Gingerbread Barn with Schleich Farm Animals

The whole family can enjoy “Christmas on the farm” through the magic of Gingerbread this holiday season! I found the perfect Gingerbread project created and designed by Beth Kimmerle, a chocolate and candy expert! Dressing up your ordinary gingerbread house as a classic country barn can be a new holiday project for the entire family to enjoy!

When you’re finished, surround it with our Schleich farm animal toys and any die-cast tractors you may have! The Schleich farm

Schleich Farm Animals

animals are a great way to get the kids to interact more enthusiastically to the Gingerbread barn project. They are sure to look forward to putting a Schleich toy horse inside the barn’s stable area, a herd of cows grazing around it, a barn cat waiting for the mice and a flock of sheep. Your young farmer will enjoy switching it up as often as you let them as who can resist playing with the Schleich farm animal toys and a barn made of Gingerbread?

Schleich Horse Toys

Spread it out over a few days and take your time as this project will take three to four hours. But the results are worth it as this Gingerbread Barn will not only make an enchanting centerpiece for a party, but also a tradition that will create memories year to year!

You will start by making your favorite gingerbread dough according to the instructions. If you don’t yet have one, I recommend using the Gingerbread House Facades recipe we found online. While chilling and before rolling the dough, cut out barn patterns from sturdy cardboard. You can use these Gingerbread Barn instructions and pattern

Adding the Gingerbread Barn Siding

ROLL THE DOUGH: Roll out one-third of the dough 1/4 inch thick on a surface dusted lightly with flour. Place cardboard patterns for barn front and two sides on rolled dough. The next slide will show you how to cut out the front of the barn.

CUT THE PATTERN: Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut around patterns. Remove excess dough and reserve with remaining dough for rolling the other barn pieces.

Constructing the Gingerbread Barn

ADD BARN SIDING: Using kitchen scissors, cut sour tape into strips to create vertical barn siding. Using the icing like glue, carefully apply siding to barn sides. Using royal icing, apply doors to front and sides, adding zigzag barn pattern to doors.

CONSTRUCTING THE BARN: To join the barn sides to back and front pieces, pipe icing cleanly along edges to be joined. Press barn pieces together and hold for several minutes. Once the four walls are firmly together on the gingerbread base, adhere them to the cardboard base with frosting. Then insert your two cardboard cutouts into center of barn. Secure them with icing to the sides of barn. Let dry completely, preferably overnight.

Rodeo Toys & PBR Playset

Shop our PBR Playsets and Rodeo Toys

We wanted to showcase our PBR Playsets, Rodeo Champions action figures and Rodeo Toys to you as a wholesome play option for kids. Western specialty toys have a way of sparking the imagination of children around the world. Kids can pretend to be in the boots of a cowboy or cowgirl on the rodeo circuit competing for that special title of Champion.

Our Rodeo Champions line is the action figure for anyone who loves the sport of rodeo. The action figures and toy playsets bring the thrill of the rodeo arena into your living room. Rodeo Champions action figures and bulls have 21 points of articulation, detailed features and rodeo gear. The Rodeo Champions bulls have jointed skeletons and life-like Bio-Skins that move freely to bring the bulls to life in a realistic manner. The Rodeo Champions action figures and toy bulls are designed by a real professional rodeo cowboy to make them as authentic and true to life as possible. Kids can build the rodeo arena of their choice using their real working chutes, gates and fences.

Barrel Racing Rodeo Toys Playset

Rodeo toys are just for the little cowboys. There is a selection that the young cowgirl is sure to appreciate. How fast can she get her time in her next Barrel Racing run? She can now find out with arena fencing, cowgirl dolls, 3 barrels and the included timer tripods in the Barrel Racing Rodeo playset. Is she the next Tad Lucas, a pioneer cowgirl and tirck rider? And who say’s girls can’t ride bulls? Let your little girl experience the women’s professional bull riding circult with the bull riding rodeo toys playsets.

Shop our PBR Playsets and Rodeo Toys for plenty of fun western specialty items that kids will love.

Shop for Breyer Horses!

