Baby Gear

When you are buying for a new baby, bargains are what you need. It all adds up and babies use things for such a little time, it is almost a shame the money that you spend. Right now Amazon has a ton of Fisher Price “rainforest” baby gear on sale.

Fisher Price Rainforest Jumparoo is 19% off at $70.49 with FREE shipping! My baby LOVES this and still uses it once in awhile at 16 months. It also has awesome reviews.
Its newly designed frame allows you to opens it up from the top, and lets the seat rotate 360 degrees so baby can play and interact from any side. A fun seat and toys at five locations on the platform engage baby all the way around.
This would be on my “must have for baby” list: a jumparoo.

The Healthy Care High Chair also has great reviews and on sale for $93.98 with free shipping. The Rainforest Healthy Care High Chair has a toy that you can snap into the high chair tray, and baby can play with different rainforest animals in lots of different ways, including activating music, lights & sounds! You will love the one-handed tray removal, 7 chair height adjustments, a dishwasher-safe insert tray and more!

Lastly the Melodies and Lights Deluxe Gym. I think a baby play mat is another must have item. My twins as well as the baby loved this and used it for hours.
To suit baby’s mood, this gym offers three modes of play. In the first mode, baby’s movements set off eight to 12 seconds of lights and music, which helps teach your child about the relationship between cause and effect. Another option is the music mode, which develops baby’s auditory sense with 20 minutes of continuous music. Finally, the rainforest mode plays 20 continuous minutes of rainforest sounds while baby plays or simply relaxes.

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There are a few things I have seen my kids love at other people’s houses so much I had to get it for them for home. I mean just because they like something doesn’t mean they have to own it! That is what playdates are for.
When we visited a family member one day and my twins were 8 months old this little couch she has was perfect to plop my kids down and let them sit and play with toys. This couch made for kids is one we had to have.

P’kolino now makes the Little Sofa. Available in two-toned green or red microfiber, the dense foam Little Sofa offers kids age 2-6 and up a great place to sit and play with toys, or cozy up with a good book. The Little Sofa comfortably fits two children sit side by side, and a book pocket on either side is awesome for keeping their favorite books. The best part is that The Little Sofa folders out into a sleeper! This is what sold me, I would fold the sofa down and put the two babies on it, when my nephew was visiting for a weekend, it was his bed!

My twins LOVED there sofa and now baby K does too. The one I have has a revovable and washable cover. But the Little Sofa has stain-resistant microfiber. You have to also check out their original Little Reader chair.

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I am not a fan of most stuffed animals. My kids have a few that they are attached to and a few that they like but never play with. I hate to have things that just collect dust and are taking up space. I have found a stuffed animal that is more though, one that is very special. Zoobie pets.

Zoobie was started by two brothers on a quest born out of a desire for innovation and a love of children. With a tag line of: Play. Sleep. Love. how can this company not be good? These are no ordinary animals, each pet is a plush toy, a soft pillow and a comfy blanket all in one!
Just detach the velcro and unzip a zipper and your stuffed animal can change into a pillow or blanket and back again. It is easy to use and safe for children.

How perfect is this for children to travel with? Instead of packing a lovie, a blanket and a pillow, you have it all in one with these soft, lovingly made zoobies. The signature faces on each animal all contain micro beads, making them extremely soft and each animal has its own definitive extra-soft-to-the-touch body texture, making for exceptionally comfy pillows. The inner blankets are made of extra soft and warm coral fleece.
Choose from a ton of different animals from either the zoo collection or the safari collection.
My only problem with this toy is that my two older children each want one of their own! This makes not only a great gift for a new baby but kids of all ages will love it too!

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My baby loves his toys but his REAL tried and true favorites are simple, non-toy toys. A plastic water bottle and its cap, my eyeglass holder, balls. Some of the favorite of all my kids have been simple things that function as many different toys. Today I want to highlight some of them and give you more bang for your toy bucks.

Parachute. My kids fell in love with this at Gymboree class. Have your child sit under it and wave it over his head, put balls on top and bounce it all over, or use it to drag him all over your yard. This can also be used as a amazing fort for 6 year olds!
This parachute is $25 and comes with a bag for storage.

Stacking cups are my other favorite. Inexpensive and kids love them for many reasons. they love to stack them up (or for you to stack them up) and push them down. They can do this for hours-I know! They love to put them inside of each other or put things inside of them and take them out again. They also love them at the beach, in the pool or bath tub.
Scooping water and dumping it out for hours is total fun for a toddler.

