Listen to Lena

Perfecting the Art of Conversuasion

The Top Three Toys Under My Tree

By

Worst kept secret: I LOVE alliteration in my post titles. Hahaha!

Now there are just two more shopping days left until the BIG DAY. You know, that little holiday known as Christmas. And this past weekend, I locked myself in the basement and wrapped up a storm; prezzies for my gorgeous new niece, the boys’ awesome grandparents, and even a surprise or two straight from ol’ St. Nick. With delight, I arranged the gifts under the tree, pausing to coordinate the colorfully wrapped boxes.

Of course, I spent the rest of the evening swatting curious hands away from the presents, doling out reminders to be good boys and wait for Christmas Day. For the most part, the kiddos were on their best behaviour – I only found a few gifts out of place this morning. But a little box shaking here and there never hurt anyone, right?

So, you may be wondering – what’s under MY tree? As a Canadian mom, with free will and the means to choose her favourite gifts, what did I wrap up last night? Presenting (pun intended)…. The Top Three Toys Under My Tree.

1. Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Crawl Around Car

For my sweet little niece, of course, and perfectly age appropriate from 6-36 months. The Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Crawl Around Car puts baby in the driver seat of a fun-filled stationary vehicle with all-around learning and play. The interactive lights and sounds dashboard keeps baby busy with a light-up baby “GPS”, horn to honk, gears to shift, and more. With over 75 songs, tunes and phrases, and three modes of play, there’s plenty of fuel for learning adventures and fun!

The stationary car encourages baby to sit up, crawl, pull up, stand and move all around for play inside and out. Includes a built-in ramp for ball play (3 balls), shapes and colors sorting door (3 shape blocks) , and introduces baby to letters, numbers, colors, first words, greetings and more. The Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Crawl Around Car is rated one of the Top Toys of 2013!

2. LeapPad Ultra

For my curious little pre-schooler. It’s got the graphics, the camera, and the looks, just like my own wireless device. But LeapPad Ultra is a kid-tough tablet. Built from the inside out just for kids, it has child-friendly controls, an ultra-tough frame and a screen designed for a kid’s light touch. Plus, LeapPad Ultra is the only child tablet with LeapSearch powered by Zui—a secure browser that lets kids explore the content they love. Everything on LeapSearch has been handpicked by a team of learning experts, with parental settings for easy fine-tuning. And, the LeapPad Ultra learning tablet comes packed with 11 apps and tons of fun features, designed by educators just for kids. Little ones can write, draw, snap photos and even make videos. With so many ways to create and explore, LeapPad Ultra is the ultimate kids’ tablet to inspire a love of learning.

3. Nintendo 3DS XL

For my enthusiastic gamer who’s at the perfect age to perfect his coordination. The Nintendo 3DS XL system opens up a whole new world of eye-popping gameplay possibilities. The stereoscopic 3D display of the upper screen gives objects within the game world a feeling of space and depth that extends far into the back of the screen. It becomes easier to see the position of characters and obstacles in the world, making many game experiences even more intuitive for all types of players. Achieve total immersion with a 90% bigger screen than the Nintendo 3DS; I’ve taken a peek, and it’s spectacular.

And the hottest game? Mario Party: Island Tour of course. Gather your friends and family—up to four people can join Mario on the Party Islands: a wonderland of 80 all-new minigames, 7 new boards, Streetpass minigames, and more. Packed with content and unique ways to play on the 3DS and 2DS, this island tour will seem brand new every time you play.

Well folks – those are the top three toys under my tree. Consider it my official endorsement!  

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Stephanie S.

    All great and they are all “learning” toys for different ages/stages :) love it. i would of got the Car/blocks for my daughter too if they had something like that back then (3 yrs ago) LOL

  2. Flora M

    My two youngest granddaughters each have a Leap Pad (already got them for previous birthday/Christmas) – and they LOVE them – yes, even the 2 year old (who can change TV channels using a Wii U remote – at least I think it was the Wii U remote – it wasn’t the regular remote anyway LOL – CRS again)
    I can’t wait for Christmas to see them open their presents from me (which are safely stashed at my house for now, away from shakers and peekers) LOL

  4. Marissa

    Lena, you picked the perfect gifts for your niece and your boys – I love them all and more so because I love Fisher-Price toys!

  5. MrDisco

    I got the Zelda ltd ed 3DS XL. Fun toy, but the 3D is rather horrible. Much easier on the eyes to flip it back to 2D mode

  9. Chandra Christine O'Connor

    I have one of my nieces Christmas gifts for next year, one of the leap frog tablets.

  10. Victoria Ess

    How excited were your boys when they unwrapped these? Crossing my fingers for some cute pictures, taken with your brand new camera ;) haha

    • Lena

      Hahaha, they were very excited indeed, but I don’t think we captured those particular photos :)

  14. Janet W.

    These are great Christmas gifts! My grandson wishes he got a LeapPad Ultra but we just didn’t really see the need when he has an iPad Mini to use.

    • Lena

      You bet. I think the main advantage, of course, is that the LeadPad is kid-tough – it can take a lot more abuse from kidlets!