As you all know, I love reviewing kids books and kids toys on here.  With having a 4 year old and a 1 year old, I have great product testers, and I really get to see how products hold up.  That being said, at my house, we have been playing with the Nana Star books and plushies, and we have a winner at my house.

Before I go to far into the books, I need to give you a little background on how Nana Star came about (and I got a little teary-eyed myself when I found this all out).  The authors of this series of books are Elizabeth Sills and Elena Patrice.  The illustrator is Linda Saker.  The original creator of Nana Star is Elizabeth Owens (Elizabeth and Elena’s grandmother and Linda’s mother).  She had a grandson named Vance  that she made up Moonman and Nana Star for.  When he moved away, she often sent him hand made cards with her characters, so he always knew she was with him.  Unfortunately, Vance now “dances with the stars“, but she has allowed us into her fantasy world, so our children can have that sense of belonging too.

The first thing I have to do is warn you. You need to read the Nana Star book first. Trust me, it all makes more sense if you do (**blush** won’t tell you how I figured that out). This is a truly entertaining book. Not only can I read it to my kids, there is a CD that comes with it.  When you listen to the CD, make sure you get comfortable.  They have really awesome background music behind the narrator.  There is also an additional song on there.  Madison was singing along after the first time listening to the songs.

The other really cool thing that they do with these books is that they have a Nana Star’s Little Twinkles Club.  On purpose, they have a spellling mistake in the book.  You are able to write them and tell them what the mistake was, and you can then join the Twinkles Club!  This is such a cute idea to engage their little readers.

The second book we read and listened to was Nana Star and the Moonman. Now, in the first book, we learned that a little star fell out of the sky was looking for her Nana. Now, the second book is the start of the journey the little girl (Nana Star) takes to help the little star get home. I truly can see this being an awesome series of books. As an adult, I’m wondering what happens next.  The other nice thing is that the CDs that come with the books are held by a pocket that is attached to the book.  You don’t have to worry about losing the CDs.

Now, I highly recommend these books.  Madison was engaged with them.  The thing I noticed and loved about the books themselves (besides the CD pocket) was that the paper is a thicker paper.  It does not rip easily which is a huge problem normally in my house.  You also get a bookmark with each book.  Amazingly, we don’t actually own any bookmarks, so it is a welcome addition in our house.  I also like that I am not the only one who thinks these products are great.  They have gotten numerous awards including Mr. Dad Seal of Approval and Great Dad Recommends Awards, Nominated by Mom’s Choice Award® for Most Inspirational Story, and iParenting Media Award for Excellent Products of 2007.

Not only did we try out the books, we even had some fun with the plushies that they offer.  Now, I’ll be honest, I didn’t quite know what to expect.  I really am not good with measurements and figuring out how big things really are.  However, this Moonman was quite a bit larger than I expected!

Now, if you push on Moonman’s belly, his head lights up and it plays a lullaby (which you can kinda tell with my picture of Will and Moonman).  Will likes walking around with him (and let me add that is kissing him not biting him in the second picture!).

Now, this Nana Star plushy is a huge hit with both kids.  Its cute, easy to carry, and even has bloomers on under the skirt (yes, I checked).  Madison immediately made the connection between the doll and the books.  She talks about Nana Star quite often now.  You can also tell that this is not a small doll either.

If you need a great children’s gift, this is the way to go.  The books are for 3-7 years olds and they have such a postivie message.  In some of the books to come, they will learn about good manners and courtesy, friendship and fun, and giving and sharing just to name a few.  Now, if you’d like to win a copy of these books and plushies for yourself, they are running an awesome contest.  All you need to do is comment on their Got Lemons post and tell a story about how you turned lemons into lemonade.  The best story they get by July 7th will win you a copy of the books and they will also donate a copy of the books to your favorite school, childcare center, library, children’s hospital, or doctor’s office.  How awesome is that?

I am not ready to let Madison (my 4 year old) use a real fishing pole yet. Right now, I envision many hospital trips if she had one. However, we have several magnetic fishing pole sets, and they are awesome. Basically, she goes fishing in my living room almost on a daily basis. She spends several hours catching her fish and then throwing them out back on the floor. Will (my one year old) likes to get involved in the game too. He either plays with the fish or tries to pretend to be the fish and grab the end of the string. The ball pit we have is a boat so it ties in quite nicely. The only thing we are missing is one of those gps tracking devices for fish. I really need to get a picture of her sitting in that boat with her pole. It is super cute.

