Gifts: Staple-free Stapler & Puzzle Stacker from ThinkGeek.Com

If you're looking for gifts for "smart masses" - ThinkGeek is the place for you!

Staple-free Stapler ($5.99 US) is a great stocking stuffer for teachers, professionals, parents, even kids! You'll never run out of staples with this nifty office tool because it doesn't use any. That's right, it is completely staple-free. Instead, it punches a small tab hole into the papers and then folds and tucks it through another small hole, fastening pages together without any waste or metal.

I couldn't wrap my head around how this would work until I tried it and it's pretty neat! I took the photo below so you would understand the size of the stapler as well as how it works. The bottom paper is purple on the front side (shown) and orange on the back side. When you press down on the papers with the stapler, it punches an oblong shaped hole (with one side uncut) through the papers and then pulls the paper punch shape through the hole and folds it through another slit - so it basically ends up tucking it in and securing it from coming apart easily. I pulled and dropped the papers, they remained fastened together.

There are a few differences you'll need to adjust to with the staple-free stapler, but we've found them to be do-able (especially since it is so much eco-friendlier and safer without metal staples). First, you cannot "staple" corners, you must do a flat edge of paper - if you put a corner it, it will tear up the corner (see corners in photo). Second, your papers must be at least a few inches long or they will get stuck in the stapler - it punches a hole 1/4" in from the edge. The manufacturer recommends no more than 4 pieces of paper being stapled at a time (though it is possible to do more against their advice).

The Wooden Puzzle Stacker ($24.99) provides a new twist on a traditional toy! Each of the 6 rings will fit together in numerous ways, helping kids to manipulate the pieces however they would like and allowing the toy to grow with them and their developmental stage. Made of eco-friendly rubberwood. Here is what the team over at ThinkGeek.com has to say:

"The typical stacker toy is a bunch of colored plastic doughnuts that go over a white post. Your wee geek does the following with it: attempts to eat it, throws pieces around the room, accidentally figures out how to stack the doughnuts, learns to reliably stack and unstack. After that, it's been there, done that. Sterilize it and hand it off to a friend with a baby. Done.

This Puzzle Stacker can live on longer and build your baby's motor development and spatial logic skills through age 3! Wee geeks are initially challenged to fine-tune motor skills by placing the easy to hold rings on the stacking pole. With that mastered the child begins to enhance spatial logic by interlocking any one puzzle piece to any other; in any order. At this point, there is no wrong answer! Finally, through "solving" the puzzle sequence the child learns color and size recognition."

SHOP THINKGEEK.COM 

Wooden Toys & Ornaments by Maple Landmark

Sustainably harvested wood. Locally sourced in the USA. High quality, reasonable prices...

From baby to toddler to child and beyond, there are so many wonderful wooden choices from Maple Landmark - truly something for everyone! They sent us a basket of goodies to review for your holiday gifting pleasure...here's what we loved:

C-Blox ($14 US) is a great toy for the creative mind, recommended for ages 2+, we think it's gre

at from baby to child. This simple concept of 4 wooden blocks in the shape of the letter "c" are a hit for the teething baby crowd, as they are unfinished maple wood (non-toxic) and great for helping those new pearly whites cut through the gums. They are also easy to grasp for babies, making them great toys to bang together and clutch! Fast forward to toddlers, where these same blocks become stackable to build houses and make believe with. And as they travel into the 4-6 year old child phase, it becomes a puzzle, tunnels for toy cars and trains, plus these can be painted or colored on by your imaginative child!

Made by Me Vehicle Craft Kits ($4.50 US) are perfect stocking stuffers for those "I can do it myself" phasers! Choose from a truck, train, tugboat, tractor, race car, or love bug car and give your child not only the gift of a very cool natural toy to play with, but the satisfaction and self-esteem that come from being able to make it themselves. And perhaps, in my opinion, the best bonus of all...the unfinished wood allows them to easily personalize it with paint, crayons, markers, or by other creative means!

Simple ABC Blocks ($23 US) are a classic must-have toy for any child! What makes these particular blocks better than all the rest? They are MADE IN THE USA, non-toxic (completely unfinished wood with no chemicals added), and unlike many others you will find on store shelves, the letters on these blocks are CARVED into the wood, not painted. This means the letters won't rub off in a couple of months and render them useless...nope, these blocks were made to be passed down through the generations as high-quality heirloom toys!

Maple Ornaments ($4-9 US) are thick cut, not flimsy like you will find in stores, plus they are US-made. The edges are stained to provide a beautiful contrast to the ornaments and they are available in an assortment of shapes, my favorite being the maple leaf. And the most important test (as any veteran decorator knows), they dis not split when dropped onto a hard floor!

VISIT MAPLE LANDMARK WEBSITE

Toys: Rapido Speed Game by Hape

Fine tune their fine motor skills!

Description: What a mess! There are colored balls all over the table! Collect them quickly - but in the right order. You'll need good eyes and swift hands!

Price: $19.99 US  $17.54 sale

Rapido, winner of the famed Oppenheim Gold Seal and Creative Child Seal of Excellence Awards, challenges children to develop their hand-eye coordination alongside speedy thinking and fine motor skill tuning. 

