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Does your kid not love to play with toys? Doesn’t he/she demand the latest toys every now and then? Parents can go toy shopping at any time of the year. Surprise your kid with his/her favourite toy without any notice and see the smile and happiness that comes on the face.

Shopping for toys is not an easy task as there are many different kinds of toys for kids at each age. Toys should be age appropriate. Would you buy a scrabble for 2 years old? Read on why is it essential to buy age appropriate toys for kids…

0-12 Months – Well, a newborn especially for first 3 months will just observe it’s surrounding like bright bold coloured patterns. When your infant starts to play with toys, give toys that engage all his/her senses and promote interaction in many ways. Best bets for toys in this age group are rattles, teething toys, colourful play rings, floor gyms, etc.

1 – 2 years – Well, at this age, the baby will love to play with toys that respond to his / her actions. Say like hitting the ball with the hammer, pressing the buttons to play music or characters that talk. Engage your child with toys like nesting boxes, stacking rings, push/pull noisy toys, and shape sorters.

2 – 3 years – A growing kid’s playtime has to become more purposeful. Your kid will pretend play, complete a puzzle or build blocks to make a building, etc. You can also teach your kid to ride a tricycle. Toy telephone, tea party set or kitchen set, tricycles, construction toys or a large train or car with horn or whistle.

4- 5 Years – The crucial age where learning ability is tremendous for kids, thereby making it a best time to introduce interactive education toys that teach various skills. Buy toys, which teaches positive things. Introduce your child to interactive phonics toys, art supplies or craft kits, big construction sets or puzzles, and bicycles with training wheels.

In young years, kids will develop their own interests by learning from parents, teachers, and peers. So it is best for a growing kid to play with toys that gives them a sense of mastery and competence.

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The beach is fine for sunbathing on but you can’t lie there all the time! You need to move around some time and play. I always make sure I’ve got a beach toy to play with. It might be a simple Frisbee or an inflatable beach ball. Volleyball and badminton sets are good fun too and easy to set up. After vacationing in France, my family and I got into boules and we often take our boules set to the beach. Sometimes we pack the plastic cricket set, the swing ball or the skittles.

Young children are usually content to build sandcastles and they only need some buckets and a spade. They may also enjoy playing with a toy boat in the shallows, supervised by an adult of course. With all that sand and water, they don’t need an elaborate beach toy to keep them amused.

The whole family can enjoy using inflatables. They come in all shapes and sizes, from mattress type designs to scary animals. You can also get inflatable water slides and water trampolines. There are basic trampolines and there are more complicated set ups with attachments such as jump platforms. These are tubes which lead to sunbathing decks. Mum and Dad can catch rays and the kids can jump about all day long. Some of the designs are quite complex, with pontoons, slides and floats. A swim float can be used to transport people from the trampoline to the beach. This is a beach toy to grab your attention and they are easily put up and dismantled. Make sure you buy a water trampoline from a respectable company, so you get a warranty.

If you want to get in the water on your beach vacation, towables are a fun beach toy. These can be towed behind a boat, including ski tubes which are safe for young children. Children should wear a life vest. They seat three or more people and are very easy to tow. You can cross the wake if you want a bit of bounce but don’t go too fast and wait until there are no other boats near. Don’t allow the line to slacken and follow all the guidelines. The ski tubes beach toy come in different designs. Some have high sided walls which keep the kids safe.

There are other towables which are serious fun for the adults. These go very fast over the wake and will you toss you around a fair bit. Some of these towables will lift you right out of the water and it’s advisable to wear a safety helmet. If that sounds too daring, other towables are used as loungers which can be pulled along at a leisurely pace. You may have ridden in a Banana Boat on vacation. You can buy your own and this is a great beach toy for kids and adults.

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I have always loved my Barbie and Ken dolls, since I was six years old. I remember my Barbie and Ken as if they were childhood companions. I remember it as if I was riding around with Barbie and Ken in the Barbie Ferrari, or joining them by the pool in the Barbie Dream House that I got for my 8th birthday. I know that there are a lot of people who say that Barbie and Ken are not good role models for kids. They say that Barbie especially enforces bad self image for girls. She is supposed to make them think that they are not good enough unless they are tall, thin, and blond, and always feel bad about who they are. But I say that that is all hogwash. Barbie and Ken are not meant to be role models. They are meant to be toys, plain and simple. To expect children to try to emulate their toys is absurd, and besides, every child enjoys playing make believe with his or her dolls. Barbie and Ken just allow them another way to play these fun and healthy childhood games. I can not see anything wrong with that. Can you?

Of course, now that I have kids of my own, I can see that not everyone plays with Barbie and Ken dolls in the same way. For example, my son actually has war with them. He gets ahold of my daughters Barbies and makes them fight each other. At first she did not like this, and would come to me, crying, when he was playing soldiers with Barbie and Ken, but over the years she has grown to be resigned to it, and even to like it. Now they all play war together, pitting the Barbie and Ken dolls against each other. Sometimes I even see them using the dolls to act out world political events. They will actually have Barbie doll terrorist attacks, and pretend that one of the Kens is president Bush. This shows me that the Barbie and Ken dolls are not only fun toys for the imagination, but educational as well. So I dispute what the naysayers have been spreading about some of my favorite toys. They obviously quite simply have no sense of fun at all, if you ask me. Otherwise, they would stop talking trash about these great Barbie and Ken dolls, and join in the fun themselves.

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