Camping in the living room!

Connor has a thing about getting "inside" things. It all started with my parent's end tables which Connor had the best time trying to sit inside of them while he watched TV. So I knew I had to get him an indoor "tent" so he would leave my furniture alone. The only problem with that is though tents are tons of fun especially when there are multiple kids to play for the most part its usually just me and Connor playing.

International Plaything's new Yookidoo line of toys are as beautiful as they are multifunctional. This is apparently clear with their new Yookidoo Discovery Playhouse. Part indoor playhouse, part ball toy, part shape sorter. There is something new to do every place you look and Connor has a new favorite activity it seems every week. At first Connor just used the Discovery Playhouse as a place to hide and read his books, eat cereal, or just jump out at me when I walked past it. It wasn't long though before he realized just how fun the "activities" are and ever since I loose him a good 45 minutes a day as he is constantly learning how to use something new on the Yookidoo Discovery Playhouse. His first activity involved the spinner on the back side of the playhouse. At the height of playtime he loves to get the spinner going full blast and then peek out at me through the little holes in the tent.

The other activities involve a the balls that are included with the Yookidoo Discovery Playhouse. The first is a ball drop where you can put the balls in the slot at the top of the playhouse and the balls will twist and turn all the way to the bottom and pop out the side of the playhouse. Though this is incredibly fun Connor at the moment prefers taking the "rails" off about ten minutes into playing which is really my only complaint about the entire Yookidoo Discovery Playhouse though I'm positive once he understands this feature of the playhouse that situation will resolve itself as he will realize it really is more fun to watch the balls travel down the rails than removing them. The other activity allows you to drop the balls into slots on the outside of the playhouse and you must use a set of keys included with the playhouse to open the little trap doors on the inside to get the balls out. Each door is color coded to the correct key and each key is a difference shape so they basically work as a shape sorter as you must match them up to open the doors. This took Connor awhile to master but its his favorite game to play with his grandfather and I usually find them playing with those little doors every time I come home from school when he is here.

The best feature as far as I'm concerned with the Yookidoo Discovery Playhouse is the fact that it folds completely flat so you can easily just fold it up and store it in a closet if you have company coming. I also love the fact that because it has several activities other than just being an indoor tent it has a huge extended play life. Connor usually devotes somewhere around five to ten minutes on any one toy at the moment as 18 month old have a very short attention span. With all there is to do in the Yookidoo Discovery Playhouse its not uncommon to find him playing with it for thirty to forty minutes at a time and he will come back to it several times a day or even just hide in it with his favorite stuffed friend. It's also one of those toys that would be just as entertaining for a one year old as it would be for a three year old as what is a playhouse right now who knows in a year or two it may be a "castle" or "police station" for our imagination play!

The Yookidoo Discovery Playhouse is available directly from International Playthings!