I have tended to avoid children’s books that proclaim themselves to be ‘for girls’ (or boys), as they usually conform to traditional stereotypes. But Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls – a collection of feminist bedtime stories – is different. And is the children’s book of our dreams. Continue reading Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: A collection of feminist bedtime stories
Month: May 2017
Star Wars Blade Builders: Spin Action Lightsaber
Lightsabers have vastly improved from the Force Beams of my youth.
These were translucent plastic tubes fixed on the end of a red plastic torch with a piece of coloured plastic over the bulb. They only came in Green and Red (despite there being no green sabers until Return of the Jedi), and weren’t even licensed – yet they were so brazen that they not only mentioned Star Wars in their advertising – this ad was on the back of UK Star Wars comics.
Modern lightsaber toys are a much improved product. They have authentic hilts, retractable blades, and flashing lights with saber crackling sounds.
The simple pleasures of these toys are not enough for Hasbro (these toys are also properly licensed now), who have introduced the Blade Builders range, where saber toys can be joined together in increasingly complex and unwieldily forms.
This is the Star Wars BladeBuilders Spin-Action Lightsaber set.
It features a full sized lightsaber toy, a ‘dagger’, two ‘elbow’ joints, and a spinning hilt.
The aim is to basically enable the owner to create their own bizarre Lightsaber configurations. Our daughter is lucky enough to have a few saber toys with the required ‘Blade Builder’ joints, so she put them together. The results were rather difficult for her to manage.
Still, she had fun putting it together and trying to use it. But to be honest, nothing really compares to the joy of staging lightsaber fights of crashing blades with the basic interactive sabers – and trying to do that with one of these contraptions is difficult at best.
As a set, it’s good to have for the extra saber toy, and the light up dagger is nice to. The spinning hilt connector (as seen on Star Wars Rebels) is tricky for a kid to use without the potential for smashed ornaments (well, in a house as compact as ours) but perhaps in a bigger space it would be ok.
=====
Disclosure: Hasbro sent us this product for the purposes of this review
My Sunday Photo – our daughter as Astronaut Tim Peake
In a happy occurrence that supported our continued efforts to teach our daughter about gender equality, she pretended to be British Astronaut Tim Peake this week. Continue reading My Sunday Photo – our daughter as Astronaut Tim Peake
Gender specific colours: In praise of boys who like ‘girl colours’
Among my daughter’s classmates (age 4-5) there are children who have already decided, figured out, or been taught that there is such a thing as gender specific colours – specifically ‘girl colours’ Continue reading Gender specific colours: In praise of boys who like ‘girl colours’
Say hello to my little friend (#MySundayPhoto)
As another summer season beckons, the garden is becoming a place for us to hang out in again. This year, our daughter is 5-years-old, and it’s always interesting to see how her age each year changes how she engages with this outdoor space. Continue reading Say hello to my little friend (#MySundayPhoto)