Mrs. Goodbee’s Interactive Dollhouse (Caring Corners/Learning Curve)

Zoë got a new dollhouse and I have to tell you, it’s been so great since we set it up. She and Josh have been busy playing with it for hours almost every day. We’d gone days without them asking to watch TV or play on the computer --now isn’t that the greatest?

From the website --

Using helpful hints, playful prompts, silly songs, and sound, Mrs. Goodbee Interactive Dollhouse nurtures and inspires positive behavior every day. With twelve adorable rooms to explore and plenty of interactive surprises, there are endless opportunities to practice caring, sharing, and preparing for important, age-appropriate responsibilities.
Two children can play together, as the house unfolds to six rooms on each side--and then folds back for easy storage! Over 400 activities, songs, words, and sounds! Includes girl, baby and doggy.
Watch this 30-sec clip.

I had held off getting a dollhouse for Zoë for a number of reasons. Primarily because with so many toys, I didn’t want to add to the clutter and dollhouses take up a lot of space. Well, Mrs. Goodbee’s Dollhouse is not small –24 inches (h) x 42 inches (w) when opened up, –but the beauty of it is that it “folds” away for easy storage. Folded up, it can be tucked away nicely against the wall (only 14 inches wide and 7.5 inches thick).
Even though I knew that Zoë would be in seventh heaven having her own dollhouse, I held back from getting her one, because whatever toy I get these days will have to be something that both Josh and Zoë could play together. Let me just say how enlightened I was to find that Josh takes as much interest in the dollhouse as Zoë does. This dollhouse can definitely keep both girls and boys occupied for hours.
We had Zoë's friend, L, over for a play date and it was just perfect. The three of them (including Josh) were all playing nicely, without having to fight over which room of the dollhouse to play with. There are plenty of rooms on each side of the dollhouse and 2-4 kids can play comfortably together, without having to crowd around at all.


You can buy Family Packs to add to your dollhouse. There are 12 accessory packs --

1. Pet Playground
2. Baking Time
3. Table Manners
4. Princess Playdate
5. Strollin’ with Baby
6. Helping with Groceries
7. L’il Miss Poodle
8. Fix-It Fun
9. Pajama Party
10. Family Night
11. Party Time
12. A Book at Bedtime

Each accessory pack includes a ‘secret code’ to open up an interactive game on the the Caring Corners website. The accessory packs sell for HK$79.90, HK$119.90, and HK$179.90 for the Small, Medium, and Large Family Packs, respectively.
I just wish that each accessory pack comes with its own container to keep the pieces when playing is done. Also, should you choose to buy different Family Packs at one time, I would suggest that you open the accessory packs one at a time, otherwise it can be overwhelming. We now keep all the various pieces in a separate box. Josh and Zoë’s favorite “scenes” to play out are taking care of the baby (rocking it in its cradle or taking it out for a walk in its stroller), using the washroom (and flushing the toilet –because the toilet makes a real flushing sound!), getting the pets to swing or slide around in the Pet Playground.
I love it that, with the dollhouse, Josh and Zoë act out their scenes and really get into pretend play. Seeing and hearing them do that never fails to bring a smile to my face. I’m tickled with all the stuff they come up with. Sometimes it’s like hearing myself speak when I listen in on them; other times, I just marvel at what they come up with. I guess you could say that the dollhouse entertains me as well! I’m so glad that we have this Mrs. Goodbee’s Interactive Dollhouse –it’s every little girl’s dream dollhouse and best of all, for me, both Josh and Zoë get hours of imaginative play out of it, and I get some ‘me’ time while they’re at it.
Mrs. Goodbee’s Interactive Dollhouse and all its Family Packs are available in Hong Kong through Stepping Stones.

Clever Castle: Clue-Solving Game

Yes, another ThinkFun game. You all know that I am a fan.

This one the first single-player ThinkFun game that I’d bought. I thought Josh might be ready for some “solitaire” type game.

