Vtech Mobigo Review

I have always been skeptical of gaming consoles for kids. They're either too complicated (which leads to crying) or too simplistic (which leads to boredom). I have seen kids (and adults) addicted to the Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP as well as other gaming systems which are great fun, but really fail when it comes to education. Frankly, I thought no one could get the right mix of playability and education into one box. And then we tried the MobiGo by Vtech.

Let me begin by voicing loudly my biggest complaint. We were only provided one MobiGo to review and now my kids (5 and almost 3) fight constantly to play with it. In the last three days the MobiGo has had to go in time out a good five times while they figure out how to take turns.

At first glance the MobiGo seems like all other portable electronic gaming systems. It's got a 4-directional button on the left, a screen in the middle, and a big button on the right. It's got a cartridge on the top. Seen it. Done it. Yawn.

Ok, fine. So I plug in the "Touch & Learn" cartridge and turn on the thing. It wants you to put in your name.  Seen that before too, right? Oh wait the whole screen flips up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard! (Those who play with a Sidekick or other flip phones know what I'm talking about). OK that's pretty cool, but come on my kids are 5 and 2. Seemed a little excessive for me at first. But I'll get back to that later.

So then I get to select different games to play from the Touch & Learn cartridge. I can immediately tell there are letter games, number games, and other games to try out (actually 6 games in all). I tried to select one with the directional button but it didn't work. I have an iPod Touch, so my instinct was to touch the screen. It worked! The entire screen is touch sensitive! It turns out that (duh) the Touch & Learn cartridge relies heavily on the touch screen.

So the technology is there, but I was still skeptical about playability and educational value. I tried out what I call the "Squirrel game" first. In this game you simply use the touch screen to help a squirrel get nuts. The game directs you to basically connect the dots to move the squirrel. Pretty simple, but very intuitive especially for a 2 or 3 year old. The graphics are fantastic and the squirrel makes a cute noise every time he reaches a nut.

I moved on to the letter game. The goal of this game is to shoot rubber ducks with a water gun. Each duck has a letter on it and you shoot by finding the letter on the QWERTY keyboard. This is great! After about 10 minutes my 5 year old had a pretty good grasp of the location of many of the letters on the QWERTY keyboard. This game was actually both fun and educational. My 5 year old was reviewing her letters and was learning about the QWERTY keyboard all while being sucked into the fun graphics.

I like music so I had to try the music game. I was shocked to realize that this was Rock Band/Guitar Hero for little kids (except instead of Megadeath, you play Oh, Susanna). The guitar (or more aptly ukulele) has only four strings and a little note falls down each string for you to "pluck" it at the right moment. Brilliant! As I played more, the sophistication of the system revealed itself and you can also play piano and drums.

OK the technology is great, the games are fun and educational, but my last concern was would it hold the kids' attention for more than a day. Each game has an "easy" or "difficult" mode. The "Easy" level was easy for my 5 year old on some games (the squirrel game) and adequate on others (like the letter and number games).  If you do well on the easy level, then you're invited to play the difficult level. Frankly, the games are so much fun that both kids are still having a great time and my 5 year old is really learning her keyboard. She's even making distinct progress with her numbers, something we only recently realized she needed to work on.

The system is marked as being good for kids to 3-8-year-olds. The "Touch & Learn" cartridge supplied with the console won't keep the attention of the older kids for long, but VTech is releasing a large array of affordable games ($20 or so)  to go with the console.We only played with the original cartridge which didn't use any of the directional buttons on the console, but we're beyond impressed with the technology and functionality of the system and we can't wait to test out some of the other games.

So, in short, great game console with amazing potential. I love the fact that some of the mini-games are harder than others so that the kids have something easy to fall back on when they get frustrated with the more challenging tasks. The fact that they've still gone back to try the more challenging tasks after speaks volumes. The fact that they haven't stopped playing for the last three days and have made noticeable progress with numbers, letters, and problem solving speaks even higher to the quality of the educational content of this game system.

Pre-purchase the MobiGo at Amazon for $59.99. (Release date is supposed to be June 7th, though the date there says July 1st.)

Or Purchase the MobiGo at ToysRUs now for $59.99 and games for around $20.

