Weekly Features
Brand new content for parents and caregivers.
Mindfulness with Thomas & Friends™ characters and Calm!
To celebrate Thomas & Friends™ 75th anniversary, Calm invites you to explore mindfulness with you and your kid’s favorite #1 blue tank engine and his friends. Listen to the new Sleep Story, “Return to Sodor”, and meditation exercises featuring Tamara Levitt alongside you and your kid’s favorite Thomas & Friends™ characters.
Tips from Our Play Experts
We believe that play is an essential part of keeping a normal routine for families, while also fostering kids’ imagination, creativity, and intellectual stimulation. This is why we’ve aggregated Mattel ‘Play From Home’ tips to help parents navigate this difficult time that we are sharing with our communities and across social media. Here are a few tips we compiled for parents around the world:
Tips Experts: Monica Dreger
Introducing Monica Dreger, Head of Consumer Insights at Mattel.
Monica is a behavioral psychologist by training, with twenty years of consumer insights experience in local and global markets. She leads a team of child development experts, researchers and formerly trained academics that all have the privilege of talking to kids and parents every day.
Tips Experts: Deborah Weber
Introducing Deborah Weber (PhD), the Director of Early Childhood Development Research.
Deborah leads a team of child development and research specialists and is widely regarded as an expert in early childhood development and play. Deborah and her team’s work helps to inform, improve and ensure the design and development of baby gear and toys that help make parents' lives easier and lets kids around the world experience play in a magical and meaningful way.
Monica's Tips
Deborah's Tips
Tips: Keep calm and follow a routine
Keep calm and follow a routine. All humans, tiny and tall, thrive on stability—especially during uncertain times like these. Designing a routine for you and your child will give rhythm to your day. Breakfast, then Craft Time, then Exercise? Or Exercise first? Choose a routine that works for you both and see how it can decrease your heart rate and relax your breathing.
Tips: Imagination is brain food.
Imagination is brain food. If your kitchen can be your office, then your couch cushion can be an island, and your child’s favorite stuffed animal-- a hat! Why not? Pretend play with your child is good for your brain cells and theirs. Use your imaginations and a few favorite toys to create a pathway to happiness.
Tips: Old toy, new tricks.
Old toy, new tricks. You know those old toys you’ve been meaning to unload…but didn’t, and can’t? Do the unthinkable: bring them back out. That’s right. Bringing out old toys every two days can bring just as much fun as bringing in new ones! Enjoy watching your kiddo’s delight in rediscovering old toys in a whole new way.
Resources & Events
Check out these resources and virtual events from industry leaders (not affiliated with Mattel).
CHITAG’s Young Inventor Challenge
The special spring edition of the CHITAG Young Inventor’s Challenge is being launched to help your kids to turn their big ideas for toys and games into actual designs while spending time at home. For tips and resources for entries, along with a video from Mattel President & COO Richard Dickson, click here.
UNICEF Kid Power - Get Active. Save Lives.
Empower your kids with purpose! Keep your children focused and actively doing good in the world. UNICEF’s dance, yoga and activity videos unlock free “coins” to give to causes they care about.
The Toy Association
Our partners at the Toy Association are compiling tips, tricks, and more for parents and caregivers during this time. Select the link below to learn more.
The Toy Guy Blog
Toy expert Chris Byrnes' The Toy Guy Blog and The Playground Podcast gives tips for playing at home with your kids and productive play options for parents and caregivers.
Save the Children
In partnership with Save the Children, the world’s leading expert on childhood, we’re here to help by providing trusted tools and tips for parents, caregivers, teachers and all who care about children in crisis. Save the Children is committed to helping children and families during this uncertain time by providing resources for our nation’s youngest learners.
Random House’s Big Ideas Night virtual event!
Check out Random House’s Big Ideas Night virtual event to hear tips on navigating parenting and caregiving during this time, from authors Lisa Damour (Under Pressure), Cara Natterson, M.D. (Decoding Boys), Kristen Howerton (Rage Against the Minivan), and Judith Warner (And Then They Stopped Talking to Me).
Virtual backgrounds
Brand new backgrounds for virtual parties and playdates (or even conference calls), featuring your and your kid’s favorite brands.
Learn How-to...
Code:
Our friends at Tynker are dedicated to empowering kids to create - with just the internet and a computer. Tynker offers self-paced online courses for children to learn coding at home. For parents looking to get started, the Tynker Educator Tutorials YouTube channel has you covered.
Accelerate STEM learning:
The Hot Wheels Speedometry curriculum encourages inquiry and real-world, problem-based learning through play, hands-on activities and in-depth lesson plans that are mapped to state and national standards including Common Core State Standards (CCSS), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Our Impact
The Mattel Children's Foundation has focused on one major objective: Improving the lives of children in need. During this time of uncertainty, we continue to support our philanthropic partners and look for additional ways to help our community and give back in any way that we can through play.
LAUSD Support
Mattel will be supporting the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) by donating over 10,000 various games, school supplies and toys, which will be distributed alongside the meal kits LAUSD is providing for students at grab & go centers across the city. Mattel also participated in the “LA Students Most in Need,” a fundraiser for LAUSD students and their families who are struggling during the Coronavirus pandemic, which has raised over $300,000.
Community Donations
We are also partnering with and donating to key organizations within our community, including Baby2Baby, The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club, Save the Children, Pediatric Vision Group and more.
UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital
Mattel is a proud philanthropic partner of UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and its extended family of UCLA Health resources, experts and thought leaders. Check out these great tips on helping children build resilience from the UCLA Center for Child Anxiety Resilience Education and Support (UCLA CARES).
Top Books
Read along with your kids and their favorite characters.
Top Toys
Keep your kids entertained and engaged with these top toy picks.
Our Partners
Find more great Mattel products for your child, online or in-store, at these retailers:
Sign Up For Emails
Get the latest activities, entertainment, apps, products, and other play ideas for your child from the Mattel Playroom.
*Between 05/14-05/17, for each eligible Barbie Career line product sold at participating retailers or their e-commerce websites, Mattel will Play it Forward and donate a doll [retail value $9.99-$19.99], up to a maximum of 30K dolls, to the First Responder’s Children Foundation. Offer is valid at Barbie.mattel.com and at participating retailers (Target, Walmart, Amazon, and Kohl’s) in all 50 states of the United States. For information about the charity, click here. No portion of the purchase is tax deductible. Offer dates may be extended in Mattel’s sole and absolute discretion. For any reason, including in the event of force majeure, Mattel reserves the right to suspend or cancel the promotion in its sole discretion. For a complete list of eligible products, visit https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/career-dolls.
