News

As the holiday season fast approaches and our schedules fill up with more hustle and bustle than usual, I would encourage you to revisit a simpler time when the only thing on your to do list was Write a letter to Santa. You got serious about looking through the Sears toy catalog and enlisted the help of someone special to take you to the local Ben Franklin, Kmart or Toys r us to build a list that only Santa’s elves could truly appreciate. Even though most of the things on that list never found their way under your tree on...

What we have learned in seventeen years of serving our customers: If you want to learn how to live in the moment go to a toy store with a child Customers appreciate transparent pricing that is fair and will keep our doors open and product on our shelves The most important piece of any toy is someone to share it with Teachers invest their heart, soul and pocketbook in the children they teach When you shop at a local small business $68.00 out of every $100.00 dollars spent stays in our community compared to $43.00 in a chain store and...

      One of my favorite children’s books is “The Carrot Seed” By Ruth Krause. It is the story of a little boy who plants a carrot seed and everyone around him tells him it won’t come up. Every day he waters the seed and pulls the weeds around it. As the day’s pass his family says, “I told you it won’t come up”. He is undeterred and then one day a carrot comes up, just as the little boy knew it would.       Seventeen years ago two women planted a seed in a tiny little abandoned...

Research supports the advantages to a child’s growth and development of choosing simple, open ended play materials that foster imagination and discovery. The introduction of novel play items in a supportive environment can foster more complex and thoughtful play and promote engagement that is not accomplished when a child is left to navigate a playroom or toy box on their own.   While independent exploration is a crucial part of early childhood development a commitment of 20 minutes a day of intentional parent/child playtime can provide a priceless time for a you to connect with your child and support their...