Fun Toys for Creative Kids #GiftGuide

Looking for something fun to stimulate the mind of a creative child? These are a lot of fun, and we think your little Eisenstein will get a lot of play out of them.

imaginative play

One of our all time favorite toy companies, Schleich, has all sorts of new toys this year. That is in addition to the many amazing playsets and figures they already had- these don’t go out of style. For the child interested in dinosaurs, horses, farm life, sea life, Roman history, and so much more, these incredibly detailed figures are perfect for creative play and collecting.  The Schleich’s Wild Life range allows kids to walk through the wilds of the Savannah, take a safari, and see lions, zebras, and rhinoceros.  Individual animals are also available. Horse lovers will love Schleich’s Horse Club , which lets them take these majestic animals to tournaments and festivals, win best in show, feed and take care of them in stables, and more. Dinosaurs, sea life, Fairy wonderlands, and more are all available. Visit https://www.schleich-s.com/en/US/ to see what your child will enjoy.

girls toys

Kuroba, a new collectible that is a mix of Shopkins and BeyBlade, is newly available. Small and easy to put away, these toys are 16 different cube-shaped characters with funny, expressive faces and personalities. The toys are featured in a show on the Kuroba YouTube channel, where kids can watch the series of 1-4-minute shorts. The line includes a Training Pack to practice and enhance their skills, a Battle Pack for battle, and a Klash Arena playset to battle their Kuroba.  Find out more at https://playmatestoys.com/brands/kuroba/

hotwheels playset

Hot WheelsTM 50th Jumbo MegamatTM  is perfect for the car collector or enthusiast. This set comes with 2 HotWheels die cast cars, a foam mat with a city and roads that lets kids drive all over and go exploring without ruining your floors or tables, and is easily wiped clean. This is a special 50th anniversary playmat that comes with a collectible Hot Wheels poster. For ages 3+, $29.99.

family puzzles

For kids who like to make things fit or create, TCG has a beautiful line of puzzles for fans of any age. You can find all sorts of themes, from new hits like Fingerlings to classic skylines and everything in between. Kids or adults and whole families can get together and work on these. In addition, TCG has a puzzles and campaign to benefit the Autistic community, involving Autism Speaks and Autism Speaks Canada since 2016. For some autistic people, puzzles help calm and stimulate, so it is a wonderful fit. Prices range from $3.99 for a 200 piece puzzle to $7.99 for a 1,000 piece puzzle.

underwater camera

For older kids that like to capture life, or adults who are on the go, travelers, adventurers, or anyone who would like a virtually “accident proof” camera built for life, check out GoPro. The new HERO7 Silver camera is basically the best priced holiday gifting camera. It features all the high-quality 4K video and 12MP photo, as well as GPS, voice control, electronic image stabilization, and more.

tough camera

At $299, HERO7 Silver gives you performance at a doable price. It goes where you go, underwater, into mud runs, ziplining, downhill skiing- you name it. Videos and photos are detailed, and you can opt for ultra-long time lapse video in 4K, as well as slow-mo in 2x or short videos that are easy for sharing.The Short Clips feature captures 15 second clips- easy as that. You can zoom, get selfies, burst shots, use a timer, and so many more features. Did I mention that (of course) there is an app for that? If that’s a little too expensive for you, the $199, HERO7 White is another option that still gives you tons of options for less money.

 

How to Choose the Best Low Light Cameras for Travel

Using smartphones to capture images in low light will probably show disappointing results. Shooting with a simple Smartphone’s camera will provide you with poor quality pictures. While traveling, there are many views of evening or night times that one would want to capture. For high-quality images at these circumstances, one should be using a low-light compact camera. A camera with advanced optics and sensors will make you able to capture more realistic results in low light. So, you should be using the best low light cameras for traveling to capture exactly what you see. Here, I am providing you with some tips to consider. They will surely make you able to select and buy an amazing camera to capture fascinating photos during your travel.

Flash using Cameras:

Try to look for the cameras which show amazing results without using flash. Most of the time, flash usage in low light ruins the beauty of the scene. There are many low light cameras with a harmonized system which deliver beautiful results without using flash. So, select the camera after checking its low light result without flash.

Blur images:

Capturing handheld pictures in low light may result in blur images and pictures. Look for the cameras which have large aperture lenses to achieve sharp results. Also, the presence of an intelligent IS in a camera makes you able to shoot handheld fascinating pictures without any kind of blurriness.

Camera’s Size:

During traveling, carrying a lot of luggage is a much difficult task to be done. So a camera that you are going to buy especially for a better traveling experience should be smaller in size. Moreover, it should be easy to handle as well. A big sized camera will take more space in your bags and will also be much difficult to carry. Thus, you should prefer a smaller and lighter camera for traveling.

Higher FPS:

The best camera for traveling would be the one which has settings with higher frames per second. By higher FPS, you can click a number of pictures quickly. You can either select the better one later or it can also help you to make GIFs. But don’t always use your camera in a higher FPS mode. It will fill up your SD card with a lot of pictures much faster.

LCD screens or Viewfinders:

The cameras used to have small viewfinders before. They are actually useful in finding close up views of a scene. But now the cameras with large LCD screens are much better. Some cameras also allow rotating or folding out the monitor. It helps you to take better images by holding a camera higher or lower than your face. Folding monitors can definitely give you a better angle of whatever you are shooting.

Conclusion

All features explained above are very essential. But the best thing to look in a camera is its battery life. A camera that is specially used for traveling must have a longer battery life. Moreover, a spare battery should also be there with you during long travels.

Arlo – Keep An Eye on Your Home

Disclosure- I received the below in order to facilitate this review.  All opinions are my own and honest.

Have you ever been away from home and got the horrible feeling something bad is happening at home?  Normally this nagging feeling can be written off as paranoia or just nerves but what if?

Well how do you go about making your home safe and sound without paying  monthly fees? The answer comes from one of the biggest names in computer networking- Netgear.  They have created Arlo.  Arlo is a network device which interfaces with your smart phone or any device with internet access.  Arlo is made up of from one to 4 HD wireless video indoor/outdoor cameras and the internet ready device.  After plugging in and setting up Arlo, the fun part is finding the best spot for your cameras.  We picked some great ones and the easiest part is all you have to do is place them around.  There are no wires to figure out how to plug in or communication cable that feed back to the base unit.  All you need to do is power them on and plug in the base.

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The part that honestly took the longest was downloading and setting up the app for our smart phones, which was still incredibly quick.  The entire setup took about a total of an hour for both phones and the unit itself.  This home monitoring system gives you peace of mind. The way Arlo works is that once you leave the house or go to sleep, you set it to wake up upon motion,  When the cameras pick up motion, an notification gets sent to your phone where you can easily pick up the video feed and see whats going on.
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Best Buy the destination for the latest cameras and camcorders

Disclosure- The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

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Shopping season is in full swing, and with that the mad dash for the perfect gift is upon us all. For the photographer in your life, there are a ton of options available. So many that it can be unnerving at first sight. Luckily enough, Best Buy is here to help with their knowledgeable staff and Holiday Gift Center.

Today we will look at a few of the camera options by some of the hottest in manufacturers.

First up is the new Nikon D5300 DSLR w/18-55mm VR Lens. This camera is a DSLR with built-in Wi-Fi, so you can capture high quality photos and share them quickly and easily. This Nikon D5300 DSLR camera comes with an AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II lens that enables you to capture sharp photos and video footage. Optical image stabilization helps prevent blurring to ensure image clarity.
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