Toys R Us vs Nature

Yesterday I saw a commercial for Toys R Us that shocked me.  The ad was filmed over 3 days, during which the toy store company took 200 kids from various charities in New York on a supposed nature field trip.  The surprise for the kids was, that twenty minutes into the bus ride, they were told they weren't going to the forest, instead they were going to Toys R Us and could pick any toy they wanted.  

While the toy company is charitably giving toys to underprivileged kids, the way that this has been done and portrayed in the advert sends a really bad message out to kids - showing a nature trip to be 'boring' but a trip to the toy store as a far better and more fun option. 

I think if the advert had just shown the kids being given the toys I would have had a more positive impression of Toys R Us, seeing them giving something back to the community. 

However, they have tried to show how exciting their store is, and how it is the place to find magic and make kids smile

by contrasting it with something that kids find boring and not fun. 

 To have chosen a nature field trip as this 'boring contrast' is just plain shocking.  Surely we are all aware of the need for kids to get active, have some fresh air and outdoor play. 

The comments on the Toys R Us Facebook page link to this advert show other people's reactions. 160 comments so far, mostly from people who are disgusted with the way Toys R Us have chosen to portray their store in this advert.  

The senior vice-president of marketing at Toys R Us in America said, "we wanted our new marketing campaign to cause viewers to pause and be reminded of the true joy that lies at the centre of gift giving." (source).  

This made me think of Giving Trees where donations are asked for to give underprivileged kids some toys for Christmas.  There are times when only 'new' toys will be accepted for these Giving Trees. 

My kids are certainly not underprivileged, but I have often bought them gifts of toys or books from charity shops.  Why is it seen as a necessity that every child should have fancy new toys?

 I think it's really sad that our society focuses on toys and material goods as something that constitutes a privilege for children.  This weekend in our Sunday newspaper, I read an article about a family who had decided that had too much 'stuff' and this year (2013) are trying not to buy anything new.   One thing she found immediately was that when she cleared away a lot of her kids toys, this was one of the best things she could have done. Instead of her spending endless time clearing up the mess of toys and putting them away (haven't we all felt like that as parents). Her kids didn't miss their piles of toys, and in fact played for longer and with more creativity and imagination without so many toys.

I realise that Toys R Us are a company that sells toys, and they are hardly likely to tell kids that they don't need toys to have a fun time, that they can have just as much fun playing with their friends outside with no toys at all.  However, I think they should be a little more responsible in how they try to sell their toys.  Showing a nature trip as being boring and uncool is not very responsible in my mind.

What do you you think?  Go and watch the advert and see for yourself, it's only 1 minute long.

Play Park Tour

The first week of the school holidays has now passed. Our girls have had a week of exploring their new Samsung tablets, and I've managed to get Christmas presents organised for the relatives and post school term things have begun to calm down!

We decided this morning that it was time to get out, get some fresh air and do something active together.

A while ago, the girls and I began to do our own play park tours in the school holidays.  They love going to simple play parks with swings and slides, and whenever we drive past one they ask if we can go there sometime.

Today we did about a 3km circuit around the streets near our house - taking in 4 different play parks.  We played I-spy, shops with twigs and stones for money, and also did some times tables while swinging (a habit we started when they first began learning their times tables, and they still enjoy now!).

We were out for almost 2 hours playing. Fortunately our play parks here all have water "bubblers" (drinking fountains), as it's pretty hot here now. (summer in Cairns!).

Once we got home, we were all so hot we jumped in our pool - where the girls stayed and played for another couple of hours!

What a great morning. So much fun, very active and we even squeezed in some maths practice too!!

We'll definitely be doing more of these play park tours - some on foot - and perhaps some further afield on our bikes!

Egg and Spoon Race

Ready, Steady......  Go!!!

Stumble.....drop.....shout, restart all over again!

I always remember enjoying the egg and spoon race, or egg and golf ball race as it always was.

How can such a simple activity be marred by brands and 

one-upmanship with the brand of golf ball you had?  Other similar early sports day events were the fancy dress race, obstacle race, sack race and three legged race.  As games for older kids, tug or war, catch with raw eggs and partners get further and further apart are worth a go too.

An egg and spoon race is simple.  You need a start and finish line, a group of kids, (hard boiled) eggs or golf balls and long handled spoons.  After the race commences the children should run with the spoon and balanced egg held out in front of them.  If the egg drops, you must stop and restart from that point.  No fingers holding the egg on the spoon!!  The first person to cross the finish line with the egg on the spoon is the winner!  The prize is either to eat the hard boiled egg or could be a treat of some sort.

We have recently played with ping pong balls, stones, real eggs and even my trusty old rubber egg to practice the old egg and spoon race.

The girls loved it.  It really is a great way  to run around outside with a purpose.  It also takes some of the competitiveness out of the 'race' as being older or bigger doesn't make such a difference.

The egg and spoon race is good for hand eye coordination as well as balance and concentration and is lots of fun!

You can even buy coloured plastic versions of the game.

I think I'll stick to the old fashioned home made version though.

Are there any other simple outdoor 'races' that you enjoyed as a kid?  Which ones am I missing?

Euan