Please note, I did receive a MobiGo console from VTech for review (and we get to keep it thank goodness or there would be a mutiny) however the opinions contained in this post are mine and mine alone, except for the parts written by my husband who was so taken with the device that he felt the need to write this review. His opinions are his and his alone too.

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Strawberry Shortcake Berry Café - Review

I was such a Strawberry Shortcake kind of kid that I even dressed up as Strawberry herself one Halloween. It was the cheapest, most plastic-y costume you could possibly imagine, but I cherished that thing. But aside from what I remember about that sheet of plastic costume, what I loved best about Strawberry Shortcake was her intoxicating smell. They say it was Strawberry, but I'm not sure it wasn't crack.

Since I was such a Strawberry Shortcake fan as a kid, I was thrilled to see her make a massive come back this year. I'm getting a kick out of watching Little L and C play with my little fruity friends.

I have two girls so it almost goes without saying that they go ballistic whenever I present them with a toy that has lots of tiny components. Anything cute, pink, and tiny is an instant hit in our home. My husband goes ballistic also, but for completely different reasons. The tiny bits drive him up the wall.

The Strawberry Shortcake Berry Café is exactly the kind of toy my girls love. It's adorable, comes with a doll, and lots of teeny tiny pieces for lots of fun pretend play. Little L likes that Strawberry can sit on a bird and go for a spin. C likes to set up the café and have Strawberry be the perfect little hostess. I like watching them take a trip to my childhood. And M? Well, he's not a fan of the little pieces, but he does like it when the girls play on their own.

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Café Pros:

- Fun retro toy with an up to date twist. Lots of fun details, like a blender for iced coffee drinks and a cute little oven to bake the tiny baked goods. Strawberry Shortcake even has a bed in case she needs to take a nap after a particularly crazy morning!

- Not a bad price point for such a large toy - $28.42 today on Amazon.

- Great potential for imaginative play. Since Strawberry Shortcake is the only doll supplied with this set she might have to get to know some of your kid's other dolls!

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Café Cons:

- I don't know if my kids are singular in this or not, but they don't tend towards mixing and matching their toys. So there's a big chance that in our home Strawberry won't be making any friends until her creators start selling more of her fruity palls.

- The windows and doors on the café don't seal shut so the tiny little pieces can't be stored in it for safekeeping. A ziplock bag takes care of that issue, but it would have been nice to have the set be self-sufficient.

- My treasured childhood smell isn't here for the ride. (It is on some of the Strawbery Shortcake coloring books that we have found.) But the girls don't mind. I'm the only one who noticed!

All in all this is a lovely toy and will make many little girls grin with glee this holiday season!

Please Note: I am in no way affiliated with Hasbro. I was given a Strawberry Shortcake Berry Cafe for review purposes and was in no other way compensated for this review. The opinions and thoughts expressed in this post are mine and mine alone.

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Halloween Fairy Gift Ideas

Despite all your wonderful memories of sorting through your Halloween haul and the joy you got out of having all that candy to savor during the days weeks after the spooky holiday, now that it's your kids sifting through countless candy bars, you're feeling a bit squeamish.

Enter the Halloween Fairy.

She's the awesome little creature who sneaks in during the night and trades your kid's Halloween candy stash for a cool toy or book. (What you the Halloween Fairy does with all that candy is up to you her.)

Love the idea, but don't really know what the Fairy could leave? How about a couple ideas?

1) Candy Land might rubbing it in a bit much, but there are other great board games that would be as fulfilling as a bag full of candy. Halloween Jenga, Boo-opoly, or the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin Yahtzee keep the spookiness going, but there are also options if you want to turn your minds to the next holidays, like, say, Holiday Jenga! (Who knew Jenga could lend itself to awesome holiday applications?!)

2) Webkinz come in adorable Halloween-y cuteness, like a little black cat, a sweet little bat, or the cutest little dragon ever. Putting Halloween behind you? How about a delicious little Turkey Webkinz?

3) Once Halloween is over it's time to start decorating the house for some Thanksgiving fun! You'll need your fair share of crayons, construction paper, and glitter to get it all done!

