Stomp Rocket

** A Geek Daddy was provided the featured product for free to review**

My kids and I ventured over to the neighborhood park to play around with launching a Stomp Rocket.  No need for gasoline or batteries to fuel this toy as the Stomp Rocket is 100% kid-powered.  The energy created from stomping on a launch pad will utilize air pressure to have rockets soaring up to 150 feet into the sky.  Foam tips on the rockets provide for a safe landing when the rocket returns back to Earth.

We had a competition to see who could get our Stomp Rocket to fly the highest in the air.  The harder you stomp on the launch pad the higher the rocket will soar! So I have to admit with my weight advantage, dad probably had a bit of an advantage over the kids in this contest.





Ha Ha - Yeah I won! A Geek Daddy wins in the end!



Stomp Rocket is easy to put together and simple to use but also introduces children to some complicated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) educational concepts such as gravity, force, and trajectory.  Discuss with children while they are launching their rockets about how what goes up must come down through gravity, that force which is created by stomping on the launch pad determines how high the rockets fly, and that through setting the launcher at different angles the trajectory can determine if they'll fly higher or farther.  Plus Stomp Rocket will get kids out of the house getting exercise running and jumping in the fresh air.  Our whole family enjoyed playing around with the Stomp Rocket.  A product that has kids learning and exercising while having fun has to get a thumbs up!

The complimentary Stomp Rocket pack we received to test out from D & L Company LLC, home of the Original Stomp Rocket, was the ULTRA LED version.  Along with the launching pad came four rockets, each containing an LED light within the tube -- batteries included -- that lit up as they shot up into the night sky making them fun to play with after dusk.  You can pick up STOMP ROCKET ULTRA LED by heading to select Dick's Sporting Goods stores.  Visit DicksSportingGoods.com to find a store near you.

For more then 25 years, Stomp Rockets have been encouraging kids to have fun by running, jumping and stomping through selling more than 5 million of the toys.  More information about this toy is available at StompRocket.com

SKYLANDERS SUPERCHARGERS race onto store shelves TODAY!

Skylanders® fans with a need for speed should look no further -- a brand new version of the popular video game franchise arrived at stored today that provides online multiplayer and racing gameplay for the first time. Available at major North American retailers nationwide beginning Sunday, September 20, 2015,  Skylanders SuperChargers takes kids on a wild ride as they drive the mountainous terrains, dive the deep sea environments and fly the big blue skies of Skylands like never before with amazingly detailed vehicles, many of which feature moving parts that will play in the real world and come to life in the game via the Portal of Power®. While this is a new addition the franchise that needs the purchase of a Starter Pack parents will be pleased to know that Skylanders SuperChargers is forward compatible with all 300+ unique toys from all previous games – Skylanders® SWAP Force^™, Skylanders® Giants, Skylanders® Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders® Trap Team. 

Developed by Vicarious Visions, Skylanders SuperChargers expands upon the franchise’s signature gameplay to introduce vehicles-to-life -- an entirely new way for fans to experience the magic of Skylands. The trailblazing innovation of Skylanders SuperChargers is realized when players take the helm of powerful, tricked-out land, sea and sky vehicles that are playable in both the physical and digital worlds in a high octane action-adventure videogame. Skylanders SuperChargers offers a rich story-driven gameplay experience filled with vehicle-based and on-foot adventures, combat, puzzles, mini games, activities and platforming, set within a variety of all-new compelling environments. The game features a brand-new class of heroes that is distinct with fresh moves, powerful attacks and all-new weapons.  SuperChargers also have special in-game abilities that help Portal Masters fight Kaos.  Twenty new SuperChargers character toys and 20 new vehicle toys will be available.  Right out of the box, the game also features an all-new Racing Mode that blends high-octane, supercharged racing with combat, accentuated by power-ups, boosts, hazards and more.

 

Players can also purchase Racing Action Packs that unlock additional content. A total of three Racing Action Packs, one for each terrain, will be available for $34.99 MSRP and each will include three special toys -- a SuperCharger, vehicle and villain trophy which unlocks two exclusive racing tracks for the game. The first of the three packs, the Skylanders SuperChargers Sea Racing Action Pack, will be available at launch.

 “Remember when you were a kid and pretended that your toy cars came to life, zooming around your living room on the most epic racetracks of your imagination?” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing in a press release provided to A Geek Daddy. “Well, we are about to bring that fantasy one step closer to life with Skylanders SuperChargers. We are reimagining toys-to-life by bringing race cars to life, along with helicopters, motorcycles, jet planes and submarines, as you race through Skylands and compete against other players for the first time. Our fans are going to love playing this game. I know I do.”

To celebrate the arrival of Skylanders SuperChargers and the addition of racing to the franchise, Skylanders became the official partner of racing champion Max Chilton for the season finale of Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. Chilton, a 24-year-old former Formula 1 driver and fan of the Skylanders franchise, blazed the tracks of Laguna Seca in a Skylanders-themed race car on September 12-13. “SuperCharged” Chilton shattered Tony Kaanan's 1997 track record in the qualifying race, broke the race lap record set by Helio Castroneves in 1996 and ended the season on the Indy Lights podium for Carlin. Skylanders also “SuperCharged” Enea Bastianini from the Gresini Racing Team to take the win at the San Marino and Riviera di Rimini GP in Italy, his first career victory in the Moto 3 World Championship.  Bastianini will take to the track again in his Skylanders SuperChargers-branded race suit at the Aragon Grand Prix in Spain on September 25-27. 

