Play fosters intellectual, social and physical development. Adults are encouraged to view toys as learning tools with different types of toys as builders of various life skills including creativity, self-esteem and cooperation. Another bonus: a toy that is fun as well as educational will engage children for more than one holiday season. The following are general guidelines to keep in mind when choosing toys for the child, or children, on your holiday list: 1. Allow children to identify their own strengths with self-discovery toys. Toys kids play with by themselves, such as dolls, science activity kits and magic sets, help teach them important lessons about responsibility, values and respect for others. 2. Increase confidence and build pride while children are young with self-esteem toys like art projects, model-building and construction toys. 3. Support open-ended play that allows free expression and lets kids use their imaginations. Bring out the creativity in kids with theater/puppet shows, cooking sets and pretend play projects such as tea parties. 4. Help children learn how to think independently with toys that promote concentration, competition and deductive reasoning. Thinking and logic toys include detective puzzles, ant farms, construction sets and memory games. 5. Build social skills and family togetherness with family interaction toys. Recommended games include dress up, board games, sports activities and battery-controlled car and boat races. 6. Encourage cooperation with friends and peers with relationship toys. Team communication skills are improved with sports, contests of skills, and toys such as medical and chemistry kits. 7. Let kids run, crawl, climb, throw and kick with toys like climbing structures and ride-on toys that use large muscle groups. Gross motor activities help kids develop balance and exercise gross motor skills. 8. Improve hand-eye coordination with fine motor activities that require hand movements such as grasping and pinching. Smart choices include stacking games, puzzles, writing and coloring books/activities. 9. Strengthen language skills and stimulate listening, speaking and imitation sounds with speech and hearing toys. Musical toys, play telephones, phonics-based sets and voice-command games are suggested. 10. Teach kids, especially infants and toddlers, about their environment through textures, tastes, smells and sight with sensory activities. Clay, activity quilts, blocks and shape games are all good choices.

There's no place like home-MADE! In the July issue of Metroparent Magazine, I wrote an article about the do's and dont's of children's birthday parties. We just celebrated the big 4 for my daughter and 12 little girls for an "old-fashioned" backyard birthday party turned out just perfect. Instead of a theme with all the matching party supplies and commercial slant, we opted to focus on her current three favorite things... princesses, toys and her beloved Dorothy Ruby Slippers (from Target). I had toys splattered around the backyard-everything from gigantic bubble makers, hula hoops, hopsotch, princess dress up clothes and of course the sandbox. I filled that with playsand (always make sure to get playsand rather than any other for safety reasons). I added new "green" (made of recycled milk jugs) sandbox toys. I like these because they are much more sturdy than the other less expensive plastic versions. We played classic games like sack racing and the egg/spoon game that her friend Becky gave her and of course a pinata filled with candy. Although, our pinata was nothing more than a brown Pick "N Save bag decorated and tied with yarn to a tree. I find other pinatas never seem to break with kids in the under 4 crowd! My son ran the lemonade stand during lunch and kids munched on corn dogs, carrots, pickles and watermelon. The finale was my Ruby Slippers cake. So many people asked me how to make it so I thought I'd share the love. It was super easy. You need: 2 pound cakes, yellow frosting, red cake glitter and 2 red hairbows. That's it.. Slice off about 2 inches that you will use for a heel and cut the rest in the shape of a shoe. Stack the shaped shoe on the heel and frost the whole thing with yellow frosting. Then pipe red glitter from a Ziploc all around. (Secret-- use a little wax paper to cover while glittering if you do not want the whole shoe red). Make the second one. Add the bows and voila..a home-made cake. The smile on my Mia's face was enough to make me feel like I was a good mom for the day. Who cares what the cake tastes like, with kids, they want it to look good and you want them to smile, ooh and aah. It's the time and love you put into making any birthday special so have fun planning your next one.