I want to know-what are your child’s favorite not-really-toys toys?

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My little kids always loved to play with their kitchen. I think it is one of the most universal great toy and a perfect idea for a grandparent gift (hint, hint). My six year olds love their kitchen as much as out 12 year old does and the favorite thing to “bake” in our kitchen is birthday cakes and treats.

How cute is this shop filled with felt birthday treats! Paula McCrosky from Fakery Bakery hand sews adorable cakes, cookies, cupcakes, donuts and even Pop Tarts, in a variety of sizes and colors. Made from felt, these are perfect for an impomtu birthday party or tea party. You can also custom order products!

Sam McLean designs also has adorable play food for kids of all ages! He specializes in handmade Fun Felt Foods for kids to play with or for home decor.
I especially love the variety of this shop. I am loving the chicken dinner set (cutest chicken legg ever!) and the deluxe sushi tray! How adorable!
Make sure you stock up for Christmas, they are having a Christmas in July sale. Take 10% off any item, including clearance items during the month of July!

Lastly check out BugNikDesigns for more great play food. I love the crocheted bacon strips and the blueberry pancakes! Maybe you can get your kids to eat more veggies if they had this salad kit!

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There is nothing that all my kids don’t love more than bath toys. We have a variety of bath toys and there are new toys that are being made into bath toys every week. From Barbies to Hulk, from rubber ducks to old cups- you name it and we have it in our bath arsenal.
Cleaning up all of the toys after the bath is over is not my favorite, especially because our tub is so deep.
Enter the Boon Bug pod bath storage scoop.

The newest member of the Boon family, Bug Pod joins the Frog Pod to help with children’s bath time clean - up, providing a drainable scoop for collecting and rinsing toys. What a great way to organize and store all of the toys, accessories and soaps that come along with bathing a child!
It has a a wall mounted base for storing bath products. It can attache to the bathtub wall with either a super strong adhesive strips or wall mounted screws. We chose to screw it into the wall because it can hold more weight that way.
My kids love to scoop up their toys when bath time is over and I love that it drains and stores easily and no more leftover toys on the bottom of the tub!
Buy It: Buy your own Bug Pod at All Modern Baby, a modern children’s furniture site that carries top manufacturers such as Maclaren, Stokke, Boon and Bugaboo.

Win It: I have a Bug Pod for one lucky reviewingbabygear.com reader!
Just leave a comment here telling me what else you would love from Allmodernbaby.com.

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I am loving the availability of great, eco-freindly toys that are out there now. They are making their way into the market place as many of us parents demand to have safe, simple toys for our children.
As we all know babies and kids can be content with a pot and a spoon, or a box well beyond their attention to a light up, musical plastic toy.
Today I want to feature two items that are on my list of great, must have toys for kids.

This Uncle Goose ABC Blocks With Wagon is fantastic. Beautifully handmade upper case wooden alphabet blocks with wooden wagon
handcrafted from basswood in Michigan which includes 28 blocks,
4 complete alphabets, 3 sets of numerals, and 28 different animal pictures. It looks like something I had a child.
Each block is made with brightly-colored, child-safe, non-toxic inks.
Perfect for ages ages 2+.

How adorable is this Wooden Lawn Mower? From the site: A favorite among toddlers, our solid Wooden Lawn Mower Toy encourages active play as the moving balls make gentle clinking sounds. It is made from contrasting hardwoods and finished with vegetable oil for safety.
This is a classic children’s toy that has long-lasting play value–our wooden mowers will be used for years!
Not bad for $39.99!
Minor assembly is required: the handle will need to be screwed on to the tumbler using the included screw. Perfect for a first birthday!

I love that what is old is new again!

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I am always on the look out for great outdoor toys for my children.
Of course I am on overload from battery-ridden toys from the winter months. I want my kids to play in the nice weather, use their imagination and unplug from all of the toys inside the house.

Green Toys is a company that can help you with that. We had the chance to check out the dump truck and the jump rope. Both were instant hits in our house with me and my kids!

Green Toys are all made from recycled milk jugs! The milk jugs are reprocessed into high density polythylene which is “considered one of the safest, cleanest plastics around”. They are also made in the USA. In addition, all of their packaging is made from recycled corrugated boxes and is 100% recyclable. No plastics, or metal at all. Lastly, all Green Toys are tested in “nationally recognized, independent, third-party labs”, right here in the USA.
They contain no trace amounts of BPA or phthalates! They’re also free of any external coatings, so you don’t have to worry about anything chipping off into your children’s mouths!

