You know what? I wanna be in one of those meetings where they invent new toy ideas. It must be totally awesome. And the one where they invented Harumika must have been ultra-awesome. Because this is simply the best toy I have ever seen. And my two girls agree with me (yes, even better than the giant robotic pony-thing that they wanted for Christmas).

Harumika Starter Set

But what makes Harumika so awesome is really its simplicity. It’s a basic toy that really relies on the child’s imagination: I know! How novel is that? And the best part? Children will play with this toy for a very long time (mine have spent hours happily at it) and it doesn’t require a lot of adult guidance or assistance (and once they understand the concept, they don’t need any help). It is, essentially, an outfit-making toy. You wrap the fabric around the mannequin and: BINGO! You’ve made a stylish new outfit.

Here's what you get in a starter set.

So, I know what you’re thinking now: how the heck do you work that thing? Honestly, I thought the exact same thing when it arrived. But the concept is incredibly simple. The starter package (which we received) contains a mannequin, some swatches of fabric, a spatula-like tool and some bling stickers. The really genius thing about Harumika is the plastic-coated channel in the back of the mannequin, where you can tuck in the ends of the fabric with the spatula tool:

Channel at the back of the mannequin.

Once your kids have mastered this, it’s hours of independent and imaginative play! My girls are nearly 7 and 9.5 years old, and they love this toy. Truth be told, I love playing with it, too! I’ve seen girls of almost any age love this toy, right from 4 on up to 14 (and 40!), and it’s not just girls who like it – more than one boy has hunkered down and designed outfits on our Harumikas while visiting us on playdates.

Here are some outfits that my daughters created with our Harumika sets:

Two Harumika creations

More fun outfits!

And at about $15 for a starter set, this toy is surprisingly well-priced. It fits perfectly in my birthday party budget, and I feel great about giving it as a gift to my kids’ friends. And now I see that they have a new range of mannequins that are more lifelike, which may appeal to some kids (although mine said they don’t need it – they’re happy with what they have, because they feel like real fashion designers using a dress-form):

A new Harumika

Overall, I give Harumika an A+ grade. I love that it encourages kids to get creative and to engage in real imaginative play, plus it has a very broad range of appeal to many different ages. If you have a kid who likes to create, I strongly recommend Harumika!

Last time I posted I told you about all the great LeapFrog products my daughters and I received for testing, and now it’s time to tell you how the testing party went over.

In a word: FABULOUS! Read the rest of this entry »

Back in November, the nice folks at LeapFrog asked if I would like to participate in a toy review program. I have to admit: I was interested. When my kids were younger, I was an avid purchaser of LeapFrog products. We owned a Leapster, LeapPad (now replaced by the Tag System), LeapPad Junior and one of my all-time favourite toys (which my kids still love) is the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics kit (except for the fact that they don’t have a Canadian version with “zed” instead of “zee” for the letter Z, but that’s just my own personal issue!)

So yes, I was interested. But I was also slightly skeptical…my kids are in grades one and four respectively…aren’t LeapFrog toys geared more at the preschooler age group? Read the rest of this entry »

These things I resolve to stop doing:

1. Arguing with my daughters. It’s not a feather in one’s cap to win an argument with a six year-old.

2. Yelling at my daughters. See above.

3. Feeling responsible for other people’s emotions.

Three things. Three simple things I resolve to do to improve my life.

This is Gopher, our pet guinea pig. Actually, she’s “officially” Girl2’s pet. Insofar as any pet ever “belongs” to a child and not, in reality, to the mother.

our pet guinea pig

We adopted Gopher a little over a year ago. Gopher was free. Gopher came with a name (Gopher), a cage, a bag of shavings and a bag of guinea pig pellet food. The only instructions Gopher came with were not to feed her iceberg lettuce. Gopher also came with the assurance – verified by the vet, we were told – that Gopher was a female guinea pig.

For the record, it didn’t matter to us one bit if Gopher was male or female. But Gopher’s previous owners told us she was a she.

And despite my initial (serious) reservations, Gopher turned out to be a really okay pet. The kids adore her, and all she does is pretty much look (and sound) cute in her cage. She doesn’t need to be walked. She doesn’t make a big mess. Overall, I’ve been impressed with Gopher’s mom-friendly status as a pet.

But lately, Gopher just hasn’t been her usual self. She’s been rather lethargic, and has lost her appetite. She hasn’t been making her cute little guinea pig vocalizations (they really do make very cute sounds), and she has not pooped in a few days (a mean feat for a guinea pig, let me tell ya). So today I made the trip down to the Avian and Exotic Pet Clinic to have her examined, and for the $70 examination fee I learned a lot about our little Gopher. Read the rest of this entry »