Monthly Archives: December 2011

Toddler iPad App Reviews – Zoo Train

We will be reviewing the many iPad apps Jax has been trying out recently. The iPad is great for car rides and waiting in restaurants. I stick mostly to educational and pretend-play when choosing apps for him.

Zoo Train

Zoo Train is an app by Busy Bee Studios. It has 5 little games in one that are great for preschoolers. It includes: Picture Puzzles, Whistle Music, Train Builder, Word Builder and Track Tycoon.

This was Jax’s first “favorite” app on the iPad. He has impressed so many people, both relatives and strangers, while solving the word puzzles. At first he’d just drag any letter to any spot, but he quickly realized that he needed to match them and started looking for similar shapes. He still gets confused with some letters like “m” and “n” but really does great. He LOVES that the game gives him stickers after he solves three words (you also get stickers every 3 picture and train track puzzles.) He gets so excited and exclaims “Oh! Stickers!!”

Sitckers!

The picture puzzles were the first of that style of game he’d done. He was having a hard time with a wooden puzzle he had in real life, but after playing the puzzle game a bit he started to be able to solve it. He didn’t understand the track puzzles for quite a while and would ask me to do it for him so he could see the train go around the completed track. Then one day I looked over and he was solving it like it was no big deal.

Jax enjoys the train building game. You don’t get any rewards for this one, but it is cute. You get to choose a train engine and then 4 cars. All of them have really cute zoo animals. Once your train is built you choose a scene from 4 choices and watch your train drive by. We like to point out things in the scenery that we’ve spelled in the Word Builder, like “cloud” and “ship”.

The section of the app that gets the least use is the musical train whistles. He occasionally goes into it but he isn’t patient enough to let a song play out.

I would definitely recommend this app to other parents of young toddlers. Jax has learned a lot of early literacy skills just from playing these simple, fun games. They have given him a good foundation for learning to recognize letters and put them into words. The app has also helped with his fine motor skills.

We got this app quite a while ago and I’m pretty sure it was either free or 99 cents at the time. It goes for $1.99 and I think it is a fair price. It includes an iPhone version. I do wish they would add more words to the Word Builder and more Picture Puzzles. Jax can do the puzzles in about 15 seconds each now! I think we’d even pay an extra dollar for an upgrade pack if it were to double our content.

If you have a toddler or preschool app you’d like Jax and I to review, please contact me with details. We have an iPad 1 and an iPhone 4.

Forklift Quiet Book Page

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This quiet book page is a special request. If you have a request, leave comment on my Facebook page and I’ll see what I can do.

I knew nothing about forklifts when I started this page, so I had to look at a lot of pictures and figure out how to simplify it down. The basic mechanism on this page is a strip of felt matching the background that a sleeve of clear vinyl slides up and down on. The vinyl gave me a place to sew down the forklift platform and some snaps to attach the pallet and boxes. I added spinning wheels, numbers and the words “Up & Down” to add to the educational elements.

Here is what I used: a 9″ square dark green felt background, felt (in dark green, brown pebble texture, gold, light blue, tan, natural, gray and black, clear vinyl, green ribbon, sew-on snaps, two grommets, two buttons and embroidery thread. I sewed this page by hand, with the exception of sewing it down to the actual page.

I started by pinning everything down to get placement (don’t pin into vinyl – it leaves holes) then sewed down the light blue window the gray steering wheel and the brown ground (cut that out freehand.) Take your strip of felt that matches your background (dark green in my case) and sew the gray bar along the left side. Pin it in place on the page then sew down the gold cab of the forklift. It will overlap the bottom of the gray bar. You can then sew down the bottom of the background strip.

To make the wheels, cut them out just outside of the circle template using pinking shears. Insert a grommet into each wheel and sew a button to the page through the grommet hole. The wheels will be able to spin around but will be held in place by the buttons.

To make the sleeve for the forklift mechanism, start by sewing the gold forklift platform to one piece of clear vinyl. See the pattern and photos for placement. Sew down some snaps for the pallet and boxes to attach to. Sew a loop of ribbon to the top center and another to the bottom center. Place the second piece of vinyl behind the first and sew them together along the sides only. Slide the sleeve onto the background strip then sew down the top of the strip to keep it in place. You should be ale to slide it up and down to look like the forklift is lifting.