I highly recommend a magnetic pole until you are comfortable that your children won’t cause serious damage with a real one. I don’t think Madison is ready this summer either for a real one. However, she is completely happy with the magnetic fishing poles and we’ll keep her using those until she is ready.

The LeapFrog Word Whammer is a great accompaniment to the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set. This is the next step up from that (we aren’t quite up to having to worry about the best acne treatment yet, but we are slowly getting there). Instead of just working with single letters, your child starts working with words. The words can only be three letters, so it is truly for beginner reader. There are three settings on it: Letter Hunt, Word Builder & Word Hunt. Letter Hunt allows the them to learn letter names and sounds through fun songs. The Word Builder setting lets them play with letter combinations, and you are able to create over 325 words. The Word Hunt setting allows them to spell three-letter words and then replace letters to make rhyming words. This toy has really gotten Madison interested in reading and spelling. It has really perked her interest up into reading books again. You don’t have to have the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set to enjoy the Word Whammer either! This toy is definitely on my must buy list.

LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set is another LeapFrog product that is a huge hit in this house. This was a toy we got when Madison was little and now Will plays with it. They both love it. When you put the letters in it, they tell you the letter name and sound. It also sing a song for each letter: “The A says Aaah, the A says Aaah, every letter makes a sound, the A says Aaah.” This entire set (base and letters) can all be conveniently housed on your refrigerator. It isn’t as exciting as getting a set of Callaway irons, but this is a great toy to pick up for your house. It will give your kids hours of fun!

If you need a keyboard for you kids to play with, this is definitely right up your alley. Last Christmas, my mom was trying to find a keyboard that wasn’t too old for her (which most on the market are). She found this one at Target. As you can tell from the picture, it is super cute. It is also age appropriate. Madison isn’t ready for things like gold chains or dress up clothes (well, she doesn’t have much interest in the later).  The cool thing is that Will likes to play with this and I have even caught my husband messing with it.

There are 20 songs that you can play along to, 4 instrumental sounds, and even Meow! sounds!  It also has a record feature, so they can record their own compositions.  They are able to control the beat, volume, and tempo of the music quite easily too.  It has an auto-off function.  The keyboard starts purring when it is about to shut itself off.   There are sing alongs and 7 cat songs.

All in all, this keyboard is a cute and a great buy.  Your kids will get a ton of playing time with it.  (It is also extremely hardy since Will pulls it off the couch all the time and I have caught Madison standing on it, and it still works!)

Another toy that you must get if you have kids is the Laugh & Learn: Learning Home. This came out several years ago, but is a huge hit at my house. There is just so much to play on with this! The door open and shuts and allows your children to crawl through it. The light turns on and off. There is a mail box slot and the flower spins. The window opens and closes. Up on top, you can turn the thing with the moon on it, so it shows the sun. Of course, there is a corresponding noise with all these actions. On the other side (which this picture doesn’t show), there is a little mini radio for the kids to play with. It has 4 stations and the kids can hit that and hear just music or it singing the ABCs to them. I don’t know how this all works (maybe HDMI switches?) However, the kids love it, so it doesn’t matter. At this point at ten months, Will is really not sure what to do with this. He does play with it a little. Madison, however, is in seventh heaven. I don’t think she remembers playing with it, and she played with it a lot. At 4, she is enjoying this.

This is one of the more pricier toys to get your kids. However, it is another toy that is worth every cent, because they will play with it for years!

LeapFrog LeapStart Learning Table is one of those toys that you have to have if you have little ones. My mom got this for Madison when she was a baby, and we are still using it with Will. Depending on what you touch on here, everything makes a different sound. I don’t think there are any wind chimes sounds. However, you can hear pretty much everything else. It sings the alphabet too. Do you see the little purple cover? That is a little spot you can put things in. We put Cheerios in there, and both kids loved it! There are two volume control settings on here too. You can also take the legs off and allow them to just play with the top. LeapStart Learning Table is one of those toys that is worth every cent.