Brain Noodles from The New Toy – Review and Giveaway (Winner Chosen)

Brain Noodles from The New Toy – Review

Brain Noodles are a twisty, bendy, fuzzy craft toy. Basically, they are giant pipe cleaners that children can use to create an infinite number of projects. They are non-toxic and have no sharp points. Brain Noodles are an “open-ended” kids craft toy, meaning there’s no end to the possibilities of what can be created. This set includes 26 brightly colored noodles and a full color instruction booklet. The New Toy recommends Brain Noodles for kids 5 years and older.

The New Toy is a website that does way more than just sell toys.  They research, find really cool and not necessarily well-known toys.  I love that this isn’t about which toys have the most advertising dollars behind them, they’re all about helping your child develop, teaching them to learn, and helping your child learn how to create an environment where they are entertaining themselves.  There’s so much fun to have as a child. It’s a shame when toys actually take away from a child’s ability to create, pretend and learn.  It’s refreshing to find a website devoted to finding the best toys, not necessarily saturating your child with every toy, but narrowing in on the few that are really exceptional.

The New Toy sent us a set of Brain Noodles to test and review.  My chief product tester (my 4.5 year old daughter) was thrilled with the colorful packaging.  She loved the pictures of all the little animals, and could not wait to get the package open to start playing with them.  When she realized they were fuzzy sticks, she was a little confused.  I showed her how to bend them into shapes to create ponies, doggies, rabbits, spiders, a baby pony… (and on and on!!)  When she realized she could MAKE whatever she wanted she was so excited she couldn’t think of things fast enough.  She’d make something, and then fall in love with it, name it and not want to take it apart.  Of course, right after dismantling it and creating another beloved treasure she was instantly over the grief of having to tear down the previous creation.  It was VERY spirited play and we all had a really good time with them.  From the time the package arrived we spent about 2 solid hours playing together as a family!!  She has been playing with them ever since too.  Some of them have names and have stayed in their current shape for a while, and some are constantly changing and/or completely unidentifiable except by her, but she loves them all.

My prize creation: the Halloween spider, was one she met with much distaste and anxiety until she realized how NICE this particular spider was.  Then Spidey got his own name and she figures he’s a daddy spider (aka “daddy long legs” which are nice and we don’t hurt them).  It’s been SO much fun to see her young mind expand and create.  And I’ve been cherishing this time together.

Here’s a fun fact for you:  did you know that Fortune 500 companies pay BIG money to have leadership teams come in and remind their employees how to be creative?  Newsweek magazine reported earlier this year that creativity is declining in adults in the United States.  “The potential consequences are sweeping. The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed.”

“It’s too early to determine conclusively why U.S. creativity scores are declining. One likely culprit is the number of hours kids now spend in front of the TV and playing videogames rather than engaging in creative activities. Another is the lack of creativity development in our schools. In effect, it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there’s no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of all children.”

Statistics like this frighten me.  I don’t want my child to miss out on becoming creative!  Even my husband commented while we were playing, “this is SO much better than us sitting in front of the TV for two hours!”  It was bonding time, it was time to play and enjoy each other, and it is something we’ll remember for a long time.

I was thinking:  You could probably do this with anything. It wouldn’t have to be “Brain Noodles.”  While Brain Noodles are bright & colorful, soft and easily bendable, and they make you want to pick them up and play, couldn’t you really do this with any random object?

Then I remembered a funny story.  My husband is a telecommunications engineer.  Engineers tend to be left-brained people who aren’t closely in touch with their creative sides (isn’t it funny that he married an artist?)  One year, we were going to the Midwest to visit my family for the holidays. His two sons were with us and we had a few hours to kill at the airport between flights.  Having nothing else to do, I picked up a neck pillow, held it on top of my head pointing up and said, “guess who I am!?”  The boys, who normally always tried way harder to act cool in public, shouted with glee:  YOU ARE MICKEY MOUSE!!   I handed the pillow to my oldest stepson and he held it to his mouth as a smiley face, and shouted:  “AND I’M HAPPY TO BE HERE!”  He handed it to my younger stepson who held it to his head like a telephone, and shouted:  “HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW??”  We were all rolling with laughter within about 5 minutes, totally entertaining ourselves and those around us.  Next up was my dear husband.  He took the pillow and stared at it for a while.  Fearing the loss of momentum in our fun game we encouraged him.  “Come on! What else is it!?”  Finally, after debating with himself for some time he said, “it’s a neck pillow.”  That was all he could come up with.  We still tease him when a situation is lacking creativity someone will yell, “it’s a neck pillow!”  But, the truth is, he had forgotten how to think creatively.  I am happy to report even he had a lot of fun with the Brain Noodles from The New Toy.  So, maybe you can’t just use any random object to spark EVERYONE’s creativity. 

Giveaway

The New Toy wants to give one lucky Gimmie fan an awesome set of Brain Noodles!!

1. Please comment below to be entered to win!
2. Earn extra entries by “Liking” The New Toy on Facebook (and comment below that you did). Be sure to tell them Gimmie sent you!

One winner will be chosen by Random.org on Tuesday, November 16. Good luck!

Update:  Congrats to Tarah Miller who was chosen randomly to win Brain Noodles!!

Check out all the Giveaways going on right now on GimmieFreebies Giveaways!!

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