Green Toys, Inc.: Recycling Truck

Mel's Thoughts:

Jaden has a new sidekick; this sidekick showed up today on our front doorstep, via the UPS man.  He will not part with this sidekick, even to sleep.  This new sidekick is Green Toys' Recycling Truck. 

Green Toys is a company who specializes in making just that: green, earth-friendly toys, made out of recycled plastic and other environmentally-friendly materials.  They use mostly recycled plastic milk jugs.  Other factors that add in include being made locally in California, so resources aren't being used to ship them....and their packaging is as eco-friendly as possible, using as little packaging as possible.  Their toys also pass a number of tests for toy safety.

The truck itself is very durable and oh so cute!  I would never guess that it is made out of recycled milk jugs.  It is a bright green color, which automatically makes it attractive to the eye.  It has a movable, enclosed bed with slats in the side of it, so that the boys can slip the recyclables down into it.  It actually comes with little cardboard recyclables (little cardboard squares with pics of recyclables on them)....I think Jaden loved sticking them through the slats, taking them out, and doing it all over again, even more than the truck.  It really occupied his attention for a while.  The bed of the truck also has a door that opens up on the back, so that he can dump the contents out onto the floor.  The wheels are the big, chunky wheels, and there are no metal axles, as to make it more eco-friendly. 

This truck could not only be used as a wonderful toy for your children to play with, but you could use it to teach them about the importance of recycling and being as eco-friendly as possible, in order to take care of our home here on Earth.  It would be a great tool to start teaching what kinds of things you use every day that could be recycled.  Good habits start early on.....

I highly recommend Green Toys to any mother, who is looking for eco-friendly toys that make a great addition to any child's shelf, not to mention a wonderful addition underneath the Christmas tree this year (children 3+).  They have trucks, dish & cookware sets, jump ropes, tool sets, etc.  Priced at $21.19 on Amazon, I feel that this is a good price, especially compared to other, less "green" toys that are found on the store shelves.  Good, durable toys are hard to come by these days, without paying a pretty price for them.....so I definitely recommend Green Toys to any family.

Melissa J's Thoughts

 I have a girlie-girl. She loves her dress up clothes, purses, necklaces, and "make up". So I was surprised that she took to the recycling truck from Green Toys the way she did! I figured my daycare boy would love it (he does) but really thought my daughter would pass by it on her way to the girl toys. Not so!  She was fascinated with it! Even more so when I cut out the little recyclables for her. Oh my goodness, talk about endless entertainment, to put those recyclables in the truck over and over again, and then take them out! 

As a Mama, who is seeking to live an all-natural, green lifestyle, I was thrilled with this toy. We recycle daily in our house and I laughed as I threw away a milk jug yesterday, knowing I had just gotten a toy made out of milk jugs. Nothing like giving purpose to the task of recycling!  What an awesome idea too, that Green Toys has come up with. Not only are they using recycled products for their toys, in this case, they used the cardboard packaging for a few extras (the play recyclables were cut out of the cardboard surrounding the truck) and they are teaching recycling besides with this truck!  

The truck is exceptionally sturdy, which I had been wondering about. I guess I heard recycled milk jugs and pictured a toy that was as thin as a milk jug, but not so. This is some heavy duty material and is going to take the battering that daycare kids will be giving it over the years. The door is easy for little fingers to open and the kids enjoy the fact the wheels work so they can "drive" it along the ground. 

Would I recommend Green Toys products based on this truck? In a heartbeat.  While being eco-friendly they have not sacrificed on high quality toys in the process so they are a top-notch toy company in my book!



(Disclosure: We were provided with this product, free of charge, by Green Toys, in association with MamaBuzz.  Opinions expressed are solely that....our opinions.)

Timberdoodle: I Can Trace & Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Melissa j's Thoughts

We received I Can Trace today in the mail. I'm so excited about it, I'm going to order two more for my daycare kids!  I'll use them in the winter quarter of our pre-schooling. The trouble is, when I went to the pre-school section of their website to order my additional copies, I saw about 20 other things I wanted. . . but I guess that's not what this review is about, is it? :-)

I feel a bit foolish that this book is $13.00, based on how much comes with it. I spent more than half that amount on another similar series this past Fall, only the pages were less than half the size and the book had less than half the amount of pages this particular volume has. I wish I had known about Timberdoodle when I bought that original series. . . .

The majority of pages in the book are tracing pages, which basically consist of colorful pictures with thick, dashed lines that preschool hands should be able to follow in their first attempts at tracing. It starts out simple with just straight lines. For instance, page 1 has a dog, a mouse, a rabbit, and  a bear on the left side of the page. On the right side of the page is their food.  A thick, dotted line joins the two sides. This activity then increases in difficulty, ending with letters that need to be traced.

The book also includes an appendix of samples from Timberdoodles other series, such as I can Color, I can Draw, I can Fold, and I can Paste - which if course, I want all of!

Lastly, the book also has a wipe-page in the back, which your child can use to draw on repeatedly. This is a value all in itself if you have a pre-schooler who loves to draw and is just the cherry on the sundae in my book.