I love that I don’t have to worry about the safety of these toys. I also love that since they are made from plastic the dump truck is light enough for my one year old to pick it up and carry it around safely. The jump rope has adjustable handles which is great for our house since our twins are 3 inches apart.
We love these toys and can’t wait to add to our collection!

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I love the idea of a tricycle for my littlest one, so I have been researching and thought I would share with you!

Skip Hop WishBone Bike- 3 Bikes in 1 !
Unlike any other running bikes, the Wishbone bike evolves with a child’s different stages of development.
It starts at age 1 as a trike, converts to a running bike as the child grows, and by four to five years old, the ‘wishbone’ frame is flipped, making the Wishbone Bike one of the largest running bikes on the market.
With its environmentally sustainable design and innovative 3-bikes-in-1 feature, the Wishbone bike, designed in New Zealand, really is the ultimate pre-bike.
It is recommended for ages 1-5.

I LOVE this Radio Flyer tricycle, it is exactly like the one I had as a child! Much easier on the pocketbook at $85.
This is a classic Retro red and white styling and frame, it has controlled turning radius for safety and balance, Ringing chrome plated bell and a adjustable seat for different heights.
Perfect for ages 2 to 5 years old! These are a little heavy compared to newer types of trikes, but there is a reason these are a classic!

Lastly, I love the look of this Wheely Bug. Looks like a bug, rolls like a car. The Wheely Bug from Prince Lionheart is a cute wheeled push car for kids up to 50 lbs. The seat of this light push trike is made of compressed foam, padded with a 1″ layer of soft sponge. The Wheely Bug comes in three designs and two sizes.

Tell me, what kind of tricycles do you have in your house?

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AS I try and fill my house with eco-friendly products as well as baby and child gear, I have come across bamboo more and more. I love clothes made from bamboo, they are SO soft and comfortable. Bamboo is a such a great source of materials for products because of how fast it grows.

I am in love with these Mini-Mello seats made from bamboo! Lacquered on the outside, and produced according to fair trade rules, once turned upside down, Mini-Mello can also be used as a little basket, a lego box, etc.
Bamboo is a recyclable material, and each product is wrapped and delivered in recycled packaging. They measure diam 34 x h. 12 cm
and they are available in red, fushia, lime, black and white. Other colours upon request.

From their site: Ekobo is a eco-friendly company which creates timeless contemporary design from a natural and renewable resource: bamboo. Ekobo products allow economic growth, the protection of the environment and social equity to progress in harmony. By combining design and traditional hand-work, Ekobo develops a durable activity for rural communities and encourage eco-responsible consumption. All Ekobo products are handmade in Vietnam, in a village where the owner of the Company, Bruno Louis, is familiar with its inhabitants. Today, about one hundred families take part in the Ekobo adventure.

Very funky, modern and perfect for a nursery or child’s room.

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We have a love affair going on in our house with Little People. We have the villages, the barn and the zoo. At Christmas my son even became the owner of the Fisher Price Little People School Bus ride On. He loves getting on and off of it and riding around the house!

One button plays a stop and go on to school song and the two Little People in the front of the bus spin to the music. Press another button and hear the bus driver tell everyone to please sit down so we can go to school and another button is the horn. Press the two Little People in the front seat and hear them laughing. My son loves the pictures of Little People passengers on the sides of the bus and the colors of the bus, red and yellow, are bright and attractive.
The seat also opens for storage of whatever my baby needs with him at all times.
He loves being pushed around by his big brother or sister by the handle at the back and that handles was terrific when he was learning to walk. He would push that bus everywhere and think he was a big deal. A good toy for $34.99.
School Bus is for ages 12 months to 3 years, but I still catch my 6 year olds on it every once in awhile!
What is your favorite Little People toy?

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I am always looking for cool new toys for my children. The baby doesn’t have very many *new* toys because he has his brother and sister’s old toys. When I see a new toy I have to have though, I tell everyone I know, because I am a smarter consumer now. I know what my kids are going to like and if it will “grow” with them.

Kushies has everything you can want for your baby and their toy line is fabulous! Kushies toys are colorful, playful and adorable- everything you and your child could want in a toy. They have toys for infants, babies and toddlers. From teethers to sensory toys and many are brand new to the line.

