Category: Monster Bites

Let’s talk about some products that will leave you bubbling with excitement!

Craft-tastic has a whole line of potion-making kits that provide kids with small potion bottles and magical recipes to make your very own magical potions!

These potion kits are perfect for encouraging children to engage in imaginative play. Imaginative play helps boost creativity and problem-solving skills for children, plus it can be tons of fun for both children and adults to imagine together! Potion-making allows children to experience the joy of creating their own magic with ingredients like unicorn hair, rays of sunshine, and fairy dust!

How did the creators of Craft-tastic come up with such an amazing product, and what do kids love about these potion-making kits? Sit down with Product Designer Hilary Henderson (PlayMonster’s resident Crafty Monster) to get the inside scoop on all things Craft-tastic Potions!

Q: Where did the idea for potion-making kits come from?

Making potions has always been a fun activity for kids. When my daughter and niece were little they would be outside for hours making soapy potions with leaves and flowers. We thought that would be a great little kit and that kids can make special “magical” potions that have a fun story and activities to go with each potion.

Q: What do people love about these kits?

We love creating new potion kits because we love the open-ended play and the potions are fun to make and design! Parents and kids love the creativity and the imaginative play. They can follow along with the story and recipes for the potions or be creative on their own. Our potion kits are all different and magical and if you get them all you can mix all of the different ingredients together, for lots of extra fun!

Q: If you had to make a potion right now, what would you make and what would be in it?

I would make a sunshine potion! I love the summer months so I would wish for more sunny days. Add in a dash of sunrays, a special shinny pebble, and blow in a wish!

Be on the lookout for our NEW Craft-tastic Nature Scavenger Hunt Potions coming soon! Collect special ingredients from outside and make the magic happen! Includes fun recipes and space to come up with your very own magic potion concoction!

After a long year of learning and test-taking, the school year is just about done. To celebrate all the wonderful academic achievements and newfound freedom of graduation, here are some great games for new grads!

5 Second Rule

Whether you go with the classic game or the more adult Uncensored version, 5 Second Rule is sure to be a hit for any recent grads!

Read the prompt, then spit out 3 answers as fast as you can! You might think it’s easy, but with almost no time to think, there’s no telling what silly answers slip out!

This game is perfect for late summer nights and for bringing to the college dorms for the fall. Have some wholesome family fun with the original game, or get some hilariously inappropriate answers with Uncensored—like hearing your roommate’s response to “Name 3 Things You Lick”!

Relative Insanity

No matter where life takes your grad next, you’ll want them to think about their family—even if they’re a little crazy! Relative Insanity is all about your wacky relatives and the things they say! No matter how far away they roam, new graduates are sure to remember all the silly moments with their own families when they crack open their game!

Take turns reading hilarious prompts setting up what someone said, then pick the funniest possible response given. What does Granny say about the new baby, or Cousin Judy whisper in your ear during the funeral? The possible answers are as funny (or funnier) than the real thing!

What’s Yours Like?

While exciting, graduation can also be a little scary. You’re leaving somewhere you’ve been for a while to enter a new phase of life, and there’s no telling who you might meet.

Make that transition a little easier (and funnier) with What’s Yours Like?! Every player except for one looks at the prompt, then take turns describing what “theirs” is like while the odd one out tries to guess what everyone else is talking about.

Learn more about your new friends when describing your similarities in life and being in on the joke as you give increasingly funny answers! Maybe yours is often wet while another player’s is too tight—both of you are talking about your swimsuit, and nothing takes the edge off an unfamiliar situation quite like bonding over something shared.

These represent just a few of the great games that we sell! Try out Five Crowns, Farkle, Spoons, Utter Nonsense, or any of our other games! Find more amazing ideas for graduation elsewhere on PlayMonster.com or in stores where PlayMonster products are sold!

