Smart Toys and Books is a specialty toy store and our specialty is making your life easier by offering an endless supply of games and activities for family fun. How many other retail businesses within easy driving distance are truly fun places to visit; places where children and parents are playing, laughing, and connecting through shared interests?
One of the many benefits of shopping at Smart Toys and Books is that we are birthday gift experts. Whether it’s a celebration for a family member or a school or neighborhood friend, we always have a wonderful selection of high quality gifts that fit well within your desired price range. Best of all, our dedicated staff are extremely knowledgeable and delighted to share in the excitement of your selections.
The average family buys quite a few birthday gifts over the course of a year. Trying to figure out what is trendy, age appropriate, and well-received by other parents can be a time consuming and challenging endeavor. With so many gifts to buy, many families simply call us with a rough idea of what they want to purchase, and then stop in at their convenience to pick up their wrapped gift, often times on the way to the party. Another option is to purchase gift certificates directly from our website www.smarttoysandbooks.com. We certainly hope this makes your life, or at least your day, easier.
Smart Toys also has an amazing Birthday Party Service. Our parties are all-inclusive, with two Party Hosts in attendance, who lead the guests through all the party activities. Parents can relax, take pictures and enjoy the fun! There are over 20 themes to choose from! Visit our website Party Page, for more information, then call to discuss upcoming plans and to make reservations! 865-691-1154
Extending Family Connections
We truly aspire for all of our customers to enjoy the precious years of childhood, as our children seem to grow up so quickly. We believe play-based activities are the best way to create meaningful experiences. One way to celebrate the special moments of childhood is to make an extra effort to take digital pictures and video of family members engaged in play activities. These treasured moments can be saved and shared for future generations to enjoy.
With the school year winding down and warm weather upon us, now is a great time to add a little playful change of pace and unexpected excitement into regular family routines. Here are a few activity ideas that are sure to be pleasing to your kids:
Eating Meals Outside
Surprise your kids by unexpectedly moving a family meal outside in your backyard or in a nearby park area. Maybe have breakfast on a picnic blanket, lunch on the swing set, or dinner on the front steps. Kids will love the spontaneity and appreciate how clever and fun you are, which in turn adds a wonderful new layer to your relationship.
Arts and Crafts Outside
We encourage arts and crafts activity as frequently as possible. By moving the activity outside kids have more room to create and the clean up is much easier. Outdoor settings make nature more visible and accessible, inspiring kids to use all of their senses. We have seen first hand here at the store, at local preschools & elementary schools just how much girls and boys like to paint, draw, cut, glue, create, design and get messy.
Sleeping Outside
For families that are not able to go camping in the woods, we suggest trying a backyard campout. This is a great place to have initial family camping experiences, especially if you are not that comfortable with this kind of activity. The bathroom and kitchen are within easy walking distance and by no means does camping require spending the whole night outside. If you have a tent, great, run it through the washer and dryer (low heat, so it doesn’t melt), if not, sleeping directly under the stars is also a fantastic experience. If you have an air mattress, by all means get as comfortable as possible so you will want to do it again. Are the kids old enough to make a go of it on their own? What ever you do, this is a family bonding moment that your kids will remember for a long time.
Pretend Food and Gardening
As a young child moves into the toddler stage we highly recommend our great selection of pretend play food and other food accessories that offer endless play possibilities and encourage healthy eating choices. May and June is the perfect time to get kids involved in outdoor vegetable gardening. Some kids are fortunate to have access to outdoor space for growing a garden in preschool or grade school, for other kids it may be brand new learning experience.
Is there a small section of the yard where your kids can have the freedom to dig, plant, and create? If yes, we have a great selection of kid friendly tools and accessories for kids to use in their own yard. Wheelbarrows, work gloves, rakes, shovels, buckets, and watering cans are all great kid items to have for outdoor gardening.
When kids participate in planting a vegetable garden they can see and experience the excitement of the growing cycle and begin to think about where food actually comes from. When purchasing food, large supermarkets can be distracting for kids. Farmers’ markets are great venues for kids to connect healthy eating with local gardening efforts.
Media Choices
We support thoughtful and age appropriate media and technology use in early childhood. While obviously promoting a fine selection of children’s TV programming and interactive games and activities, www.pbs.org/parents is a tremendous resource for parenting guidance and an easy to follow child development tracker that provides good insight into developmental milestones. Wild Kratts is a fabulous new program that combines science education with fun, engaging adventures to animal habitats around the world.
