My 9 year old son Lucas got a camera last weekend when we went to Best Buy. He’s been wanting one for awhile and after all his hard work to get on the honor roll how could I say no? Besides that he had a shiny Best Buy gift card just burning holes in his pockets. He is so in love with his little camera, he took hundreds of pictures with it already.

If I recall correctly the Disney Pix Max Pirates of the Carribean III Digital Camera holds 200 pictures, and he’s emptied it twice already and it has pictures on it again, and it’s almost full and ready to empty yet again.

I made a folder on my flickr account for some of his pictures, titled By Lucas. That gives me two little budding photographers now, Dylan and Lucas both have their very own cameras.

His first picture he took with the camera was a self portrait;

He spent an entire day taking pictures of Ethan and testing things out since Ethan is a little ham and doesn’t mind;

And then off to the park to show off his new camera to his friends and get some pics;

The pictures taken outside definitely come out better than the ones he takes in the house. They aren’t going to take great wedding photos for your scrapbook, but for a 9 year old that just wants to snap pics of his friends and pets it’s pretty darn good!

Who knew that three little megapixels could bring such joy? Lucas is happy he has a camera to call his own, I’m happy it didn’t cost me a small fortune! So far I’m happy with the purchase as I am with most Disney gear purchases. It’s got a tough case, it came with everything he needed, and it even includes a kid friendly easy to use photo editing program, which we haven’t played with yet. You can use the program to add borders and Disney characters to your pictures so that should be fun for the boys to use.

I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews about these little Disney gadgets online. I’ll admit he has only had the camera for a week, so I can’t say that it’s going to last forever, but then again I don’t expect it to last anywhere near forever either. It’s basically a hi-tech toy. I’ve read a lot of places saying they are for pampered little rich kids with lots of money to spend. Sorry, my kids are not pampered, and we certainly don’t have a lot of money to spend! Far from it. Gees, it’s not like I bought him a new car for goodness sakes, it’s an inexpensive little camera for him to have some fun with. Remember fun?

: camera, kid’s camera, disney, disney electronics, digital camera, kids, photography

Other nifty Disney digital gear you might be interested in:
Pirates of the Caribbean Pix-Click Digital Camera
3.0 Megapixel 747 Disney Pix Max Pirates of the Carribean III Digital Camera
Disney Pix Micro Digital Camera (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Disney Show Pix - Pirates of the Caribbean

Disney Princess Pix Micro Camera
DISNEY PIX CLICK TINKERBELL- Purple & Green BELIEVE Version
Disney Pix Click Digital Camera - Hannah Montana
Disney Princess Digital Movie Maker

I’ve been eyeing the AntWorks Illuminated Ant Farm since before Ethan’s birthday on the 12th of this month. It’s the sort of thing I know both he and Lucas would like to have in their room. Lucas is the kind of kid that has to take things apart to see how they work, and will stare at an animal for hours and just watch what it does… and occassionally will rip the wings of a fly to see what it does flightless. Ethan is the sort of kid that likes to poke things with a stick. ‘Nough said there. And Dylan and Noah have a frog habitat in their room, so it only seems fair that Ethan and Luke get something too, right? And it’s better than icky old sea monkeys any day.

That’s not all … vat19 has lots of cool stuff for the kiddos big and small. Like the watermelon smencil that my husband quickly claimed as his when I got it, and took it too work so I can’t even borrow a sniff. Which, by the way is made from recycled newspapers, very cool! OH! And the color flame candles that I used on Ethan’s birthday cake… so pretty! They would have made a great picture if he hadn’t blown out the candles so fast with his wish!

[tags]ant farm, cool kids stuff, kids stuff, ants, smencil,

The holidays are coming up and there have been so many toy recalls that parents heads are spinning. I bet the market research department at the video game companies are just over joyed with the thought of all these other toy recalls! The thought of video games and mindless hours in front of the television is definitely better in comparison to a toy induced coma from aquadots or serious lead poisoning from your toy car! Bring on the video games!

Okay, so it’s not World of Warcraft, and it’s not highly advanced in it’s graphics. But it’s small, portable, cute and it will occupy the kiddos for a little bit while you get some work done. You don’t need kichler lighting to see that this little gizmo is pretty cool. Even better is that it’s affordable! Under $20 for the unit itself and games are roughly $10 a piece. Not to shabby for a little gaming break now and then on the computer.

See, this cleverly designed gadget connects right into your USB port and the games go into the controller. No need for clunky video game units and pricy games to add to it. Of course if you are a die hard gamer and you crave realistic graphics this isn’t for you. If you’re looking for something you can plug into the PC on your lunch break or to entertain the kiddos for a little bit while you vacuum or run errands then this Net Jet Online Gaming System is perfect for you!