Breyer has been producing model horses since 1950 and is celebrating their 60th anniversary this year in 2010. Made out of a combination of plastic and resin, each Breyer horse model is hand carved and hand painted adding to their collectibility. Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Breyer Horses is one of America’s most iconic girls’ toys and is the best-selling and most collected brand of model horses in history. They have a long history of philanthropy and has made numerous models to benefit important causes within the horse world. The Barbaro Fund, NARHA, Equine Land Conservation Resource and Old Friends are among the hundreds of organizations that benefited from Breyer horse programs over the last 60 years.

“Breyer has always believed in the healing power of the horse and the restorative benefits of horse-related activities – mentally, spiritually and physically,” said Stephanie Macejko, Vice President of Marketing and Product Development.

Breyer Horses celebrating 60 Years of models!

Breyer has become the official model horse for the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Breyer joins the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in celebrating the courage, athleticism and beauty of the horse at its pinnacle of achievement and is honored to be the Official Model Horses of the 2010 Games. They have also joined the search for the cure in 2010 by creating the Breyer Pink Ribbon Benefit Model Horse. Breyer will donate $1 from the sale of each model to two outstanding breast cancer research organizations. Breyer Horses always has a great way of harnessing the healing power of the horse.

Start your model horse collection with Breyer Horses to experience the colorful world they have to offer! They are great for play, collecting and home decor. Shop for Breyer Horses! Browse the selection of Breyer Horse Toy Barns!

Throughout 2010 the very special train, Thomas the Tank Engine, will be celebrating his 65th anniversary. In May 1945, the first of the classic books -The Three Railway Engines- appeared on bookshelves around the country, and Thomas the Tank Engine followed shortly after. Over 200 million Thomas the Tank Engine books have been sold worldwide since the publication of the first book in Rev. W. Awdry’s Railway Series in 1945. This is a testament to Thomas’ enduring popularity among children, collectors and railway enthusiasts.

Thomas the Tank Engine is a cheeky, mischievous character, who goes on adventures with his friends and in the end always strives to do the right thing. Thomas and his friends liv on the Island of Sodor and their adventures take place on a steam railway, under the watchful eye of Sir Topham Hatt, who is fondly known by his train engines as ‘The Fat Controller’. Children and adults alike continue to be besotted by the little steam engine and adore all his train engine friends. Everyone who loves Thomas the Tank Engine hopes he’ll be going full steam ahead for many years to go.

Thomas the Tank Engine train sets have also been helping kids with Autism and special needs for many years. The Thomas the Tank Engine toy train set will help put your child on the right track to developing reading readiness and help increase the range of motion and muscle movement as they stretch and extend their arms as they reach out to maneuver the train across the track. In addition to all the other great benefits of a Thomas toy train set, your children will practice the visual tracking skills needed to read words on a page by following the train around the track with their eyes. You’ll love how it will help enhance the manual skills used to hold a writing implement as they use the pincer grasp used to push the train.

Based on the remarkable true story, Disney’s Secretariat chronicles the spectacular journey of the 1973 Triple Crown winner. Housewife and mother Penny Chenery agrees to take over her ailing father’s Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery – with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin – manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and what may be the greatest racehorse of all time.

The own inspiration of director Randall Wallace is apparent in the making of this special film.

“What I knew about Secretariat was it was Secretariat, himself, that first brought my attention to horse racing,” says Wallace. “His achievements transcended the sport. He had done something that was outside what anybody would expect. And that was what more connected me to him. I grew up in a romantic south, where we thought about things like courage and daring and gallantry. It was that kind of spirit we all saw in Secretariat.

“And then,” Wallace adds, “it kicked into a whole other orbit when I discovered it was not only the story of the horse, but the woman who owned the horse.”

The director promises that the Secretariat film will be great fun, as well as moving and dramatic. Be sure to catch it in theaters this fall!

<b>Let your children play along as they watch the movie with their very own standing Breyer Secretariat model horse or with a running Breyer Secretariat model horse.