Benefits of Music
Singing and playing instruments are great ways for children and adults to express themselves. Music can be a really special part of family life. Do you like to sing? Do you encourage and create opportunities for your kids to sing? Young children will often invent their own songs during solitary play. In elementary school children learn to sing as part of a larger group. New friendships are formed and skills such as cooperation and concentration are developed.
Music is great for strengthening memory skills. Have you noticed how quickly you can name a tune you hear on the radio after just hearing a few notes? Once you become familiar with a song that is appealing, it becomes part of your memory forever. Kids develop that same ability at very young age. Through music children learn the sounds and meanings of words. Children’s songs are great for counting and replaying a sequence of events.
Silly songs make everyone laugh. Kids love to be surprised with change of pace. Next time a familiar song is being sung, make a quick word exchange and see the reaction it generates. For example: “We all live in a yellow submarine” … can become … “Fleas all scratch a purple submarine”. When adults are fearless in singing, no matter how off-key we are, children are more likely to get engaged in the process.
Laughter is the Best Medicine
While life does have it’s serious moments, for the most part we have the choice to laugh or not. The next time you are in need of a good laugh, come in for a store visit and we promise to amuse, delight, and entertain you. Laughter supports good health and kids are the experts at taking life lightly and playing is the preferred activity for most kids.
Stay Connected
This play newsletter is designed to celebrate play and enable you to stay connected to Smart Toys and Books. Nothing makes us happier than to see and hear about our customers building strong connections with their children through play experiences. Our website, has a frequently updated Activities Page. In addition, our facebook page allows you to be the first to know about new toys, playthings, and activities. Best of all, stay connected by registering to receive our weekly email Newsletter, which includes valuable coupons!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Monday, May 10, 2010
Let's Go Out and Play
May 9, 2010
Let’s Go Out and Play
Any season creates a wonderful opportunity for parents, grandparents, caregivers, and preschool teachers to make sure children have time to go outside and engage in nature play.
What do you remember about your childhood nature play? Most adults of my generation fondly recall playing outdoors in natural settings. Building tree houses; catching frogs and fireflies; splashing in creeks; digging holes; or just daydreaming in a special hiding place, were common activities.
These activities are all nature play: unstructured play in “wild” areas, whether it’s part of your backyard, the local neighborhood park, or the woods at the end of the street. At its very best, nature play isn’t scheduled, planned, or confined by grown-ups’ rules. It is spontaneous, open-ended exploration and recreation. For many of us, this sort of nature play virtually defined our childhoods.
The right kind of places:
Little patches of nature that are readily available to kids and that are not tightly controlled or restricted. No great natural preserves are needed, just small places where kids can still dig holes, collect specimens, climb trees, and skip rocks. Ideally these should be places, reachable by walking or biking, where children can truly play with nature, not just in it.
The right kind of activities:
Unplanned, free-form, creative play in natural settings — play that kids make up as they go, and that engages them directly with nature. As parents and care givers safety is very important. Ideally, the adult role should be that of lifeguard rather than supervisor. Life guarding (interfering only if safety is involved) is the best way to supervise all play.
The right kind of frequency:
This is the most difficult aspect to achieve. Historically, children’s outside play was almost a daily occurrence. Kids would come home from school, grab a snack, and go outside to play. On Saturdays they’d go out in the morning, and return home when its time for dinner.
These three aspects set a very high bar for nature play — one that may not be realistic for some kids, it is, however, vital to recognize its importance. My hope is that parents are up to the challenge and begin identifying and designing child activities that simultaneously reflect all three aspects of nature play. Amidst the pressures and restrictions of modern childhood, this will not be easy — but our children will be the better for it.
Here are a few easy, low-cost “kidscaping” suggestions that could fit in most backyards:
Rough Ground:
Choose a corner or out-of-the-way area in your backyard, stop mowing and let it grow tall to create a little patch of wild. Interesting new plants will soon “move in” followed by expanded variety of bugs, beetles, earthworms, fireflies, toads, and crickets. All of these are time tested child delights — not to mention the new flowers and seed pods that will also appear.
Digging Pit:
This area can be a portion of, or an addition to, your rough ground. This is simply an area of 5-10 square feet that you strip of vegetation. Simply loosen up the dirt and mix in some sand to help it drain better. Kids love to dig. By adding some water by bucket or hose, the magic of mud is added to the mix.
Other backyard elements that kids love to experience are: Rocks, boulders, logs, and, stepping stones. Suggested tools and toys: Insect net, bug house, firefly jar, magnifying glass, binoculars, lots of different types of shovels buckets/containers, and access to water.