: netjet, gaming, video games, pc games, pc gaming, pc video games, inexpensive video games

Okay this little gizmo is pretty darn cool. My kids love all things Disney and I admit to being swayed by the little mouse ears on several of my purchase decisions in the past year.

Now, my oldest two kids have refurbished ipod nano’s that my mom bought them for their birthdays last year. The younger two however have been bugging me to get them ipod’s too! Sorry but I’m not into forking over that kind of cash for my 6 year old to tote around some tunes and feel grown up. Disney to the rescue with a solution. Disney Mixsticks allow your child to listen to music in two different ways.

The first way to play songs is by the SD/MMC card slot, this slot plays WMA/MP3 songs that have been saved to SD/MMC cards. You can also buy SD/MMC cards that already come preloaded with music onto the cards. The Disney Company sells them under the name of Mix Clips. The Mix Clips offer the convenience of a full CD’s worth of songs in one little SD/MMC card.

The second way that the Disney Mix Stick plays songs are to take them directly from your computer. To do so is very easy, simply take the end off of the Disney Mix Stick and plug it directly into your computer. Any songs from your computer that are in the MP3/WMA format can be loaded unto your Disney Mix Stick just like any other MP3 player! It also comes with software to load to your computer to help you with the copying of music files from your computer to your Mix Stick MP3 player.

Because it comes from Disney I can trust that it’s going to be sturdy and not break five minutes after my kids take them out of the box. Oh yeah, guess what’s on my Christmas shopping list?!? The one pictured here is the High School Musical version, kids everywhere from the Outer Banks to LA know the words to every song in this darn movie. I’ve actually been surprised by the age ranges this movie has encompassed. Way to go Disney. My kids love this movie as much as I love Grease, it’s definitely amazing.

But, if you kid isn’t a High School Musical fan, no worries. There are plenty of other Disney designs to choose from your Mix Stick including the infamous Disney Princesses. Or if you want to be super cool you can get the plain chrome design. And dare I say that this little MP3 is cute enough that I might even get one for myself!

: Disney gadgets, kids MP3 player, mix stitch, Disney Mix Stick, High School Musical

Series of games put out by MicroSoft ™. The child puts together zoos including the animals’ habitat and also has to be responsible for making sure that the animals needs and needs of guests are met.

Kids of all ages will learn so much from this wonderful series of games put out by MicroSoft ™. The child puts together zoos including the animals’ habitat and also has to be responsible for making sure that the animals needs and needs of guests are met. Graphics are awesome especially in Zoo Tycoon 2 where you can get up close and personal.

Not only does the child care for the animals but has to train zoo keepers, hire maintenance workers, add decor, put up stands - and make sure they are a profit and not a loss. So, it’s not just about the animals, but a little of a business strategy and understanding how things work too.

Zoopedia gives an in-depth look at each animal as well as their classifications; genus, species, family, etc. Players take the time to make sure that the zoo guests are satisfied and if not, find out what they want and get it for them.

The Zoo Tycoon series is an awesome experience for any child, but especially those who love animals. It also brought attention to endangered species, which can lead to an interest in individual books about endangered species, tigers, pandas and more and an all around interest in what to do for these animals.

I have no criticism of these products. In my opinion this series of games is a very well rounded and educational product that not only allows a child to have fun but gives “true” learning. And it’s not just for kids, but for kids of all ages. Yeah, that means you’ll have fun playing too!

I think I am getting to the point where my kids have more gadgets than I do. My oldest has not only a gameboy, but his very own ipod, digital camera, radio/cd player, alarm clock with features (that he stole from my nightstand!) and all sorts of other little doodads and gizmos that make him one happy little 10 year old. Definitely no need for a DNA test on him, he’s definitely mine. Poor little geeky skater kid. Of course the one gadget he really wants, a cell phone, he does not have because I just don’t see the need for it.

Honestly, despite my jealousy over him having his own ipod nano (and me having no ipod at all) I have to admit that I’m glad the kids are learning their technology at a young age. When I was there age there was no such thing as technology for kids, or at least that’s how it felt. Maybe I should word that differently, it wasn’t encouraged the way it is now. They use the computers at school for all sorts of things, tests, reports, projects, they even search the web when they have a question in class. It’s fantastic and I think the bits of technology do have something to do with our kids learning way more than we ever did at their age. Dylan is only 10 and going into 5th grade and he knows more algebra than I ever learned from 1st grade all the way through college!

: gadgets, kids, kid gadgets, kids technology, computers in school. ipod nano, ipod