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By Mom Unplugged, January 29, 2009 1:37 pm

Ugh, I spent the whole morning writing a complicated post and it suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. Not only that, every single post that I had written since September 2nd evaporated also! Nightmare!!

Thanks to the Word Press help forum, I was able to repair the appropriate database and all seems to be back to normal, however I am frustrated and feel like a slug that I spent my precious morning on the computer with absolutely nothing to show for it (except my new knowledge of how to repair a database table).

“Mom Unplugged” indeed. I am grumpy. I shall now truly unplug myself for today. Maybe another day I’ll have the energy to rewrite the destroyed portion of that post.

Now for a cup of tea…

Comments (3)

By Mom Unplugged, January 22, 2009 11:05 pm

See this cute thrift store British guards pull toy that my 3 year-old loves? (Made in England)

It was given to her by my thrift store-loving British Dad.

After February 10th, it will [might??] be illegal.

A quick update on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) situation:

• The Save Small Business From the CPSIA proposition at Change.org was successful! It made it to the top 10 and was presented to President Obama’s Transition Team at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 17th. Thanks to all who voted!

• As of today, there are 18 days until mandatory toy compliance certification is requested. Only 18 more days of legal Etsy, of legal thrift stores, of legal used books (even library books), of legal thrift store clothing, of legal garage sale toys, books, clothes… [???? See NOTE below???] The scope is potentially HUGE. It’s not just toys.

• Please view (and feel free to join, and add to) the Flickr Album of Endangered Toys.

• A list of informational documents to share. Including website badges: square and banner . Please link them back to the handmadetoyalliance.org.

• More on how you can help.

• Put this cute badge on your blog (thanks to Cool Mom Picks, please link it back to her Save Handmade post):

• View a few CPSIA compliant Etsy products here. A $5,496 handmade T-shirt anyone? Or perhaps the $3,370.50 cloth pretend homemade cloth food breakfast set is more within your budget. If that’s still too much for you, rest assured that there’ll always be a Bratz Hair Color Doll (you get brush on hair color for your Bratz and your child, Brush on hair “glitter mascara,” and hair clips … all for a mere $27.97. Still too much? The Bratz World Doll Chloe in “snuggly loungewear outfit” and complete with “beauty accessories” so your little girl can “primp, relax and flaunt [her] fashions” costs only $15.00.

• Ugh.

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If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, here is a brief summary:

In August 2008 Congress passed the CPSIA with the goal of improving toy safety. It bans lead and phthalates from toys and children’s products and also mandates lots of extra testing and labeling. Well, the thought is nice, but in reality only large corporations will be able to afford the certification required. There is no exception for hand-crafted toys, or toys already certified under strict European standards.

The statute is overly broad and will effectively prohibit the sale of handmade toys in the United States. Even German toymaker Selecta has decided that the new law is too burdensome and has already withdrawn from the U.S. market.

If you want to, you can read more about this issue in these posts of mine:

Auf Wiedersehen Selecta (…Good-Bye Hand-Crafted Toys?)

Our Last Selecta Toy

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NOTE: Thanks to alert reader Erika (I sound like Dave Barry) for pointing out my failure to completely do my homework. On January 8th the CPSC published a clarification which apparently exempts resellers from the testing requirement. So thrift stores, garage sales, used book stores and the like should be OK as long as they avoid selling “products that are likely to have lead content.” Here is the exact paragraph:

The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit. Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties.

It is still a bit troubling to me. If I sell some antique toys to collectors on Ebay and one of those toys, unbeknownst to me, contains lead, will I be in violation of the law? My interpretation of this is yes. Hmmm….

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Comments (16)

By Mom Unplugged, January 14, 2009 10:25 am

Thanks to a wonderfully creative music teacher at my children’s Montessori school, the latest fad around our house are little homemade guitars/harps like that shown above. The kids are loving putting different sized rubber bands around my food storage containers and then experimenting with the sounds produced.

The sound reminds me of a kalimba. It’s a little hard on me when I need to put away some food and can’t find any containers, but…oh well. I can adjust.

These simple little string instruments made me think that a post about quick and easy homemade musical instruments might be fun to write. I obviously won’t be anywhere close to covering all the homemade musical options, so if you think of something I forgot, please leave your idea in the comments.

If you are here because you are looking for musical instrument ideas, then be sure to read the comments for more ideas. Unplug Your Kids readers are very creative!

Here are my ideas:

• Let gourds or squash dry out. Once they are completely dry, the exterior will be hard and when you shake them, the seeds will rattle around inside. You’ll have some nice, natural maracas.

• Quick maracas: Fill plastic Easter eggs with rice or lentils and tape shut. Instant shakers!

• Paper plate maracas: Put some dried beans on a small paper plate. Cover with another, upside down paper plate. Staple the two plates together around the edges to seal them shut. Add a cardboard or popsicle stick handle if you want, then decorate. Here is ours:

• Wrap tissue paper around a fine tooth comb and make “Doo-doo-doo” noises through it for a kazoo sound.

