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Educational Toys
January 30, 2008 - 21:59 — Alenka
I often find terrific toys. I'll post really good ones that I find. Join in! I am always on a lookout, so please comment!
Music Toys
Musical Instrument Bingo - I bought this toy during our last visit to Metropolitan Museum for $25. It has a collection of cards with different instruments from all over the world, a CD with 50 melodies played with these CDs and a leaflet matching music on CDs to the pictures of instruments, descriptions, musical work information and even composer photographs. There are some classical works, some anthems from around the world, some folk melodies from around the world. One of the greatest qualities of this game: the whole family could play, with every kid playing on his age level: my two year old loves finding pictures of the instruments playing, my 7 year old niece is already competitively keeping score and naming the name of the melody as well as the instruments, my 10 year old nephew found some sophisticated level that enticing his interest.
Anatomy Toys
4D Human Anatomy Puzzles: My mother bought us the puzzle for pregnancy - the puzzle comes into a belly, bones and even a small baby inside! I was fascinated with such a visual way of introducing my kid how things look like inside. Can't wait to lay my hands onto the other puzzles - they have Skeleton, Skull, Heart, Nerves, Hand... 
Please note: pieces are really small and hard to maneuver by the small hands - it is unsafe toy for kids under three. But my own 2 1/2 loves it: he can put together the baby, while I put together mommy's tummy and then we both really like fitting the baby inside momy's tummy. I guess it would take at least 3-4 years to enjoy doing the whole thing by himself. So far - lots and lots of supervision, and lots of simplifying the process. I was able to look the other puzzles they have available at what appears to be their manufacturer's site: Fame Master
Comments
Thanks to Tamsyn Spackman
Thanks to Tamsyn Spackman for sharing:
I recommend "Opera, a new way of listening" by Alexander Waugh. I also thought the book itself was very good. Some of the songs on the CD are the complete song, while others are samples, but since our little tots have short attention spans, I find the samples are usually long enough. Having said that, opera was always written in the vernacular tongue, and was meant to be understood, so I don't think that it's necessarily detrimental to listen to it in English. After all, these operas are often performed in English. I think that's a personal preference, the important thing is exposing them to good quality music. Good luck!
Tamsyn Spackman