Baby Gear, Toys, Strollers, Nursery Furniture | Spilling the Beans

I have been ogling these knitted donuts at trade shows for several years. Until very recently, the company did not offer any retail packaging, and our stores are not exactly look-but-don’t-touch sorts of places. Beautiful handmade toys sitting unprotected on a shelf is not usually a recipe for success. I was thrilled when I heard that these donuts were now available with boxes, and we decided to include them in our annual catalog.

When the sample arrived at our office for the photo shoot, everyone was so impressed by the quality, the softness and the attention to detail. But even more interesting was the response of the children visiting our office. Over the couple of weeks that we had these sitting out, we had visits from five children ranging in age from 16 months to 7 years old. Without fail, every single one was drawn to these like a magnet. The toddlers loved the tactile experience of holding the donuts and touching the frosting details. The preschooler loved offering one to every person in the office, stacking them up and knocking them down. The school-age kids embraced the make-believe potential while also admiring the cleverness of the designs and the beauty of the craftsmanship.

In other words, this is a great gift that will hold kids’ attention for many years. The donut set comes with 5 donuts and is today’s giveaway. enter to win.

I wish there were less gender discrimination in toys. Toy manufacturers have little choice but to gear their packaging designs and marketing towards specific genders when the product warrants it, but that means it’s up to parents to keep an open mind.

My son is only 16 months old, but he’s already far more obsessed with trucks than either of my daughters ever were. But he also LOVES their dolls, and will tote around a Corolle Calin for hours, cuddling it and pushing it in a doll stroller. Would we know this if he didn’t have two older sisters? I’m pretty sure I would have bought him a doll anyway. Because I’m a modern, open-minded mom.

Case in point: I never played with dolls as a kid. I thought they were dumb. When my daughters both fell hard for American Girl dolls, I didn’t stand in their way. See? Open minded. Equal opportunity (even for toys we don’t sell).

What’s up with the gender preferences anyway? I googled “why do boys like trucks?” and the first result was a fascinating blog posting on the Psychology Today website. In contrast to the long-standing assumption that boys and girls are socialized to prefer specific types of toys, scientists have now found that monkeys show similar gender-based preferences for toys. Boy monkeys like trucks and girl monkeys like dolls.

Fine, maybe the monkeys didn’t have open-minded moms (or big sisters). My son likes dolls AND trucks, and that’s fine.

But what if he wants to wear a dress?

A couple of years ago, when my oldest was in kindergarten, she had a playdate with a little boy in her class. She put on a fairy dress and her playmate found a ball gown. He pulled on the dress, and my daughter laughed and said, “what are you doing? Boys aren’t supposed to wear dresses.” I was quick to admonish her and encouraged the boy to feel free to wear anything he liked. And he did, frolicking around in the gown and having a grand old time while my daughter eyed him suspiciously, but kept her mouth shut.

It was my first inkling that being open-minded is slightly more complex with boys than it is with girls. Had the playdate scenario been reversed, and my daughter had wanted to don a pirate costume, no one would have batted an eye.

So what if my son wants to wear a dress? I’ll probably reach for the camera. But my husband might not think it’s cute. Or he might. If he’s open-minded.

Open-mindedness does get harder as kids become more tuned in to the cultural gender expectations. Give an 8 year old girl a Bionicle and she’ll probably think you handed her the wrong package. Give an 8 year old boy a Friendship Bracelet kit, and he’ll wonder what you were thinking. But there are plenty of toys in the middle of the road, great toys that can, with a little help, cross the gender barrier and be wonderful and engaging. As we are making our product recommendations this year, and as you are doing your shopping, let’s all look for those items, be open-minded and buy the things you think your kids will enjoy - regardless of what color scheme is on the package.

I hadn’t heard of Bruder trucks until we were opening Magic Beans. At Toy Fair that first year, I was introduced to the brand and learned that these were THE trucks to sell. I still remember watching in awe as they demonstrated the Fire Truck, with its working water hose. The attention to detail is just amazing.

On the Bruder website, I found a series of wonderful videos - about the company’s history, about their high-tech manufacturing process, about how they recycle, and about their logistics. If you’re curious about these sorts of things (or is it just me?), you should watch.

Writing about Bruder got me thinking about gender and toys, and I’ve put all that into a separate post, but suffice to say that most kids really love these trucks. It’s just that some boys I’ve met really, really, really love them. In any case, enter to win.

We’ve already covered my lack of innate talent for piano, but we haven’t even talked about the guitar. My musical mother (who you may recall plays the piano) is also a gifted guitarist. Early memories abound of singing “Blowin’ in the Wind” as she played beside me. In college, I decided it was high time to learn how to play. But as it turned out, I was even more inept at guitar than I was at piano. I decided to stick to singing.

But as a kid, I imagine I would have LOVED a toy guitar like the Woodstock Folk Guitar. Everything about my mother’s guitar fascinated me. The smooth, polished wood, the strings with different weights and textures, the tuning pegs, cool to the touch and indented for my fingers. The smell of the forest. But especially the hole. The dark hole that magically reverberated the sound of the strings and transformed it into music. Until I covered it with my hand or dropped something inside. A guitar is a full-on sensory experience. The Woodstock Folk Guitar loses none of that in the translation to child-size.

The Woodstock Folk Guitar is today’s giveaway. Enter to win.