For each of the crates, I freehand stitched the numbers to the front and a snap to the back, then sewed the two sides together. For the pallet I sewed a line across the front to add dimension, sewed a snap to the back, then sewed the two sides together. I added more snaps to the ground to give the crates and pallet somewhere to go when they aren’t on the forklift. (I ended up using 1.5 small snap sets per crate and 1.5 medium snaps for the pallet.)

The final embellishment was the words embroidered at the top. To transfer the writing, I pinned my pattern down and basted over each latter with one strand of thread. I left 2″ tails at the end of each letter instead of knotting. I then cut the paper away from each letter and puled off the remaining bits. This left me with a basted pattern to stitch over using stem stitch. When I was done, I pulled out the basting threads, clipping them wherever they were caught in the embroidery.

I am currently working on a dump truck that will be the other side of the two page spread. I think they’ll be really cute together!

Let me know i you use this pattern. I’d love to see your version!

Jax’s Barn – Wooden Dollhouse Makeover

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Jax’s Barn

Jax’s Christmas present is done! I started with an under $10 thrift store dollhouse and turned it into a sweet little barn for Jax to enjoy.

It took me about a month of stealing 30 minutes here and there to add more layers of paint. Lots of paint! On the floor of the upper level, there had been a pretty dark red stain. Let’s just call it paint, since the dollhouse didn’t appear to be haunted! I hid the stain and added to the barn feel by using Mod Podge to glue craft straw down and sealed it with a few layers of acrylic sealant. I may eventually do one of those acrylic water kits up there so the floor is smooth, but it works for now. Just a little bumpy for some of the animals. I also filled all the screw holes with wooden plugs I painted white. Once my million coats of paint (to get the edges just so) were dry, I sealed it all with Krylon spray. Right now, I’m just letting the house cure and air out for a few days before wrapping it up.

The animals I got Jax are by Plan Toys. They are so cute, and I love that they are wooden. I wish I could have afforded the horses/stable and the tractor (see Jax’s Wishlist), but at least he has a few friends to start out with. I did get him a farm train to go along with it.

If he plays with his barn a lot, I may sew him a farm play mat with roads for tractors, fields and pastures. What do you think of the makeover?

Sunday Souvenir – Haircut

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I’m late! It’s not Sunday, but that’s how it goes sometimes. On Sunday I hustled to get Jax’s Christmas present painted. His barn is now ready to be clear-coated!

This is a photo post about a childhood memory. When I was around 9 I was spending part of the summer with my grandparents in Iowa. My grandma told me she was taking me to her hairdresser for “just a trim”. I remember the lady’s salon in her basement. I also remember being SO upset when I saw how much my grandma had her cut off. I was not happy at all.

My hair was dark blond at this age. Exactly like Jax’s current hair. It now tends to grow dark blond/light brown at the roots and fade all the way to light blond at the ends from the sun. I always lighten the roots because I dislike the darker roots look. Though I guess its a whole style now – ombré or something?

Did you have any say in your haircuts as a child?

Toddler iPad App Reviews – Toca Tea Party

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Toca Tea Party

Toca Tea Party by Toca Boca is not necessarily targeted to toddlers, but Jax had no problem at all figuring out what to do. Sure, some may consider this a game for girls, but I think anyone can enjoy make-believe food!

This is a free-play app which lets kids use their imaginations. You launch the app and are presented with a choice of 3 random tablecloths. You then get to set out your choice of coordinating place settings. Once you have your table set, you choose three baked goods for your tea party.

When the party starts you’ll notice little details like music on the radio (which you can change) and little tea lights you can blow out or light. You can pour lemonade and tea, and if you spill it you can wipe up your mess. The graphics are bright and charming, as are all Toca Boca games.

At the end of the tea party, you wash all the dishes before starting over. I like that you clean up, and this game has helped me practice saying “more please” and “thank you” with Jax.

This app is currently priced at $2.99, though we got it on sale. I think $2 would be a better price, but would pay $3 if I had to. We have already played Toca Tea Party a zillion times, so I’d definitely recommend it!

If you have a toddler or preschool app you’d like Jax and I to review, please contact me with details. We have an iPad 1 and an iPhone 4.