Skylanders SuperChargers Starter Pack will include two new Skylanders characters, a first-of-its-kind Skylanders vehicle, a newly designed Portal of Power® and the full AAA game. Skylanders SuperChargers will be available for the PlayStation^® 3 and PlayStation^® 4 computer entertainment systems, Xbox 360^™ and Xbox One^™ video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, and Nintendo’s Wii U^™ system for $74.99 MSRP.  As a bonus for Nintendo purchasers, that console's game packs some extra star power as it includes two of Nintendo’s iconic characters reimagined as Skylanders -- Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and Hammer Slam Bowser -- available exclusively in Skylanders SuperChargers Starter Packs for the Wii U system, and in
Skylanders® SuperChargers Racing Starter Packs for the Wii system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

Skylanders SuperChargers Dark Edition Starter Packs also will be available in North America on September 20 for $99.99 MSRP. All Dark Edition Starter Packs will include Dark Spitfire, Dark Hot Streak and the highly sought after Kaos Trophy which is the only way to unlock special gameplay content, plus a two-sided ultimate collector poster. The Dark versions of the Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and his vehicle, Barrel Blaster, will be available in the Wii U Dark Edition Starter Pack; Dark Hammer Slam Bowser and his vehicle, Dark Clown Cruiser, will be available in the Wii Dark Edition Starter Pack.

Skylanders SuperChargers Racing, a complementary racing experience, will be available on September 20 for Nintendo’s Wii™ system for $74.99 MSRP and the Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system for $64.99 MSRP. The addition of Donkey Kong and Bowser as guest stars in the new game, along with their specially created vehicles, will be available exclusively in Skylanders SuperChargers and Skylanders SuperChargers Racing Starter Packs for the Nintendo platforms. The SuperCharged characters not only work in Skylanders SuperChargers, but will also work with select amiibo-compatible Nintendo games with a simple twist of the character’s base. 

Fans of the Skylanders franchise can also choose to purchase the Digital Portal Owner’s Pack, available on September 21 for $49.99 MSRP for connected consoles, and use the Portal of Power they already own to play Skylanders SuperChargers. The download of the Digital Portal Owner’s Pack provides a great way for returning players to enjoy Skylanders SuperChargers on the platform of their choice. On October 25, the full Skylanders SuperChargers game will also be available on select iOS devices including iPad®, and for the first time ever iPhone® and iPod touch®.  Skylanders SuperChargers will also be available on Apple TV® this fall.

Child Sleep Training - Dream Team Pets Mighty Lion Helps Kids & Their Parents Have A Good Night

My 5 year old son had been sneaking out of his room after bedtime and slipping into bed with my wife and I in the middle of the night lately.  To help alleviate the problem we gave the Mighty Lion from Dream Team Pets a try to see if that might help him stay asleep throughout the night in his own room.  My son really enjoys watching Detroit Lions games with me so we thought that was the best selection out of the Dream Team Pets line-up which includes a playful puppy, magical cat and the mighty lion.  These aren't just toys though they are part of a program that is aimed to help children sleep through the night in their own rooms.

The way the program works is you explain to your child that they are supposed to train their Dream Team Pet to sleep through the night without running into mom and dad's room.  You are provided with a book to read together with your child and their new pet that explains how they need to work together to sleep through the night.  It also advises that the pet is strong and brave enough to scare off any monsters that might be creeping around in the night.  A certificate is provided with star stickers to place on it each night they sleep through the night together.  Parents are supposed to fill out the Certificate of Achievement and present it to the child and their Dream Team Pet when they've earned enough stickers to demonstrate they've slept alone in their room for ten nights.  The goal is that by the tenth night it has become a routine that will become the child's regular behavior.

We've personally had some decent results with the program and while I can't say yet it has eliminated the problem there has been a noticeable improvement.  My son takes a great deal of pride and is really excited when he earns a sticker.  The Mighty Lions has also become one of my son's best pals, not just at bedtime but all day long.

A Geek Daddy Blog readers receive a 30% off discount on Dream Team Pets from Amazon.com if you use the promo code: USFGUIDE.  CLICK HERE to pick one out for your child.

The only problem we had with the Dream Team Pets was that I didn't pre-screen the bedtime reading book before I started reading it to my son.  It really has a focus on the pet scaring away monsters that may lurk under the bed, in the closet or in a child's dreams.  I didn't really appreciate that because "monsters" weren't an issue until this book made him think about them and it really highlighted a scary aspect of sleeping alone. So it actually created somewhat of a new problem for us for a few nights.  He soon forgot about the monsters as I didn't read the book again and made up my own stories about not being scared at night that tied into his sleeping with his new buddy the Mighty Lion.  Now if monsters are an issue for your child it is a nice little book to read to them but in our case my son was mostly scared about being alone in the dark.  I felt the book could have highlighted other issues beyond being scared of monsters to address childhood fears of sleeping through the night. So I'd just recommend reading the book by yourself before reading it to your child to see if it is a good fit for your particular situation.

The Dream Team Pets provided us with a structured child sleep training program so my wife and I didn't need to create our own ad hoc solution to a problem.  Since he's been excited every morning to get his special sticker, has developed a bond with his toy, and most importantly slept through the night in his very own bed the last five nights, this product gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval.

At $19.99 Dream Team Pets are a reasonably priced option to assist with getting your child to sleep on their own through the night.  Plus you can get an additional 30% off by using the promo code USFGUIDE and purchasing through Amazon.com.

DISCLAIMER:  the story about my son not sleeping through the night is true and  the opinions are my own.  A Geek Daddy Blog did not receive financial compensation for this post but did receive a complimentary Dream Team Pet for reviewing the product on this blog through the U.S. Family Guide Blogger Program.  A positive review was not required for our participation in this marketing campaign.