In the next couple of weeks be sure to check out the great promotion the Locke Street Merchant’s have put together to help celebrate Valentine’s Day! There are LOADS of prizes to be won — including a beautiful gold locket. Locke-it. Yeah!!
Check out the details here and here!
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Obviously Citizen Kid isn’t much of a destination for those that crave the intense lights and sounds of video games but visiting the “eGameRevolution” exhibit was lots of fun. For me the highlight was checking out the old gear that I remembered from my childhood and also reviewing how fast this kind of play has evolved.
Playing Missile Command on the old Atari was a blast from the past. I also made this ghosty on a wall-sized LiteBrite.
When I was a kid, my absolute favourite Christmas gift that completely blew me away (I can’t believe my Mom got me THIS) was a miniature table top Frogger game. I still have it somewhere but it was neat to see it get the respect it deserves in a museum. It also made me feel old. Everything I learned about anticipation and eye-hand coordination I learned from Frogger. 
Next up: “Reading Adventureland!” When they call this a life sized pop-up book they aren’t kidding! Check out the virtual tour – and that’s only part of the exhibit! There were spaces devoted to literature of every style and age group here – from Dr. Seuss to Harry Potter to Huck Finn.
We spent a lot of time in this section and one thing that became very apparent was the museum’s commitment to learning and playing through READING. There are books everywhere you look in this place – not just in the Reading Adventureland. We soon figured out why — the entire place is a library! See an interesting book that relates to an exhibit your interested in? Just pick it up and check it out at the front desk! We thought that was an awesome concept.
We saw and did so much more but in order to prevent this from becoming on of those overly long vacation slide shows… Here are the remaining highlights…
Here’s the “American Super Heroes” exhibit where our kids were given SUPER STRENGTH thanks to a big dose of green gamma rays!
The kids made some magic wand crafts while I stretched my legs…
We fulfilled my dream of dining at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. I didn’t order the chicken livers but I did get grilled catfish. And yes, the hotel reservations were messed up but that was TOTALLY their fault…
Oh yeah… we also rode the carousel, the train, and visited an amazing butterfly conservatory…
In the end we had SO much fun that we bought a family membership and will be sure to return as soon as we can. And THAT’s what we did on our Christmas Vacation. Thank you.
(ps – I’m not posting the video of Rebecca playing Dance Dance Revolution…)
Posted in citizen kid | Tagged Atari, butterfly conservatory, carousel, Cracker Barrel, eGameRevolution, Museum of Play, reading, toy hall of fame | Leave a Comment »
Some people do 10 day all-inclusive sunny resort style vacations… We go to Rochester, NY and visit the Museum of Play and Toy Hall of Fame instead!
Bright and early on a cold and blustery January day we hit the road (joined by another family of friends) and aimed for the border. After a cheerful verbal exchange (!) with the border guard we flew down the Interstate in excited anticipation of what lay ahead.
We arrived!
And we jumped right in… finding ourselves on Sesame Street… brought to you by the letters F, U, and N!
One of the hi-lites for us was the child sized replica of a grocery store. You (or your kids, I suppose) could shop for groceries, pretend to be the cashier, the customer, or even the produce manager. Clean up aisle 5! After scanning in your groceries you got to print out a receipt with your choices. I was having too much fun to snap more pictures… but click here to see a virtual tour. It’s amazing how much fun it is pretending to shop for groceries compared to the real thing!
Next was the area dedicated to rotating exhibits. When we were there it was a space dedicated to the game of football. Right now there is a Wizard of Oz theme!
Next it was into the National Toy Hall of Fame. This was fun and informative. Here’s a few hi-lites I snapped. To see a summary of the inductees click here.
Watch for What We Did On Our Christmas Vacation (part deux) coming soon. We’ll visit the “eGameRevolution”, the “Reading Adventureland” and we’ll have dinner at Cracker Barrel! Will I order fried chicken livers? Will the hotel reservation work out? Will I dare post the video of Rebecca playing “Dance Dance Revolution?”
Posted in citizen kid | Tagged easybake oven, Lincoln Logs, mr. potato head, play, Rochester, Sesame Street, toy hall of fame | Leave a Comment »
I recently came across a great little blog entry on the Yummy Mummy Club website entitled “That Toy Costs How Much?”
The general idea of the article can be summed up in the following quote.
