Captain’s Log…Daddy Chronicles. Diaper Date 2256. Last week The Eldest had a sleepover. For those unfamiliar, “sleepover” comes to us from the Latin phrase sleepicus deprivacus. Loosely translated, this phrase means “DISASTER” the next morning – unless you find a way to avert it.
Complicating things was the absence of Mrs. Captain – who was off learning how to save lives (CPR class). So in my charge were four children: one boy and three girls. So, you ask, what is the secret to a successful sleepover? Activities. Fun. Distraction. If you can stave off boredom, you conquer the sleepover. Here’s how we did it.
Sesame Street Elmo Junction Car and Train Set
Probably the hardest of the four children to occupy is The Diaper Dweller. Little brothers can quickly derail a sleepover. Enter the Sesame Street Elmo Junction Train Set. The train set did require some light assembly. It was not hard to do, nor did it take much time. Most of the parts simply click together, and there are some stickers to apply. Within minutes the track is set and ready for play. The beauty of it though was that the three girls helped to assemble the track while my son played with the Elmo train (which sings songs about the alphabet and numbers) off to the side. The little red monster kept him occupied and entertained while we put on the finishing touches. Once the construction was completed, The Diaper Dweller enthusiastically raced Elmo around the track.
The set also comes with a Grover (may favorite Sesame Street character of all time) car that you can also zip around the 10 foot dual track. It can be set up as a bi-level track or two flat tracks, and it folds up for easy storage. My son enjoyed this immensely. He was tickled by Elmo’s songs and enjoyed rolling the vehicles around the tracks – over and over again. The Elmo Junction Train Set retails at $44.99 and is meant for children 2-4 years old. However, I did witness a 6, 8, and 11 year-old who enjoyed constructing and playing with the track.
GELARTI DESIGNER STUDIO
So while the boy was busy conducting the Elmo train and Grover car around the track (he used some of his action figures as stowaways), The Eldest was patiently awaiting her turn. The Eldest is an artist. She recently had a piece of art displayed in a local art gallery along with several of her classmates. We love her creativity and imagination. To stoke those creative fires, we opened the Gelarti Designer Studio.
She and her friends were able to design, paint, and decorate their own stickers. What they enjoyed about the set was that it was full of stickers for them to paint and decorate. What I appreciated about it, was that it was an opportunity to for the three of them to create artistic pieces with no mess.
The Designer Studio comes with 6 sticker sheets, 3 paint pens, a glitter paint pen, marbling tool, gems, and embellishment pieces. What this means is that there were enough supplies to allow all three girls to simultaneously paint and bling out their own stickers.
Creating the stickers is only the first step. There is a waiting period for the paint to dry, but once it does, stickers can be applied to create larger pieces of art. The next morning (that’s right, we had an activity for the next morning) the girls used the stickers on pieces of paper and drew/painted on the paper to make a collage of sorts. And even after a fun night (and morning) of creating, we still have enough supplies to fire up the Designer Studio again for more art.
The Gelarti Designer Studio retails for $19.99 and is meant for young artists aged 5 and up.
The Gelarti compilation piece.
The Giveaway
The Captain is such a fan of the Gelarti Designer Studio that he is proud to announce that he will be giving one away next week at talesfromthepoopdeck.com. Be sure to “Like” the Captain on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter (@acjlist) for details.
For now…Captain out.
While I was sent these items, I was not compensated for my thoughts – which are my own.