Helping Moms Spend Quality Time With Children (NAPSA)—There are ways that first-time moms can spend quality time with their youngsters while still managing to tend to their busylives. The key is to make together time more like child’s play, whether you’re doing chores or taking care of the kids. For instance, time spent cook- ing in the kitchen can turn into a game that teaches nutrition, laundry time can serve as a chance to talk about colors, while a trip to the store can double as a journey to a different universe. There are even a numberof toys that can help, with new product lines being designed with both mother and child in mind. Look for brands such as Mommy & Me, which offers innovative, educa- tional and interactive toys meant to help momsandchildren laugh, love and learn together. Here’s a look at someof the brand’s newesttoys: Play Time Soft Rollerz—Theset of freewheeling, soft and squishy vehicles comes with lights and sounds. Available in two versions— Mommy and Baby Duck or Mommy and Baby Turtle—the rollers can be tonsof fun. Sing ’N Sounds Keyboard— The musical keyboard is in the shape of a turtle character, plays musical notes and songs, and even lights up. Mommy Loves Me Plush— This unique peek-a-boo plush can surprise and entertain your child for hours. When Mommy Duck puts her wings over her eyes and then removes them,it triggers her to say fun phrases like “peek-aboo,” “I love you!” and “quack quack.” The right toys can help busyfirst- time moms spend quality time with their children. Let’s Get Dressed! Kangaroo—This colorful and soft mommy and baby kangaroo help teach young children the basics in getting dressed. The learning includes buttoning, zipping, Velcro-ing andtying. Sing ’N Play Musical Guitar—The 2-in-1 musical toy includes a fun guitar for child and a tambourine for mom. The guitar’s character buttons make animal noises while shape buttons light up, play songs and add jungle noises. Mushy Movers—Moms and kids can have hours of fun with these plush, walking dogsor cats. Each item has a simple walking motion and makes realistic animal sounds. Jungle Fun Bead Chaser— The jungle-themed bead chaser comes with three wires and six characters beads. Moving the beads around results in fun sounds. Classic Toys ABC Blocks—The 50-piece alphabet block set has uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, math symbols and fun imageslike a dog on theletter “D” block. Build ’N Play Blocks—The 100-piece building block set is a combination of natural wooden blocks and colored wooden blocks in a variety of shapes andsizes. Discover ’N Learn Puzzles— The set of wooden peg puzzles comes in themesincluding alphabet, numbers and weather, and the puzzles are made up of chunky and smaller-sized pieces. Push ’N Play Train—The train set comes with four “kidpowered” train cars. Each car includes slots, bead wires, a mov- ing screw and an engine that has a moving smokestack when the train is pushed. Easy Grab Peg and Wood Peg Puzzles—These are two sets of peg puzzles—one for beginners with easy-to-grab large wood pegs, and one with plastic pegs that can be used as children’s dexterity improves. The set of 20 puzzles comes in themesincluding alphabet, numbers, animals, vehicles andleft/right. Bath Time * Toot Toot Bath Boat—The molded plastic boat provides paddle wheel water play and smokestack sounds. It also features a design that can help children learn shapes and colors. Splish Splash Slide—Attach the colorful and safe plastic slide to your tub and watch the water as it’s pumped from the tub onto the slide. Children can place fun characters on the slide and watch them take ride. The toys are available at Wal- Mart. For more information, visit www.walmart.com or www.mommyandme.com.
