Lady and the Blog

I love toys! I especially like non-computerized ones, like puzzles and board games so when I saw these at a press event, I was immediately interested. Patch Products Inc.’s new toys for 2010 include the 3D Sneaky Puzzle and the Tall-Stacker Mighty Monkey Pegs & Pegboard Set. Both come in sturdy boxes for easy packing and transporting. I test-drove them with my little friend, Malakai, who’s 2 and 1/2, to see what he thought.

The 3D Sneaky Puzzle is a regular puzzle with a few tricks up its sleeve. Not only does it come with a pair of 3D glasses, there are also hidden letters and numbers in there! The theme of the 3D puzzle is Singin’ Sea Creatures. There’s fish, an octopus and a lobster, among other sea folk, in chunky graphics that Malakai loved. The age for this is 3 and up so he needed help finding the pieces and putting them together. When we put everything together, he put on the glasses and stood looking at the puzzle for ages. He stood on it and touched the fishes with his fingers. I think he thought maybe they came out of the puzzle.

The awesome thing about the 3D glasses, besides the obvious, is that its really kid-friendly. Its not too fragile, so kids can grab it and shove it on their faces without parents worrying about them hurting themselves. Malakai had a ball finding the letters and numbers (he’s so smart!). This puzzle has 46 big pieces and its not the easiest thing to put together, so it presents a hard enough challenge for your child. Its priced at $14.99.

The Tall – Stacker Mighty Monkey Pegs and Pegboard Set includes plastic monkeys with holes in their feet and hands so that kids can link them together on the pegboard. This one comes in a sturdy case with a handle at the top. The monkeys come in different colors so this can lead so all sorts of educational opportunities. Kids can make a tower of one color or they can alternate colors. It can also be used to teach addition, subtraction, etc, all while they’re playing. I think this was Malakai’s favorite. He had as much fun building a tall tower as he did pulling it apart. The shape of the monkey and the size of the hole worked well with his developing hand eye coordination because it was easy for him to push one monkey into another. Malakai is really good with his colors so, when it was time to clean up, I used this chance to ask him the colors of each one as he put it in the box. He also insisted on taking 3 of the purple monkeys to dinner after, which was much easier than taking some of his other toys. The Tall-Stacker Mighty Monkey Pegs and Pegboard is only $19.99 and is recommended for kids 2 and up.

To check out these toys and other Patch products, go to www.patchproducts.com

Written by Tabitha

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