Until recently, I had not heard of Ta-Ka-Radi. However, now that we have it, we can’t stop playing it. This is a game that is perfect for the family. Ta-Ka-Radi involves players constructing a tower with spaces in-between three chosen tiles per level. After the tower is built, each player takes a turn pulling out a tile from any level and putting it on top.  The only rule is that you can’t touch the other player while they are making their move!  Now, if you are like me and live with an engineer, well, you are at an instant disadvantage!  However, even though I haven’t one yet, we have had a ton of fun playing with this.  This is too hard for Will and Madison to play.  However, they take the wood tiles and built towers with them every day.  They loves these just for their own use too.  Ta-Ka-Radi is made by a family-owned company in Maine. The tiles are made from native Maine hardwoods, and the game is packaged in personalized re-usable tote bags. Ta-Ka-Radi makes a fun and unique gift for the holidays and is great for a lot of family fun!

Design a Heavenly Pet Wardrobe is one of the really cool products on the market that is geared towards older girls (8+). It allows them to design clothing and accessories for 5 paper dogs and embellish with the included glitter, ribbons, sequins, and stickers. You can make over a hundred different pet fashions with this! I love that it requires them to use their imagination. It is one of those gifts that you never know where it may lead. You may find you have a design in your midst. Also, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this item goes to the SPCA International.

English Style Equestrian Sketch Book is a great book for any horse rider or lover (8+). This design guide allows you to design your own horses, riding gear, jodhpurs, boots, saddles, and more for dressage, polo, and general riding fun.  It includes 40 English-themed sketch pad pages, markers, colored pencils, eraser, sharpener, and design guide.  A portion of the proceeds from this goes towards the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program.

The Project Runway Fashion Design Challenge Sketchbook is right from the awesome show. The spinner in this kit tells you where to start. The next step is to design a garment based on an endless combination of challenges such as creating a formal gown out of a garbage bag in 30 minutes. This comes with colored pencils, 2 fashion sketch pads, style guide, and pencil sharpener. You are only competing against yourself, but it definitely forces you to be creative.

Project Runway Shoe Design Sketch Book allows you to design a fun and fashionable shoe collection. The sketch book teaches you the history of shoes. You also are able to design your own line of footwear, and you are able to personalize your creations. Included in this kit are 2 sketch pads, 12 colored pencils, and a design guide.

Project Runway Graphic T-Shirt Design Studio Set allows you to make your own custom made shirts. It has a style to help you out, but the creation is all up to you. This includes 6 fabric markers, the Cooler Jeweler Tool (gem and stud setting tool), 50 gems, 50 studs, 2 yards of metallic ribbon, stencils, patterns, design guide and more!

The great thing with all of these kits is that it requires the child to think and use every ounce of creativity they have. The best part is that they are having fun while they do it, and there is not one battery involved.  I found all of these products to be high quality and would recommend the Fashion Angels line to everyone!

Since I have a toddler, I thought the Toddler Tools book line would be perfect for my house.

Listening Time is a great book for teaching your kids about how to be good listeners.  Both my eighteen month old and four year old like to read it.  It is a board book, so it can’t be destroyed either.  I love that it also helps to work on body parts too.  The illustrations in this book are great, and really get across what we want our children to do.  There is also humor intertwined into the story.  It is short enough that it definitely keeps even the shortest attention spans entertained.

Bye Bye Time is another board book that is good for those really hard times when we have to say bye to our kids.  It teaches our children how to comfort themselves when they are sad that we are leaving.  There is also advice at the end of the book parents and caregivers to make this transition easier like prepping your child and to be ready for tears.  The illustrations in this book are great too.  Madison can tell me the story without being able to read it (which is a huge plus).

Naptime is another great book in this series. Like the other books, this is board book. It also has the tips in the back of the book to help parents and caregivers with naptime.  I personally learned that Will should be getting one nap daily lasting 1 – 2 hours, and he should be getting 10 – 12 hours of sleep a night.  This book is all about a naptime routine and getting your little one down for some much needed rest.  Now, if this would only work on a 4 year old.    She likes the book; it just has not motivated her to take a nap (she quit naps at 18 months).

The last book in this series is Clean Up Time. That is something we all need at our houses.  This book rhymes, so it makes it all the more fun to clean up.  This too is a board book and also has the tips at the end to help parents and caregivers.  I personally agree with the “break it down” tip.  Will doesn’t often get overwhelmed at cleaning up; he just thinks it is a game.  However, Madison gets extremely overwhelmed if someone does not help her.  By breaking down what you are going to do (pick up the blocks first), it takes away from how huge of project it is going to be.

This Toddler Tools series is a great bunch of books.  They are books that are hard to destroy and have great lessons in them.  I highly recommend them in anyone who has a toddler in their house.

Chicken Count is a game for kids 4 and up.  It doesn’t require any reading, so for us, it made it a lot easier for Madison to play.  Your goal is to collect the most chickens by the chicken coop is built.  It is pretty easy.  You draw cards.  If you get a chicken card, you keep it.  If you get a chicken coop card, you pick a chicken coop piece and place it on the coop.  If you draw a fox, you lose all your chicken cards.  When the chicken coop has been built, the person with the most chicken cards wins.  it is a pretty fast pace game, so it is great for this age group who have a short attention span.  We had lots of giggles when we played this.

Where Do I Live? is a memory game.  Your goal is to have the most pairs at the end.  You try and turn over cards and match animals to their homes.  For example, bee matches to beehives, house to a boy, and a pond to a frog.  Not only is this game fun to play, it really opens a dialogue with your kids.  You get to talk about all of these animals and their homes.  This game is for kids 4 and up and doesn’t require any reading.

These two games are winners in our house.  They are very age appropriate and have been played here quite a bit.  We had lots of fun, and you will too.

Want a crazy fun game for your house? Crazy Mixed Up Martians definitely fits that bill.  There are two boppers:  one green and one blue.  With one version of the game, you just bop your color martians when they pop up.  In another version you can play, you just try and hit as many as you can as they pop up.  Now, this game is just fun.  You’ll have a ton of giggles and screaming while playing.  It is for ages 4 and up, but again my eighteen month old has no problem playing it (Again, just need to be careful that he doesn’t put anything in his mouth).  We like this in our house, and you will too.