Get in touch with Your Inner Child by Playing With a Child!

Remember Paper Dolls? I sure do. I probably had at least 50 different paper dolls throughout my childhood. I remember spending long hours on weekends, off in 'pretend-land', playing with my paper dolls. I couldn't wait to share that experience with my granddaughter. Since she is over 3 years old now I knew she would love the make-believe part of paper dolls but I worried how the clothing tabs would hold up under her not-so-gentle little fingers.


Children have to learn what is an appropriate amount of pressure to apply to different activities so this will develop with time. But for now, there is a wonderful set of toys from Melissa & Doug that allows a little one to play like paper dolls, but with sturdy thick wooden dolls that are magnetic. The Magnetic Dress-Up Dolls are fabulous for little fingers. We now have 3 sets of magnetic dress-up dolls at The Baby Store Plus and I gave one of them to Sydney to play with. She absolutely loved it! She played with her Maggie Leigh Wooden Dress-up Doll all day the first day and continued to play with it every day after.
There are three styles that we have, the Maggie Leigh that I gave Sydney, the Joey, so boys can play too, and the Abby & Emma double set. Each set comes in a pretty designed wooden divider tray to keep all the little parts & pieces organized. Each piece is magnetized so it easily attaches to the magnetic doll. The doll can be held in the little ones hands, laid out on a flat surface, or stood upright in the wooden stand that comes with each doll. Your little one can mix n match shirts, skirts, pants, dress, shoes and accessories for the girl dolls. The Joey doll comes with several career outfits so he can be a Super Hero, Firefighter, Policeman, a Knight, Construction Worker, and even a Pirate.
These Magnetic Dress-Up Dolls are recommended for children ages 3 and up. They do come with small pieces so if you have younger children you should supervise the parts when little ones are near.

The single dress-up dolls, Joey or Maggie Leigh are just $12.99 and the double set with Abby & Emma is just $19.99, and all are now available in our Online Store, as well as in our physical store in Cortez, Colorado.

Get in touch with Your Inner Child by Playing With a Child!

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Role Playing and Make-Believe with Melissa and Doug Toys

Little girls and boys love to role-play. Make-believe is the way they learn, that is why it is such a big part of kindergarten. I still have fond memories of pretending that I was a mommy with my baby dolls. I enjoyed it so much that even joined my daughters when they played, and now I get to do it all over again with my granddaughter Sydney.

She is just over 3 years old so she is just beginning to play make-believe. Discovering that she is now ready for role playing has opened a whole new area in my store. I have been seeking out fun toys that children of her age can use to play make-believe and be educational at the same time. In my search I discovered Melissa & Doug toys. Their products are made of such high quality that I really feel like I am getting a value for my money. Earlier this week I posted about the new Metal Shopping Cart from Melissa & Doug, and today I have also added some fun wooden foods that will be great to use with the shopping cart.

Starting with the basics, the Food Groups consists of 4 little food crates with real-looking wooden foods inside to help children learn about the four food groups as well as what makes a balanced diet. It is never too early to teach your children about the value of healthy eating. The Food Groups set contains: Bread Group: buns, sliced bread, dinner roll. Meat Group: steak, fish, hot dog, hamburger patty, egg. Dairy Group: cheeses, milk, butter. Fruit & Veggie Groups: lemon, tomato, banana, watermelon, orange, onion, and even a bottle of oil. All contained in four wooden crates.

Then to help your little one safely learn about cutting food, there is the Cutting Food set. This set contains 8 different wooden foods that your little one uses with the wooden knife and a cutting board to slice the food. When the knife goes through the pre-sliced areas the food even makes a neat "CRUNCH" sound! The foods can then be re-assembled and sliced again. With this set of food you can also teach your children about whole, part, and fractions.
Once your little chef learns about food groups and cutting food, she will be ready to test her baking skills with the Slice & Bake Cookie Set. This set comes beautifully packaged in a bright red box and includes: a colorful wooden set of 12 sliceable cookies, 12 toppings, a wooden knife and spatula, a cookie sheet and even a kitchen mitt for safe "low-calorie" play! The cookies all store inside of a durable dough tube.

These wooden food sets are sure to give your little one hours of fun! And because they are so durably made, they will last a very long time. You can purchase all of these Melissa & Doug products in our Online Store now for just $19.99 each. They are also available in our physical store located in Cortez Colorado.

Re-discover the child in you, by playing with a child!

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Two Exciting New Products from Melissa & Doug Now Available at The Baby Store Plus

We just received a large shipment from Melissa & Doug. Have you heard of this toy company before? They are known for their quality products at affordable prices and so much more. I will have all of the new products added to our website (and store shelves) very soon, but I really wanted to make a special post to highlight a few of my personal favorites today. They are the Metal Shopping Cart and the Magnetic Responsibility Chart.The Metal Shopping Cart is so neat. I bought one for my granddaughter to play with in my store. She loves shopping and I thought it would be fun for her to have a real-looking shopping cart in the store to play with. As it turned out, the Shopping Cart has become both of my grandkids favorite toy that gets played with every single day! I can't say that about any other toy that they have...and they have way too many! I guess that is what happens when your grandmother owns a baby store huh?

We were so impressed with the quality of the shopping cart that I knew it was definitely a product I wanted to offer my customers. It is made of real metal, just like the real carts. It also has the fold down plastic seat for a 'baby doll', just like the real carts. The wheels are beefy rubber and swivel in the front, just like the real carts! The only real difference between this cart and a real-thing is that this one is just the right size for little ones.

It is super easy to assemble with just a hex key, that is also included. And best of all, it is totally affordable at just $49.95! This toy is so sturdy, I think I could probably sit in the basket and be pushed around without hurting it one bit...although I am not admitting to doing that, nor am I recommending that you do it.

The Metal Shopping Cart is Now Available in our Online Store as well as our physical store in Cortez, Colorado.

The other featured Melissa & Doug product is the Magnetic Responsibility Chart. It is really more than a chart of chores...it is an aide to teach your children about personal responsibility too. The wood framed chart boards (there are two boards) are each approximately 16" wide by 12" tall. They are hinged together with 2 sturdy straps, with the dry-erase board in the lower position.
The upper board has an area to place the 'Responsibility or Goal' magnets along the left side. The magnets say things like: Load Dishwasher, Set Table, Help with Indoor Chores, as well as Apologize to Someone, Say Please and Thank You, Take Care of Pet, Don't Use Bad Language and many more. Under each day of the week there are places to put the 'Reward Magnet Dots' that say encouraging things like, Awesome, Great Job, Well Done, Way to Go, and many more.

The lower board is a dry-erase board and is also magnetic so it makes for a great place to keep your yet-unused magnets. As your child accomplishes each Responsibility or Goal, you take a magnet dot from the lower section that best fits the praise you wish to give, and place it on that day. Then your child can easily see how well they have been doing all week long. I love how the chart uses positive reinforcement rather than 'a list of chores'.

This is also great for children that are not even reading yet because each magnet has images that depict the task or activity and the reward dots have different happy faces with each written compliment for their behavior. If I were going to take one of the Reward Dots and use it to rate this product, I think I would choose 'AWESOME!"

The Magnetic Responsibility Chart is now available in our Online Store for $19.95 each. It is recommended for kids ages 3 years and up.

Look for more Featured Newest Arrivals to be posted all this week (and probably even next week too)...as I am working as fast as I can get them added to our website.

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