4) Speaking of Thanksgiving, what if the Halloween Fairy traded food for food? No, I'm not talking about more candy, I'm talking about a fun cookbook that might get your kids excited to help with all that holiday cooking! The Pillsbury Kids cookbook, Kid's Fun and Healthy cookbook, and Williams-Sonoma Kids in the Kitchen: Fun Foods book are great places to start.

5) Just because Halloween is over doesn't mean that the dressing up fun has to end. Mr Potato Head looks just as good as a Halloween ghost, as he does as Spiderman, Indiana Jones, or even, say, a certain jolly fat man dressed in red. Hey! This one could even pass as the Hannukah Bunny. You know, if he existed anywhere outside my head.

6) Or, for the slightly sadistic parent (ahem, not pointing any fingers...), how about a sweet reminder of what the Halloween Fairy spirited away? M&M, Starburst, or Twix pillow anyone? Aw! Come on, at least it would be funny! For you!

Obviously these are just a few of the millions of options that the Halloween Fairy could come up with. Hunt around and let your imagination run wild. Then be good to yourself and get rid of the candy instead of eating it all in one sitting. Your teeth will thank you, even if your personal trainer and your dentist don't.

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Play-Doh Burger Builder

If I ask you to name one Play-doh set you used to play with as a child I bet you're only going to hesitate for a moment before you answer. (Mine was that nifty set where the people grew hair.) For my kids that memorable set is going to be the Play-doh Burger Builder. Without a doubt.

As soon as I pulled out the box their eyes lit up and their smiles broadened. I mean, they love Play-doh, but this promised extra fun.

Little L contemplating the possibilities.

We broke out the kit and got to work making burgers. Within moments even I was transported to childhood as we made patties and buns, lettuce, and tomatoes, and even perfect little pickles. But the most fun was had when we tried the potato chip maker. Seriously, get this kit just for the fun you'll get from this little hand cranked tool. It spits out potato chips and sends them flying everywhere. Way too much fun.

C's masterpiece.
If you squint you can see the cheese she included.

We built a ton of burgers and made miles of fries before the girls got sidetracked and the Play-Doh session ended the way they all do, with them making mountains of spaghetti and mommy picking up tiny pieces off the floor. It was a real hit.

Play-doh Burger Builder Pros:
- Great variety of options. Aside from all the usual spaghetti shapes that you can press out, you can also press out burger, bun, and condiment shapes, and of course there's the fabulous potato chip maker.
- Affordable. For around $20 you can have one great kit that will net hours of play and five small tubs of Play-doh.
- Easy to manipulate even for little hands. Little L (2yo) was able to press out some burgers with a bit of help.

Play-doh Burger Builder Cons:
- If you happen to be a bit anal about your Play-doh colors not mixing or your burgers being the right color, this might not be the set for you. At first our burgers were picture perfect (see first picture), by the end they looked more like questionable veggie burgers than prime Angus beef burgers. The girls didn't mind. A more anal person might have noticed cared.
- The colors needed for making traditional looking burgers and condiments aren't part of the small packs of refills. You'd have to get the big pack or find the colors individually.

Major thumbs up for this little gem of a Play-doh kit!

***
Has your child created a Play-doh food masterpiece? Enter it in the big "Ready Go Play-doh" contest and you could win $10000! Contest ends Sept 30, 09, so hurry!

Top Ten Things I Brought Back from BlogHer

So this is about a week delayed, but only because I've had my face deep inside a tissue box since I got off the plane and also I haven't so much unpacked as left my suitcase sitting in the middle of the floor in our room. Which I'm sure my husband totally loves.

Even after taking the high-road and refusing to fight anyone for a swag bag of anything I still managed to leave BlogHer with way more stuff than I brought and a clean conscience to boot, so yay. And so, without further ado...

The Top Ten Things I Brought Back from BlogHer.

10. Two bottles of Sobe Life Water. Yes two. Which I stashed in my backpack and had to guzzle as I walked up to the x-ray machine at the airport. Because there was no way no how I was giving them up to security. Three minutes later I had to make an urgent dash to the ladies room. Friends might have laughed at me. Mmm. SoBe.

9. The new Bounce Dryer Bar which makes me happy every time I open my dryer and smell my clean laundry. Nothing like the scent of Bounce to take me to my happy place.

