I always had blocks growing up. It seems like every kid has them at some point, whether they have the standard letters on them to spell out words or painted on windows and doors to make houses.

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When I grew up there were two numbers a kid had to remember, your home number and 911. Plus phone numbers back then were seven digits instead of ten; you didn’t have to area codes for local calls. Now with cell phones and all the other ways to keep in touch, youngsters have a tougher time memorizing all of the ways to get a hold of mom and dad or emergency services if there is a problem. Try getting a 3 year old to remember their birthday let alone a ten digit number. Now Fisher Price has an answer to this issue.

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If your toddlers are anything like mine, they will do just about anything to get their messy hands on your precious cell phone or Blackberry. The little ones seem to always want to play with Mom and Dad’s button laden, noise making, flashy things. Our cell phones were probably the most sought after (expensive) gadget our kids want.

After trying to distract the kids with various toy cell phones and old real cell phones; I had an inspiration while looking at the retro toy section of my local Target. Merlin was the answer. Most of us probably played this simple, talking game when we were young.

For those you who don’t know about the magic of Merlin; is a bright red, hand held toy that can play a variety of games. The games range from pretty basic, like blackjack and tick tac toe to totally convoluted like magic square. To this day I still don’t know how to play the later. Merlin also makes tons of noises and the play buttons flash constantly.

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