Just about anyone who has ever gotten a gift before can tell you that there’s a value in knowing someone made something for them that outshines nearly any other type of present—even the shiny expensive ones. We know how important our own time is, so when we know people took their own time to create something for us, even if it isn’t perfect or worth a lot of money, it lets us know how much they care about us that they were willing to spend their precious time on us.

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, here are some fantastic Loopdedoo-inspired ideas for heartfelt, meaningful gifts to make and give this year!

Make Bracelets

Jewelry is a popular Mother’s Day gift for all the important women in your life (speaking as a woman, who doesn’t love getting some fun jewelry?)—so loop up some adorable, one-of-a-kind bracelets for all your moms this year!

What’s great about Loopdedoo® is that you aren’t stuck making the same general design in different colors over and over again like many thread-bracelet-making techniques. Loopdedoo® comes with a whole booklet of design ideas so that every design you make can be different and tailored to whoever you’re gifting it to!

They’re also quick and easy to make, so you can make as many bracelets for as many motherly figures in your life as you want. That’s right—Grandma gets a bracelet, Nana gets a bracelet, Aunt Lisa gets a bracelet, everyone can get a bracelet!

Embellish Your Presents

At this point, it’s possible you’ve already gotten your mom something special—way to be on top of it! No worries, you can still use a Loopdedoo® to give your presents a special look and add that handmade feeling to any present you’re giving away. Make longer (or connect multiple) bracelets to tie around your present as a fun, adorable bow! It’s exactly the sort of minor detail that will knock your mom’s socks off on Sunday!

Craft Other Accessories

Mom doesn’t like bracelets? No problem! Loopdedoo® is versatile, allowing you to make longer or shorter designs based on your needs. If mom doesn’t need any bracelets, maybe she’ll love a cute zipper pull, a stylish headband, or a fun new belt! The only limit is your imagination!

Have a Crafting Party

To take things to a whole new level, consider inviting your mom to spend time with you making some fun Loopdedoo® bracelets together! After all, your time is made more valuable when spending it with someone you love! Get multiple bracelet looms or take turns picking colors and designs for one another and swapping off who makes each bracelet.

Then the gifts become twofold: you are making things to give to one another (or anyone else you both know) and the time you spend together is another wonderful gift for the both of you! Loopdedoo® was invented by engineer and mom Sheila Wright to help her kids more easily create their own bracelets, so it’s the perfect activity for Mother’s Day, or any other day alongside the moms in your life.

Whether you decide to make something for your mom, with your mom, or save these ideas for the future, take some time to try out a Loopdedoo® sometime soon! If you have one—great—you’re ready to get started! If not, find a Loopdedoo® at Michaels or other stores in your area and start looping!

We’re proud to announce that our Chief PlayMonster, Bob Wann, has been inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame! Thank you to all those who voted, and congratulations to the fellow inductees! Read more about this honor in The Toy Association announcement below: Four Toy Industry Icons to be Inducted into 2022 Toy Industry Hall of Fame (prnewswire.com)

Hey families! Do you remember when there were 9 planets? Wow, us too! Now it seems up for debate whether Pluto is on the list. The International Astronomical Union decided in 2006 to designate Pluto as a “dwarf planet.” Ouch.

8+9 is a doubles fact plus one. Do you remember when 8+9 was simply, 17? Yep, us too!

The 16th amendment to the U.S. Constitution established federal income tax. Wait. What? Can we get a recount on that one? The 21st amendment repealed prohibition. Ok, we’ll drink to that!

If you’ve spent the past year brushing up on all of this—and more—as a remote pseudo-teacher’s assistant to your kids, we know you have a whole new appreciation for teachers.

We all knew they were important before the global pandemic. But after 2020, let’s face it, we’re all thinking, “please don’t leave me alone to teach my kids again! I don’t know what I’m doing!”

At PlayMonster, we believe teachers are incredibly important! We want to thank teachers for all they do. A BIG THANK YOU! We can’t type it, shout it, or say it enough! We truly appreciate everything teachers do!