View our selection of Breyer Model Horses. </b>

Pretend Play Around the House

Toddlers have a way of regularly astonishing us with their superhero powers and their ever-changing careers. It is important that you nourish that active imagination with play. Whether you make story time interactive or participate in their pretend play world, help them engage in make-believe playtime. New research indicates that a child’s imagination quotient may be a bigger factor in predicting academic success than the more traditional measure of aptitude. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently issued a report calling for parents to spend more time playing with their kids and to focus on simple, old-fashioned toys instead of high-tech ones.

“Nurturing creativity is one of the most important things you can do for your child,” explains Wendy Masi, PhD, dean of the Mailman Segal Institute of Childhood Studies at Nova Southeastern University. “You want your child to be an ORIGINAL thinker, to understand that there isn’t always one right answer to every situation.”

Pretend Play in Dad's Garage

You are sure to have noticed that your toddler enjoys mimicking you and tries to act grown-up as she role-plays adult activities around the house. As children get older, they try on other adult roles such as a doctor, police, chef or a mommy! It helps them make sense of the real world. Join your child’s make-believe games if you are invited and let them direct the action. “Ruling an imaginary world is comforting to toddlers because it real one seems so big and intimidating to them,” explains Dr. Healy. “This is their chance to be in control. Dr. Bergen adds that it is okay to help your child expand the story as it improves her powers of imagination.

Try out pretend play food, a dinnerware set and tea set! Children will love taking orders and pretending to be the Restaurant master chef, waitress or perhaps just like mom! If your child is cooking a pretend meal for her stuffed animal friends, you can say “Wow, what a delicious meal! Kitty drank all her soup. What do you think a cat might like for dessert?” Watch as the wheels turn and she thinks up a delicious dessert dish for kitty!

Pretend Play Costume Dress-Up

If your child is already trying to take on the role of an adult, there are so many toys that can assist them in their imaginative journey to encourage pretend play. Toy Cleaning Sets are great for when your child is wanting to help you around the house. You can provide them with their own toy vacuum to help out around the house when mom is cleaning, toy tools and tool box for when dad is enjoying tool time in the garage or a toy kitchen set to interact with while family dinner is being prepared.

When your toddler is beginning to pretend they are a firefighter, astronaut or policeman, you can give them a costume to use for dress-up. Your child can never have too many dress-up costumes for pretend play. Try out an astronaut costume to make believe they are discovering a new planet in outer-space, a firefighter costume so they can pretend to save stuffed animal “Kitty” from a fire, a police officer so they can write out tickets for household offenses or even a veterinarian costume so they can help their sick stuffed animals feel well again. Dress-up costumes are an important tool for helping your child engage in pretend play. The creativity opportunities are endless with dress-up costumes. They can interact with a book at story time, create adventures around the house or interact with their stuffed animals.

Click Here for Pretend Play Toy Sets for toddlers and children.

Baby Chickens come in springtime

View our Schleich horses and farm animal toys for creative pretend play.

It is springtime down here on the farm and we are starting to see newborn calves and chick hatch-lings. If you were to see all the new life, you would agree that there is nothing more adorable than baby farm animals. While I was in the feed store picking up some animal feed, I snapped some photos of the new baby chickens they had.

When I was a child, I grew up on my parents’ farm in Colorado and they would take me to this same country feed store to pick up supplies. I will never forget the day the feed store offered free baby chickens with the purchase of a bag of chicken feed. My parents decided it was time to add some chickens to our farmyard. I can not even begin to describe how excited my little sister and I were to have these baby chickens coming home with us. The fun didn’t stop there as we got to help sprinkle the chicken feed, watch them grow and then collect eggs once they were grown. There is always that special happiness that comes to children when they are around baby farm animals.

Kids love baby farm animals!

If you do not live on a farm, your child can still experience the same enthusiasm that comes around baby and adult farm animals with toy play sets. Pretend play is an important growing tool for your kids as they learn by imagining and doing. Research has shown that pretend play provides children with microcosm for life that encourages them to take the skills they have learned in classroom lessons and apply them to meaningful life activities. When your child engages in pretend play, he or she is actively experimenting with the social and emotional roles of life. Through cooperative play, they will also learn how to take turns, share responsibility and creatively problem solve. Imagination can often be as important as math, science or reading. Pretend play helps develop many important skills that boost a child’s learning and success.

