From the Manufacturer

Crawl through the barn door to start the fun on the farm – feed the friendly cow, flip the light switch, and meet all the farm animals. In the Learning Mode, baby learns early academics through each activity. In the Music Mode these same activities play music and encourage baby to play along. And in the Imagination Mode these activities teach baby experiential learning through fun role play and realistic sound effects. The alphabet, counting, opposites, animals, colors and more will be provided through this two sided role play toy. Farm comes with 3 shaped pieces for shape sorting and 3 eggs for chicken coop drop.

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From the Manufacturer

This Play set will help celebrate the 50th Birthday of Little People thru a unique carry along play set that reflects the style and look of our first Farm. The Play set container will have a blend of plastic and tin metal. The container will be of a lunch

Do you remember? Take a trip back to the farm with your little one. Join some of your favorite childhood friends as they celebrate their 50th birthday with a commemorative play set designed to look like the farm you remember. Even the figures look like they used to! Its all to help remind you that its great to be little

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From the Manufacturer

With fun animal sounds all around and plenty to do, little ones will discover what a busy place the farm can be. As toddlers grow, they’ll learn about life on a farm that’s just their size, with Farmer Jed and his animal friends! Figures are surface washable with a clean, damp cloth.

With fun animal sounds all around and plenty to do, little ones will discover what a busy place the farm can be. “Neigh” says the horse,”baaa” answers the sheep, “cluck!” chirps the chicken, “moo” … says the cow, “oink!” … squeals the pig. They’ll even discover what some of the animals feel like, when they pet the “cottony” cow, “hairy” horse, “woolly” sheep, and the “squiggly” piggly tail! From “furry” to “fuzzy” and everything in between, Touch & Feel Animals are a fun way to introduce children to a world of interesting textures and help develop their sense of touch.pAs toddlers grow, they’ll learn about life on a farm that’s just their size, with Farmer Jed and his animal friends! The farm includes Farmer Jed, cow, sheep, horse and pig; the chicken stays attached to the barn. Figures are surface washable with a clean, damp cloth. All pieces store inside. This playset also comes with a special free sampler DVD featuring three charming stories of the Little People friends. Playset requires 3 “AA” (LR6) alkaline batteries, not included.

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VIRGIN ISLANDS SUSTAINABLE FARM INSTITUTE: News Sprout | The St …

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Peaceful Valley Orchards Fall School and Group Tours

GoKidsNJ – Did you know that Ocean County’s Pine Barrens is home to lions, tigers and bears?   If you thought the Pine Barrens was void of exotic wildlife, think again.   In Forked River, at the edge of the Pine Barrens, you can find PopCorn Park Zoo and Sanctuary, home to hundreds of exotic and domestic animals.

If you’re looking for a place to bring toddlers and younger children and don’t feel like traveling to the Bronx Zoo, Cape May or Philadelphia?  Try the Popcorn Park Zoo and Sanctuary run by the Associated Humane Societies.  This small zoo in New Jersey’s Pinelands was started in 1977 as an animal sanctuary for abandoned and abused animals.   They eventually began taking in exploited farm animals and exotic wildlife and now house the largest collection of animals in Ocean County.

The zoo is home to over 200 rescued animals which range from roosters to bengal tigers.  As you enter the park, you can purchase a box of popcorn which you can feed to all of the animals.  Many of the domestic animals such as the pigs, goats, sheep and horses eagerly await handouts from parkgoers.   As you walk around the park, geese, ducks and squirrels have become so accustomed to human presence that they will usually eat out of your hands.

Some of the more exotic animals in the park include Bengali, a bengal tiger and his three bengal tiger friends, a black bear, african lions, wallabies and monkeys.  You can get close enough to all of the animals for some great picture taking and some great memories without the travel.

Farm animals at Popcorn Park Zoo include horses, cows, sheep, goats and rabbits.  The steer at the park is huge!  If you’ve never been up close and personal with a cow that is nearly eight feet tall, you’re in for a surprise. 

