Those Dam Troll Dolls

Baby Chia loves the little 3" troll dolls made by DAM. I grew up in the 70's with these little critters with long bright colored hair. Everyone had one. There is one overlooking the produce department at the local organic grocery store where we shop. Little Chia calls it 'The Boy with the Orange Hair'. It keeps her occupied while mother shops.

For Christmas I got her a boy with the orange hair for her stocking, and it was her favorite toy of the day. As I found more, I have slowly procured all primary and secondary colored trolls. We now use them as a color and counting tool. We set them up and count the trolls, and I say things like, hand me the boy with the green hair, and Chia has to find the troll doll with green hair.

Back in the 70's I don't remember the small troll dolls having clothing, but they now have a shirt/skirt and a little message bag that matches the color of their hair. Each bag has a good luck saying tucked inside. Great toys if you can find them. I found my 3 inch Messenger Troll dolls at: Walgreens, online toy shops, and eBay. I'm still missing black, white, brown, light pink, light blue (I have turquoise), mustard, and rainbow...

I took the box a printer came in and made a doll house for the trolls. I just cut out windows, and glued in floors. Baby Chia painted and glued things to the outside. We even made a troll doll swing. The cardboard doll house is fun because we can change it, cut it, glue to it, paint it any time we want. It's an on going project. We found magazines and cut out all of our favorite characters. We glued them to cardboard squares and made little pictures to hang inside the troll house. Momma was knitting nearby as we played, and made us a few little blankets so the trolls could cuddle up on cold evenings. These little troll dolls have been a great source for fun.

Greatest Toy Ever by Step2

I got Baby Chia a really nice art desk made by Step2. We've spent the last two weeks playing, and rolling around inside the giant cardboard box it came in. And it reminded me that giant cardboard boxes were the greatest toy ever. Hands down there is nothing better than a really big cardboard box for creative play.

I remember when I was a kid, if someone's folks got a new refrigerator or other large appliance, the box was so exciting. We used to cut small holes and wedge a flashlight in the top for an inside light. We could play tunnel, fort, submarine... endless possibilities.

It's amusing that no matter how great the new desk is, the box upstages it by about a million to one. I mean, I really love this art desk by Step2. If you don't know about their products, their catalogs of plastic play structures are amazing. I don't know who has room for some of the stuff they sell. They make those plastic houses kids can play in that you see at playgrounds. Most of the stuff they sell is way too big for our house, but it's fun stuff.

One great toy that we got from Step2 is their assortment of plastic food. It's intended to be sold along with their play kitchen set, but on it's own, it's been one of the most played with items. Kids love to pretend to prepare food. We keep a low cupboard in the kitchen full of her Step2 plastic food, and our little chef can play while mom cooks. Most importantly the plastic food keeps Baby Chia out of mom's hair.

So there you go, a great company that makes over the top play surroundings has provided us with a giant box to play in. The box is all rounded off from being rolled around in, back and forth across the living room floor. Over and over we roll, laughing harder than I remember. I wonder, can one purchase a large cardboard box at any toy store? I bet they'd sell.

Brio Train Wood Railroad Set

Baby Chia and I have been collecting the Brio Trains that are so popular with all the kids. The wood track keeps kids busy, just building and creating tracks over and over. I like to sit on the floor and help her set up a working track. We have several train cars that I got cheap in a lot sale on eBay and I purchased a battery operated engine at the local toy shop.

The Brio Trains can be rather expensive, so it's great to get it on eBay. My gripes with the product is the over branding with Thomas Train. I cannot find a battery operated engine that is NOT a Thomas Train engine with the face on front. I want a classic choo-choo locomotive engine. Black or red would be nice, but all I can find is Thomas or Percy. I just don't like those guys.

Brio Trains get real addictive too. They can be quite dangerous to your pocketbook, because you may enjoy sitting on the floor building and adding cars to the train as it travels around your track. Soon you'll want bridges, tunnels, castles...

Baby Chia loves the little people that ride in the cars. She plays with the little boys, girls, animals, and the Curious George that came with the circus set. She tries to get them into their cars as the train passes by. Great fun.

Wood toys can be rather heavy, so you might want to buy your first set at a local toy shop, then later decide what you want, and get it used for cheap on eBay. Brio products are well built, so often the second hand Brio trains and tracks are in great shape. Make sure and get a big box to keep all the track and train cars in. It adds up fast with birthdays and holidays, so make sure it's a big box with room to spare.