Gift Ideas for Dinosaur Lovers and Scurvy Pirates

Still looking for gift ideas for your beloved? Today Kobold has selected his favorites for dinosaur lovers and survy pirates.

Kobold's picks for dinosaur lovers include:

1. I Dream I Was a Dinosaur board book from Barefoot Books. Join a young boy on a dreamland adventure to prehistoric times, where he meets dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. The rhyme filled text is followed by fascinating notes about the age of dinosaurs and includes illustrations by Kobold's favorite Clare Beaton.

2. The 63 piece Mighty Dinosaur puzzle is is a wonderful gift for advanced puzzler. Kobold Toys also offers an adorable puzzle for the starter set with Shure's "My Dinosaur's Puzzle & Book."

3. For the artsy dinosaur lover, Kobold recommends the Calafant Dinosaur craft (only $6.99!). Children can use their imagination and creativity to color their own dinosaur and then play with it. This beautiful craft is made of pre-punched white cardboard, so it can be put together without glue or scissors. In addition, it comes with 6 markers and building instructions, all sealed in a plastic bag.

You will not have to walk the plank if you take Kobold's suggestions and wrap up these gifts that the scurviest of pirates will love:

1. The Little Pirate Bag of Books set lets your child set sail with this merry crew and enjoy all sorts of pirate fun with Port Side Pirates! with music CD and Pirates: Fun Activities, filled with puzzles, mazes, treasure maps and reusable stickers which will keep young landlubbers happily occupied for hours.

2. If you have a Pirate Girl, consider the cute pirate tooth pillow doll by North American Bear Co.

3. Pirates encounter many dangers in the deep blue sea. The Bloco Marine Creatures Scholastic set lets your child build and learm about sharks and other creatures so your pirate is prepared!

Have fun learning! And for more gift ideas and discounted items, visit the website every day.

Happy Holidays!

Kobold Goes Loco Over Bloco!

Kobold Toys is delighted to welcome Bloco™ to our line of toys that help children explore their creativity and imagination. Award winning Bloco Toys has been making foam construction toys in their native Quebec for three years. With an emphasis on product safety and fun, Bloco is dedicated to "providing highly original, high quality and really entertaining toys."

As with any Bloco construction set you can build the illustrated designs or let your imagination take charge. Each set can be combined with other Bloco construction sets to build even more interesting creatures.

Build lizards, sharks, fish, dinosaurs, birds, and wildcats. Let your child's imagination go crazy with these wonderful additions to Kobold's line of creative play.

Up, Up And Away!

The new Pixar movie Up opened to rave reviews this past weekend. I find it hard to believe that a story about a grumpy balloon salesman who ties thousands of balloons to his home and flies away to South America for adventure would not appeal to the masses. I know my daughter will love it on the next rainy day.

My children love to watch things go "up" - unless of course, it is that single balloon that accidentally escapes the death grip as they make the perilous trek from the car to the house. In honor of balloons everywhere, here are some of Kobold's favorite toys that go up, up and away.

First on the list, airplanes. At our local airport there is a great park where you can sit and watch the airplanes take off into the sky. We always like to take turns guessing where the plane is going. Want to encourage your pilot's prentend play? Then we recommend the PlanToys Airport and the ZipBins Shape Airport.

Today we biked to the Mall and after a picnic took a quick trip through the Naitonal Air and Space Museum. We learned about the Wright brothers, walked through a display on the universe, looked at rockets, and then my darling tomboy ended the visit with a ride on a simulator- the Cosmic Coaster. You can countdown to fun and learning with the Cosmic Rocket ship, This kit by 4M allows your child to assemble their very own rocket, fuel it with a vinegar/backing soda mix and watch it blast off! The kit includes rocket, launch pad and instructions (backing soda and vinegar not included).

My bird lovers enjoy the daring dips and soars of our backyard friends. The Bloco Birds of Prey set celebrates the "high flyers." With its 280 pieces, it provides enough possible combinations to create flockfuls of original flying creatures. The set also includes instructions to build smaller and less complicated birds.

When I asked my daughter, what other things go "up," she answered toast. At our house, the toaster shoots the finished product straight into the sky. The click of the spring and the sight of the toast going up never fails to entertain my son.

Today, ask your child what they like to see go "up" - it may surprise you!~ Happy June 1st!