We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.
-Joseph Campbell
Sometimes the kids (and my sister-in-law) get bored.
Luckily, we have a yard full of cast-off cicada skins…
Toys? Who needs toys?
It’s never the wrong time to call on Toad.
Early or late he’s always the same fellow.Always good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when you go!
Kenneth Grahame,
The Wind in the Willows
We have an over-abundance of toads in our backyard, apparently. I’m identifying them as Fowler’s toads due to their bounty of warts and light stripe down their backs.
Fowler’s toads are nocturnal and have glands behind their eyes that secrete a nauseating toxin as a defense mechanism against hungry predators. So if your dog or your kid brings you one, you’ll want to wash hands/mouths accordingly. (Your dog’s mouth. Your kid’s hands. Hopefully.)
Toads in the yard are a good thing, though (maybe less so if your kid is bringing them to you in his mouth). A single adult toad can eat 10,000 insects over the course of an average summer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Talk about non-toxic pest control!
A quick online search indicates they smell like unroasted peanuts. I cannot confirm or deny at this time, as I have not thought to give them a good whiff, but I’ll keep it in mind for my next sighting. I should probably also re-familiarize myself with the smell of unroasted peanuts.
And now I want hot fresh-roasted peanuts. They used to sell them at a small produce shop in town and my mom would always buy me a bag… you could smell them from blocks away. Does anyone sell them anymore?
My only beef with my warty friends: they are constantly sitting just outside my doors, patiently waiting to be let in. It’s weird— and dangerous. I’ve accidentally closed one in my bedroom sliding glass door.
I’m glad they’ve come to call, I guess, but… Mr. Toad, perhaps you could text me first? Your perpetual “just dropping in” kinda creeps me out.
The child amidst his baubles
is learning the action of light, motion, gravity, muscular force…-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hey! Your kids bored yet?
Mine were singing the “I’m bored” blues maybe three days into summer vacation.
The good people over at FreemanPR gave me a helping hand, sending me over a Z-Curve Bow & Zing-Shot Launcher from Zing Toys for the kids to test out and review.
Kids can pretend they’re a modern-day, sharp-shooting Robin Hood with the Z-Curve Bow
What’s summer fun without a slingshot? The Zing-Shot
The day the box arrived, the kids were very well-behaved and waited until my workday was done so we could do the whole photographing bit that’s blogging protocol. Their father, however, discovered the package and had these things broken out and outside before I even knew what was happening 🙂
These things shoot FAR (the description says 125 feet, which feels about right.) Jeff was shooting them straight up into the air and you couldn’t even track them; they got swallowed up in the hazy summer sky (and one promptly ended up on the roof, insert dramatic rolling of eyes here).
The tips and slingshot ball are a soft foam, so nobody’s getting hurt, but I still felt the need to remind the kids that these were outdoor toys and please do not shoot your sister.
The shooting is easy and the distance is satisfying, but my kids were definitely not master marksmen right out of the box. In particular, they had trouble maintaining any kind of accuracy with the slingshot, so I would say it’s a good idea to abide by the suggested age range of 8+ so kids won’t be frustrated. Jake guesstimates they make maybe one bulls-eye out of 20, and that’s after quite a bit of practice.
The upside? They’ve been doing quite a bit of practice. Outside. Not in my hair.
Seriously, the classic toys are the best.
Sure, we could fashion our own bow & arrows and a slingshot from tree branches and rope and rubber bands (and we probably will, by summer’s end). But we won’t achieve the same sort of free-flying range we get from these suckers, and I’m not gonna lie: the constant running to retrieve arrows and slingshot balls before the puppy gets them is a major selling point in my mind. Sneaking in some exercise!
Not to mention the whole business of learning about angles, force, trajectory… I mean, I could mention how these sorts of toys are fantastic for helping kids internalize the basics of physics. I could, perhaps, whisper something about predictions and measurable results and statistics and the scientific method. But what would be the fun in that? It’s summertime and the playing’s easy. No need for anyone to suspect any learning is going on 🙂
The boys made a video so you could see the toys in action. (If you’re a subscriber you may need to click through to view the video.)
Enjoy—
Disclosure: I received a free Z-Curve Bow & Zing-Shot Launcher for review purposes, opinions are honest and my own.
The Z-Curve and Zing-shot are available pretty much anywhere you can buy toys (Academy Sports + Outdoors, Amazon.com, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, Calendar Club, Fred Meyer, Fry’s Electronics, Target, Toys “R” Us, etc). The links above take you to Amazon (who currently has the Zing-shot for about six bucks) and if you click through to purchase, I get a few pennies on the dollar. Just so’s you knows.