Playpennies
Are you a Playpennies.com follower? If so we’re offering you an exclusive Playpennies discount code for use on the Grasshopper Toys website. Just type Playpennies into the codes box at the checkout and receive 10% discount on your order, plus free P&P n all orders over £35.00. Every little helps, as they say at some store or other!
If you are on a frugality drive whether for the fun of cutting costs or because you really need to, you might want to sign up for the Playpennies newsletter, they blog daily about parent-focesd bargains to be had.
Facebook and Twitter!
As part of our ongoing effort to expand; Grasshopper Toys Ltd has expended their social media outlets to include facebook!
Keep your eyes open for discounts, codes and competitions by following us on facebook today at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Helensburgh-United-Kingdom/Grasshopper-Toys-Ltd/145849512103054
We look forward to seeing you!
Blinding you with Science!
Check out our new science kits from Australian based companies DNA Helix and SYANCE. There’s a great range in stock including Forensic ‘who dunnit’ style kits, Slime kits, and terrific Biology kits which teach you how to extract your own DNA.
While we’re on the subject of science (is there any other subject?), we also have a great range of kits from Interplay including the very popular Perfume Laboratory, Slime Factory and the Wild Physics and Cool Chemistry Laboratory. Oh and don’t forget the Ant O’ Spheres – what a cool way to watch ants as they live their busy lives.
Grasshopper Toys Recommends The Woodland Trust Website
Have you visited the Woodland Trust’s website? If not, then hurry up and hoof it over there!
It is a terrific resource if you are heading out into the British countryside for the day and want some sparky ideas as to what to look out for and what can be done to keep the kids interested and active.
We particularly like the Nature Detective section and would recommend signing up for their email newsletter; it’s packed with some terrific free activity sheets which are printable.
If you’re feeling flush and want to offer a modest financial support to this wonderful organisation there is also the option to sign your kids up to the Nature Detectives Club.
If your kids are budding photographers they have the opportunity to win a digital camera by entering their best photos in the Nature Detectives Wildlife Photography Competition. Entries Close at Midnight on 30th September 2010. Good Luck!
Our apologies to our foreign followers, the Woodland Trust is a British charity and is therefore, unsurprisingly, focused on British wildlife, but nevertheless many of the activities could be adapted for your locale too.
Latitude Enfant Arrives with Grasshopper Toys
Our range of glorious toys and baby goodies continues to grow with the arrival of the Latitude Enfant products. Honestly, these Squeakers, Rattles and Cuddly Blankets from the Baby Wooly range are just gorgeous.
Have you ever seen a cuter blanket?:)
There are eight characters to chose from:
Alice The Mole Cuddly Blanket
Mona The Cow Cuddle Blanket
Julien The Dog Rattle
Sacha The Cat Rattle
Lucien The Bunny Squeaker Toy
EzyRoller Arrives At Grasshopper Toys
The EzyRoller has arrived at Grasshopper Toys and we think they are brilliant!
Designed in New Zealand, the EzyRoller combines the control of a bike with the fun of a scooter to give a ride like no other you’ve ever had!
Not a luge, not a bike, not a scooter, the EzyRoller moves like a snake, without chains or pedals, using easy right-left leg movements. There are no chains and no batteries – the EzyRoller moves and turns silently.
It offers the enjoyment of new locomotion possibilities that can’t be experienced on any other bike or ride-on.
The EzyRoller is suitable for kids from the ages of 4 – 14, whilst the EzyRoller Junior is perfect for toddlers from the ages of about 18 months – 36 months.
EzyRollers and EzyRoller Juniors, thanks to their award winning patented design, are silent and durable, They use top quality materials and engineering.
The only problem we can see with the EzyRoller is they don’t make them in Lady sizes:). Uhm.
Both the EzyRoller and EzyRoller Junior retail for £79.99 with Free P&P.
Blinding you with Science!
Check out our new science kits from Australian based companies DNA Helix and SYANCE. There’s a great range in stock including Forensic ‘who dunnit’ style kits, Slime kits, and terrific Biology kits which teach you how to extract your own DNA.
While we’re on the subject of science (is there any other subject?), we also have a great range of kits from Interplay including the very popular Perfume Laboratory, Slime Factory and the Wild Physics and Cool Chemistry Laboratory. Oh and don’t forget the Ant O’ Spheres – what a cool way to watch ants as they live their busy lives.