To set up the game, you create a circle with the rope, luckily we have an ottoman table with raised edges so the rope was not necessary! You then place the bamboo balls (the size of small marbles) into the bamboo cylinder in the center of the rope circle. Everyone grabs a bamboo chute "ball-picker-upper-doo-dad" (yes, that is our technical term for it) and a pattern stick. The goal is to quickly stab your chute onto the balls in the color order shown on your stick. Still following? It's pretty easy to get the hang of and our 4 year old had no trouble latching onto the concept right away (though admittedly, it was a bit more perplexing the first time around for his 4 year old friend and 3 year old brother).

The concept is simple and the game is well-made, however it poses a choking hazard to households with younger siblings (both the balls and the detachable rubber bands on the ends of the chutes that enable balls to be picked up). We also had a problem with the rubber bands on the chutes, they easily came off and with little curious hands holding them, were prone to being pulled off - there were no extras included with the game so I could easily see this game becoming unusable long all too soon due to this.

Overall, the kids enjoyed it for 4 rounds and then they were ready to move on...considering each round took a few minutes to set up, it was a lot more work than it should've been - especially the time wasted on trying to find the detached rubber bands previously mentioned. If you have one child of whom you plan to play with this with, I'd say go for it! But if you are looking for a game to sit down for 4 young children to play together without much assistance, you are going to be getting up A LOT to fix and reset the game. Although the developmental benefits of this game are best suited for young children, the upkeep to keep the game going really takes someone of at least 10 years of age to be there and/or play.

Shop Hape Toys

Toys: MiYim Good Earth Fairy

Description: The My Natural Good Earth Fairy is sure to land at the top of every little girls wish list.  Her whimsical wings and linen accents give her a modern fairytale twist, and she will surely become a treasured classic. 12" height


Materials: Organic cotton, plant/mineral based dyes, unbleached/unprocessed cotton filling, recycled paper gift box


Best Price: $18.70 (with Amazon Prime free shipping)

This is a very soft, organic cotton rag doll featuring embroidered facial features instead of plastic beads so typical of most brands these days. Due to the safety of materials used and the way in which they were implemented into this design, I would recommend this doll from birth and up. I could see this easily becoming a little girl's favorite baby doll for all of childhood!

SHOP MIYIM MY NATURAL PLUSH TOYS

Baby: Pacifier Animals from Wubbanub

BPA, PVC, and Phthalate-free! 
Assists in self-soothing for babies, sleep for tired parents!

Imagine this. You are a new parent, sleep-deprived, longing to soothe your baby, hoping to just get a moment of rest. You finally realize the pacifier is your only friend at 3 a.m. but in your greatest time of need, in the dark, you grasp, grope, and reach for your ever-elusive buddy (much like one of those amusing claw machines that picks up stuffed toys) to no avail. You now have 2 options: turn on the light to locate it OR continue to try to soothe the baby by humming, rocking, and snuggling through the night. This is where the Wubbanub comes in and saves the night (and your sanity)! 


The Wubbanub provides just the right amount of weight to keep the pacifier nearby when it pops out of baby's mouth! Filled with non-toxic and recyclable PE (polyethylene) pellets, each fabric animal is securely attached to a silicone Soothie brand pacifier, the #1 choice of hospitals in the USA. Not only does this make it easier to find the pacifier in the dark, but also helps the baby to develop grasping skills and allows them more freedom to insert the pacifier into their own mouths thereby increasing self-soothing techniques at an early age!


For our review, Wubbanub provided us with a Brown Puppy pacifier (shown in photo). Our 4 month old baby quickly grabbed for the pacifier and inserted it into his own mouth -- we were shocked in the best of ways. He continued to hold the pacifier like it was his best friend. Thus, the Wubbanub passed the first essential test for our review.


Next, we wanted to ensure this product was safe by literally putting it through the wringer! We washed by hand, sanitized the pacifier by dunking it in boiling water, and even threw the whole thing in the washing machine with the laundry. It survived! Although the puppy is beginning to show some signs of balling of the fabric, it reminds me of the way a well-loved blankie starts to look when you know it is greatly loved by a child! The seams are all intact, despite pulling and tugging, and no, the pacifier has not come loose from the dog. The Wubbanub not only provides a solution for parents, but really aids in helping your child to become self-sufficient. This mommy is very happy with this product...in fact, if you are looking for a baby gift, this is a useful (and super cute) one-size-fits-all option!  


UPDATE: We are now the proud owners of several Wubbanub animals, including the frog and monkey! They are absolutely indispensable, EVERY baby should have one!

Wubbanub Website

Toys: Wooden Puzzles by ImagiPLAY

It's art, it's a play set, it's a puzzle! 

The incredible 3-in-1 eco-toy!