• Flip over empty cylindrical cardboard oatmeal containers and bang on the bottom to make a drum.

• Line up a row of glasses and fill each with a different amount of water. Tap them with a spoon and note the different pitches. Play a tune!

• If you have a thin-rimmed wine glass, fill it with water. Wet your finger and rub it slowly and gently around the rim to create your own glass harmonica. It might take a bit of experimenting to figure out exactly what pressure you need, but the results are impressive. Experiment with more water in the glass and less water. What happens to the pitch? What about an empty glass?
  NOTE: Benjamin Franklin invented a mechanical glass harmonica like this modern one based on his design (he called it an “armonica”):

If you have never heard it, you must listen to the rather fairy-like sound of an armonica!

Can you play a tune with several glasses with different levels of water? You might not sound

this good

, but it’ll be fun!

• Blow across a glass soda or beer bottle like you would play a flute. Unless you play the flute, it’ll take a bit of practice. Adjust the angle of the bottle against your lips until you get it right. It will make a lovely tone. Different levels of liquid will produce different tones. What about lining up many bottles with different levels of liquid and playing a song?

(NOTE: Great related link - Bottled Music. This link tells exactly how much water is needed in a twenty ounce bottle to produce each particular note of the scale, and even has instructions for playing Row Row Row your boat on the bottles.)

• Craft idea: Cricket Chirping Sticks:

I didn’t think these sounded too much like crickets, but they do make a cool sound for your musical instrument collection! Learn how to make them here.

• Another craft idea: Sandpaper blocks - Wrap sandpaper around two blocks and attach it to the back with thumbtacks. For easier handling you might want to attach a knob to the back of each block (with glue or screws). Rub the blocks together for a cool sound. Try coarser and finer paper for different sounds.

And of course, the obvious: turn your 2 year-old loose in your pots and pans cupboard for lots of drums, cymbals and noise music.

That’s it for what’s in my brain right now, but Googling “homemade musical instruments” produces lots of cool results.

Here are links to a few of my favorites:

Jingle Sticks

Rainstick

Didgeridoo

Inventing Homemade Instruments with Math and Measurement (a wonderful website that teaches the science of music!)

Artists Helping Children (a very long list of many musical instrument craft links - useful!)

For a book that has some fun instrument games and activity ideas for young (preschool) children to use their homemade (or non-homemade) simple instruments, consider 101 Rhythm Instrument Activities: for Young Children by Abigail Flesch Connors:

NOTE: This is a great book to use with young children, older ones might find it boring.

Comments (4)

By Mom Unplugged, January 11, 2009 10:49 am

Help save hand-crafted and high quality European toys!

A quick update on more that you can do to help revise the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA):

This is really easy, will take you less than a minute, and could be potentially very effective in raising awareness in Washington about the issue of overly broad toy testing requirements:

Go to this link at Change.org:

Save Small Business From the CPSIA

and vote for this cause. The top 10 causes will be presented to President-Elect Obama for review. This issue is currently #4 and so it is definitely in the running! Hooray! Read more about what your vote means here.

You can also put this widget on your blog or website to help spread the word:

If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, here is a brief summary:

In August 2008 Congress passed the CPSIA with the goal of improving toy safety. It bans lead and phthalates from toys and children’s products and also mandates lots of extra testing and labeling. Well, the thought is nice, but in reality only large corporations will be able to afford the certification required. There is no exception for hand-crafted toys, or toys already certified under strict European standards.

The statute is overly broad and will effectively prohibit the sale of handmade toys in the United States. Even German toymaker Selecta has decided that the new law is too burdensome and has already withdrawn from the U.S. market.

If you want to, you can read more about this issue in these posts of mine:

Auf Wiedersehen Selecta (…Good-Bye Hand-Crafted Toys?)

Our Last Selecta Toy

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Comments (16)

By Mom Unplugged, January 7, 2009 7:18 pm

My littlest baby is now three. A “big girl.”

On Monday, just three days after her third birthday, she was scheduled to have her first day of Montessori preschool. After 8 and a half years of continuous togetherness with one child or another, I was REALLY looking forward to that first miraculous day of school for the last one, and the promise of several hours of solitude.

My imagination soared: loud music in the house (and NOT “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”), a good book, maybe even a trip to the bathroom without an audience!

But when I awoke on that much anticipated morning, what should I see out my bedroom window:

Snow. Lots of snow.

Mom of the Year Moment: Was my first thought of the day - “Oh, look at the lovely snowy scene!”

No. My first thought was: “OH NO - A SNOW DAY!!”

I had waited three years for this first day of school and it was going to be a Snow Day! Serves me right doesn’t it? The cruel irony of it all. I just wanted to put my pillow over my head and go back to sleep.

In fact it turned out to merely be a two hour delay, what a relief!

Despite my excruciating Mom Guilt over the depth of my joy on my baby’s first day of school, I was able to pull myself together enough to rock-out in the kitchen to some extremely loud music, unsuitable for children.

I can now set all guilt aside since it turns out that she loves school, and I love my mornings alone. So far, we both seem to be benefiting from the arrangement!