The Budkins Visit Grasshopper Toys
Yes, it’s true, we are so excited to be stocking the Le Toy Van range of toys, including those cute little figures the Budkins. You have to give it to the folks at Le Toy Van, they really do know how to create beautiful wooden toys.
Whilst we would never want to point the finger of favouritism at any one of these cuties, we do have to make give a special mention to PC Hanson and Robin the Robber. Oh my, we can’t begin to imagine how PC Hanson would manage to keep tabs on that infamous rogue Robin the Robber if it weren’t for his wonderful new Police Van.
Check out the Le Toy Van range at Grasshopper toys, we have dolls’ houses, the Honeybake range, Fire Play sets, Fairy Play Sets and much, much more, as they say.
Dr Hal’s Trump Cards have Arrived
We were introduced to Dr Hal’s Trump cards by our great friend Lou who blogs here. We were so excited by these cards we simply had to stock them ourselves.
Essentially there are four different sets of cards:
Dr Hal’s Chemistry Trump Cards
Dr Hal’s Recycling Trump Cards
Frankly they’re brilliant fun as well as being highly informative. The recycling cards are rather thought provoking when you look at the sheer volume of ’stuff’ which we recycle to varyingly successful degrees. My kids love them and even my six year old as able to play convincingly.
Dr Hal’s Chemistry Trumps is a trump-card game with thirty two chemical elements of the Periodic Table as the subject of the game.
The game consists of 32 playing cards each with an element. The elements used are 1-20 plus 12 others from across the periodic table. Each playing card has a picture of the relevant element either in its native form or in some type of application.The trump factors are Atomic Mass, Danger Factor, Usefulness Factor, Melting Point and Year of Discovery. At the bottom of each card are some ‘Elementary Facts’, designed to give the player some insights into the element and provide takeaway knowledge. All the factors and the facts have been meticulously researched by Dr Hal and the research overseen by RGB Research Ltd. to ensure an excellent playing experience for participants, and the game is backed up by downloadable teacher’s notes.
The element cards are: Hydrogen (H), Helium (He), Lithium (Li), Beryllium (Be), Boron (B), Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N), Oxygen (O), Fluorine (F), Neon (Ne), Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Aluminium (Al), Silicon (Si), Phosphorus (P), Sulphur (S), Chlorine (Cl), Argon (Ar), (Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu), Arsenic (As), Bromine (Br), Tin (Sn), Gold (Au), Mercury (Hg), Lead (Pb), Bismuth (Bi), Plutonium (Pu), Americium (Am), Fermium (Fm).
The game is suitable of all scholars of chemistry and maps directly onto the Key Stages 2/3 of the National Curriculum and is relevant and informative to all chemistry learners.
Dr Hal’s Biology Trumps is a trump-style game based on organisms, organs and cells from the largest to unicellular organisms from across both plant an animal kingdoms, and as the subject of the game. The game is designed to facilitate biological discourse between players and provide an aid to study and revision. The game maps onto the National Curriculum, and has been designed after consultation of focus groups of pupils and teachers.
Each card comes with the picture of the organism/organ/cell, then five trump factors and Biology Factoids; small packets of takeaway knowledge about that particular organism.
The card subjects are:
Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
Flea (Ctenocephalides felis)
Tarantula (Bracypelma smithi)
Ostrich (Struthio camelus)
Giant Salamander (Andrias davidanus)
Ghost Crab (Ocypode quadrata)
Giant Squid (Architeuthis japonica)
Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
Coral (Dendronephyta klunzingeri)
Bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis)
Human Red blood cell
Human White blood cells
Human Platelets
Human Neurons
Influenza A virus
Salmonella enterica
Yeast (Saccharomycetales)
Human Sperm
Human Ovum
Ladybirds (Coccinella septempunctata)
Human Eye
Human Taste Buds
Human Muscle Cell
Paramecium (Paramecium Aurelia)
Escherichia coli
Krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica)
Honey Mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae)
Stinking Corpse (Rafflesia arnoldii)
Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)
Tapeworm (Taeniarhynchus saginatus)
Box Jelly Fish (Chrironex fleckeri)
Dr Hal’s Recycling Trumps is a trumps-style game with 32 recyclable items as the subject of the game. This is an ideal way of getting children to learn about recycling through play, and maps directly onto Key Stage 3 of the National Curriculum.