Their Magnetic Activity Garden is adorable! This unique garden window box doubles as a zippered carrying case for toddlers on the go! The many ways to play and succeed encourage independent play and build real life learning. My baby LOVES this toy and won’t stop playing with it as well as my twin 6 year olds! My son loves putting them into the zippered part and taking them out again and carrying it around by its handles. I love that it travels easily!
It is brightly colored and no detail is left undone.

All Kushies toys encourage explorative play, flexible thinking, dexterity, self-expression, self-confidence and independent play!
How cute are the zolo stacrobats? Or the photo album to go? Any one of these toys will be my next baby shower gift!

For my readers: order from Kushiesonline.com and get 10% off your next order with code rbg10 Happy shopping!

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Earth-friendly Sprig Toys are big on fun for kids of all ages and all without batteries, can you believe that? They are Earth friendly in in both manufacture and play. Sprig Hollow from Sprig Toys are ready to help your child explore her environment, and grow with her and they are adorable!

Sprig toys are made from recycled wood and reclaimed plastic, “Sprig Wood” is easy on the earth, durable, and child-safe, too. From their site “Inspired by our collective desire to keep kids active and the planet healthy, Team Sprig is dedicated to infusing creativity, smart design, quality manufacturing, earth-friendly materials, product satisfaction and responsible business practices into a superior line of fun, kid-powered toys.
We help make the world a better place and we get kids off the couch. Pretty cool, huh?” In 2007, they formed Sprig Toys, Inc., where they designed an exciting line of battery-free, eco-friendly, paint-free, kid-powered toys!

Of course, the real test for any toy is the play. And Sprig Hollow provides hours of endless possibilities for your wee eco-warrior.
The Sprig Adventure Series harnesses the natural kinetic energy of push- and pump-action play to generate lights and sounds, again, without batteries! The larger Discover Rig is complemented by the Sidekick line of smaller pump-action powered vehicles, including the Rally Racer car and Baja Scout dune buggy.

Each toy comes with a seed-paper flower you can plant and watch grow with your child. So cute!

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The Busy Ball Popper by Hasbro is one of my children’s favorite toys. I origianlly bought this toy for my twins five years ago. I just brought it back out for my one year old last week and I have to say it is a hit all over again!

The plunger is pushed down activating the five balls to go up the top and back down the tube over and over again. My twins play with it as much as the baby! I had my friends over with their small children and their kids loved it too. It is easy enough for a 18 month old to push down to start the toy. Sometimes the balls go out onto the floors and the kids scramble to put them back.
The one drawback of this toy is that it is noisy! The motor is loud and so is the music. I wish their was a volume control but I did put tape over the speaker. The motor is still noisy though.
This is my favorite 1st birthday gift to give.

We also have the Busy Ball-Tivity Center. It works on a pneumatic system. There is a ball popper, ball cage and three accessory systems. Baby can also place a ball on top of the volcano and see it hover. Stackable palm tree, elephant and alligator pieces all spin, twirl and chomp when placed on their separate ports, or they can be stacked for a different perspective.
My son received this when he was 9 months old and has loved it!

You can buy replacement balls for both of these toys from Hasbro for under $5!

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We LOVE Baby Einstein in this house and more than Baby Einstein I LOVE durable, mom and baby friendly products. Play gyms are one of my favorite must-haves for new moms. Babies love their play gyms! Now baby’s (and mom’s) favorite brand combines both learning and play with the Baby Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym!

This aquatic baby playground features a 2-in-1 aquarium toy with classical music and lights. The aquarium can then be moved to a crib at bedtime to help baby fall asleep.
The mat also promotes tummy time for baby with animal peek-a-boo flaps that have real se life pictures. There are friends for baby your baby to interact with like the Baby Einstein octopus as well as a baby safe mirror for little ones to get their first glimpse of themselves.

When playtime is over the mat is easy to fold up and store until next time. Your baby can always play separately with the toys that are included with the aquarium and you can always checnge up the toys or add new ones with the extra links provided. Either way this playmat and all of its accessories will never be boring to the little ones.
It is also a great way to interact with baby and encourage tummy time which is SO important.
I do think this play mat has a lot of toys on it and with it, but I wish it was a little bigger.
Any play mat you chose will be fine, but I do think a activity mat is a must have!

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