Now families, here is one way you can help your kids continue to learn at home this summer. We promise it won’t involve flash cards and it’s something that educators will endorse. The answer is simple: PLAY!

Encourage your kids to get away from the screens and play!

The Toy Association’s Genius of Play Initiative found that:
– Make-believe games help kids regulate emotions
– 88% of preschoolers playing with blocks were engaged in at least one math-building activity such as comparing sizes and counting.
– Studies show that kindergarteners’ vocabulary was positively related to the amount of time they spent talking during pretend play at age 3.

Need more proof? There’s a host of fascinating research about the importance of play here.

The best way you can help your kids learn is to encourage them to play at home. We know it will help kids be more prepared to learn in school. The Genius of Play Initiative has a host of play ideas using items already found in your home.

At PlayMonster, we can certainly offer a ton of recommendations for new toys for the whole family.

Here’s one the teachers will love: our Science4you kits. They’ll help boost brain power! Maybe your child can use one of our kits, such as Spectacular Science, to get Pluto back on that planet list. . .

As this school year comes to a close, we offer another BIG THANK YOU to educators! At Play Monster, we encourage everyone to keep on learning this summer. The formula is simple: PLAY!

As the weather gets cooler, kids are going to miss their favorite outdoor activities. Things like swing sets, sandboxes, pools and bike rides aren’t always possible when fall rolls around. But just because you can’t go outside doesn’t mean you can’t do outside activities! Here’s a few ways you can keep the summer fun going all year round!

1. Indoor Sandbox: Grab some sand from the box and bring it in! You’ll need a small box or plastic container. Fill your indoor sand box with some sand and put it somewhere that can get messy. Your child can now build sandcastles, play with construction toys or even just feel the sand between their fingers. It’s a taste of summer whenever they want!

2. Indoor Camp-out: Set up a tent in your living room and spend the night in it. Put a video of a campfire on your TV. You can find a bunch on the internet; pick one you like! Cook some s’mores on the stove or microwave for a sweet treat. Crawl in your tent and tell scary stories! Camping season isn’t over just because it’s cold outside!

3. Cotton-Ball Catch: Mom always said don’t play ball in the house! While most balls can be dangerous and break things indoors, a cotton ball is soft enough to be thrown all over. Play a game of catch, build a hoop and play “Pig,” or play a game of “Monkey in the Middle!” Have an indoor sports day!

Halloween…
The big spooky day is coming up, and kids love to celebrate! Here’s some (not too) scary activities for you and your little ones to get into the spirit!
1. Toy Trick or Treat
Grab some dolls, action figures and other toys and get ready for a bite-sized tradition! Make some houses out of cardboard, paper or recycled material and arrange them into a neighborhood. Build a road out of construction paper, add some tiny street signs and maybe even some light poles. When your neighborhood is done, have your child make a costume for their favorite toy. Move the toy from house to house collecting candy from other toys along the way! Celebrate your favorite candy-grabbing tradition any time in your own house!

2. Homemade Haunted House
Looking for something a little more frightening? Get your spooky decorations and turn out the lights! Determine a path through your house and use cardboard, blankets or tarps to set the course. Use some Halloween decorations or make some scary props and place them throughout your path. Then, dress up yourself, or your child, so the haunted house has a monster to jump out from around a corner or behind an object! Now that your haunted house is complete, have your children or other family members “enter if they dare.” They’ll have fun getting scared and scaring!

Many kids’ favorite “school subject” is recess. Running around the playground with friends, letting their imaginations run free and having almost no limits is an amazing feeling. Recess is such a great time because it activates both a child’s mind and body. Instead of being confined to a set of rules in a sports game or playing at a table without moving around, recess offers the chance to exercise imagination and physical muscles.

Parents can offer this holistic type of play by encouraging roleplay games; let the kids go outside and pretend to be pirates or princesses. During cold or rainy, play a game of charades or build a fort inside. Just make sure your children are activating their imagination while also using their muscles.