Hello Sunshine! by Thinkfun

     From early infancy to the toddler stage, physical growth and motor development are occurring at their most rapid pace.  Between walking, running, climbing and jumping, the toddler years are a time of major development of gross motor skills.  While watching our children develop these vital skills is an exciting experience, it also provides us with an important signal that they are on the right track developmentally.  But, to master these movement skills, notes pediatrician Tanya Remer Altmann, author of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) book, The Wonder Years:  Helping Your Baby and Young Child Successfully Negotiate the Major Developmental Milestones (Bantam Dell, 2006), children require lots of practice.  Both Altmann and other pediatric experts agree that toddlers can be helped along the way with a variety of gross motor-specific activities and games.
     Thinkfun, the creators of the Roll & Play™ (please take a peek at my 2012 review of this lovely, first game for toddlers:  http://amodestmommasmusings.blogspot.com/2012/05/thinkfun-roll-play.html) have taken these developmental milestones to heart yet again, and have created a simple, yet amusingly fun game called Hello Sunshine™.  The game is ideally played with two or more players, and it contains a stuffed, soft plush sun-shaped toy called Sunshine; 18 double-sided cards with different hiding spots printed on each side (there are a total of 36 hiding spots) and a parents guide.

      To play Hello Sunshine!™, each person reads one of the cards, for example, one card may state, "On top of my head."  Player must then hide the sun on the top of their head, and then, they will have to ask, "Where is Sunshine?  Sunshine's on top of my head!", and so forth.  While playing this game with our neighbors children (ages two and four) during a recent play date, I discovered that the more focused the children are, the longer you can make this game last (which was most definitely the case with these children, as they are huge fans of similar games like, "Hide and Seek" and many of those made up, spur-of-the-moment types of scavenger hunts.  The early childhood educator in me appreciates the fact that just as with other Thinkfun products that I have had the pleasure and privilege of playing with my own child over the years, Hello Sunshine!™ playfully introduces little ones to those important positional words that help to promote movement. 
     The cards are well made, and extremely durable for little hands to grip and hold on to.  The little Velcro pouch located on the bottom of the sun provides you with a handy storage area to keep the cards all together.  This charming game will most assuredly have you and your little ones laughing and learning for a long time!
     Hello Sunshine!™ is suitable for children ages 18 months and up, and retails for $19.99.  For further information about Thinkfun's line of educational toy products, please visit their website at: www.thinkfun.com