Fisher-Price Discovery Cottage Review

In the 1990s, when our children were young, they had a few very memorable toys and a few of them were by Fisher-Price. I remember a few in particular and one of the first ones was this Fisher-Price Discovery Cottage. 

This cottage was recommended for children aged 12 to 36 months and featured a house with a number of manually activated elements, two chunky Jumbo Little People figures, a person and a dog, and a tricycle. The figures were perfectly sized, bigger than other Little People, which allowed the youngest child to easily grasp them without the risk of choking. 

The house featured these interactive elements:

• A blue front door that opened with a clicking sound and has a hole to put a figure into.
• A rubber doorbell that rang when you pushed the red button. This button was the one part of the house that did not necessarily stand the test of time on a much loved house. Ours was broken from being depressed so many times.
• The opposite side had a garage door that flipped down to allow access for the tricycle to the parking area.
• Beside the garage door, was a butterfly that pushed up and down and made a clicking sound.
• One side of the roof lifted to reveal a bed and another hole, either of which that could hold a figure.
• The other, fixed side of the roof featured a chimney slide for your figure to slide through.
• The final side of the house had a roller that spun and displayed different images.
• Finally, the house had a handle so that your child could carry it around.

Our little ones played with this toy extensively, initially in a very basic way. I can picture my son putting the figure down the chimney over and over and over again. Eventually they played with it in a more imaginative way using the house as a home for the people.

Apparently, there were a few different versions of this house as is evidenced by a commercial that I viewed recently that shared how this toy had evolved in response to the play style of children. That video featured Fisher-Price's slogan that somehow seems very familiar to me, "Fisher-Price. Children taught us all we know."

Beyond the imaginative play, the Discovery Cottage helped my children learn about shapes and  develop hand-eye coordination. If the toy company still made it, I would buy one for baby gifts. Meanwhile, if you want one you will likely have to settle for a used one, which can be found here on eBay. Make sure to buy extra figures because this house could definitely hold more Jumbo Little People!

See you
at the toy store!
Brenda
Treasures By Brenda

Quick Link:

Check out the new, used and vintage Fisher-Price toys in my eBay store.

Jenga Stacking Games - So Many Versions!

Jenga is an addictive building game requiring both hand skills and mental skills. It was designed by Leslie Scott for children and adults to play together. It's an extremely easy game to learn with simple rules and, because it is different every time, it never gets boring. You simply create a tower by stacking the blocks and then cautiously remove one from the bottom of the tower and place it on the top of the tower, hopefully without causing your tower to fall.

In the 1970s, Lesley Scott created Jenga from her own family's building bricks. In 1983, she trademarked Jenga at the London Toy Fair. Since then, according to Wikipedia, over 50 million Jenga games or 2.7 billion Jenga blocks have been made.

Watch this short video in which creator Lesley Scott Speaks about the invention of Jenga:

 

Today, Jenga is produced by Hasbro's Parker Brothers division. It's a great family game that has evolved in some interesting ways. On this page, discover some of the other versions of the family game, Jenga.   Click here to check out all the Jenga games on Amazon.

Basic Jenga Game

In the basic Jenga game, you receive 54 rectangular wooden blocks that are designed perfectly for stacking in a three wide, 18 story tower. Once you've created the tower, you take turns removing a block one at a time and putting the piece back on top of the tower. One wrong move and it will all be over. Order this basic Jenga game from Amazon here.

Jenga Vintage Wood Book Version 

If you or someone you know has fond memories of Jenga, you might want to consider gifting them with this version of Jenga, which is packaged in a book-like box. Unlike the typical Jenga games packed in a cardboard box, this one will last and look handsome on your bookshelf. Unfortunately, this version is out of production and sought after, which means the price has been driven upwards by the laws of supply and demand. I found numerous options for buying the wooden box version of Jenga here, on eBay.

Throw 'n Go Jenga

THE DIE DETERMINES THE MOVE.

This version of the game consists of blocks that are colored in three colors and a six-sided die. When it is your turn, you throw the die and follow the instructions according to the roll of the die. Each color refers to a certain type of move. For instance, if you roll a red on your turn you must move any red or middle block. This game has also been discontinued. Your best source for finding Throw 'n Go Jenga is here on eBay. 

Jenga Truth or Dare Game

In Jenga Truth or Dare, adults play with three colors of blocks - red, green and natural. Play is much the same as in the ordinary version of Jenga but if a player picks a red or green block, he must either complete a dare or answer a question before he may place it pack on the tower. Natural colored blocks have nothing printed upon them and are played as an ordinary Jenga block unless you choose to spice up the game by adding your own truths or dares on them. You can find the Jenga Truth or Dare game on Amazon here.

