I was watching cartoons (Charlie & Lola) with my kids today when I saw the coolest idea for something to have kicking around the house.

It was a box decorated with rain drops and on it it said, “This box contains a rain race. The aim is to finish every single game before the rain stops.”

Marv: What’s this?
Lola and Charlie: What does it say?
Marv: (reading) “Is it raining?”
Charlie: Yes.
Marv: “Are you really bored?”
Lola: Yes!
Marv: “Well, open this box and you won’t be bored anymore.”
Lola: Open the box! Open the box!

I thought this was a fabulous idea and quickly jotted down some of the things that were inside the box (remember that everything was on a list that had to be read and all the things had to be completed by the time the rain stops).

1. 1. 1. Bean Bag toss – throw the bean bag into the container without knocking the rocket over. (rocket is placed directly in front of the container)
      2. Connect the dots and guess the picture – a pile of pictures is placed inside.
      3. 5 games of pick-up sticks
      4. A round of tiddly winks
      5. 5 rounds of x’s & o’s
      6. Bet you can’t find the ant – this was a large rolled up mat of a picnic that had an ant hidden in the picture somewhere.
      7. House of cards
      8. Memory tray game – a small tray was inside the box and there were 8 items on it you got 20 seconds to look at it and then it was covered up while you tried to remember 5 of the things.

I am not entirely positive… as I was watching with the kids…. but I believe there were 10 things and I have left a couple out. I am sure you can come up with your own! So much fun.

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One look at the list of the latest toy recalls (here) and you quickly come to realize that being a smart and informed consumer is not always protection enough from faulty manufacturers and improper designs. Get a group of parents talking about toys and there are bound to be some horror stories that quickly come to mind.

Remember the magnetic balls the toddler swallowed that clicked together in his intestines and he died? Those are still on the shelves in a variety of forms. We all remember the massive lead paint toy recall from toys made in China just over a year ago. The latest is the concerns about BPA (Bisphenol A), a chemical that hardens plastic, in not only the recalled baby bottles but a much wider array of our plastic products.

All of this begs the question; what can I do?
Really it is a judgment call of how you choose to live your life. Some of the things that we in our family try to do is reduce our over all consumption. Simply we don’t buy as much stuff. We try to stick to the tried and true toys that have been around for decades or better yet get the kids outside to play with each other and the world around them instead of toys. When you do choose to buy a toy look at it with perhaps an over critical eye and consider what the motivations were behind the inception, creation and deployment of this toy.

Pretty grand things to think about before buying a Dora play set. Still perhaps being a little more discerning will lead us on a path of a cleaner, greener, safer and more loving world.

For a really easy to view slideshow of the 2007-08 recalls check here.

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