Too Much Awesome

The weather is getting warmer and that means summer is just about here and when I was a kid that meant one of many things. It meant summer vacation, wiffle ball, roller blades and, of course, remote controlled cars. Back then you were lucky enough just to have an R/C car, but now you can [...]

Funny how toys come about, isn’t it? As we all learned last week, Mr. Potato Head started as cereal prizes attached to real vegetables. A similar history surrounds the foam-based line of projectile (toy) weapons and soft sports balls: Nerf. In 1969, an inventor by the name of Reyn Guyer approached Parker Brothers with an [...]

Kyle and I touched on the Super Soaker during Episode 5 of the Too Much Awesome podcast, as well as during Kyle’s list of his Unattainable Toys from youth, but it’s summer now and along with that has unfortunately come heat. Fortunately for us kids and adults pretending to be kids, the Super Soaker still [...]

Not long ago I found myself at my Norwegian professor’s house for a barbeque with other Norwegian students (ja, jeg kan snakke norsk, er det bra?), and during said barbeque the weather was just nice enough to make full use of his backyard for some bocce ball. I had never played, but apparently I was [...]

Hey everyone out there: Spring’s coming up incredibly fast. Did you know this? Did you also know that along with spring comes good, or presumably better, weather? Well it does. That means that kids are once again going to want to be outside, so that means I need to give a rundown of more good [...]

Everybody is going green these days. It’s rather trendy to say the least, so it’s no surprise that toys are following the trend and selling big when it comes to eco-friendly categories. If you’d very much like to give your kids something fun to play with that they’re guaranteed to enjoy plus is quite possibly [...]

I was insanely jealous of anyone who had a Power Wheels as a kid. Sure, I was fairly content with my Hot Wheels, but how was I supposed to compete with those kids that could ride around in their toy and laugh at me? I couldn’t, that’s how. And why? Because Power Wheels were beyond [...]

I’ve been hung up on video games a lot lately, and I apologize for that. There’s just been an abundance of games getting released in such a short time frame. Plus, it sounds as if half the US has been snowed in for a while. To make up for all this sitting around in front [...]

Before I review the Step 2 Waterwheel Play table, allow me to digress….Right up there with favorite memories of playing in my next-door neighbor’s sand box on a Florida summer afternoon is playing in our backyard pool.  The water was so refreshing and a fine escape from the heat of the day. Then I grew [...]

The Toy Industry Association just handed out its annual awards and, since I’m wishing for spring, I’m focusing on outdoor toys today. The winner of Best Outdoor Toy of the Year is Crayola’s 3D Sidewalk Chalk. Now, who doesn’t love sidewalk chalk?  For me there are memories associated with May parades with huge areas covered [...]