Winner! Worst Toy of the Year
November 30 The Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood, an organization that I adore, crowns a "Toady" every year. The prize is for the Worst Toy of the Year.
This year's winner, with 43% of the vote, is a tablet computer for infants. For the bargain price of $479, your baby can be the first kid on the block to learn to tune out his parents in favor of a baby version of Angry Birds. (Okay, not really Angry Birds. Instead it plays Itsy Bitsy Spider.)
The runners up were spectacular in their own special ways. There was the Coca-Cola version of Monopoly, helping to spread the love for corn syrup with each roll of the dice. And a toy microphone which teaches your child the lyrics to sexy rap tunes.
In contrast, an post by GeekDad at Wired this week picks the 5 best toys of all times: 1. A Stick 2. A box 3. String 4. Cardboard Tube and 5. Dirt. I love his disclaimer for #1: I have received several samples of Sticks from one manufacturer for review.
I. Love. It. But that still leaves the question of what my children ought to find under the tree this year. What are your favorite crunchy mom suggestions? Because dirt is tricky to wrap.
;){kind=link}
Reader Comments (5)
If you'd spend $479 for that toy, you probably don't know what sticks & dirt even are.
LOL Wendi! Probably true.
1. Blocks 2. Train set 3. Sand & water table OR sandbox (tricky to wrap, but sand toys can be under the tree with a note to go check under the tarp in the back yard) 4. Water toys (snorkle, goggles, etc.--for the bathtub till summer) 5. Beautiful dolls (and NO I don't mean barbie or bratz ugh) 6. Dress-up clothes 7. Books 8. Art supplies 9. Child-size furniture 10. Activity tickets (to see a ballet, play, band, other activity of interest and 10.5 Coupons for parent-child activities you know they'll love--thirty minutes of any game of their choice, the opportunity to plan and cook an entire meal with only as much help as is requested by the child, an afternoon baking cookies together, etc.
Oh, wait. 11. Gardening tools and a dedicated plot just for them 12. Lincoln Logs 13. Legoes (I know they're plastic but talk about creativity!) 14. Craft sets that require parental assistance (more parent-child time!) 15. Real tools in child sizes (hammer, tape measure, vacuum cleaner, etc.--REAL tools that really do the job)
I think that's it... I'll probably be back in twenty minutes with more...
I love them, Heather!
Seriously? A toddler tablet?? Can you imagine that focus group that came up with this ingenious idea? It's scary to think these could be flying off the shelves. I would stick with dirt. You are creative-see if you can come up with some way to make it pretty.