Description: A playset and puzzle in one! Kids will engage in hours of imaginative play with the creatures of the past, then challenge the other side of their brain piecing the puzzle together. Made from rubberwood, an earth friendly hardwood, this versatile 13pc plaything is sure to delight while sparking curiosity about dinosaurs. Approx. 8" square assembled

Ingredients: This puzzle is made from rubberwood, an environmentally-friendly hardwood. Rubber trees are farmed for their sap, which is used to make rubber products. Once the trees are harvested, heir beautiful hardwood is used to craft these heirloom toys.

Price:  $12.99 sale (reg. $19.99) + free shipping on Amazon Prime

  ~*~*~*~

This puzzle from ImagiPLAY has been very well received amongst our children! Not only does Big Bear enjoy putting the puzzle together, but Little Bear enjoys taking it apart and playing with the dinosaur pieces like a play set. 

It is one of those toys that adjusts difficulty and grows with the child -- it serves multiple developmental purposes, from stimulating their imagination to problem solving. As an adult, I've found that it helps me to think outside the box while putting it together - afterall, none of the dinosaurs are facing the same direction - it is far from your typical puzzle! In fact, I would argue that it is a child's version of optical illusions, such as the great Escher works. 

And yet another cool design benefit is that you can sit the entire puzzle upright and it becomes a colorful work of art on their bookshelf or dresser!  The wood and paint quality far exceed those of the leading Miss & Doogie brand [names changed, but I'm sure you can figure it out], which are all made in China from various woods sourced from all over the world and transported -- can we say, excessive pollution? 

ImagiPLAY uses rubberwood trees grown in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, where the toys are locally created where the wood was harvested!  And get this, the majority of their workers walks or ride bikes to work -- reducing the pollution associated with the production of these toys even more! Quite simply put, we're looking forward to many years of play from these very well made puzzles.

Imagiplay Website

Toys: Bilibo Imagination Toy

Let their imaginations run wild.

Description: A shell-shaped developmental toy that grows with the child's age and interests, transforming a variety of playful objects with multiple purposes and uses. Available in six different colors. Bilibo has received several international awards, including Spiel Gut (Germany), the Swiss Product Design Award in 2002 and Toy of the Year – UK Good Toy Awards in 2006.


Material: Recyclable Polyethylene (#2). which is the same plastic used in milk jugs!


Price:  $29.99 US

This is one of those products that caught my eye because it is so simple and unique, but yet as a parent, you really just don't know if the kids will like it or not. The only true test is to actually have the children play with it...and now I can confidently say, our kids LOVE the Bilibo!

In the past month, this toy has served a variety of purposes, here are just a few:

* Basket for rock collecting (and then dumping the rocks on our freshly cleaned floor)

* Swivel seat for spinning on the carpet (creating mad scientists due to static electricity hair)

* Slip and slide seat in the wet grass (preventing grass stains on their jeans - yay!)

* Step stool to reach cookies on the counter (not too sure we should promote this idea!)

* Placed on back to become turtles (crawling around with baby on the floor)

* Track for rolling balls in circles & racing (warning: very noisy)

* Placed on head as helmet (all hail the mighty gladiators)

* Put together to form a "happy head" (see photo above)

* Hiding place for Pouch, our beanie baby (after his PVC pellet removal surgery, of course)

* Chair for story time (a spinning good time)

*....and it's currently storing an entire container of lincoln logs!

There is some room for improvement, however, that we came up with. The plastic is ultra-hard, meaning one little whack or drop on the toe and it really hurts. And we would *really* like to see this made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, similar to the recycled polyethylene toys made by Green Toys.

Storage: You can stack up to 50 of these together, making it perfect for a daycare or preschool center. We easily store ours under a wingback chair in the living room! 

Website

Toys: Recycling Truck from Green Toys

 Fair warning: if you  have more than one child, make sure you buy more than one green toy (see photo below)! These toys are so great, our kids started bargaining with each other just for a turn!  Made in the USA. 100% post-consumer recycled plastic from milk-jugs. No BPA. No phthalates. No lead paint.

When we sit our recycling bin on the curb and watch as it is carried away by the recycling truck, the children always wonder where all that "stuff" goes. Buying a Green Toys brand toy is an easy way for you to answer that question! Because Green Toys uses 100% curbside collected, recycled plastic from milk jugs to make their products! This product really helps kids to connect the dots between recycle bin & new recycled products!


Not only does this company offer a built-in recycling lesson with their products, but you are saving the world from a lot of pollution by buying this brand! On average, every pound of recycled plastic used to make Green Toys saves  enough energy to run a laptop computer for a MONTH or enough energy to power a tv for 3 WEEKS!  Can you believe that? It's amazing! You are reducing the carbon footprint and pollution load of the planet simply by using your buying power to vote for more responsibly created products, like Green Toys! 

Both sides of the truck have slots with pictures of various recyclable items! Simply cut out the matching pictures on the packaging box and instantly you have pieces to match up and recycle into your new truck!

The kids were fascinated with the "dump truck" action! After one week of playtime with this marvelous truck, just about every piece of paper in our house has been "recycled"!

And their product line doesn't stop at just toys...it has now expanded to include utensils, plates, & bowls! All dishwasher safe and free of toxins! Coming soon...we'll be reviewing Green Toys bowls! Stay tuned...

Green Toys Website