BLOGMANIA SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT: Heirloom Wooden Toys (**EXTRA BONUS ENTRIES**)

**** HEIRLOOM WOODEN TOYS****

I am the mother of a little boy who is just now learning to use his imagination.  Noah is little boy with lots of energy, an inquisitive mind and soul full of life and passion.  With the temperatures in Dallas soaring well over 100 degrees for nearly 40 days straight ~ and no rain in sight ~ the opportunity to play outdoors has been extremely limited.

Luckily, we had the great opportunity of receiving a fantastic historical, and eco-friendly, fort from Heirloom Wooden Toys that is perfect for indoor play. Manufactured by MyFortBox.com, the Tower of London measures about 48″ x 45″ x 56″ tall. It is a good size, so make sure you have a nice place to construct it!

The fort was quite easy to setup, but I think that a couple of diagrams would have helped quite significantly with a 20 month old running around you anxious to see it completed!  We hoped to construct it while he was asleep, but I tend to get exhausted by the end of the night being 9 months pregnant!

Constructed completely out of a thin cardboard, this Tower of London is completely recyclable, making it green and mama very happy.

Upon building the castle, Noah went ballistic! Running around and screaming with excitement, he crawled in and out of the fort multiple times and had a great time peeking his head through the windows and drawbridges.

My husband and I would alternate who would hide inside the fort with him, while the other snuck around and surprised Noah as to which window we would pop our head through. The squeals just made me laugh and is a memory that we will never forget.

The fort sits in our unfurnished dining room, the perfect set for such a structure. It’s quite funny to watch Noah finish his breakfast or dinner and then ask to be let down so that he can quickly run and play in the fort once again!

Even this morning, while 9 months pregnant and with an aching back, he runs to the fort, runs back to me, and then stands in the hallway pointing back to his Tower of London and says “mama” ~ No rest for the weary ~ Yet a great hit with our little man!

          

In addition to the great fun that he has had inside the fort, the Tower of London also comes with 5 washable markers so that your child can color it as he or she pleases. You can see the lovely self-portrait of “mama” in the tower window and the great time that Noah had drawing on it himself. Unfortunately, he didn’t know when or where to stop and had to be put in time-out after coloring all over our walls. Good thing those markers were washable!

Here is a video of Noah and Daddy coloring on the fort and having a great time:

For the older child, the fort also comes with a real quill feather and instructions on how to create and use invisible ink! I would have LOVED this when I was a child!

Finally, to make the fort your child’s own, a deed is provided to bequeath ownership! How fun!

We had (and still do) a great time playing with the Tower of London castle!

MY FINAL THOUGHTS?

First and foremost, I love that Heirloom Wooden Toys is not only a family-owned business, but also makes a concerted effort to provide earth-friendly toys that promote creative play, both indoors and out, while teaching a bit of history!

I loved the Tower of London fort. I think that it would be more apt to provide crayons rather than markers…as well as some diagrams for construction, but other than that, the fort was extremely easy to setup and Noah has had such a wonderful time playing with his new historical fort.

MY HUSBAND’S FINAL THOUGHTS?

He, too, had fun roaming around with Noah, but he did worry about Noah paper-cutting his little fingers on the holes within the cardboard that are used to pull the windows and doors closed.

Otherwise, he said that he would have loved to have one as a kid ~ and being made out of cardboard ~ and easily able to setup and breakdown was perfect for the home!

Although Heirloom Wooden Toys only has this one fort available on their site, they do have a plethora of other great eco-friendly toys and products, to encourage and promote your child’s imagination! Put down the handheld games, turn off the TV and peruse the wonders that we all had when we were a child!

                               

                                      

Buy the MyFortBox Cardboard Tower of London now for $39.99 with only $5 shipping or Free Shipping on orders over $99!

OR **WIN** one during BlogMania!

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