I was fascinated with magnets as a kid, and I’m still enjoying them as an adult. Magnets for kids make a great Christmas gift. They’ll spend some time just seeing how far they can push a magnet across the table by using it’s polar opposite. Then they’ll try making things appear to move with their minds as they have one magnet beneath the table which will be controlling something made of metal above it. And my personal favorite trick for magnets for kids is to see if you can squeeze together two magnets that are polar opposites of each other. I’ve seen some rather sophisticated magnetic gadgets that can cause a pen to float in mid-air. Those are pretty cool.
Kids love sneaking up on their siblings. It’s a control thing to see if they can get any juicy scoop on what they’re talking about. With spy gear kids can make it a little more fun. I found this cool supersonic ear device that enables someone to listen to conversations in the distance. It comes with headphones and a controller that helps keep the volume at a safe level. Of course, I’m not condoning getting into someone else’s business as a regular thing, but with a friendly game of spy gear kids can just be kids.
The Hasbro Video Now is a handheld video unit designed to play TV shows. My daughter got one for Christmas one year and enjoyed it immensely. In fact, it was a point of discussion many times with her siblings wanting to borrow it.
The Hasbro Video Now can only play specially made video discs. One of the family favorites are shows from The Fairly Odd Parents. Very funny! Other choices are Batman animated TV show, sports clips, music video clips, and much more.
The Video Now has gotten more stylish over the few short years it has been available. There are the Videonow FX player Ice Blue and another in green.
Remember the first time you played with radio control aircraft? It’s so much fun for a child to know they’re in control of a flying machine. Some radio control aircraft are fairly easy to navigate when you’re talking the smaller versions made of plastic or styrofoam, but when you’re talking about the big boy toys, the ones that have the wingspan of a man’s arms, then you’ll probably want to let dad do the navigation. The Discovery Exclusive Radio Control Bladerunner III Toy Heliocopter is a fun item for kids to play with. It’s reasonably priced at Amazon, too, so if your child happens to bring about a crash landing, you’re not totally burning money.
Ever notice how technology is getting more and more into the hands of children? Case in point is the Leapfrog computer. It’s a very nice educational toy that helps in a child’s development, but also gets them comfortable with technology overall. It’s called the LeapFrog ClickStart My First Computer. It turns your television into a learning computer and teaches your child how to use the mouse and keyboard and to navigate screens. It’s wireless and includes a plug and play console, a mouse and mouse pad, and four fun games. It’s child-friendly design allows the child to focus on playing rather than trying to figure out how to work it, which is crucial if you want your child to learn without making a fuss about it.