Schleich Farm Animal Toys

Nurture pretend play with a blend of farm life to spark their imagination. Our Schleich farm animal toys are a great toy play set to turn to. A very popular and best selling toy line, the Schleich farm animal toys are a great way to teach your kids about the different animals. Ask them what sound the chickens make and where the horses sleep. Have them sort the different colored cattle into the different corrals. This is also a great way to introduce them to responsibility. Show them how to feed the animals, tend to the cattle and take the horses exercising on the trail. Explain how milk comes from dairy cows, eggs come from chickens and vegetables come from well cared for gardens and crops.

Schleich Farm Toys

By caring for farm animals and driving a tractor through a toy play set, kids can begin to learn about occupations and hard work, as well as having an easy outlet for practicing a baby favorite – animal sounds! Our Schleich animal toys offer a large variety of different animal breeds you would find on a farm. You’ll find horses, cows, chickens, dogs, cats, ducks, geese, sheep, goats, pigs and their baby counterparts. Add the farm structures as your child is ready to start incorporating more farm responsibilities into their play time. You will find toy stables for the Schleich horses, a big red barn toy to house all the farm animals, corrals to keep the sheep inside, a truck and horse trailer for transportation, a toy rabbit hutch and plenty of trees for shade.

View our Schleich horses and farm animal toys for creative pretend play.

Puzzle Piece Ribbon for Autism Awareness

We feel it is very important to participate in April’s Autism Awareness month to help bring attention to a very important cause. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has concluded that prevalence of autism has risen to 1 in every 110 births in the United States. Many organizations such as Autism Society of America and Autism Speaks are on a mission to extend awareness and investigation of potential immunological issues.

What is Autism? Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects an individual’s ability to communicate and interact with others. There is not presently a medical test for autism. A diagnosis is based on observed behavior and educational and psychological testing. Autism is treatable, although children do not “outgrow” autism. Studies show that early diagnosis and intervention lead to significantly improved outcomes.

Autism Society of America has provided some signs to look for in the children in your life:

April is Autism Awareness Month

-Lack of or delay in spoken language
-Repetitive use of language and/or motor mannerisms (e.g. hand-flapping, twirling objects)
-Little or no eye contact
-Lack of interest in peer relationships
-Lack of spontaneous or make-believe play
-Persistent fixation on parts of objects

Early intervention is very important. It is defined as services delivered to children from birth to age 3, and research shows that it has a dramatic impact on reducing symtoms of autism spectrum disorders. Studies in early childhood development have shown that the youngest brains are the most flexible.

You can help those affected by autism in many ways whether you decide to take on an active role in the autism community, participate in local events or donate to organizations. Find your local “Walk Now for Autism” events or create your own using “Give Now” through AutismSpeaks.org. You can purchase a puzzle piece ribbon pin or other items from these non-profit organizations to help raise awareness and fund further research.

We have chosen a selection of great developmental toys for autistic children. View our Autism & Special Needs Toys by clicking here.

Toy Play Sets from Calico Critters

Toy play sets are pretty much the perfect product for kids of all ages! Are you looking for a fun, inexpensive gift for a 6-year-old’s birthday party? Or an aunt looking for a big-impact Christmas present? How about a recommendation for a child who needs help working through troubling events? A diorama idea for a school project? We all usually fit into one of these categories.

As a busy parent, you probably love toy play sets because they meet all these needs! Thanks to a variety of price points and sizes, a wide range of realistic and fantasy themes, and many choices for boys and girls, toy play sets often fit the bill as the perfect gift. We have chosen a few toy play set collections for you to look at as they are our industry’s best, and have earned a reputation for high-quality, creativity and innovation. The benefits of these toy play sets are endless, and here is a few we wanted to share with you.

Toy Play Sets from Playmobil

-They help develop imaginative play, a key component for learning. Research connects it to language skills, social abilities and cognition.

-Imaginative play also stretches children’s creativity. You may find kids making their own scenery or dressing up in costumes to match play set characters.

