Part 1 has ten more photos and a description of this series.

In industry speak, that's Takara Tomy (which most U.S. consumers know as Tomy, if at all) buying RC2, the name on the lips of millions a few years ago when many millions of Thomas the Tank Engine wooden trains were being recalled for leaded paint. The deal is valued at $640 million. Tomy has made but one notable mark on the U.S. market in the last several years, with its Aquadoodle draw-with-water toys. Tomy also makes a lot of crazy electronic toys for the Japanese market that never make it here. RC2, in addition to the Thomas wooden railway line, owns the Learning Curve and The First Years brands of baby products, both extensively documented in the ZRecs Guide to Safer Children's Products.

Personally, I'd like to see two things come out of this merger.

One: The return of classic Tomy toys from the 1970s, like their labyrinthine Pocket Game Obstacle Course.


Two: The imminent arrival of Giga Pudding on U.S. shores. Yes, Giga Pudding is a real Takara Tomy hit product in Japan, and yes, it is a kit to make a twenty-serving pudding (well, flan, if you want to get technical) in a provided bucket for communal enjoyment.


For now, you'll have to satisfy your craving for monster-sized crème caramel with the 'Giga Pudding' Mens Japanese T-shirt, available on Amazon.com for about $20.

(h/t The Toy Book)

It may interest you to know that the U.S. not only ranks 75th in educational achievement among industrialized nations and 314th in bothering to research even the most basic statistics for blog posts, our eroded imaginary dominance is not confined to science, math, technology, and animal husbandry. No! We are also slipping in our guitar playing. Observe:


Further anecdotal evidence of our fall from greatness: Guitar Hero is dead, cutting short the musical education of a generation of future rock legends, and we have even been beaten at this!

All is not lost. Enter the Loog, a concept three-stringed guitar for kids that has already earned enough funding on Kickstarter to become a reality.


For $150, you too can get one of these (seriously) excellent-looking instruments for your little one, and have them playing simplified guitar chords and hot licks in no time. Seriously, we love this idea and wish we had $150 to blow on one. And maybe do.

The following is a visual tribute to three generations of Legos. It features bricks from the collection of my uncle, purchased in the 1960s; from my husband's, purchased in the 1980s; and those we have purchased for our daughter, Z, in the past few years. The older Legos all still function as well or nearly as well as when they were passionately used by two generations of children now grown, and have been incorporated - literally, mixed into - the Legos we buy today.

All photos were taken with my iPhone and an accessory macro lens. (Notes on that are at the end of this post.) Some of the design details that showcase these bricks' history will only be apparent to Lego-lovers, but I think the visuals speak for themselves as well. The way the battle-scarred ABS plastic and dented rubber age, the fraying and lint-collecting silhouettes of old Lego stickers, even the way painting methods have changed over time (look at the spray patterns on those computer terminals!) - all are fertile visual subjects for me and fascinating toy history for Jeremiah.

I have about thirty of these shots (edited down from many more) so I'll break them into a three installments. Stay tuned, though, because I'm saving some of the loveliest for last!



















About the lens: I use Dobi Design's iPhone macro/wide-angle lens set, which sells for $20 and works great with the iPhone 3G/3GS but can interfere with the flash in the iPhone 4, despite this item's "iPhone 4" title in its Amazon listing. (If you're an iPhone 4 user who doesn't like to take no for an answer, some iPhone 4 useres have reported success with cutting a small notch in the magnetic ring that adheres to the iPhone 4 or its case, to let the flash do its thing.)

Stay tuned for the second of three installments of Lego photos, which we'll alternate with reviews and commentary on entirely unrelated topics.

Way back when I was about 17, I was looking through my uncle's records (yes, those giant vinyl things) and found a copy of Joy Division's Peel Sessions. He gave me the record in a fit of decluttering and my musical world was forever changed. I might have also mentioned our family's fondness for Playmobil (I can't help it, I love tiny things). What does a morose-yet-revolutionary band have to do with a blog about children's products? Well, because with Playmobil, all things are possible -- these little guys can even make non-Joy Division fans thrill at a play of their 1979 "Transmission."



Want to animate your own favorite music, kids' or otherwise, through the magic of Playmobil? Well, first you'll need some instruments.

