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Your Mama Likes Toys Inspired by Darwin

By Maria on October 20th, 2009

I must be totally naive, because I thought evolution was something all kids learned in school—no matter what. It turns out that’s not the case. And when it is, those “theories” aren’t taught until late elementary school or middle school.

My son loves dinosaurs and sea creatures. (He really calls them “sea creatures”.) When Charlie’s Playhouse offered us a Giant Timeline Floor Mat to try out, I happily accepted the chance to review it. I wanted my son to begin learning about where dinosaurs came from and where they went.

Also, I’m really bad at science so I hoped to learn something in the process.

gianttimelineThe Giant Timeline is well, giant. It stretches out to 18 feet long. You can lay it out along the floor, you can stand it up like a sort of fort in crazy shapes, or you can read it like a book. Once my son got over the novelty of the giant long strip of pictures, we’ve mostly enjoyed reading it like a book.

The Giant Timeline covers 600 million years of evolution. It uses kid-friendly illustrations and has phonetic pronunciation. (Great for quickly learning that you’ve been saying amoeba wrong all your life.)

One Night in the Tropics hd

At three and a half, my son is just shy of the recommended age. He’s really into “creatures” and very patient being read to, so he’s really enjoyed the mat. My husband sits down and reads him all the interesting little facts. I don’t think he’s catching onto much of it yet, but he really enjoys the crazy-looking animals. I’m excited that this toy will age with him as he begins to read and starts to understand that these aren’t fantasy creatures at all.

Here’s my son the first time he saw the mat:

At around $50, this is a pretty big investment for a book. If you have a child into science or you’d really like to supplement your young kid’s education with evolution, I think it’s well worth the price. (Ask grandma for it as a Christmas gift?)

I love that it does double-duty as a more physical toy, and I love that the material is interesting to me as well as my kid.

The Giant Timeline recently won two Tillywig Toy Awards the Top Fun and Brain Child categories.

Charlie’s Playhouse was founded by Dr. Kate Miller, a mom with a PhD in demography from U Penn and a masters in Public Health from Columbia University. In other words, she is approximately 400 times smarter than I am. Kate says, “I learned about evolution and natural selection at my mother’s knee, and hope to pass that on to my kids.” I think that’s pretty cool.

Check out their videos on YouTube to learn more about the Giant Timeline and Charlie’s Playhouse.

Free Stuff Alert

Charlie’s Playhouse is giving away a Giant Timeline Floor Mat, valued at $49.  Recommended ages 4-9.  US only please.

To enter you MUST:

For extra, optional entries you can:

Contest is open to US residents ONLY. You must leave a valid email address to enter. Contest ends October 27th, 2009 at 12 p.m. Eastern. A total of five entries are possible. Your entries must follow the rules as stated above or your post will be deleted.

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About the author:  Maria is surrounded by boys. She gets all aflutter when she finds good deals, new episodes of Gossip Girl, and big bold bottles of red wine. Read more from this author.

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Category: Toys
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129 comments to Your Mama Likes Toys Inspired by Darwin

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