why Usborne Books & More and discovery toys?

The girls and I were fortunate to spend a lot of time this summer with my side of the family. My sister, Kristin, and my beautiful niece, Katharine Grace, traveled from California and stayed for almost 8 weeks. Kristin is my only sister and she has been living with her husband in Los Angeles for the past 12 years. The distance is hard but since we both started families of our own we have tried everything imaginable to see each other as often as possible. 

During our time together my mom kept introducing various toys for the girls to play with while we were visiting. Some of the toys I could vividly remember playing with as a child and I was shocked at how well they held up over the years. I asked my mom where these toys came from and she kept repeating, "Oh that's from Discovery Toys." I told her I wished we had a Discovery Toys store close by and that is when she told me Discovery Toys was a company she was introduced to before I was born at a home party. She said it was the coolest concept because this was when Tupperware parties were all the rage and then one of her friends hosted a toy party. My mom fell in love with the high quality toys and even signed up to be an independent consultant. She never started selling because shortly after she found out she was pregnant with me and they were moving to Columbia, South Carolina since my dad had been promoted at work. She kept all of the toys for us to play with and I am so happy she did because it led me to research Discovery Toys and see they are still a vibrant company whose passion is child play.

I decided I was going to sign up as an independent consultant because I wanted the discount to buy toys for emmy and elle. With my background in education I know it's important to have high quality toys that are kid-powered. "Kid powered" means the majority of Discovery Toys are made without batteries and children use their own imaginations to decide how they are going to use the toy. I wanted to start our own collection of kid-powered toys and I thought signing up as a consultant was the best way to afford this investment for my daughters.

A week later my kit arrived and I was blown away by the information I read in their, "Crisis in Play" notecards. To sum up the purpose of the cards, our society is faced with a growing crisis in our children's ability to think and learn today. Kids need unstructured play time to foster creativity and promote crucial 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. Play helps children express and process emotions as well as enhance their social skills and build upon their cognitive skills. Also, play that is active is critical for kids' physical development. I knew I wanted to do more than just build our own stash of great toys once I read through these cards and explored the products that were sent along with my kit. I decided I would try my hand at selling after talking with a few friends who were also in direct sales. I have never considered myself a sales person but I believe in the importance of child play and I believe discovery toys truly cares about children and their futures. I decided to add my shopping pages to emmyandelle.com because I had already planned on starting a blog and figured I could create a place for people to come and not just read my posts but also explore the world of discovery toys and Usborne Books & More. 

Discovery Toys has been in business for almost 40 years and they continue to make amazing toys, games, and books for children. One of my Principals would always say, "education is constantly evolving and teachers need to make sure they are changing to meet the needs of all their students." I believe Discovery Toys does the exact same with their products by changing and enhancing them over the years. Toys are like education, always evolving to keep children engaged by building upon their basics. An example of this is with two of their products that I played with as a child and emmy and elle were introduced to this summer. The Giant Pegboard and Place and Trace are some of the first toys which were made by Discovery Toys. I have posted pictures below of emmy and elle enjoying the new version and the old version of these toys. Discovery Toys is always coming out with new toys but they never stray far from their central theme of being kid-powered. 

I felt like it was fate when I saw on Facebook a former colleague had become an Usborne Books & More consultant. I have always loved Usborne Books because they are not only beautiful but hold up exceptionally well in the hands of toddlers and school-aged children alike. I was about to contact my friend about hosting a party when it occurred to me I should consider becoming an independent consultant for Usborne since I had started to create emmyandelle.com. I want to make a site known as a one-stop-shop to find quality books AND toys for children. I have been blown away by how amazing and supportive the community of Usborne Books & More has been since I joined. The team leaders are available to answer all questions or to direct me to where I need to go to find a resource. I wanted to expand our family library and I am amazed by their vast selections of titles, collections, and interactive books for all age ranges. This company definitely makes my teacher heart very happy. 

An idea I believe connects Discovery Toys and Usborne Books & More is children need more time being "unplugged" from screens and electronics. Don't get me wrong, I will never preach to you the importance of being "Unplugged" when emmy and elle could basically be co-pastors for the Church of Daniel Tiger. Everything in moderation, right? Right. But it is also important to me that not all of their make believe play comes from scenes they saw in the, "Neighborhood of Make Believe." (Ding, ding.) I want to introduce you to toys and books which will enhance your child's imagination and I hope to be able to do that with the help of discovery toys and Usborne Books & More. 

Now that I have introduced you to the companies, it's important for my readers to know I will not only explore Discovery Toys and Usborne Books & More since I am an independent consultant. If there is a product which I think will enhance your child's imagination and creativity then I will definitely showcase it on overwhelmed blog and you can decide if you want to test it or pass. Also, you will never be pressured to purchase anything from one of my shopping sites. If you do then let me say in advance thank you and that is awesome! I know your children will love the toys, games, and books BUT if you are here to solely read the blog then I am beyond happy to have you! Overwhelmed blog was my original plan for emmyandelle.com and like I said in my first post... I am super excited to see where it takes us! 

Emmy and elle hard at work building towers with their giant pegboard. this is truly a toy that grows with the child and comes with a variety of activities. turn it over and it can even become a geoboard. 

Emmy exploring the updated and older version of place and trace, a multipurpose toy from Discovery Toys 

the best sound- "mommy, look at our tower!"