Jenga Extreme Game

Jenga Extreme is different because of the shape of the blocks. No longer are they typical rectangles but now they are parallelograms. You will create some interesting towers with Jenga Xtreme! Jenga Xtreme is available here on eBay.

Jenga Cubes

Jenga Cubes is a rare 1998 version of Jenga that, according to the box, is a "A Mind Bending Twist on a Classic Favourite that will Drive Your Friends Crazy." It features 25 Jenga cubes that stack inside a plexiglas tower that has slots cut out on alternating sides at each level. The object is to push out a cube leaving the cubes around it in place and the game play is a bit different than a standard Jenga game.

As I write this, Jenga Cubes is not available on Amazon but is available occasionally on eBay. To see today's eBay search results for Jenga Cubes, follow this link.

Collector's Edition Jenga Games

Collector Edition Jenga Games include Jenga games dedicated to many major-league baseball teams, John Deere, Hello Kitty, the Transformers, Tarzan, Donkey Kong, Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas and more. I expect there are more created on a regular basis.  You can see all of the Jenga games available on eBay's by clicking right here.

Have you played Jenga? Which version(s)?

Brenda

More Recommended Games

Harry Potter Clue Review
Harry Potter Clue is actually a better game than the original version of Clue. Find out why here.

Travel to Venice, Italy with Johnny Depp in The Tourist

Excited I was. I was looking forward to going to Venice on December 10, 2010 with Johnny Depp. Did you want to join us?

Along with Johnny Depp, you will find Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell and Timothy Dalton along for the journey.

In the 2010 movie The Tourist, Depp played an American travelling in Italy who was befriended by the beautiful Jolie.  Jolie was, however, trying to fool the people who were trying to locate her boyfriend into thinking that Depp was the one they were looking for...

Billed as a thriller, this movie is also a romantic comedy.

Take two of Hollywood's top stars throw in a bit of Venice...and it looked like a winner. 

So? What do you think? Would you like to go travelling with Johnny Depp? Did you join him in the beautiful city of Venice, Italy or would you like to? Perhaps you would prefer to go with Angelina Jolie?

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda
You Never Know What I
Might Have In Store For You

Quick Links:

Buy The Tourist on Amazon.

Hallmark Hall of Fame and Lifetime Original Christmas Movies

Laid low with the flu and a cold two weeks before Christmas was just not great. However, I did manage to watch three Christmas movies during that time.

It's not too late. If you're looking for a heart-warming Christmas movie, you might want to check one of these out. I did and I enjoyed them all.

Hallmark Hall of Fame's A Dog Named Christmas Movie - This is a brand-new Hallmark movie that was just released for Christmas 2009.  It aired once and is now available for purchase from Amazon by clicking here. A great family-friendly story.

Hallmark Entertainment's A Boyfriend For Christmas - I called this one a light-hearted romantic comedy.  It is family friendly, a bit on the 'chick flick' side. Click here to buy A Boyfriend for Christmas from Amazon.

Lifetime Original's Comfort And Joy Christmas Movie - A highly sought after movie, this one flew off the shelves of my eBay store this fall.  I finally opened a copy to watch it myself and see what the fuss was all about and I wasn't disappointed. Turns out it was another wonderful romantic comedy. Click here to buy Comfort and Joy from Amazon.

Although the last two movies can be called romantic comedies, there is nothing offensive in either of them for family viewing.  You just might be hard pressed to get your teenage guys to watch any of them with you. (I certainly was!)

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda
You Never Know What I
Might Have in Store For You!

An American In Paris Blu-ray Review

An American in Paris was once called 'The Perfect Film.' It shared the honour with the film Citizen Kane. It eventually won six Oscars, including those for Best Picture, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Music and Writing. Sounds pretty close to a perfect film to me! Last weekend, we watched it and I was more than suitably impressed. The film is stunning and I'm not the only one to think so.

To read what else I thought about the movie and what the real blu-ray experts have to say, visit my page, An American in Paris Blu-ray Review.   

To order the movie from Amazon.com, you can click right here to see both the blu-ray and DVD versions.

As I finished writing this page tonight, I realized that I have yet to watch the special features. I'll have to report back on them!

Meanwhile, thanks for dropping in.
Brenda
Treasures By Brenda