8. A Spiderman book for our LeapFrog Tag System. My 4yo might have preferred a more princessy or pink book, but I love my super heroes and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Plus after months of intense use we're still huge fans of the Tag System and we're delighted to have a new book to explore.

7. A tube of Suave Sleek Anti-Frizz Cream. I have no idea how I have ever lived without this product in the past. Mid-afternoon frizz attack? One dolop and my hair looks better than it did in the morning. Might have to buy a case of it.

6. Diana Orgain's new book Bundle of Trouble. Totally fun mommy mystery. Great fun read. I love discovering new authors. Especially ones that I apparently met.

5. A Pearl of Wisdom brooch from the Pearl of Wisdom campaign to prevent cervical cancer. It's pretty, it's classy, and even better it's raising awareness for a disease no one should succumb to. Pretty good combo.

4. Three treasures from Playskool: A bee, a butterfly, and an old family favorite, Mr. Potato Head. The spud went to join his already extensive family in the girls' room. He was welcomed with open arms by all. The bugs have also been shown lots of love since they were first introduced to the children. I love Playskool. No, let me rephrase that. I pink puffy heart Playskool. They make great toys that really stand up both to the test of time and little kids.

3. A cuddly fuzzy sweet Build A Bear teddy who the girls have declared is mommy's teddy. When I was recovering from BlogHer last week I kept waking up to find him tucked into my arms. He was quite snuggly. I didn't mind in the least. Plus his t-shirt reads "Bloggers are Bearrific!" What's not to love about a bear with such great taste?

2. A couple All detergent chocolate lollipops and some All detergent samples. I haven't tried the detergent yet, but the girls inhaled the chocolate leaving me all of three seconds to tell my long-suffering husband some juicy details about the weekend. Sadly I had to leave the All Laundry Fairy behind though.

1. An awesome Lands End Backpack. It's light and compact. It has pockets for everything. It has a laptop compartment. It comes in a ton of colors and looks rugged but sleek. I'm not going back to school any time soon, but you can bet you'll see this baby on my shoulders at Starbucks soon.

There was so much more, but this was definitely the cream of the crop. And yes I will now go finish unpacking. But first...

Bottom One Thing I Brought Back from BlogHer

1. A cold. A nasty, ugly, icky cold that has kept me down for at least a week now and is morphing into a nasty, ugly, icky sinus infection. If you see the person that was handing these out don't thank her for me.

Kohl's Cares for Kids Ducky Review and Giveaway

We are a Kohl's family. We go there all the time for M's clothes, kid clothes, toys, house stuff. You name it, we can probably find it there and have a blast in the meantime.

I didn't need any help to love Kohl's more, but they've gone and done something extra special anyway. They've come up with a neat way to get kids reading this summer. As part of the Kohl's Cares for Kids program, until the end of June you'll find two awesome books by Jackie Urbanovic (New York Times best-selling author and illustrator!) for sale along with their coordinating plus toys for just $5 each.

Duck Soup and Duck at the Door are hilarious books that you and your kids will get a kick out of reading. The coordinating plush toys are really high quality and surprisingly funny and cute.

For just $5 you can get a fun treat, or a nice birthday present for a friend. You and your child could pick out a couple gifts for less fortunate or hospitalized kids, you could even start a pint sized book club for your child's friends! When the price is right and the money goes towards charity it's hard to resist!

Duck books and coordinating plush toys pros:

- Jackie Urbanivic's Duck books have adorable whimsical pictures that will delight even the youngest children and great lessons about caring for others that will interest older ones.
- The stuffed animals are wonderful quality toys - incredibly soft with the greatest facial expressions.
- $5 for a book or a stuffy! Can't beat that!
- Helping others by getting yourself a treat! Even better.

Duck books and coordinating plus toys cons:

- You people are going to stop believing me, but what can I say, I can't think of any negatives here.

Win your very own Duck book and coordinating plush toy!

To enter:
1) Leave a comment telling me about something charitable you and your child have done.
2) Leave a comment telling me how you are going to get your child to read this summer.
3) Visit the Kohl's website and tell me about something you just have to get.
4) Subscribe to this blog's feed. Leave a comment telling me you subscribed.
5) Subscribe to my other blog's feed. Leave a comment telling me you subscribed.
6) Tweet, email, blog about this giveaway.

