Here's a little behind the scenes at what we have going at our factory. We are so excited to be sending all of these toys out to your local Dollar General store! What are some of your favorite animal toys of ours?
BACK TO SCHOOL!!!
Summer break is coming to a close and that means it's time to start school again! Some kids may LOVE school and others are sad to see their vacation come to an end. Here are some fun activities that are sure to make both groups of kids happy!
Rainbow Foam Play
This mess-tastic project is a great sensory activity for your younger kids. Make sure to use dish soap so you can convince the little ones to wash their snack bowls. Recipe here.
"Royal Gems" Crayons
Crayons were definitely made for jeweling--but you can also try some other cool moulds for this colorful activity.
Alphabet Slime
The fun and stretchy way to get through the alphabet. Learn how to make it with your kids here.
Make Ice Cream In A Bag
Scream for ice cream...made in a Ziploc. This method will provide a basic and DELICIOUS chemistry lesson.
Obstacle Course
You can substitute cabbage with white flowers, but no word yet on the experiment's compatibility with kale. Instructions here.
Suminagashi
This painting (and totally radical) technique will allow your kids to create "modern art" for your growing gallery wall.
Tape Ball
So here's the gist: create a wonderful web out of masking tape and apply point values based on difficulty. Construct a ball from any type of paper. This game should be a staple at Chuck E. Cheese.
Bedtime Stories
So the kiddos have spent the whole day playing and now it's time to wind down. What better way to do that than a bedtime story! Here are some of our favorites that you can share.
Little Goat
Link:
http://storyberries.com/little-goat/
The Tortoise and the Hare
Link:
http://read.gov/aesop/025.html
Rainbow Fish
Link:http://www.fcrr.org/assessment/SLP/Joann_Handouts/The_Rainbow_Fish_PA.pdf
Animal Facts
Just because it's Summer break, that doesn't mean you can't learn a thing or two! Impress your friends with some fun animal factoids.
- Gorillas can catch human colds and other illnesses.
- A newborn Chinese water deer is so small it can almost be held in the palm of the hand.
- Ostriches can run faster than horses, and the males can roar like lions!
- Almost half the pigs in the world are kept by farmers in China
- On average, dogs have better eyesight than humans, although not as colorful.
- There is an average of 50,000 spiders per acre in green areas.
- Snakes are carnivores, which mean they only ear animals, often small ones such as insects, birds, frogs, and other small mammals.
- In Alaska it is illegal to whisper in someone's ear while they're moose hunting.
- The bat is the only mammal that can fly.
- The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.
- Some male songbirds sing more than 2000 times each day.
- Blue-eyed lemurs are one of two (non-human) mammals to have truly blue eyes.
- A tarantula spider can survive for more than two years without food.
- For every human in the world there are one million ants.
- if you lift a kangaroo's tail off the ground it can't hop - they use their tails for balance.
- If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will become pale.
- Cows can sleep standing up, but they can only dream lying down.
- The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet.
- The average fox weighs 12 pounds.
- Baby elephants suck their trunks for comfort.
Did you enjoy learning more about animals? Leave us a comment for any that you might know!
Summer Vacation
It's Summer, which if you're a kid, means your days just became a whole lot more fun. Two whole months to do as you please! Here are 3 fun things you can do to push your summer vacation over the edge.
GLOW IN THE DARK BOWLING
Materials:
- 10 clear empty drinking bottles
- 10 glow sticks
All you need to do is get some water bottles and fill them with water. Activate the glow stick and drop one in each bottle. Line bottles up like at a bowling alley and roll a soccer ball or kick ball at the pins. Make sure it's dark outside though!! Hope you enjoyed this tip, it's awesome!!
WATER BALOON SLIP AND SLIDE
Materials:
- 200 water balloons
- 1 roll of industrial plastic
- 8 pool noodles
- Waterproof tape
- Hot glue & hot glue gun
- Baby shampoo
Instructions:
Buy a large spool of plastic from your home and garden store.
Lay out the plastic 20 – 25 feet long and open up the plastic about 6 feet across.
Buy pool noodles at your local craft store or big box retailer for about $2 a piece.
Lay pool noodles end to end the length of the 20 – 25 feet of the plastic so that the plastic can wrap around the circumference of the pool noodle. Leave 2 ½ feet of plastic open without any pool noodles on the front end of the water slide. Leave a foot of plastic wrap at the end of the waterslide.
Using an extension cord to run power from an external electrical plug to your hot glue gun, run a bead of hot glue, a foot at a time, along the length of the top of the pool noodle. Fold the plastic over the pool noodle and press firmly to secure the glue.
Once you finish the whole 20 – 25 feet of plastic, roll the pool noodle over half a full turn and repeat the hot glue process a second time. Secure the plastic by placing 6 inches of waterproof tape every 6 inches down the length of the plastic.
At the end of the water slide, create a bumper by capping the water slide with another pool noodle. Wrap as previously instructed.
Flip entire water slide over so the seams face the lawn.
Spray 1 ½ inches of water over the length of the water slide with your garden hose.
Drizzle about 10 ounces of Tear Free Baby Shampoo over the length of the water slide and mix it with the water. The Baby Shampoo will help make the slide extra slippery and is non-toxic to the skin.
Fill 200 water balloons. Place water balloon all over slide, leaving 5 feet of space balloon-free at the front end of the slide.
Take a running start and enjoy your water slide!
OPTIONAL: Drizzle non-toxic paint over the balloons for some extra “clean-dirty” fun!
THE HUMAN BUBBLE
Materials:
- Bubble solution
- 1 small plastic pool
- 1 hula hoop
Instructions:
For maximum strength, make the bubble solution the night before and let it sit. When you’re ready for the fun to begin, have a child stand in the center of the pool. With the hula hoop already in the bubble solution, quickly lift the hula hoop up. It’s easier with two people doing this, one on each side. And feel free to experiment–the hula hoop makes gigantic bubbles. If you’d like to send your guests home with a favor or a prize, fill a bucket with bubbles, bubble gum, and bubble bath. Enjoy your bubble party!
Fitch the Fire Dog
Last week we had a very special visitor come into MVP Plush headquarters. 7-year-old Ashton Fitch is testing the power of social media for a good cause. He is raising money to buy stuffed Dalmatian dogs. Every time he orders a batch of these plush, Dalmatian dogs he personally adds a custom tag to let kids know we are "sending love". Then he personally delivers these dogs to the seven fire stations around Mt. Pleasant. When there's a fire, the firefighters give kids at the scene these special toys to help cheer them up.
We loved Ashton's idea so much, we decided to lend him a hand and give him 500 plush Dalmatians. We didn't stop there. We set up a meeting with our designer (Also named Ashton) to create a new and improved custom Dalmatian! Together, the two Ashton's came up with an incredible look for Fitch.
Ashton is still raising money for his cause, and If you would like to help him surpass his goal, please visit his fundraising page to make a donation. Feel free to head over to his Facebook page "Fitch Fire Dogs" to learn more!
Donation Website
https://chuffed.org/project/fitch-fire-dogs-of-mt-pleasant-sc
Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/FitchFireDogs/?ref=page_internal
Studio Day!
Our Senior Executive Designer, Joy, did an amazing job styling our toys for our latest photo shoot. We are so thankful to have such an amazing team here at MVP Plush!