Mini Pop Up Pirate

Have you ever been out and about doing the shopping, maybe having a coffee with friends or been driving the car and wish you had something to entertain your child?

Consider the Mini Pop Up Pirate. This is a bright colourful toy that will easily fit in your handbag or glove box and is easy to handle. It’s one of Lachie’s favourites.

The Mini Pop Up Pirate is a little barrel with slots in the side so when you put the dagger in the right slot the pirate will pop up and the game begins again. This is ideal for two children as it teaches them to take turns to see which slot makes the pirate pop. Each time it is played a different slot triggers the pirate to pop.

For only $2.95 the Mini Pop Up Pirate is currently in stock and is an ideal way to entertain your child and keep them occupied.

If your child is a budding pirate, check out our Pirate page for other great fun toys. These include:

• Wooden Pirate and Fairy Bookmarks that will add that bit of pizzazz when reading.
• Pirate and Fairy Self Inking Stamps that can add colour to any drawing.
• Pirate and Fairy Lacing Beads that lets your child create their own pirate set of beads to wear.
• Wooden Pirate Ships that allow your child to sail the seven seas.

Every one of these toys are bright, colourful and designed to help with your child’s motor skills, develop their social and communication skills, use their imagination as well as have some good old pirate fun.

Ahoy me’ hearties.

Never Judge, Never Assume

Most people realise that people on the autism spectrum are ‘different’ but that usually brings with it a negative connotation.

When will they realise that, like everyone else, they have their own talents and way of viewing the world?

Have you heard of Kyle Coleman? This young man from Cornwall was diagnosed with autism at the age of three and has only ever been able to say a few words. Yet Kyle has an amazing musical gift. He can play his favourite songs on the keyboard despite having no training and he can sing. Yes, sing, despite being almost mute. Not only that, he sings in perfect pitch and with instinctive feeling for tempo.

Can you imagine what a release that must be for him, after 25 years of virtual silence?

Never assume that just because a child doesn’t do something, he or she can’t. You and I know that outsiders only see the surface of our children. We know they have talents that are waiting to be fine-tuned.

Go and listen to Kyle Coleman and his lovely voice. You’ll enjoy it.

Lachie's Favourites

We love the range of toys that we stock here at The Toy Bug but our chief toy tester has to be convinced that they are fun before we can go ahead.

Lachie tests the toys for us and along the way he has found some toys which have become his firm favourites. If he loves them so much, so might your child. That’s why we created a special section on our website devoted to Lachie’s Favourites. You’ll find tactile toys, activities, puzzles, books and fidget toys all listed together. Lachie’s Favourites is a bit of a treasure trove.

One of Lachie’s early favourites was the Bilibo. It’s hard to imagine any child not loving this simple but fun toy. It looks a bit like a big, upside down hard hat when you first see it but once your child sits in it, you’ll see it very differently. Both boys and girls can find virtually unlimited ways to play with Bilibos - from rocking, spinning, sitting in, to hiding under, carrying with, and peeking through.

Georello Gears Go Round is another special toy but this one is great for fine tuning motor skills while engaging your child’s imagination and logic. Brightly coloured wheels, interlocking plates plus gears and pegs allow little ones to create a huge variety of flat or 3 dimensional structures with this 80 piece gear set. It fascinated Lachie to watch the reaction of the gears when he turned it on. The flow on movement captured his imagination.

I can’t end without mentioning the Scooter Board. This is a favourite with most kids. The safety scooter board is designed for children and can be used to develop bi-lateral co-ordination, balance and kinaesthetic awareness. They can sit on it, kneel or even lie on it and scoot around. It’s a clever toy that does wonders for a child’s balance and confidence.

Have a look through Lachie’s Favourites. You might find just the right toy for your child.

Developmental Coordination Disorder – Heard Of It?

A new study has shown that children that may have been diagnosed with ADHD or other familiar disorders may in fact be suffering from developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

ADHD can often be diagnosed when children have trouble with routine tasks such as getting dressed, playing certain types of games, drawing or even using a computer but in fact they could be suffering from DCD. The study undertaken by Professor Sara Rosenblum identified that in quite a few cases the diagnosis does not occur early enough and is incorrect. This can result in frustration and a sense of disability that leads to a decline that requires psychological therapy.

DCD can be expressed through the “inability to control a process of carrying out a particular motor task, consolidate it in memory and repeat automatically”. Examples of this may include tying laces, riding a bicycle, closing buttons, and so on. Where most people do these things automatically, people with DCD will find them difficult to do. As adults, they may have trouble doing things such as estimating distance and speed, making it difficult to learn to drive or ride a bicycle.

It can be quite embarrassing for children if they can’t do simple routine things. It is even worse for adults who often have to find ways to cover up their lack of skill.

A simple and non-invasive test of writing tasks has been developed to identify DCD in children. Children with DCD have no physiological or intellectual deformities, and in many cases, they have above average intelligence. As they are not able to complete tasks that require coordination between motor, sensory and cognitive functions, the use of occupational therapy provides the necessary treatment and guidance to assist them.