is his monkey. (Yes, I know it's a chimp, but "monkey" just sounds more fun. I'll make sure he learns the difference later.) He hugs and kisses it a few times a day. He also likes when I make it dance and move its hands to do things like pick up balls or clap patty-cake.

He gets into the act too sometimes. He likes to press the keys on our computer keyboards, so I took an old keyboard and removed the cable so he can have it to play with. Sometimes I position George so it looks like he's typing, sometimes moving his hands to press the keys. Then my son takes over and moves its hands himself.