Is this book worth the cost? Absolutely! Take it from a mom who has browsed all there is out there, and even spent money on several products. For the price, this book delivers at least double what other companies are offering.

The PrismaColor 12 piece pencil set I also recieved from Timberdoodle, is listed at a price of just $8.00!  I can't get over that. I've seen poorer quality colored pencils for double that in craft stores. This is a gorgeous set with vibrant, brilliant colors.

Normally, when I think colored pencils, I think weak transfer of color onto paper. Not so with the PrismaColor set. These write as brilliantly as they appear in their compact tin holder. This 12 piece set includes all the primary colors and will be great for children who are developing fine tuned motor skills and moving out of the crayon stage.

Mel's Thoughts:

Timberdoodle is a wonderful company that we've been blessed to be working with.  They carry all sorts of homeschool supplies and homeschool curriculum.  They have products for all ages, and this time we were sent the Big Skills for Little Hands- I Can Trace book, plus a Prismacolor set of 12 colored pencils. 

This book is meant for agest 2+.  I did use it with Jaden, but I think he just needs a couple more months before he'll really understand what he's doing.  He was mainly interested in coloring with his new colored pencils.  He did love the pictures in the book, though.  The book is progressive in nature, meaning that it starts out with simple tracing pictures, like getting the animal or object from here to there.  It will have straight lines to trace and then some curved lines.  Sometimes the child will have to follow a certain color of line, so as to not get mixed up in the tangle of lines....sort of like a maze; in fact, there are a few mazes that challenge the child's thinking as he traces.  As it progresses, the child is able to start tracing different shapes and eventually numbers and letters.  In the back of the book are a few activities from the other Big Skills books, including I Can Cut!, I Can Paste!, I Can Color!, I Can Draw!, and I Can Fold!  There are also suggestions for other things that you can do with your child around the house, to improve his fine motor skills, as well as a School Readiness Checklist.  Another great bonus is the dry erase page in the back, which your child can use to draw on, write on, and then erase, only to start all over again. 

In the front of the book are pages that help to explain brain research and things you can do to help stimulate and develop your child's brain.  There are things to help you with his emotions/senses, language development (which I really need to work on with Jaden), exercise/coordination, large-motor and fine-motor development, and social skills.  I am loving this book because it is something that I can pick a page or two every day and work on with Jaden; then I can expand upon those pages with other activities.  I do think he needs a couple more months, though, before he will be fully ready to really embark upon this.  You can get this book for $10.50 from Timberdoodle, which, in my opinion, is a great price!  That is completely affordable for over 200 pages of activities and helps in teachingyour toddler/preschooler.  It's a great start for fine motor skills, as well as beginning handwriting skills. 


We also received the Prismacolor Colored Pencils, a set of 12.  These are so nice, that I'm tempted to keep them for myself, although I know that my children will greatly benefit from them.  There is also a color shading stick included with the set, and the minute I saw this, I thought of Jacob's map work and all the shading in of oceans that he has to do.  This will make it so much easier.  We love colored pencils, especially for history and mapwork, because they just provide a much neater appearance for tedious work.  I also love the idea of Jaden using the colored pencils, because it will help to start him out early on, holding a real pencil and learning how to use it. 

The Prismacolor set is so nice; it comes in a thin tin case, with these colors included:
PC903 True Blue
PC909 Grass Green
PC912 Apple Green
PC916 Canary Yellow
PC918 Orange
PC924 Crimson Red
PC932 Violet
PC933 Violet Blue
PC935 Black
PC938 White
PC945 Sienna Brown
PC946 Dark Brown 
You can get this set of colored pencils for $8.00, which, in my opinion, is also a fantastic price for something that will be of great use in our homeschooling ventures.  Even if you don't homeschool, they are wonderful for any kind of activities you do or even for journaling, as Melissa J. was telling me earlier. 

Either way, if you have a young child at home and are in need of great stocking stuffers or just a great present, these items might be just the thing to keep him busy on those cold winter days that sometimes lead to cabin fever.

(Disclosure: We were provided with these products, free of charge, by Timberdoodle, in association with MamaBuzz.)

* Kumon First Steps Series *

* This review done by Melissa J *

Kumon First Step Series

As a homeschooling Mama and a child-care provider, I am always on the look out for activities for toddlers.

Fun that holds their attention is necessary. Teaching skills is an added bonus. Kumon Publishing provides me with both, with their First Steps Series, geared towards children 2 to 5 years of age.

There are several books in the series, each helping young children to develop fine motor control skills through activities such as coloring, folding, pasting, and cutting. Each workbook retails at $5.95, which to me, even on a tight budget, it a great price for the number of worksheets I get with each book!

The entire series is as follows:

Let's Color!
and More Let's Color!

Let's Fold!
and More Let's Fold!







Let's Sticker & Paste!

and More Lets Sticker and Paste!







Let's Cut Paper!

and More Lets Cut Paper!


This is a series that thrills me as a Mama and delights my daughter and day care kids even more! Thank you Kumon for delivering such great products.

To see more of the broad selection of resources that Kumon offers, visit their website.