We Talk Shop

We typically don’t write about toy recalls here, or any product recalls, but as a mom I’ve been faced with keeping up with the latest bombardment of information so I thought it would be only fair of me to share some important links with our WTS readers.

Yesterday I learned about a scary recall of the Aqua Dots toy — it’s linked with the same chemical found in the date rape drug. Yes, shocking. For me, this solidified my mom instinct to now really look at all toys that come into my home. It’s a wake up call. Check out the CPSC Web site for current recall information. You can’t rely only on the TV or newspaper to report on recalls, there are far too many for them to mention in a 30-minute newscast so they limit the reports to severe recalls. But, let me tell you, there are tons of recalls. See for yourself.

Related links:

• CPSC email list sign up
  
• Aqua Dots recall information from the CPSC site
• Aqua Dots recall information at Aquadotsrecall.com (at the time of the writing of this post, the Web site was down, most likely because of heavy traffic)
• My reaction to all of the recent recalls, on my Mom blog, Balancing Motherhood.

The best thing about these mats are their versatility. You can buy them for the kids play area, the garage, a business, by the pool, as a workout mat and whatever else you can think of where you would want to stand or sit on a comfortable surface (each piece is 13mm thick). I bought them for the garage to place my riding mower on to prevent drips or dirt from getting on the floor.

The eight-piece pack fits together like a puzzle, covers 33.5 square feet, and includes 16 borders. One side is multi-colored in red, yellow, blue and green - fun colors for the kids. The other side is black, ideal for the garage or behind a store counter. I only needed six to fit under the riding mower, so I used the last two under some boxes.

Get it! You can find the foam mats at Sam’s Club stores (not available online) for around $20.

Ok this is Shopboy_Tanner.  I am taking over blogging for my mom tonight, because I want to tell all of the grown ups out there about a really cool new Lego Bionicle that is a must have for any kid.

The Bionicles are really cool and fun to play with, you can make some great battles with all of them.  They can be challenging to build, but they stay together once you build them, so they are ok.  I am so excited because the new Mahri have just arrived in the stores.  There are six new creatures that you can build and add to your collection.  I would say that they are a must have for a back to school present or Santa List! 

Get them at Target, Toys R Us or Amazon.com. They sell for $9.99.

We love the frog toy holder and how it looks on the bathtub wall. I especially like how many toys it holds and that you can hand a wash cloth from his foot — and that you can place shampoo and soap on top. This gadget holds quite a bit and keeps Junior’s bathroom organized!

We’ve had this up for about 7 months when it came crashing down. I think the glue just wore out, but I am hopeful that we can buy new glue and get it back up. I’d give it 5 stars, but will have to deduct one since it fell down.

Get it! Target carries it in the baby section, but you can find it almost anywhere you buy baby stuff. It retails for about $24.99.

When your children are babies you can buy toys when they are there with you, go home and wrap them up and give to them later. They act like they’ve never seen it before. That’s what happened when we were shopping with Grandma and my son. He saw the Fisher-Price Amazing Animals Sing and Go Choo-Choo (it was eye height from his stroller), touched the train spout and giggled when it began singing and playing music. Grandma had to get it. So, a birthday present it became.

Since then about 6 weeks have passed and he really loves this toy. He’ll sit with it and turn the music on and clap his hands while it sings along. The voice is soft and cute and the songs are fun. The train moves on its own or you can turn that feature off. It comes with a few animals and they are great toys alone. They bend all different ways and act as rattles because there is something in their feet.  

I love watching him play with this toy because he seems to enjoy it so much.

Get it! Practically anywhere they sell toys. It retails for $30.00, but seems like a more expensive toy.

For those of you willing to get your hands on a PS3 at any cost, Sears.com has the console in stock in a bundle with five games — and you can still get it delivered in time for Christmas. Better hurry, the bundle on sale recently at Gamestop sold out so this one is likely to as well.

UPDATE: If you’re wondering why you get a save to disk request when you click the links above, it’s because the ps3 is no longer available. No surprise, it sold out quickly. If you’re itching to get your hands on one of these, I recommend using some of the many trackers available, some with e-mail alerts (wiifinder, nowinstock …) If you have e-mail on your cell phone and you’re near a computer, that will be your best chance for scoring one. Good luck!