Thanks to Ken Finch, the President/Founder of Green Hearts Institute for Nature in Childhood, www.greenheartsinc.org, for providing information on nature play.
Article written by Jay Ritchie.
Let’s Go Out and Play
Any season creates a wonderful opportunity for parents, grandparents, caregivers, and preschool teachers to make sure children have time to go outside and engage in nature play.
What do you remember about your childhood nature play? Most adults of my generation fondly recall playing outdoors in natural settings. Building tree houses; catching frogs and fireflies; splashing in creeks; digging holes; or just daydreaming in a special hiding place, were common activities.
These activities are all nature play: unstructured play in “wild” areas, whether it’s part of your backyard, the local neighborhood park, or the woods at the end of the street. At its very best, nature play isn’t scheduled, planned, or confined by grown-ups’ rules. It is spontaneous, open-ended exploration and recreation. For many of us, this sort of nature play virtually defined our childhoods.
The right kind of places:
Little patches of nature that are readily available to kids and that are not tightly controlled or restricted. No great natural preserves are needed, just small places where kids can still dig holes, collect specimens, climb trees, and skip rocks. Ideally these should be places, reachable by walking or biking, where children can truly play with nature, not just in it.
The right kind of activities:
Unplanned, free-form, creative play in natural settings — play that kids make up as they go, and that engages them directly with nature. As parents and care givers safety is very important. Ideally, the adult role should be that of lifeguard rather than supervisor. Life guarding (interfering only if safety is involved) is the best way to supervise all play.
The right kind of frequency:
This is the most difficult aspect to achieve. Historically, children’s outside play was almost a daily occurrence. Kids would come home from school, grab a snack, and go outside to play. On Saturdays they’d go out in the morning, and return home when its time for dinner.
These three aspects set a very high bar for nature play — one that may not be realistic for some kids, it is, however, vital to recognize its importance. My hope is that parents are up to the challenge and begin identifying and designing child activities that simultaneously reflect all three aspects of nature play. Amidst the pressures and restrictions of modern childhood, this will not be easy — but our children will be the better for it.
Here are a few easy, low-cost “kidscaping” suggestions that could fit in most backyards:
Rough Ground:
Choose a corner or out-of-the-way area in your backyard, stop mowing and let it grow tall to create a little patch of wild. Interesting new plants will soon “move in” followed by expanded variety of bugs, beetles, earthworms, fireflies, toads, and crickets. All of these are time tested child delights — not to mention the new flowers and seed pods that will also appear.
Digging Pit:
This area can be a portion of, or an addition to, your rough ground. This is simply an area of 5-10 square feet that you strip of vegetation. Simply loosen up the dirt and mix in some sand to help it drain better. Kids love to dig. By adding some water by bucket or hose, the magic of mud is added to the mix.
Other backyard elements that kids love to experience are: Rocks, boulders, logs, and, stepping stones. Suggested tools and toys: Insect net, bug house, firefly jar, magnifying glass, binoculars, lots of different types of shovels buckets/containers, and access to water.
Thanks to Ken Finch, the President/Founder of Green Hearts Institute for Nature in Childhood, www.greenheartsinc.org, for providing information on nature play.
Article written by Jay Ritchie.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Spring Catalog is now Online
View our recently added Spring Catalog - just released.
This new catalog displays the current toys and games along with descriptions and photos. You can view it here: Spring Catalog - click on the catalog photo on the right column.
This new catalog displays the current toys and games along with descriptions and photos. You can view it here: Spring Catalog - click on the catalog photo on the right column.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Smart Toys and Books Spring 2009 Catalog Now Online
We have added the Smart Toys and Books 2009 Spring Catalog to the website. We search for great new toys, add our favorites, and use our experience to bring you toys that are priced right and play right! Come in and see the choices!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Who We Are
With over 21 years of experience in the toy industry, we know what will spark the imagination, create excitement, stimulate learning - all a day's work in the life of a child. We provide a wonderfully complete selection of high quality games, books, toys and dolls that fascinate, challenge, enlighten and delight children of all ages.
We are truly about the best of the best! Come experience an atmosphere of maximum fun - in a store that is easy to shop - with staff that is always available, and by displays and demonstrations that are truly "hands on"!We promise to deliver superior customer service, through our individualized attention, customer incentive programs and complimentary wrapping.
We are truly about the best of the best! Come experience an atmosphere of maximum fun - in a store that is easy to shop - with staff that is always available, and by displays and demonstrations that are truly "hands on"!We promise to deliver superior customer service, through our individualized attention, customer incentive programs and complimentary wrapping.
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