Kelsey
I am looking for a line/group of superheroes that do not depict violence and are therefore safe for 3 and 4 year old boys who do not understand that shooting someone until they are dead or beating them up until they bleed are NOT appropriate ways to deal with a real life situation.
I looked at the Super Hero Squad, but it is still violent, just smaller looking people. I am looking for something that focuses more on the saving than the killing and fighting. For example, if you can find a fire fighter superhero or something like that, someone who does NOT hunt down bad guys and kill them, I would be very grateful.
Answer
Thanks for being such a thoughtful parent or teacher! Characters and concepts that used to be for 6-10 year olds are more and more often getting pushed down to preschool and toddler toys.
Super hero play is empowering for little kids, but we should also consider that kids this age are just beginning to develop impulse control and the ability to resolve a conflict without hitting, kicking, scratching, biting, and screamining. :) Why inundate them with "heroes" who fight, fight, fight?
Your best bet might be the Rescue Heroes. Rescue Heroes is a toy and video line by Fisher Price. They make sturdy action figures that are firefighters, police officers, helicopter pilots, etc. Their accessories are things like shields and sprayers, and they have some fun vehicles.
They can be found here:
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=7500&e=meet&pcat=hero_world_rh
I wish they had at least one female character, though!
On the computer, look for the Pajama Sam games. The main character is a young boy who dresses as a superhero and has great adventures, but he uses problem solving and reasoning to defeat the bad guys. The games are fun, with just enough suspense to capture the preschooler's imagination.. After my kiddos played Pajama Sam on the computer, they often incorporated Pajama Sam into their pretend play outside. It was still good, fun superhero play, but they focused on finding clues, discovering secrets, making inventions and rather than punching and kicking.
Veggie Tales has a superhero called Larry Boy. This is a Christian cartoon series that seems to have a lot of appeal for kids that age if it happens to be a fit for your personal beliefs. Their silly songs and humor tap into the preschooler's love of the absurd, and the episodes are intended to teach morals. Again, you can see Larry Boy become incorporated into pretend play, and the games are always less violent than when they are playing Batman or Spiderman!
PBS kids has two series - Super Why and World Girl - that have hero-like characters, with a focus on age-appropriate, educational themes. Costumes and toys are available. They are cute, but very "young" - they may not ring true with older preschoolers who have already discovered more grown up superheroes. You can check them out here:
http://pbskids.org/wordgirl/
http://pbskids.org/superwhy/#/home
Good luck!
Thanks for being such a thoughtful parent or teacher! Characters and concepts that used to be for 6-10 year olds are more and more often getting pushed down to preschool and toddler toys.
Super hero play is empowering for little kids, but we should also consider that kids this age are just beginning to develop impulse control and the ability to resolve a conflict without hitting, kicking, scratching, biting, and screamining. :) Why inundate them with "heroes" who fight, fight, fight?
Your best bet might be the Rescue Heroes. Rescue Heroes is a toy and video line by Fisher Price. They make sturdy action figures that are firefighters, police officers, helicopter pilots, etc. Their accessories are things like shields and sprayers, and they have some fun vehicles.
They can be found here:
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=7500&e=meet&pcat=hero_world_rh
I wish they had at least one female character, though!
On the computer, look for the Pajama Sam games. The main character is a young boy who dresses as a superhero and has great adventures, but he uses problem solving and reasoning to defeat the bad guys. The games are fun, with just enough suspense to capture the preschooler's imagination.. After my kiddos played Pajama Sam on the computer, they often incorporated Pajama Sam into their pretend play outside. It was still good, fun superhero play, but they focused on finding clues, discovering secrets, making inventions and rather than punching and kicking.
Veggie Tales has a superhero called Larry Boy. This is a Christian cartoon series that seems to have a lot of appeal for kids that age if it happens to be a fit for your personal beliefs. Their silly songs and humor tap into the preschooler's love of the absurd, and the episodes are intended to teach morals. Again, you can see Larry Boy become incorporated into pretend play, and the games are always less violent than when they are playing Batman or Spiderman!
PBS kids has two series - Super Why and World Girl - that have hero-like characters, with a focus on age-appropriate, educational themes. Costumes and toys are available. They are cute, but very "young" - they may not ring true with older preschoolers who have already discovered more grown up superheroes. You can check them out here:
http://pbskids.org/wordgirl/
http://pbskids.org/superwhy/#/home
Good luck!
When did your toddler...?
Teen mommy
When did your toddler learn to drink from a big kid cup? Did you get rid of the sippy cups, or keep them for bed time, etc when they did learn?
thanks
Answer
My daughter started trying the big kid cup around 2 years old. I personally don't think it's an important thing to learn young so I didn't push it. She has a cup as part of her bathtub toys and one day she started experimenting.
She still drinks almost exclusively out of sippy cups because we live in a very hot and dry climate and it's important that she has water readily available all day. I'm not going to leave cups of water around the house, so she has sippy cups and I have a water bottle with a built in straw. I fail to see the difference between the two.
My daughter started trying the big kid cup around 2 years old. I personally don't think it's an important thing to learn young so I didn't push it. She has a cup as part of her bathtub toys and one day she started experimenting.
She still drinks almost exclusively out of sippy cups because we live in a very hot and dry climate and it's important that she has water readily available all day. I'm not going to leave cups of water around the house, so she has sippy cups and I have a water bottle with a built in straw. I fail to see the difference between the two.
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