Easy Oreo Pops

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These are so good and so easy! I wanted something fun to round out this year’s cookie tins that would use up some extra candy-making supplies I had laying around. I still had candy sticks and bags from making chocolates for my baby shower two years ago!

Oreos are already delicious, but put them on a stick and cover them in chocolate? Yes, please! You could make so many varieties of Oreo pops using different cookie flavors and different coatings. Dark chocolate mint! Peanut butter chocolate! White chocolate peppermint!

Here’s what you need:

Double Stuf Oreos (you can’t fit the sticks into plain Oreos!)
Candy/cookie sticks
Candy Melts (I used milk & white chocolate I had leftover)
Sprinkles (I just used some leftovers again)
Wax Paper
Candy bags and ties

Line a couple cookie trays with wax paper. I used old ones that had a lip to catch the extra sprinkles. Hold the two sides of the Oreo together firmly but gently, and push a candy stick into the filling. Lay them out on your trays so they are ready for chocolate.

Melt your chocolate according to directions. I usually put some in a mug and microwave it on 50% power in 20 second intervals until it is fully melted. I didn’t have success dipping the Oreos in the hot, melted chocolate – they fell apart! So I spread chocolate onto one side of the cookie, spread it all around the sides, then set it on the wax paper chocolate-down to coat the final side. While they are still wet you can add sprinkles or crushed candy. I melted some white chocolate and flung it over half of them for a fun look. I had extra white chocolate so some even got dipped.

Stick the cookie sheets in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or until fully hardened. Then place them in candy bags and tie them off below the pop. Store them in the fridge until you are ready to put them in your cookie tins (or eat them all yourself – I won’t tell!)

Enjoy!

No-Sew Dog Toy

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This project is from the archives of my personal blog. I wanted to share it here for my fellow crafty dog lovers, because what dog doesn’t love getting gifts!

When I created this project, I had a lot of leftover fleece from sewing doggy valentine hearts, so I figured out how to make braided doggy tug toys. It is super easy – no sewing involved and only takes about 10 minutes. You basically just cut and braid. Here is a quick how-to:

You’ll need some fleece. You can use up to 3 colors for each tug toy. Mine was leftover from another project.

Fold the fleece in half, selvage to selvage so you are cutting strips along the direction the fabric stretches (the selvage will be on the end of your strips, not on the length). Cut a strip 3″ – 4″ wide. I went with 3.5″. Repeat until you have three strips total.

Lay the strips lengthwise side-by-side. Fold them in to loose tubes at the middle so that the rough edges aren’t as noticeable when you start to braid.

Braid the middle 10″ or so of the strips. When you fold this in half, it will become the loop handle.

Fold the strips in half and line up the matching colors. If you are using all one color, just split the strips from each side into 3 groups of 2.

Start braiding tightly till the end. You can make it look neater by wrapping the pairs of strips around each other into a tube so you don’t see as many rough edges.

Tie the whole tug toy in a knot above the loose ends. I like to make the knot loosely but starting fairly high, then pull it down towards the end until it is nice and tight.

Trim the ends to make them even, and you are done!

Sunday Souvenir – Christmas Traditions

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Christmas at our house

I grew up in a small family. It was just myself, my dad and my brother. While my mom passed away when I was 5, we continued to get together with her family over the holidays. We had a tradition of holding Christmas either at our house, my grandparents house in Iowa or my aunt’s house in Colorado. I think we sort of rotated through locations, but I’d guess more were at my grandparents house than the others. Later on (when I was in my teens) we switched to renting condos in Florida and having a tropical Christmas. We had extended family in the area and got to share Christmas dinner.

Because we were Christmas nomads so often, we didn’t have a ton of traditions. I liked going to the Christmas Eve church service so I could sing carols and ask far too many questions about the logistics of the whole nativity story. I also had a stretch of years where I insisted on only eating Christmas dinner with my left hand (I’m right-handed), because I’m strange, I guess!

Christmas at my aunt's house. Hello, Barbie Dream House!

Stockings at my grandparents' house

One tradition I loved was stockings! They’d change based on whose house were were at (gift bags were used at the Florida condos) but they were always include an orange that would be added to Christmas breakfast. There were filled with candies and little wrapped gifts without to/from tags, that I suspect everyone contributed. I hang stockings for us every year, but they typically stay empty unless I put something in them. I plan to do some stocking stuffer shopping after all this reminiscing, but chances are mine will be empty come Christmas morning, heh.

