While working on our 2007 Water Gun Roundup I noticed this video that features an interview with the inventor of the Super Soaker. It turns out that he is a rocket scientist who just happened to have a brilliant idea.

I saw this short local news story online regarding Webkinz. It briefly touches on the dangers of your kids becoming addicted to their Webkinz. Through Webkinz.com a child has to take care of their virtual pet, on a fairly regular basis. The pet needs to be fed and interacted with to stay happy. This is the double edged sword of this hot toy. You child learns things like responsibility without the parents having to flush a neglected pet down the toilet. On the other hand this is another way for kids to become virtual couch potatoes.

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Being the dad of two boys doesn’t get me in tune with the culture of young girls. You can insert your own joke about that here.

Anyway while stumbling around the web I saw a press release for casting calls for Kitt. Kitt is a character from the “American Girl” toy line which is 100% owned by Mattel. Mattel is working with HBO to make a movie about this doll/story character named Kitt. The film will be called “Kitt Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery.” The film will take place in Depression era America and star Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine.

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I won’t lie to you.  I am a dad.  I tend to look at toys from a dad’s perepective.  That means that for me to personally like a toy, I need to like playing with the toy.  Needless to say I don’t like too many of my sons’ toys.

I just found a blog called Wonder Mom.  Wonder Mom just did some reviews for LeapFrog.  I love the story about how she used some of the free stuff from LeapFrog to get through a wedding reception.  The toys may have changed from generation to generation but the goal is the same, keep the kids quiet so you (us, we, the parents) can get a bit to eat.

Enjoy!

If your child doesn’t have a Webkinz yet, get ready to be begged for one. Webkinz is probably the biggest fad with the 5 to 12 crowd right now. Webkinz are stuffed animals with a digital twin on Webkinz.com. Webkinz come in a ton of different animals like, dogs cats, bears, koalas, and birds. Each Webkinz has its own unique code that identifies it with its online twin on Webkinz .com. Be warned, Webkinz aren’t in every toy store in the US. You may have to hunt around to buy one. Amazon.com has a huge selection in their future releases section of their toy department.

Webkinz.com is an online community, where children take care of their digital Webkinz and also can have fun gaming, participating in quizzes, competitions, or just chatting with other Webkinz owners. Webkinz.com is meant for kids aged 6-13 years. It is brilliantly designed to match the computer skills and intellectual abilities of children in that age group.

The entry to the Webkinz.com community is through a secret code, included with all new Webkinz or Lil’Kinz plush toys. Using that secret code, your child can adopt the virtual plush pet in the Webkinz adoption center, have a room for the pet, feed, exercise, and take care of it in a way one might does in the case of a real pet.

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This week Mattel will launch BarbieGirls.com, which is “designed to be a safe place for girls to play and interact online.” BarbieGirls.com is an online community where girls can “… [have the] creative power to customize their own virtual character, design their own “room,” shop at the mall, play games, hang out and chat live with other girls.” The motivation behind BarbieGirls.com site is based on the 65 million hits Barbie.com receives each month. It is a virtual no brainier to try to drive the MySpace.com crowd to a safer friendlier place.

This site seems to be an amalgamation of MySpace.com, Yahoo’s Avatars, and a place to spend money. While all of these services already exist, they are lacking the massive name recognition of the world’s number 1 doll, Barbie. The site will no doubt be a huge success since there are few web sites out there that are designed and marketed strictly to young girls; but I see it as next to impossible to keep the bad people out.

You can see the full Web site on April 26 of this year.

Original Press Release

A rather innovative Japanese Web site, SF Paper Craft Company, has published an array of Star Wars ships and vehicles that can be made entirely with paper, scissors, tape and a ton of patience. The designs include Tie Fighters, AT-AT Walkers, and even a Star Destroyer. What I really like about these do it your self ships is that the markings for the Rebellion and Empire are already on the cutouts.; no adhering stickers for two hours. There are other sci-fi vehicles, for those not in tune with the force, from Star Trek and Back to the Future.

To get started; you just go to their site, click on the shi-fi ship of your choice and up comes the Adobe Acrobat file. From there you just print, cut, and tape. Viola your very own desktop Tie Fighter. The best part About this interstellar origami is that if you make mistake you can simply print off a new one.