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We're always on the hunt for new indulgences to delight your grandchildren. In this week's must-have list, we've added a great game, a thoughtful way to connect, cute clothes, and a little convenience.
By Susan Avery
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Hardy Boys, look out. The world of forensics and "CSI" has taken the concept of police work to a more intense place and kids are certainly as caught up in the wave as their parents. Scholastic, ever the innovator in educational toys, brings forward an idea to keep the curiosity and deductive reasoning skills going: Spy University. Think of it as a book-of-the-month club, but better. Every month, your grandchild will receive a package full of spy-themed material and gear to keep them nosing around for hours. The first kit includes the Trainee Handbook, fingerprint cards, a motion detector, a combination telescope/microscope, and a nifty attaché for storing it all. Plus, clubbers will have exclusive access to Scholastic's spy Web site. Beware the reconnaissance missions to your bedroom.
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Price: $4.95, then $12.99 for every month thereafter. Order at shop.scholastic.com, 800-SCHOLASTIC (800-724-6527).
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Some grandkids are non-stop blabbers and others need electroshock therapy to pry more than one-word answers out of them. Welcome TableTopics Family. This nifty little box contains a multitude of provocative questions to focus the blabbers and stimulate the silent types. Just try sitting around the dinner table and asking: Which is more important, intelligence or common sense? What is the story behind your name? What event in the past or future would you like to witness in person? When is it OK to lie? The clear acrylic box holds 135 question cards, enough to keep the conversation going through middle school. But silence will not be had among adolescents, either. Thankfully, there's also TableTopics Teen, which asks such daring questions as: What personality trait has gotten you in the most trouble?
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Dressing up the baby is no longer limited to button-up shirts and frilly dresses. Even a casual day around the house can be replete with style. Girasole Designs, the company that's known for its character-driven stationery, has taken the concept of simple line drawings with a sense of humor and entered the clothing business with one breakout design. This baby bodysuit is all about bold color and a storybook motif. The combed cotton fabric features the company's signature playful images on the front and echoes the theme on the sleeves and the back. A cat and mouse, for example, sit on the yellow belly side, while cheese triangles grace the sleeves and flipside. A perfect bedtime onesie has a sleepy owl by a full moon, accompanied by a pattern of stars. To make them baby-friendly, there are no tags to bother little necks. To make them even more grown-up-friendly, they're machine washable and dryable with fade-proof colors. Think of it as onesie upmanship.
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There's nothing like a germ-phobic new parent to make grandparents roll their eyes in disbelief. After all, wasn't this the very same person who ate Cheerios off the kitchen floor and made washing her hands before dinner a major chore? To minimize parental angst, take along this nifty hand sanitizer when visiting the new baby. CVS, the ubiquitous pharmacy, just introduced this pen-shaped spray that requires no water to kill 99.9 percent of big bad germs on contact. The added aloe keeps grandparents' hands moisturized as well, pleasing both babies and their wacky parents. (Don't worry, we also wonder if these are the same children we raised.)
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