That's a grand total of 8 ways you can enter! Please remember to leave me a way to contact you. And please, please, please, leave a separate comment for each of your entries. I can't credit you for each of them if you don't.

Giveaway ends Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 10pm PST. This giveaway is now closed. Please visit my other giveaway for more great prizes!

I received two Duck books by Jackie Urbanovic and two plush coordinating toys for review, but I was in other no way compensated for this giveaway. All opinions included in this post are mine and mine alone.

*Through the Kohl’s Cares for Kids program, 100 percent of the net profits from sales of the Duck books and plush toys will benefit children’s health and education initiatives nationwide. Since the Kohl’s Cares for Kids program’s inception in 2000, Kohl’s has turned $5 merchandise into more than $126 million that has made a positive impact on the lives of children across the country.

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Spud Bunny Giveaway Winner

The winner for the Spud Bunny Mr Potato Head is...

... which translates to... Sarah Walton!
Congratulations Sarah! I'm emailing you right now.

Quick note. Sarah was not the first winner that Random.org picked. The first winner entered multiple times and didn't leave a way for me to contact her. Please. If you enter giveaways, here, anywhere, make sure the blogger can contact you!

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Celebrating Earth Day with Barbie and Thumbelina (Giveaway!)

I'm excited to say that here at The Lemonade Stand we're celebrating Earth Day with Barbie's very own Thumbelina. No really, it's true!

First we watched the Barbie Thumbelina movie. Over and over and over again. I didn't have my hopes up when I first popped it into the DVD player, because, well, I might have a bit of a preconceived notion of "straight to DVD" movies, but the movie delivered in a big way. It's a lovely story about a spoiled little girl who gets over herself by learning a bit about nature and what she can do to save the field inhabited by Thumbelina's people, the Twillerbees.

The lessons in the movie aren't overbearing and the story stands up to being told over and over again, which is a great thing, because I have a feeling we're not done watching it yet!

Once C was good and obsessed familiar with the movie I broke out the Thumbelina Doll. First of all, I have to praise Mattel for the awesome ecofriendly 100% recyclable packaging. Nothing like a product that does what it preaches. The doll was relatively easy to take out, and, once I'd put all the ties and cardboard in the recycling bin I turned my attention to figuring out the product itself.

Our Thumbelina Doll came with a nifty little gadget that allows her to hide in her flower and pop out at the touch of a button. After a few tries C figured out how much strength to apply to get the mechanism to work and was delighted with the effect. It's a cute toy, which will undoubtedly get lots of play in our house!

Barbie Thumbelina Pros:
- The movie is sweet and teaches a great ecofriendly lesson just in time for Earth Day. Your child will walk away with a greater respect for flowers and the secrets they might contain.
- The doll is nicely constructed and opens the door to a whole new world of play.

Barbie Thumbelina Cons:
- The mechanism on the toy is a bit hard to work for little hands and I think that it will soon be forgotten in favor of more imaginative play in our house. C would rather let Thumbelina fly through the sky than pop out of her flower, but maybe that's just us!

All in all, I'm giving the Barbie Thumbelina line a big thumbs up. It's a lovely alternative to the more traditional Barbies and to those other flying characters, if you know what I mean. wink wink.

Barbie Thumbelina Giveaway:
We're giving away one Barbie Thumbelina Movie to a lucky Lemonade Stand winner!

To enter:
1) Leave a comment letting me know about your own or your child's Barbie memories.
2) Tell me what you have planned for Earth Day 2009 or how you teach your child about the importance of nature.
3) Subscribe to this blog's feed. Leave a comment telling me you subscribed.
4) Subscribe to my other blog's feed. Leave a comment telling me you subscribed.
5) Tweet, email, blog about this giveaway.

That's a grand total of 7 ways you can enter! Please remember to leave me a way to contact you. And please, please, please, leave a separate comment for each of your entries. I can't credit you for each of them if you don't.

Giveaway ends Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 10pm PST, just in time for Earth Day! This giveaway is officially closed! Thank you for stopping by. Make sure to check out all my other great giveaways!

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Wett Giggles - Review & Discount Code

What could be sweeter than a cute little bath toy lodged in a fun sudsy soap? Well, how about instead of a bath toy you got an adorable little nail brush?

