Archive for August, 2007

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Modern Toys and Your Child

Friday, August 31st, 2007

As a parent, you must know how wide the offer for toys is for children of all ages. But when it comes to buying one, you don’t know what to choose, and how to choose a toy in order to be suitable for the child. You must consider the age of the child and make sure the toys are safe.

The toys are probably the most important things in a child’s world. These help your children grow and develop. The toys are actually a child’s best friend, so you must be very careful when choosing a toy for a child. It must necessarily appeal to the child, be according to his/her preoccupations, according to his/her age, and last but not least, to be suitable for the age of the child. So, you can get action figures toys for boys, Barbie toys for girls, doll houses, or doll makers, or even board games for older kids.

When choosing a toy it is highly important that the toy is safe for the child. Some toys can injure the child, especially if the child is small. The injury may be accidental, but you must be aware of this, so you’d better avoid buying such toys. For instance, a baby cannot be given action figures. As you probably know, babies tend to get stuff in their mouth and can accidentally swallow them, so you’d better get them something large, like a squeaking toy, rubber balls etc. Make sure that these toys don’t contain parts that can be swallowed. As the child gets older, you can extend the types of toys that you give him/her to play with. Starting from the age of 3, little girls can be given Barbie dolls, but still it is too early for doll houses.

Doll houses are more complex and contain many tiny components that are easy to swallow. The child must be over 4 or 5 to be able to get a doll house. Pay attention that action figures and toys that work on battery can be given to children of 6 and above. If your child begs for these toys, you can get them the toy, but make sure that the child is always supervised when they play with that particular toy. When children get older, board games might be interesting too, and these can help a lot in their development, as these involve strategies and some thinking.

Make sure you get the most suitable gift that is also safe and you will become your child’s bets friend and best parent as well.

Posted in Types of Toys | No Comments »

Manufacturing Teddy Bears in an Assembly Line

Friday, August 31st, 2007

You must have heard about the cute and adorable range of Toy box Games and Teddy Factory that makes teddy bears. When it comes to the assembly line of the factory everything seems so challenging. It’s not easy to piece together parts of variously colored teddy bears as they come down the assembly line on your first day at the assembly line. The teddy-bear-making machine gives out heads, torsos, legs and arms of each teddy in order. You have to click on each piece to join them. You have to assemble the different pieces of teddy bear to make a complete product for the valuable customers. You can reach to the level of upper management, making your way from the lower level teddy assembler to middle level management by your hard work and expertise.

The completed teddies are picked up by a robotic claw and pack them in boxes for delivery. The main challenge is to meet the changing needs and desires of the children, as some like green bear and some purple etc. You will be awarded extra points or incentives for this work, and if you are unable to meet the demands of the customers then it would some or the other way adversely effect your career. If you are unable to satisfy a kid for his desires from his teddy he will move on to other toys and you will lose a valuable customer. If you want early promotion and collecting additional awards between levels then you will have to manufacture as much bears as you can within a short period of time and satisfy all your customers.

You must have such an expertise that you should be able to complete assembly of one bear before the other one comes out of the bear making machine as the assembly line doesn’t churn out an even amount of every bear. You may have to partly assemble one color bear while working on another to carry on the process; this is the most difficult task that requires a good expertise. The assembly line changes its shape, speed and the colors of bears it produces with each level. It is the duty of all workers and management to ship teddy bears before parts hit the end of the line in the assembly line. The speed of Teddy Factory assembly line increases with the increase in your speed of making the bears.

You can get a permanent memento in form of a Trophy if you are able to assemble all the different bear parts together. For instance if you have brown, green, purple, pink, blue and other-colored bear parts and you are able to assemble and complete all bears before the end of the assembly line.

Working on the assembly line in Teddy Factory is similar to a time-tested action puzzle game in which you have to assemble different bears of various colors and types. If you have ever played games like Luxor and Atlantis then you can easily understand the functioning of the teddies.

Macromedia’s Director is used as the development platform by Toy box as the application has a PowerPC binary i.e. there is no Universal Binary thus providing support for Intel-based Mac computers. Many companies even use it on the Rosetta on an Intel iMac and are running successfully.

Posted in Toys Manufacture | No Comments »

Choosing The Perfect Toy To Give

Friday, August 31st, 2007

As a mother of three, I’m constantly looking for children’s birthday gifts for classmates, cousins, neighbors, and more. Unfortunately, it seems that children often receive many toys that are very similar to each other. When my son turned five, only two of the toys he received featured something other than Star Wars and Spiderman. A great gift doesn’t have to come from the mass-marketing of Hollywood, though.

How do you choose a terrific toy that is also educational? Here are several ideas:

1. Consider the themes that currently interest your child. Does she love horses and ponies? If so, look for a puzzle that features these animals. If he’s into sports, find a set of plush sports balls or an outdoor activity that involves his favorite sport. Other popular themes include firemen, ballet, dinosaurs, princesses, trucks, or pirates.

2. Match the toy to the child’s current work at school. If she’s learning to read, then a toy that offers phonics development is a great choice. For science buffs, look for electronics kits or live insect habitats. (You may want to check with the child’s parents first!) If he’s learning about government, a toy model of the White House might go along with his schoolwork.

3. Consider the child’s natural strengths and abilities. The artistic child will always appreciate supplies, such as paints, brushes, paper, stickers, or anything else that is age appropriate. A musically-gifted child will be thrilled by harder-to-find music toys and instruments, such as an accordion or ukulele. Encourage her strengths by providing toys that are really tools for further development of her talents.

4. Try to help the child improve upon an area in which he is not strong. For a child who isn’t very kinesthetic, an outdoor water toy might help him become more active. Likewise, if you want to encourage a child to get along with others, look for a toy that helps her act out social situations, like a doll or family playset. Some toys are good “cross-over” activities, such as an alphabet puzzle for a child who likes to manipulate items but isn’t interested in practicing his ABCs.

5. Plan for an upcoming event. If you know the family will be travelling soon, such as during the summer or the holidays, look for a travel toy that will occupy the child on plane and car trips. During science fair season, an “experiment kit” toy may be both entertainment and school supplies wrapped into one package.

6. Consider the parent’s involvement level and availability – for a large family or one with a stay-at-home parent, multi-player games build on together time. Other activities can be done alone but still promote pride and achievement; building kits and art projects can often be done alone or with minimal guidance.

I find that educational toys offer more value because they are treasured for a longer time. Parents appreciate the stimulating nature of the toy, and you’ll usually have a one-of-a-kind gift that is the biggest hit at the party.

Posted in Educational Toys | No Comments »

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