Jax is still too young to understand the holiday, but I bet in the coming years we will start creating our own traditions.

I like my brother's sweater. No, really! I do!

Do you have any favorite traditions?

Link-o-rama

Thrift Store Gems

Sunday Souvenir – First Words and Childhood Scrapbook

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I missed last week’s Sunday Souvenir due to being sick, so today’s will be a two-fer. I’m almost over this cold, but buried in work and Christmas present crafts so I’m still trying to catch up here.

First Words

I’m not entirely sure what my first words were, but my baby notes mention that I say “Da-ddy” and “Bye-bye” at 38 weeks old. At 11 months old the notes say “Says ma-ma” sometimes. Very stubborn about doing things like patty-cake or saying words.”

Jax’s first word was “da-da” as well. It took him a lot longer to say mama, perhaps because he was always with me.

The next section of notes were a collection of things I’d said when I was little – most likely between 1 and 3 years old. My favorite quotes are: “No, Mousie. My lunch!” (Mousie was our cat), “Rub my bottom” (??? hehe) and “There’s hic-cups on you, Mommy!”

I am doing something similar now that Jax is starting to talk more. But, as a sign of the times, I am recording his quotes into a Twitter account. He is just starting to make 2 word sentences and is picking up new vocabulary like crazy.

Childhood Scrapbook

The above scrapbook was just for me. It catalogs all the cards I received (and some I gave my parents) plus drawings, notes and stickers. The scrapbook my mom made that I’m most in love with was made up almost entirely of cut up magazines. It is sooo 70’s and totally wonderful!

Mailbox & Letters Quiet Book Page

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I finally have another quiet book page done! First there was vacation, then working to make up lost hours, Thanksgiving and a bad cold. And there went November!

There’s nothing super original or crazy about this page, but it was one I wanted to include. “Mail” was one of Jax’s first words thanks to the mail song on Blue’s Clues. I have to give a shout out to Handmade By Jill, as her mail page was the first I came across.

Here is what I used: a 9″ x 9″ sky blue felt background, felt (in light gray, dark gray, red, brown, white, and assorted colors for the envelopes), ribbons and ric-rac, buttons, 1 grommet, Velcro and thread to match.

To make the page: I stared by sewing the two sides of the red flag together. I installed a grommet at the end – the same kind I use on the finished pages. I then sewed the lettering down onto the side of the mailbox. Placing the flag where I wanted it, I sewed on a button through the grommet hole. This lets the flag move just like on a real mailbox. To make the mailbox door, I sewed the two sides together with a loop of ribbon at the top. You could use elastic as well. I sewed the brown stake to the page, followed by the dark gray mailbox interior (the dashed line on the pattern shows where I sewed a decorative line to add dimension to the inside). I sewed the top, back and bottom of the outside of the mailbox down leaving the front open to put the letters in. To finish the page, I sewed down the bottom of the mailbox door and attached a button above it.

The mail is a blast to make! Get out your ribbon and ric-rac stash and have some fun! I used my sewing machine for them and had to rush. Please excuse the shoddy stitching in my example – I was actually nursing at the same time!

To make the envelope: Fold the envelop flap over and stitch beside the fold to set it in place (felt doesn’t fold well on its own.) Sew a piece of Velcro on the inside of the flap and decorate the outside with a scrap of ribbon or felt. Fold the envelope body up to find where the other half of the Velcro should be, the sew it on. Cut a little rectangle of white felt with your pinking shears. Sew it on as the stamp with a scrap of ribbon or felt. I used ribbon and folded under each end. Cut some ribbon or ric-rac and position it where the address would be. Sew it down. Fold the envelope back up and sew around the sides and bottom. All done!

To mail a letter: Sew ribbons or ric-rac down on the bottom half of the white felt rectangle. Fold the whole thing in half and sew along all four sides and trim it to neaten it up. I just did two ribbons on each, but you could go crazy!

I hope the pattern is helpful! This page came out very cute thanks to the mail. I had to stop myself after 5 letters because the mailbox was getting too full! If you use this pattern, I’d love to see your end result. I hope you’ll share it with me!