Wett Giggles, Inc has come up with perfect little gifts. Use them as party favors or as birthday presents. Give them as part of a gift for wedding or baby showers! These little guys are sure to bring smiles to everyone's faces.


Wett Giggles pros:
- Adorable little characters encased in sweet smelling soap that come individually wrapped and adorned with a matching ribbon.
- Just enough soap to make it worth your investment, but not so much soap that a child would get frustrated about getting to the prize at the center.
- Encourage hygiene in little kids by introducing a fun new way to scrub away the dirt that builds up under your nails!
- Love the soap, but can live without a tubful of nail brushes? You can buy the soap or the nail brushes separately.
- Quite affordable! $10/soap+brush, $8/soap no brush, $5/brush no soap.
- Kosher glycerin of vegetable origin!

Wett Giggles cons:
- These things are so darn cute you're going to need to buy the whole collection. I'm sorry.
- And... yeah, sorry, I really have nothing else. Uh, you might end up with too many nail brushes? Not that that's really a con...

Wett Giggles DEAL!
So, in conclusion, you need one or ten of these right away. And because Wett Giggles, Inc rocks, they've given me a discount code to share with you.
Right now, on the Wett Giggles site, there's a 20% discount on all orders and just for The Lemonade Stand readers, until the end of February, by using the discount code: Carvp09 (Careful! Case sensitive!) you also get free shipping! So, what are you waiting for? Get that gift closet full of cute little dogs, ducks, and cows!

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Kid Kleen Bath Blizzard Review

My kids love bubbles. I mean, duh, right, what kid doesn't? So a while back when we discovered a bubble blower specifically designed for the tub we got very excited. It was terrible. Stopped working after two days.

So when we got the Kid Kleen Bath Blizzard we were a bit skeptical. What were the odds that this bath bubble blower would be any better? I pulled it out of the box and I put in batteries and dumped a ton of bubble solution into it, which gave us so so results. Then I read the instructions and I took out all the bubble solution, rinsed out the machine, followed the instructions, and presto! an avalanche of bubbles, just like the box promised!

Bath Blizzard Pros
- It was actually pretty cool. The bubbles poured out and filled the tub with a rich lather.
- The girls thought the avalanche was pretty.
- The bubble solution, when diluted properly, lasts a really long time.
- It's pretty quiet.
- And miracles of all miracles, after multiple uses the bubble blower is still going strong.

Bath Blizzard Cons
- This is my fault because I didn't read the box closely enough, but I was hoping for more bubbles flying through the air rather than cascading down into the tub.
- It is not the most exciting toy in the world and I can see how my kids would quickly lose their awe.

All in all a pretty neat toy that I would especially recommend for the younger set while they're still easily mesmerized by bubbles of any kind.

The love child of K'NEX and Sesame Street looks an awful lot like Elmo

K'NEX, creator of the awesome construction system teamed up with Sesame Street to create a line targeting their youngest little builders yet. The fun chunky construction toys have taken on faces of the Sesame Street gang, allowing young kids from 2-5 to assemble their beloved TV land friends.

When I first heard about the new line of K'NEX toys I really thought it would be right up Little L's alley. She's just starting to find that kind of toy intriguing, and she's the perfect age to become a major Elmo fan. But once I actually got my hands on a set I realized that C would get a lot more out of the experience.

I'll admit that at first I really thought that for the 2-5 age group maybe partnering with Noggin or Sprout would have been a better bet. C seems to have left our friends on Sesame Street behind her in her quest for more face time with Diego and Handy Many, but in retrospect I think that the Sesame Street/K'NEX match is nothing short of brilliant.

The characters are inherently familiar and come with built in self esteem boosters. Any possible frustration that your preschooler might encounter while trying to build something maybe a little more challenging than the usual tower is mitigated by the familiar friendly face of Elmo or Grover smiling up at them.

With a wide range of characters and prices ($10.99 - $31.99) available these friendly and motivating little guys are sure to be on many a holiday gift list this year. I'm thinking we need to add a Cookie Monster set to the list, you know, so I can "help" him eat a few cookies. Visit knex.com/sesame-street-building-sets/ to see who you're going to add to your list!

Thumbs up for this fun and cute educational toy!