Second only to Christmas in prettiness, Valentine’s Day is an invitation to express our warm and fuzzy feelings. And we mostly do it with cute sayings and all things heart-themed, pink and maybe frilly! For kids, it can mean creating glittery Valentines cards, heart crafts including the words ‘I love you’, and of course, lots of candies.
But you have to ask, do kids really understand what it is all about? One Valentine’s gift that will help add some depth to this loving 
holiday is the Kimochis Nesting Heart.
The Kimochis Nesting Heart is a set of two plush hearts, one nestled cozily inside the other. The larger has a sweet heart face that is exposed when the small one is removed. Both have a loop so that they can be attached to backpacks, belts, zippers and so on.
Kids understand the hearts instantly. Check out this review from Play at home.com for a lovely example. For a child it can symbolize a safe place to put tender feelings. It invites them to share those feelings with others by offering either the outer or the inner heart, even if only for a while. (We all know that giving away your heart too easily can get you into trouble!)
After Valentine’s Day, your Kimochis Nesting Heart will become a treasured part of your family’s emotional life. It can help children with any of life’s little separations like starting school, sleepovers, going away to camp, Mommy or Daddy going on a trip or if a child must spend time in hospital.
The heart can be quietly tucked into a pocket for private reassurance or hung from their belt for all to see, offering a comforting 
symbol that those who love them are close by.
A playful ritual for separating the hearts when you part and putting your hearts back together when you are reunited will reassure your child (and yourself!) that the nesting heart will keep you connected while you are apart.
Don’t be fooled into thinking the Kimochis Nesting Heart is just for little kids. Older kids love them too. Can you think of a better BFF gift? And teens? Not that hard to imagine, is it? Hiding the heart in unexpected places, can be a great way to break the ice after an argument with your spouse too.
When words are hard to come by the Kimochis Nesting Heart can help you communicate from the heart with every member of the family.
Judi Meade is the owner of Art-enfant, a member of Neighbourhood Toy Stores of Canada (NETS) and LearningToys.ca. Her stores are a destination for families looking for unique and fun playthings that sneak a little learning in on unsuspecting kids.
The holidays are behind us it's time to get back to basics, routines, and encouraging the healthy development of our children.
There are so many healthy life skills children can learn through playing games such as sportsmanship, teamwork, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity etc. Another benefit is building reading skills.
One such game that motivates children to practice reading is Zingo. Not all kids like to read, especially if they’re not really good at it yet, but throw in an addictive fun twist and you might just change how your child feels about reading.
That’s where Zingo by Thinkfun Games comes in.
The rules are simple. It’s like Bingo but with a twist and with its game boards filled with pictures and matching labels, it motivates children to practice reading.
The object of the game is so simple children as young as 3 years old can play.
Slide the red dispenser for
ward to reveal two of the game tiles which show a picture and a word. In the case above, an “owl” and a “bat.” You can then ask your child to ‘read’ the words on the tiles. If your child cannot ‘read’ the word yet he can learn it by associating the ‘word’ to the picture on the tile and now you’ve made some critical ‘word association’ headway in his learning. The first player to say the name of their match takes the tile and places it on their board. Then you slide the dispenser again and drop two new tiles.
The first to fill the board is crowned the ‘official winner’ creating a perfect opportunity to also show how to be good losers and offer a heartfelt ‘congratulations’ to the winner.
In ad
dition to Zingo, ThinkFun also offers another early literacy game called ‘What’s Gnu’ where you spread out cards showing two letters and a blank. One player slides the tile dispenser to drop two tiles.
Players must race to use the letters that are revealed to make a word on one of the cards.
The player who has made the most words when the tiles run out wins the game. It’s a motivating, entertaining way to practice sounding out words and is PERFECT for beginning readers.
Joanna Mileos and husband Craig Hartman are the owners of The Granville Island Toy Company in Vancouver, BC, a member of Neighborhood Toy Stores of Canada (NETS). Their motto is “We don’t dease to play because we grow old, we grow old because we dease to play”. GB Shaw
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