Toys for Boys

Tell me mother's of boys:  Do you have a hard time shopping for toys for your boys?  It is hard to find things that aren't too destructive, too loud, too big (like ginormous race track sets)!  I wish in those commercials for hot wheels they would show the reality of the HUGE tracks that they are peddling.  A mom wanting to pull her hair out because their is no room for the track, or it was played with once and now there are pieces of it all over the house, or it was played with a handful of times and now there is no where to store it!  Don't get me wrong, we have our fair share of half built tracks (they reside in the basement and are played with once in a blue moon), but don't we all long for toys that the kids love and that they play with often and that don't take up a whole room just to store them when they aren't in use.

If you are looking for just such a toy, you are in luck!!!  Here is the genius toy at our house.  It is the toy I recommend to ALL people with boys (or girls) or who are looking to buy a gift for a boy (all ages love this toy).  And.....drum roll please.....it is pretty cheap!

Hot Wheels Color Shifters.  Ta Da.

What, another set of cars?  We have so many cars at our house!  I am always tripping over cars, why would I buy more?  I know, I know.  Hear me out.  These cars are magical and provide HOURS of entertainment and they are great for winter, summer, spring and fall (I bet by now you are salivating and wishing I would just get to the good part).

These magical cars change colors with water.  They start out one color and then you dip (or submerge, or even spray) it into warm or cold water and.....presto!  It changes color.  Want to change it back?  Dip it into the opposing water.  Easy as pie.  It can be done over and over and over and over.  During the summer it can be a challenge to keep the cold water cold, but ice cubes help greatly (the water does have to be pretty cold in order to work to its full potential).  But on days like today, just add a little snow from the front porch and it is plenty cold.

Before

After: Half Dipped in warm water

Before: with little residual

In the middle of dipping in warm water

Downsides:  I am not going to lie.  There are downsides to this toy (but the good greatly outweighs the bad).  First of all, it can make a mess.  You must come equipped with towels.  It is best to lay a nice thick towel on the surface that they are going to play on (the floor or table).  However, in the summer....put on their swim suits and put the bowls of water outside and NO MESS!

Hours of fun for their little fingers.  You just have to occasionally warm or cool water!

Also, there are lots of fun (I mean that sarcastically) tracks that go with these toys.  Buy at your own risk.  This is coming from the mother that has 3 (yes three) different color shifter tracks in the basement in various stages of building.  I HATE THEM!!!!  But they do make for even more entertainment for the kids.  They are definately played with WAY more often then the normal hot wheels tracks.

I hope you check these out.  They are so much fun.  Today as I was taking pictures, I got sucked in and "had" to play too.  It is mesmerizing!

Also had to share one more "toy".  Tanner is obsessed with bugs.  He loves to read about them, find them, squish them, etc.  He has been wanting to catch some bugs, but it is quite difficult this time of year to find bugs (thankfully).  However, Nana's house always has a fresh supply of elder bugs.  They are these little black bugs with red marks on their backs.  They don't bite, they are just annoying.  Growing up, these things plagued my life.  I have eaten them, drank them, stepped on them, woken up with them on my face, and so forth and so on.  Just ewwwwww.  (Funny story insert that doesn't relate to the post- When Julie and I were young we took great pleasure in flicking these bugs across the room.  It was the easiest way to get rid of them without killing them.  We were lovers, not haters.  While flicking them, we would make the noise that we thought a flick would make.  It sounded like this "Fi (short i)-que".  Sound that one out.  We were pretty innocent kids.  Not until years later when we went back to mom and dad's and flicked a bug and made the "fi-que" sound did we realize what we were really saying.  How did my mom keep a straight face when we were using one of the most offensive words in the English language?  Funny right?)  So Tanner took great joy in collecting these Elder bugs and naming them.  He found a little plastic container and put a spinach leaf in it and poked holes in the top.  Then we went a-hunting.  We found three poor Elder bugs (in about 3 minutes).  The first one was named "Leafy" because he liked to stay on the leaf.  The second one was a wily one.  He was really trying to climb out of that little container, so he became "Climby".  The last one's wings (yes they fly, I know....totally terrible when the fly into your hair or face) were sort of bent in the back and looked kind of big and therefore, he became "Fatty".  Poor bug.

That was two days ago.  Guess what?  Those little buggers are still alive, and sitting on my kitchen table.  Oh the love of a mother.  Only for my children would I keep a little container of Elder bugs on my kitchen table.  Feel free to come and visit (or take them home for a bit).

Can you see "Fatty's" big butt?

No need for toys this Christmas.  Just get a jar, poke holes in it, and come to the Coombs' house and get yourself some Elder bugs.  They are no maintenance.  As far as I can tell, they don't eat anything.  Any bets as to how long they will last?