There is a picture of each item and some recycling factoids on the card to engage players curiosity and provide some takeaway learning outcomes.
32 recyclable items are:
Type 1 Plastics – PET (Polyethyleneterephthalate)
Type 2 Plastics – HDPE (High Density Polythethylene)
Type 3 Plastics – PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)
Type 4 Plastics – LDPE (Low Density Polythethylene)
Type 5 Plastics – Polypropylene
Type 6 Plastics – PS (Polystyrene)
Lead
Aluminium Drinks Cans
Steel Food Cans
Mobile phones
Cooking oil
Newspapers
Clothes
Green Glass
Clear Glass
Brown Glass
Garden waste
Computers & IT equipment
Aluminium Foil
Tyres
Paper Drinks Cartons
Paper and Cardboard
CDs & DVDs
Cars & Car Parts
Paint
Food
Engine Oil
Waste Electrical Goods (WEEE)
Wood
Ink Cartridges
Batteries
Yellow Telephone Directories
Trump Factors: ‘Green Factor’ is out of 10, and relates to the benefit of diverting that waste material away from landfill. The higher the Green Factor the greater the benefit. ‘Ease of Recycling’ is out of 10, and relates to the recyclability of that waste material due to the availability of appropriate facilities in the UK. ‘Total Waste Generated’ refers to the average annual UK tonnage 2007/2008. ‘Average Commodity Price’ is an average of the 20072008 commodity price.
Dr Hal’s Physics Trumps is a trump-style game based on physics phenomena with a sub-topic of energy. The game is designed to facilitate physics discourse between players and apply the physics principles of mass, energy (power) and speed to both human-made and natural physics phenomena. The game is suitable from Key Stage 3 and above, up to A Level. It is an ideal learning tool and aid to revision and study.
There are many learning outcomes from playing the game, one of which is grasping the huge spectrum in number values and some understanding of Standard Index Form, for example by comparing the mass of the sun with an electron. Masses are expressed in kg and energy in Watts but also where appropriate with SI prefixes denoting milli-, micro-, nano-, pico-, mega-, giga-, terra-, peta-. There is also a key to all the SI unit prefixes on the back of the title card. These items are normally taught at Key Stage 4 (age 14) but the game can be played at Key Stage 3 (age 11) without difficulty.
The cards were researched by Steven Kilgallon, a Physics Educational and Technology Facilitator within the Creativity Centre of a leading UK University. The research was overseen by Dr Stuart Ansell, Research Physicist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot UK.
The game consists of 32 cards each of which concerns a physics phenomenon. The card has a picture of the item then five trump factors which are the subject of the gameplay. These are:
Power Output (Watts)
Mass (kg)
Cost (UK £)
Date built/created
Expected Lifetime
The card subjects are:
The Sun
Wind Turbine (Enercon E126)
Wave Energy Converter (Pelamis)
Mars Rover
Battery Storage System (BESS)
Space Shuttle
Blu-Ray Laser
Eurofighter Typhoon
Trident Nuclear Missile
Airbus 380
LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN
Eurostar Train
Nuclear Power Station (Sizewell B)
Black Hole M87
Crab Nebula Pulsar
JET Fusion Machine
Z Machine
Solar Power Plant
Radio Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
Oil Tanker (Jahre Viking)
Tunguska Meteor Impact
Three Gorges Dam
Texas Petawatt Laser
Horse Power
Quad-core Processor
MRI Scanner
Shanghai Maglev Train
Giant Crane (Mammoet PCT111)
Saturn V Rocket
Bugatti EB 16,4 Veyron
International Space Station
Lightning Bolt
At the foot of each card are some physics factoids which provide novel takeaway knowledge from the game and promote discourse and discussion
Well we love them and we think you will too!
Grasshopper Toys Blog
Welcome to the Sizzling Science Blog for Grasshopper Toys Ltd.
As we orientate ourselves over the Christmas period and pick up the pace for the New Year, we will be bringing you a whole range of fabulous science experiments to excite and stimulate through the dark winter months.
Watch out for our product reviews as we run the ‘Tested by Scientists’ challenge for our favourite products and don’t forget to sign up for our monthly newsletter. You may be lucky enough to win our Monthly Prize Draw.
In the meantime, we wish you and yours a truly wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
Regards
The Grasshopper Toys Team
