If you have kids of various ages, it’s hard to find presents for both of them that are along the same lines as one another.  K’nex has solved that problem for us parents.  They offer product lines for the younger kids and the older ones too (including parents!)

For Will, we have the Sesame Street Neighborhood Collection Building Sets. These are for kids 2-5, and it is perfect for the younger set.  With these sets, you can easily play with your favorite Sesame Street characters be it Elmo, Cookie Monster, and/or Ernie.  Each neighborhood words together too, so you can have a single set or an entire city.  There is the 123 Brownstone Building Set, the police car building set, the ice cream truck building set, and the police station building set.  We tried out the police car building set and Will loved it.  The wheels on the vehicle actually move, so he was able to push this around our living room.  The parts are also very big, so I didn’t have to worry about him putting them in his mouth.  They also made it very easy for him to work with them because of their larger size.  In the set, they also have additional ideas for you to build.  These sets help with hand eye coordination, encourage imaginative play, thinking and problem solving.

For the older kids, there is the 400 piece tub.  This is literally hours and hours of fun.  There are building ideas for 20 different things in here plus whatever your kids can come up with on their own!  The models you can build have a lot of movement that you can do.  The wheels on the car we made worked.  I love that K’nex works with the other brands out there like Lego.  You can take the Legos you may already have and easily incorporate them into this set.  I love toys that are self contained.  I love that the storage tub is small enough to easy fit under your kids bed and small enough to easily be taken on trips.  With a price tag of $20.99, this is a must have for the kid who has everything.

With both of our K’nex items, we are very happy.  My kids have had countless hours of fun, and I can only highly recommend them.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

With the new movie that came out, it is awesome that another generation gets to enjoy Indiana Jones. My four year old even find the Indiana Jones movies funny.  When they had to eat monkey brains, well, she thought that was the funniest thing ever.  She also likes that he is afraid of snakes (now, I don’t remember that being in the movies, but it hold true on her Indiana Jones Lego PS2 game).  That being said, there is a whole new round of toys this year with the Indiana Jones franchise.

All I can say about the Indiana Jones Giant Radio Controlled Ant is that it is ugly and creepy — you know, just like real ants.  Oh yeah, and its huge.  Personally, I hate ants which I think is what is the big appeal for this toy.  In Indiana Jones, and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy faces a swarm of deadly ants.  Its for ages six and up.  However, the controller is quite large, and it isn’t too difficult to control.  This even comes with a field notebook with ant facts!

The Indiana Jones Room Booby Trap is for siblings who just can’t seem to stay out of each others way.  This has a set of booby traps you can use in your house to help one defend against nosy friends and siblings.  The best part of this toy is that they are learning about gears and levers with this, and they have no idea!  Who knew booby traps could be a learning experience?

Indiana Jones Crystal Skull Adventure Projector is one freaky looking projector.  However, it works a lot better than you would expect.  The video that shines on your walls comes from its glowing eye (and it is as weird looking as you can imagine).  With this, you get to join Professor Jones on several archaeological discoveries and famous scenes from the movies.   This projector includes an audio track, so you can hear about all sorts of famous discoveries while you are watching.  You get the base, a projector, a booklet, slides, and an audio CD.

If you have any Indiana Jones fans in your house, these are some definite toys you need to be checking out for this holiday season!

For the last couple of weeks, we have been trying out a projector from Projector123.  Let’s just say that it has been such a big hit in our house that Bill now wants to buy one.

Can you guess the movie on the left?  It’s Cars.  That picture is on one of my walls in the basement.  We didn’t have any white walls to use, so that picture is on a blue wall.  It made it slightly darker (we shined it on the white door to see the difference).  I’ll be honest — I was impressed.  The picture was so clear and crisp.  It also was huge!  I wouldn’t have needed my contacts to see it!

Now, I didn’t take a picture of this but we set this up with our PlayStation 2.  Madison tried both Star Wars Legos and Indiana Jones Legos on here.  It was awesome. The characters were taller than Will.  He just ran up and down the wall touching the characters.  It was quite humorous to watch (and I should have video taped it but I didn’t think of it at the time!)

After the kids were in bed, Bill and I tested it out with a non-kid friendly movie.  Madison and Will’s movie were made to be crisp and clear.  How would a real movie hold up?

You should be able to guess this movie pretty easily.  I took this picture from the side to show you how movie theater like it was.  We just hooked up two speakers, and it was like being in the theater (we were just missing the popcorn).

Even though we used this for a lot of fun movie nights at my house, there are so many more uses for it.  I have seen these used at weddings, graduation parties, and memorial services that I have been too.  Its a great way to show a montage of pictures easily.  At the rate of $99 for a weekend, you can’t go wrong.  They FedEx it to you and they even give you a return label to FedEx it back!

If I would let Madison write my blog, this would top her list of favorite things for all time. If you liked Lego Star Wars, then you will love Lego Star WarsII: The Original Trilogy. How does the Lego version differ from the regular Star Wars games? Well, they are rated E (for Everyone). They are also easier for kids to play. Also, you have unlimited lives. If your character dies, it just starts back up again. There is some humorous scenes like when you walk in on the Storm Troopers taking a bath (they have swim trucks on!) and you get to see the innerworkings of the Death Star with all its bulk cable and metal and stuff (you have to blow it up too). Bill even loves this new games. There are so many new levels and tricks you have to learn to get through it! Madison is only 4, and she can beat most adults at this game (she’ll also tell you exactly how to play it). Granted, it isn’t the most educational thing for kids. However, it makes a great reward. It keeps their attention (both kids and adults). It isn’t too hard for either age group either. It is pretty easy to figure out and is very entertaining. This is a must have for any Star Wars fan!