This is a fantastic opportunity to help foster their growth and imagination. Instead of simply imagining it, why don’t you actually create it? It can be something as simple as cutting long strips of cardboard to color trees on for a forest backdrop. Maybe you can stack boxes or blocks on end to make pyramids, buildings, or even caves!

All you need is a few markers or crayons, some cardboard or building blocks, or maybe even pipe cleaners, felt, and other craft supplies. Aside from all of these tools you will need a vivid imagination. This is something that young children have in abundance. Don’t be surprised if the next time you come home you find your child in a shoe store trying to find trainers for their yeti.

Why don’t you take them to the park or even the backyard and design a treasure hunt or scavenger hunt that will lead them to a tea party or a new toy designed for them to play with their beanie boo stuffed toy. Maybe it’s a new remote controlled vehicle they can strap their toy into for play time?

If your child loves to bike ride, why not attach a basket to their bicycle for their toy to sit in? Go the extra mile and get Mr. Teddy a helmet, too! Safety first, after all.

For big days out, like to an amusement park, the movies, or another big fun day, make sure you record the day with several digital photographs. Then, when you get home, you can make a slide show or even a photo book of your child’s day out with their good friend!

First, make sure you take care of the stuffed toy as soon as it gets dirty. Don’t let stains set in or you’ll have a big mess on your hands. The best thing to do is to spot wash the toy with a warm washcloth and some dish soap like dawn or similar. These mild soaps won’t have a degenerative effect on the toy and will not do any harm to the child.

If the toy is really roughed up and a spot wash just won’t do, put it in the washing machine on an extremely delicate cycle. Make sure you use detergent that does not have heavy fragerences. Don’t use a full load’s worth of detergent either. Tumble dry very low. Don’t give it back to the child until it is fully dry.

For example, I was a girl scout camp counselor not so long ago. During a lesson on animals that lived in the forests in which we were camping I brought out a Russ Berrie stuffed raccoon. It was a good way to bring a hands on visual aid to the lesson. The girls were not only more interested in the lesson but were able to point to the toy and identify markings on the animal.

It’s not just raccoons that can be used as teaching tools. Many of Russ Berrie‘s toys are useful in helping young children learn to identify and classify animals. They can verify that turtles have shells by pointing them out on the toy, and their knowledge of giraffes, sharks, and other living creatures is extended as well.

Toys aren’t just for playing anymore. But thinking back on my own childhood, I think they were always helpful teaching aids and I was just too busy having fun to notice.

Like this little guy, for instance. Stegosauraus probably weren’t quite as cute when they actually existed, but this one is sure making up for that. And your kid  can imagine he’s back in time, exploring the vast jungles of the world with his buddy, maybe coming up other interesting dinosaurs.

Or maybe his dinosaur has time traveled to the future to spend time with him and he can explain all the neat things that exist in our world today. The story can go so many ways, but one thing is for certain, he’ll really love spending time with his Russ Berrie. You might have a hard time separating him from his buddy, but you can always give him more so there a whole company of friends!

Sure, but they’re rich, famous, and have news cameras following them at every waking moment. That doesn’t mean they aren’t normal people who once led normal lives. In fact, they all had favorite toys!

John Travolta’s favorite toy was an airplane that actually had a stewardess near the door. Cedric the Entertainer loved to play with GI Joe action figures. The appeal being the fact that the arms and legs moved and you could change their “cool” army outfits. Haley Hasselhoff spent her childhood decorating cupcakes that came out of her Easy Bake Oven with sprinkles! Zooey Deschanel actually had to give away her Nintendo so that she would stop playing Zelda.

Of course, they aren’t the Beanie Boos or Russ Berrie toys of today, but these toys were special and important to these big name celebrities just like those beanies are important to your son or daughter. Who knows, in a couple of years your son or daughter could be getting dogged by journalists asking what their favorite toy was as a child!

Think of what your child could do with a Russ Berrie stuffed dog or cat! Maybe you want to go off the beaten path and get them a turtle beanie boo or a different kind of animal. Perhaps a giraffe? You don’t need to have traditional toys to have a good play experience or to learn and use your imagination. Comedian Steven Wright jokingly said, ”I didn’t get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway instead. You couldn’t see anything, but every now and then you’d hear this rumbling noise go by.”

It’s a magical world that kids can create. Instead of pushing them in a specific direction, encourage and support their imagination. Cultivate their imaginative playtime and buy toys that can help foster that thinking.

Some of the most popular accessories are actually clothes! Just as little girls like to dress up their barbie dolls and other baby dolls for entertainment it is now a popular past time of young girls to buy little outfits for their bears and other stuffed animals. It’s not just little girls either, young boys can have different outfits too! There are companies that make all kinds of clothes, everything from firefighters to tinkerbell and chefs to skateboarders.

These outfits make the play much more imaginative and more focused. You can also get specific toy accessories that go along with play that aren’t clothes. Toy manufacturers are creating vehicles like trucks, cars, and bikes for the stuffed animal variety! There are also playhouses, activity sets, and coloring books that can help out with play time!

If you know a boy or a girl who loves their stuffed animals you should consider getting them some toy accessories to help them play!

Donating things like stuffed dogs and stuffed cats to these charities is good for everyone involved. You get a chance to make a real difference in a child’s life. It may not seem like much but a simple stuffed animal can improve a child’s mood, and even their life. Having creature comforts, like a little cat to hold when you’re scared, are things that some people take for granted. Those less fortunate appreciate these small things in big ways.

If you have the opportunity, you should try to donate more than just once every year during the holidays. You should donate often! This ensures that children who’s parents might not be able to afford birthday presents can get a gift even during the spring or summer when donation drives are held are less often.

Something that is as simple as a stuffed toy to you may mean the world to a child.

So, when it came time for my birthday, I wanted a party that incorporated my love of stuffed animal toys. My mom threw a stuffed animal party for me. All of my friends came and brought their favorite stuffed toys. There were stuffed cats and dogs, teddy bears and dinosaurs, princesses and popples. (What? I said it was the 80s!)

Anyway, it was a really great time. We played pin the tail on the teddy bear, had animal crackers and teddy grahams, and I even had a stuffed animal themed cake specially baked for me by my grandmother.

You can do the same for your kids! Think of some fun stuffed animal games. Throw a tea party, have some cake, and send everyone home with an adorable, new Russ Berrie stuffed friend.