The best thing about Popcorn Park is that these are not show animals purchased for display like at most zoos, they are animals that have been rescued from many different situations in which they were abused, neglected or exploited.  The folks at the Associated Humane Society are offering these animals a second chance at life and the money you spend goes directly towards benefiting and caring for these animals as well as the rescue and placement of future animals at the sanctuary.

Older children might be bored with the lack of “high end” exotics, but if your child has never been to a zoo, Popcorn Park Zoo and Wildlife Sanctuary is a great place to break them in and makes for a great Jersey Shore day trip.

For more information visit: http://www.ahscares.org/default.asp

About GoKidsNJ

Want to learn more about what to do in New Jersey, visit www.gokidsnj.com to find New Jersey’s most comprehensive online database of things to do in New Jersey for kids and families.  Founded in 2004, GoKidsNJ receives over 3.5 million visitors each year.

Carnival in Jackson NJ
This weekend is one of the best NJ Carnivals, the St. Als Carnival in Jackson NJ.

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When I was young, growing up and going to school in Toms River, it wasn’t much different than Jackson is today. Hooper Avenue and Fisher Blvd. were 2 lane roads, heavily wooded with spots of commerce here and there. Route 37 was the equivelant to County Line Road and the summer traffic was akin to the summer traffic we see at Great Adventure.

We had horse farms, cattle farms and agriculture farms in North Dover, yes it was always Dover Township back then, but the only Dover we referred to as kids were the Dover Rovers. Local hardware stores thrived before Loews and Home Depot. Our local post office was actually a desk inside one of these hardware stores. On weekends, kids would hang out in the woods, build bonfires and ride our bikes, quads and cars through woods without worries.

Slowly those woods and hardware stores started disappearing and chain stores and chain restaurants began taking over. More kids started having New York accents in school and eventually we gave way to the tract developments and senior citizens communities which eventually took over the entire town.

I’m not afraid or embarrassed to say that after New Yorkers, senior citizens were the biggest downfall to Toms River. Together, they both wanted to bring some of what they left into our community. They came to Toms River for the seclusion and country-esque living, but they weren’t happy with well water, they weren’t happy driving 3 miles to the convenience store and they weren’t happy with just about everything in their new home.

On every corner, Brooklynites talked about how the shore is backwards and there’s no good restaurant and they live in a hick town. Slowly their influence grabbed footholds in local politics and business and gone were two acre building requirements in North Dover and the town began to look like a suburb of Staten Island.

Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. With the murder of one of our neighbors, the organ player at our corner church just houses down after I had personally looked the killer in the eye moments before it happened as he forcefully peddled magazine subscriptions door to door, we decided Toms River was no longer the town for us. The year before we left to come to Jackson, Toms River had many murders which dropped it from it’s yearly position in the top 25 communities to live in America. Drug shootings at the nearby notell motel, ex cops killing entire families and now one so close to home where it could have been any of my neighbors or worse, my wife and daughter had I not been home that day were all key factors in our decision to leave.

To my surprise, not only is Jackson ecologically and environmentally walking in the exact same shoes as Toms River of 20 years ago, Jackson is making the exact same mistakes as Toms River of 25 years ago. Our insatiable thirst for ratables, out of control senior housing developments, low incoming housing projects on the horizon, strip malls and drug stores at every corner and the same old fight between locals and carpetbaggers. Once again its the good old boys vs. the new kids on the block.

I have seen where Toms River has gone and I see Jackson heading down the same path, but only worse. There are forces in Jackson who have lost sight of why they have moved here and will slowly destroy the town. Like Toms River, we will soon match them in pharmacies per capita. Do we need a Jackson Crossings at every intersection? Do we need a Starbucks? Do we need an Olive Garden or TGI Fridays? Does Jackson really need a movie theater? What price should we pay to have these businesses?

Why do you live in Jackson and how do you see Jackson’s future?

The other reason is that I’m testing the viability of this blog.  At time of posting I&G’s video had 24 views.   Just want to see how much we can influence things like  YouTube as well as Google/Yahoo with this blog.