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It's true what they say, you know. Time flies when you're having fun. It somehow flits by even faster when you're watching your twins grow and learn the way of the world around them.
Getting to witness your children figure things out is just about the coolest thing on the planet.
Getting to witness your children figure things out is just about the coolest thing on the planet.
One day, they rely on you for everything and can barely keep their eyes open. Then, what seems like almost instantly, they can barely hold still because they're off in a flash to see the world as quickly as their little legs will take them—laughing all the way because they know you're in hot pursuit, but they've got places to be and things to investigate.
It may sound cliché, but kids really do grow up so fast. Before you know it, they're doing things you didn't even know they knew how to do, mimicking their parents and the things they've seen them do. Things you didn't even necessarily realize they were observing and rehearsing in their mind until they could put the process into physical practice.
...they soak up everything we do, taking it all in, step by step, and memorizing the process, so they can remember how to replicate the actions on their own.
Whether it's cleaning the floors, doing the laundry, putting away groceries, cooking meals, or learning how to use technology around the house, they soak up everything we do, taking it all in, step by step, and memorizing the process, so they can remember how to replicate the actions on their own.
If you want to encourage your toddlers' determination to be just like their mom or dad, here are five great toys that will make your little ones feel like big kids in no time flat.
1. Casdon Dyson Cord-Free Vacuum
The Casdon Dyson Cord-Free Vacuum lets your toddler get into the ritual of pitching in to help mom and dad get chores done around the house.
These toy vacuums make a quiet humming sound when in use and have colorful foam bits in the dust bin to mimic the dirt, dust, and debris your toddlers would have seen in the actual vacuum.
The design of this toy also allows your children to work on their fine motor skills while they practice switching out the different brush and crevice tools.
You can read more about why we love the Casdon Dyson Cord-Free Vacuum, here.
Casdon Dyson Cord-Free Vacuum
The Casdon Dyson cord-free vacuum toy for children is lightweight. It looks, sounds, and maneuvers like a real vacuum.
2. Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Time to Learn Smartwatch
The Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Time to Learn Smartwatch has a fun home screen that resembles the apps they see on a parent's smartwatch. The thoughtful design allows children to embrace interactive and imaginative play with their very own wearable tech, just like their mom and dad.
This pretend watch encourages your twins to fine-tune their hand-eye coordination, strengthen their dexterity, and practice their fine motor skills.
The bright band on this toy timepiece has a large enough opening that should your little one want to slide it onto their wrist and show it off, they can do so with ease and confidence.
You can read more about why we love the Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Time to Learn Smartwatch, here.
Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Time to Learn Smartwatch
This pretend smartwatch helps toddlers work on fine motor skills by pushing buttons, flipping switches, and turning dials. It allows them to work on dexterity while also triggering various lights and sounds.
3. Kaptin Play Eyewear Frames
This six-pack of brightly colored dress-up eyewear will shift your twins' imagination into overdrive and blend playtime with reality because they can suddenly wear glasses, just like their mom and dad or grandma and grandpa.
As an added advantage, these costume glasses by Kaptin promote the idea that it's cool to wear glasses (which it IS…I can concur with this statement as someone who, indeed, wears corrective lenses every single day).
The toy eyewear allows your toddlers' playful personalities and ever-changing moods to shine through, giving them the power to choose whichever color they're feeling in that exact moment.
They also encourage the development of fine motor skills, as your children will practice placing the frames on their face (or a caregiver's). As times goes on, they'll learn the difference between right-side-up and upside-down and will also master placing the frames, so they are sitting properly on their nose and ears.
The frames have no lenses, so you don't need to worry about smudgy fingerprints or lenses popping out and breaking or being gnawed on, which is a nice bonus. It puts my mind at ease knowing they can play safely and have fun.
Kaptin Play Eyewear Frames
These playtime glasses encourage the development of fine motor skills as they practice placing the frames on their face. They have no lenses, so you don't have to worry about them falling out.
4. Learning Resources Farmer's Market Color Sorting Set
One of our twins' favorite missions at this moment in time is being tasked with safely transporting the groceries from the front door to whichever parent is waiting in the kitchen to put things into the fridge. They get so excited, they hurry as fast as they can go, squealing with excitement at their assignment.
I'd like to think their love for this stems from their time playing with the fruits and vegetables in the Learning Resources Farmer's Market Color Sorting Set.
This toy helps your toddlers learn how to sort matching colors together into cute baskets with color-coordinated stickers.
There are five different fruits and/or vegetables for each color category, so you can also practice numbers and counting with your little ones while you sort the items together. The various food items are soft and feature different shapes and textures, which makes them perfect for gnawing on when their gums are irritated from teething.
All around, this farmer's market set provides a great sensory experience for your toddlers as they play and learn about different produce they encounter at home, the store, or, fittingly, the farmer's market.
Learning Resources Farmer's Market Color Sorting Set
This farmer's market set provides a great sensory experience for your toddlers as they learn about color recognition and different produce they encounter at home, the store, or the market.
5. Tasty Junior Mini Chef 4-in-1 Playset
This kitchen set will unleash your children's inner chef as they use their imagination to practice making various menu items with different cooking techniques.
This playset includes an oven, a hand mixer, a blender, and a toaster and features pretend food items, like a fried egg to cook on the stove, a roast chicken to broil in the oven, two pieces of toast to watch with bated breath as they pop up when the timer runs out, and an apple and a banana to blend a delicious smoothie with.
The set also comes with accessories like a frying pan (for said egg), a pot with a lid for whatever your toddler's imagination can cook up, and a mug to sip their smoothie or other concoctions out of.
This set offers plenty of sensory play, with different lights and sounds being created by an array of button actions. The kitchen set also encourages the development of fine motor skills through operating the various appliances, whether it's pushing power buttons, placing the blender on its base, toggling the on/off or speed switches on the hand-mixer, twisting the timer on the toaster, or spinning the dials on the oven.
Tasty Junior Mini Chef 4-in-1 Playset
This playset includes an oven, a hand mixer, a blender, and a toaster and features pretend food items. It offers plenty of sensory play and encourages the development of fine motor skills.
Direct their determination
We never want to wish time away or have our children grow up too quickly, but time goes by so quickly, and, before we know it, our little ones are suddenly slightly bigger ones who are inevitably on their way to becoming legitimately big kids.
And we don't know how it happened…they just laid down one evening or even for a short nap, and woke up all grown up. Part of it is biology. And part of it is their determination to be just like their parents.
As parents, we can help direct that determination with fun, age-appropriate, interactive toys that help our children reach their goals. And when all is said and done, isn't that what parenting is all about?
What toys do your kids have that make them feel like big kids? Tell us about them in the Comments section below.
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