-”Play sets offer children the opportunity to open the pack and begin to play,” said Mary Ludovico, marketing director for Schleich Toys. “They can begin right away to create their imaginary world with the number of different components and characters included in the set.”

-Arranging and dramatizing scenarios helps children practice social skills, work through events that upset them, develop conversational vocabularies and learn empathy.

Toy Play Sets from Plan Toys

-Self control, taking turns, sharing, listening and improvisation are developed when groups of children play with sets together.

-Development of coordination and fine motor skills needed for writing, playing musical instruments and other life activities happens when children arrange small figures and their accessories. It also helps them develop concentration.

-Play sets give you a choice among price points, noted Cynthia Dalton, senior brand manager for International Playthings’ Calico Critters. Their toy play sets range from $19.99 to $179.99.

-A toy play set grows with a child. Dalton told us that even though the core age for Calico Critter play sets is 3 to 8, “13- and 14-year old girls still love to collect the miniature animal family toy figures. The collection can start with a small set that costs less than $20.”

-Schleich Animal Toys, which offers more than 500 individual items, works to represent a wide variety of their figures across a large selection of toy play sets. “In this way, as children’s interests grow, we provide solutions to meet their needs. Our toy play sets are great starter packs. They incorporate themes that can later be expanded upon with the purchase of individual pieces. The toy play sets can grow in any direction the child’s imagination leads them.”

-Play sets appeal to adults. “Something that has always fascinated me about miniatures and toy play sets is the accessories, and Playmobil’s were the best,” noted movie reviewer Tyler Foster, in a review of Playmobil’s “Secret of Pirate Island” DVD. “Police toy play sets came with tiny stop signs, cones and fire extinguishers; a family camper set packed in two bicycles, a table and dishes… I can’t pin down why I liked how elaborate and meticulous all of this stuff was, but it looked pretty awesome to me.”

He swears he is no longer looking to purchase Playmobil toy sets for himself. Playmobil figures debuted in 1974, and today about 650 different ones are available. According to the company, children are still playing with figures from the first generation. Most of the fans from the first Playmobil toy play set years are parents themselves and have passed the toys on to their children. Other adults have become passionate collectors.

Here are some other great toy play set collections that we recommend:

Schleich Animal Toys
Playmobil Toy Sets
Calico Critters
Plan Toys Wooden Play Sets
Ryan’s Room Wooden Play Sets
Safari Ltd. Toy Sets

Bunny Face Cupcakes

Make your Easter extra fun with bunny cupcakes. Watch the family hop to the table for these festive desserts. We have found an easy Easter recipe that is a hit with both the family and Easter party guests. These cute Easter Bunny Face Cupcakes will make Easter extraordinary!

Easter Bunny Cupcake Ingredients:

Easter Bunny Cupcake Preparation:

1. Spoon 2 Tbsp. vanilla frosting into a small ziplock bag. Frost the cupcakes with remaining the vanilla frosting. Roll tops of frosted cupcakes in coconut to cover.

2. Place assorted pink sugar in a small bowl and mix together. Using scissors, cut large marshmallows in half crosswise. Press cut side of each marshmallow into pink sugar to make ears. Insert a pretzel stick into 1 short end of a marshmallow ear. Insert pretzel-stick end into cupcake to make ear stand up. Repeat with another pretzel and marshmallow ear; place second marshmallow ear next to first. Repeat with remaining marshmallows and pretzels, placing 2 ears on each cupcake.

3. Snip a small corner from ziplock bag with vanilla frosting. Using scissors, cut mini marshmallows in half crosswise to make cheeks. Pipe small dots of frosting and attach the mini M&M eyes, heart-candy nose and cheeks. Cut licorice into 1-1/2 inch pieces and insert as whiskers. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.

Kitchen Tips:

*Line Up: Colorful baking cups make these treats look even prettier and more polished. Look around for pastel colors or Easter print baking cups.
*Be Creative: These cupcakes would look just as sweet with deocrations from your pantry. Can’t find licorice? Use thin pretzel sticks as whiskers instead. No decorating sugar? Tint granulated sugar with a few drops of food coloring for a similar effect.

View our selection of Basket Gifts priced under $20 and our Easter Toys.