Clever Castle is essentially a pattern matching game. It comes with --

• 1 playing board
• 9 tiles (3 of each: Knight, Princess, Dragon in red, yellow, and blue)
• 40 Mind Challenge cards in a spiral notebook format, organized into sections according to difficulty (10 each of Easy, Medium, Hard, and Super Hard)
• 1 Welcome Mat to help with organizing the tiles
• 1 Parent’s Guide
• 1 Storage Bag

How to play --

It’s fairly simple. The whole objective is to follow the “clues” on the Mind Challenge cards and correctly arrange the tiles in the nine windows on the castle (the game board).

First, you select a Challenge Card and then based on the “clues” there, start filling in the windows of the castle with the correct tiles. Once the windows are all filled up, flip the card over to check if the pattern on your board matches the one on the “answer” card.

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The Easy cards are, well, easy. Zoë –who isn’t quite 3 yet, –is able to work her way up to #8 with minimal supervision. Josh quickly whizzed through the cards up to #24 before he decided to stop.

I was expecting that he would probably do maybe 10-15 games, but he was really enjoying himself. I asked him if he likes it. He said, “I don’t like it. I love it! Mommy, it’s even better than playing on the computer or watching TV.” Now that’s saying a LOT.

The clues get trickier and more challenging as one progresses along. Some clues show all the windows and some show only a partial view of the windows, so you’ll have to visualize the other windows on the board to ascertain the right place to put your tiles. Clever Castle helps children learn to problem-solve. Kinda reminds me of the abstract reasoning part of IQ tests.

It says on the box that it’s for ages 5-7, but I daresay you can start at 3. Try to see if your child can follow the clues. When it gets a bit too challenging, you can always get him to simply try copying the pattern seen on the Answer cards.

I love that Clever Castle is simple enough a concept for a child to follow without much supervision from adults. I got at least half and hour of quiet time, allowing me to read my book while Josh worked through the challenge cards. He was so excited each time he completed a pattern and learned that he got it correctly when he checked the Answer page. One other thing I love is that it has a bag for easy storage of the game. No need to keep the box!

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Clever Castle is available in Hong Kong in Sogo for HK$159.90. Elsewhere, you can order it from Amazon.com for about US$14.

S’Match!

No, this was not one of the Christmas presents that Josh and Zoë got. It’s actually from the stash of toys/games that I bought earlier this year. I tend to buy, on-the-spot, toys/games and even clothes that might not be right or age-appropriate at the time I buy them. So, yes, I do have a stash of toys and games for “emergencies” –e.g. for trips, last-minute presents, when they get bored.

Two weeks of no school over the Christmas holidays means more TV time than usual and I am not very keen for them to be glued to the set the whole morning, but neither was I up for cleaning up after them after a “painting” session. So I dug around. And I found S’Match.

I’d always loved memory games as a child. I think one of the best presents I got was a memory game that came with (removable) plastic tiles mounted on the game board. You could easily “flip” the cards over with your finger for matches. I think my parents must have given that game away and I have not come across anything anywhere close to that game since –in terms of set-up. Anyway, when I saw S’Match, I thought it would be something that Josh and Zoë would enjoy. Besides, it’s from the makers of Zingo! (ThinkFun), so how could I go wrong?

Despite the big box, the only contents were --

• 1 S’Match!® Spinner
• 30 Picture Cards - very small, but sturdy ones
• 1 Parent’s Guide

S’Match is very similar to your usual memory game in that you have to make matches, but S’Match is literally a memory game with a spin. Before each turn, the players get to spin the spinner to find out what type of match they’re supposed to make: A match by Color, by Number or by Category.

On the box, it says for Ages 4+. If you have a precocious 2-year old, even she can join in –and win! I think luck had a hand in Zoë’s winning against Josh by one pair in the first game they played. She just seemed to be able to pick all the right cards at the right time. Seriously, though, because the cards had both words and pictures, for as long as your pre-schooler understands color concepts, can count, and understands how certain objects belong to certain categories (musical instruments, things that ‘go’, animals), she can definitely join in and have fun.

The Parent’s Guide that comes with the game has plenty of great tips on how to improve your child’s thinking skills –including some that take you beyond the game itself.

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S’Match is available from Amazon.com for US$19.95. Here in Hong Kong, it retails for HK$179.90 and should be available at any of the following: Seibu, Bumps 2 Babes, Toys ‘R’ Us, Apita or Wing On.