Here's a Playmobil Circus Band set that would be great for some sort of Polyphonic Spree type band or a Playmobil School Set School Band that has a guitar, bongo drums, xylophone, and maracas. Looks like Playmobil discontinued their more "traditional" rock 'n roll type musicians and instruments but the thief in this Playmobil Police Set might make a good rocker -- his clothes and mutton chops are made to order!

If Lego is more your thing, you can try these custom musical instruments for Lego minifigures. There's also a Lego female pop star minifig, or a rocking disco DJ or maybe you'd rather a Lego rapper?

I could easily see a group of preteens spending a Saturday afternoon perfecting their stop-motion craft with projects like this:



Of course, you'll also need a way to make those stop-motion videos. Jeremiah has been playing with the iTimeLapse Pro - Time Lapse videos and is getting ready to introduce it to Z for some Lego animating. (Z is into video making these days - she got an iPod Touch for Christmas and her favorite thing recently is turning the camera to self-portrait mode and recording hours of videos of herself singing, dancing, or talking.) Pair it with a good iPhone or iPod Touch tripod.

but this one (which we can't embed) takes the prize for its amazing timing, down to the drumbeat, in a Lego rendition of Metallica's "One."

What band's music would you most like to see played by your kids' favorite toys?

(Hat-tip to Daddy Types.)

Have you wrapped up your holiday shopping? We're getting close, and thought readers might be interested to know what we bought Z this year. Here are the seven things she's receiving from us this year.

Babysitting Mama: This Wii game lets players interact with a baby doll by stuffing the Wii controller inside and then playing on-screen games. It's tailor-made for our daughter, who (a) enjoys playing our Wii, (b) does best with Wii games that recognize rough, simple movements, and (c) is obsessed with babies. Reviews of this very new game have been maddening -- they are all by adult/teen gamers (whom this game is clearly not intended for) who may or may not be making claims regarding whether kids "would like it." This game is an innovative idea for kids ages five to nine or so, and we're excited to experiment with it and the game system our family loves.


Hey That's My Fish: A game that got great reviews from parents who say there's enough strategy to keep kids and adults engaged.


Melodica: Z is going to rock this kid-friendly instrument. She has been very interested in the piano and keyboards (she plays the cello, recently switched from violin) and this is a fun, casual way for us to offer one, plus you have to blow to power it! Jeremiah looked and looked to find this one at a good price that has both a short reed and a longer one on a tube. The longer tube permits the keyboard to lay flat for playing, while the short reed makes you hold the melodica like a keyboard-saxophone.

Lego Headlamp: So cool. Each leg has an LED and they can be positioned independently.

DIY HexBug Nano tracks: Hexbug's Nano bristlebots are an obsession that has stood the test of time. We'd originally planned to get some extra pieces for the HexBug Nano Habitat set that she got for her birthday, but she and Jeremiah got so excited building Lego sets that we've decided to make a set of homemade tracks for her. They'll get a post of their own when he finishes them.

FurReal Newborn Dalmation puppy. This was the thing that Z consistently asked Santa for this year. (She has seen him several times.) I'm a little bummed that she didn't ask for a BunnyBear or a blue doll. It's hard to say if she'll really play with this much but what are you gonna do, she was pining for it and doesn't ever have many specific gift requests.

Zhu Zhu pets: A perennial favorite. Our only rule is that she plays with them in her room. They drive us crazy. She has a couple of "habitat" sets but they are bulky and we avoid adding more.


That's pretty much it. Oh, one honorable mention: Jeremiah's mother sent Z's gift unwrapped; it's a set of Snap Circuits, which we mentioned previously in our Amazon sale roundup. The sales aren't quite as steep now, at least on Amazon, but Jeremiah has been playing with Z's Snap Circuits a bit when she isn't home, mostly to familiarize himself with them so they can play together without a lot of instruction-reading time. He reports that they are really cool. He has put several different projects together quickly (they literally use snaps, like the kind you'd find on clothes, to lock the circuits together). We'll post about it when he and Z get down to business, but this early take is that Snap Circuits deliver on their promise to make electronics projects really, really easy for young kids.