Hasbro has been working hard this past year to make sure the latest and greatest is on store shelves for our kids this Holiday season. I can remember all of these products from when I was a kid, and they have only gotten better in quality. You should definitely stop by the toy aisle and see for yourself the next time you are shopping … here is a quick roundup of what you will see:

For Halloween there is the Mr. Potato Head Trick or Tater. This is a timeless classic, and I was recently able to introduce this Mr. Potato Head to my two year old, who now carries it everywhere... even though we have lost one of Mr. Potatoe Head’s arms! The eyes on this version glow in the dark, and I think this is a great way to introduce children to the Halloween tradition of dressing up in costume! The MSRP on this version of Mr. Potato head is $4.99.

   read more »

Do you remember the Easy Bake Oven? We all do … Now Hasbro has created the Easy-Bake Decorating Pen, MSRP $14.99. It appears as if the Nerf folks challenged their peers to a “Next Level” challenge. Where the Peyton Manning Nerf football lights up, the Easy-Bake has a pen that dispenses icing!!!

My nieces asked for the My Little Pony Ponyville Sweet Sundae Amusement Park just the other day, and when I saw this press kit I had to write about it. What is it with Pony’s that little girls like so much? What kid does not like amusement parks? Well, Hasbro brought the two together, and I am sure there are many hours logged taking Pony’s to the Amusement Park. The MSRP is $39.99 for Ponyville. Three “AA” batteries are needed, and included.  read more »

Could you imagine going to work each day, and your job description was centered around creating new toys for today’s youth? Seriously, someone at Hasbro has to say, “I have to take a break from all this play, and do some work.” Where their supervisor actually encourages this behavior. It is their supervisor, who probably wishes s/he could play all day too. I say all of this because I am amazed at Hasbro’s ability to innovate around a brand I grew up with in NERF.

The Holiday’s are here, and what better place to invest your money right now than in toys. It is time to have some fun, right? Well, here are some items you must seek out for the Holiday Season…  read more »

New innovations are transforming schools with on-demand video streaming, interactive response systems, and the 21st century version of the chalkboard. The schoolrooms they left in the spring maybe be quite different when they enter them this Fall.

Interactive Whiteboards
Goodbye, chalkboard. Hello, SMART board!

This interactive whiteboard features a touch-sensitive display that connects to a computer and digital projector in the classroom. That lets teachers project information from online sources or their own documents onto a board for the entire classroom.

What really sets this apart from other projection systems is that the information becomes interactive through an innovation called "digital ink." Students can interact with the information by writing answers or adding notes that can be stored on the computer or shared with others – or both.  read more »

The fine people at Brighter Minds Media contacted me recently with news on a new, unique brain training software program for kids (and adults!) of all ages. Brainiversity is a brain training game that stimulates your brain with 16 different activities covering Language, Memory, Math and Analysis. But not only does it provide you with the tools to give your brain a workout, Brainiversity can track the progress of up to six different users on the same computer. Don’t have someone to challenge? That’s okay too. Test yourself daily to see how much better you have become!

Brainiversity was intended primarily for maintaining mental fitness for aging adults, but in the development process it was discovered that kids love it too – which I’m sure my 9 year old would agree, as a day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t ask “When are we going to train our brain today, Mom?”.  read more »

“You can take a horse to water …”

Today’s parents could rewrite this old saying as “You can take a kid to the sink, but you can’t make him brush.”

At least that’s the case in my household! My 5- and 2-year-old make it a habit of shoving the toothbrush in their mouths, taking it out, then rinsing and spitting. Not quite the regimen prescribed by every dentist I know!

But the Hasbro Tooth Tunes toothbrush has changed all that. With age-appropriate songs for your child from 2 to 12, the Tooth Tunes toothbrush plays songs for 2 minutes while your child brushes away. Once the child removes the brush from his/her mouth, the music becomes too quiet to hear. But in the mouth it’s quite the rock concert! My 5-year-old says, “this toothbrush makes my teeth ROCK!”  read more »

I wrote about the NERF Elimination game the other day, and was curious as to what technology has done for the NERF Football. So, I went to my local toy store and bought the only NERF Football they had on the shelf — the nighttime NERF Football with a light inside. My five year-old believes it to be the coolest of all footballs. Well … he is in for a surprise as Hasbro Inc. is stepping it up this year with the NERF brand.

The NERF PEYTON MANNING ROCKET PASS (MSRP $14.99) football which literally lights up the end zone should be a big hit. This NERF is in addition to the NERF PEYTON MANNING VORTEX MEGA HOWLER (MSRP $9.99). Guess which one will go farther than the other? I bet Peyton could throw both end-zone to end-zone.  read more »

The day the NERF Elimination Game arrived it was a day like any other day at the office. It did not end the same as any other day. The office was was filled with laughter, and honestly not much work got done on this day. We had grown adults that were sneaking through the office to ambush their co-workers — that was an absolute joyous bonding experience.

This game was more fun than I originally thought when I first opened the box. It all started when I loaded the first NERF Elimination blaster (or sonic whistle dart, as it actually whistles when it's launched towards its target) into the NERF Eliminator. The Eliminator fit snugly into my hands, and I knew immediately what had to be done — eliminate my co-workers!  read more »

Nashville men have created a look that’s all their own. So what’s next?

It’s no secret that Nashville’s fashion sense is heavily influenced by the music industry. Casual yet fashion-forward, the no stress dress code is our city’s calling card – especially for men.

“Nashville is the most casual of the entertainment centers. It’s closer to Austin than New York or L.A. in what counts as style,” says Coke Sams, filmmaker and partner of RuckusFilm. “We’re easy going and as eccentric as hell. Here you can be comfortable wearing almost anything and people will accept it as stylish.”

Men from all walks of life call Nashville home. This, coupled with the recent influx of transplants from other cities, has caused a cross-pollination of styles and trends that’s begun attracting attention from the media. Now even people outside Middle Tennessee are becoming aware of the “Nashville Look.”  read more »

• by Michele Probst