The most affordable toy is the one your child plays with the longest. Yes, it may cost you a little more up front but if it means they are going to play with it longer, you will have spent less money in the long run.
I really like the idea of assigning a value to toys based on their level of quality, creativity, and open ended-ness. And so I think this article does us all a service in providing this reminder.
But… what about the environmental and societal impact of our purchase of toys and any other thing we buy? I try to avoid being “that preachy toy guy” but here was a perfect opportunity for a well read blog to point out that the COST of what we buy has many different definitions.
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Hey check out this little article featuring some great photos of toys from Citizen Kid in action!
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City Kidz is a downtown Hamilton based organization that seeks to make a positive difference in the lives of needy and at risk children in our city.
The City Kidz Gift of Christmas program was launched in 1995, and was designed to assist our children and families by alleviating some of the personal pressures often experienced and associated with the Christmas season.
This year, Citizen Kid is happy to be a drop off location for toy donations. We have a big barrel in-store and we hope to see it full in time to make a difference for some deserving local children. If you buy a toy donation at Citizen Kid we will take 15% off the price.
Check out this link for all the information you need. There are drop off points throughout the city.
And for more inspiration check out this video from last year!
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Hanukkah – an 8 day celebration! Citizen Kid is pleased to carry several items specially selected for those who celebrate Hanukkah this time of year. As Adam Sandler has been known to sing, it’s so much fun-akkah to celebrate Hanukkah!
Eight Winter Nights – A Family Hanukkah Book
“Author Laura Krauss Melmed and illustrator Elisabeth Schlossberg celebrate Hanukkah in joyful action rhymes, festive poems, and exuberant scenes of family life. From traditional holiday foods to the story of the Maccabees, they capture the warm sights, sounds, and tastes of this wintertime festival.”
Dreidel Top with Wooden Coins
We’ve got a great little boxed kit with all you need to play a good dreidel game this year. This dreidel comes with many little wooden coins as well as instructions for those less familiar. If you’re lucky you will land on Gimmel!
Hebrew Alphabet Blocks
This hand-crafted set of blocks has been carefully and lovingly created by the Lindenwood Toy company in Michigan. The beautiful illustrations and embossings are sure to please. The classic ABC blocks are also available in both upper and lower case.
Audio Book – Jewish Holiday Stories by Jim Weiss
Few can make a story come alive like Jim Weiss. He is an award winning story teller and recording artist and this CD filled with Jewish Holiday stories just might become one of your favourites.
The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming
“…The miraculous birth here is of a potato pancake, which, unlike its less loquacious literary cousin the Gingerbread Man, begins screaming the moment it gets cooked. Leaping out of the frying pan and into the great white spaces of Brown’s retro-cool graphics, the latke screams even louder as it tries in vain to explain itself and its role at Hanukkah to flashing colored lights (So you’re basically hash browns, they reply. Maybe you can be served alongside a Christmas ham) and an equally Christmas-centric candy cane and tree.” – Publisher’s Weekly
Moishe’s Miracle
“Kindness is rewarded and selfishness is punished in this original Hanukkah story that has the sound and feel of a traditional folktale. Baila insists her husband Moishe’s generosity has left them without money to buy flour for latkes. But others are grateful for his kindness. In fact, he is mysteriously rewarded with a magical pan that makes plenty of pancakes for all.” – Booklist
Play Silks
It never ceases to amaze me the amount of fun children can have with these beautifully coloured play-silks. Is it a red cape? A green picnic blanket? A purple doll’s bed? A blue hat? A magical golden thing for casting spells? Yup!
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We have updated our website with some new Holiday Season information.
Check out www.citizenkid.ca for updates on our Holiday hours as well as shipping date cut-offs for our on-line customers.
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The stockings are hung by the front door with care and the tree is decorated with an assortment of brand new Christmas ornaments. Choose from a wide variety of felted, sequined, handmade and fair-trade ornaments.
We have a great selection of stocking stuffers like:
just to name a few!
Brand new to Citizen Kid this year is mimiTENS mittens for kids and babies!
mimiTENS have a wonderfully unique design with extra long cuffs that keep snow out and mittens on. And for the baby’s sizes, a special thumb-less design!
And not only are they super functional and cute, they are made in Canada too!
Come down to Locke Street this season to check out all we have in store!
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We will be closed on Tuesday November 1st in order to prepare for the Christmas Holiday season. Get ready for carols!
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