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Check out Race Toy Time's video that we are featured in!

"With usership trending towards the younger crowd (approximately one-third of users are 14 or younger), many parents wonder if the popular video sharing app is safe and appropriate for their own kids to explore. As with any social media network, the majority of TikTok content is harmless, but there are privacy settings you can utilize to make sure your kids are being safe."

-Taylor Gadsden, Allconnect Writer

Click here to read the rest of the article!

Check out our mention in The Toy Book!

https://toybook.com/farm-themed-toys-and-the-farm-retail-channel-bring-play-to-the-heartland-and-beyond/

CLICK HERE to access our 2018 Spring Catalog. 

Raising a child in a society that is so immersed in media can be a challenge. The technology children have available today is vastly different to what you might have had growing up, and allows children to not only consume media but create it. Wether it be television, video games, apps or social media, it can be overwhelming trying to keep up with what your children are exposed to. As a company geared towards encouraging creativity and imagination, Big Country Farm Toys would like to help spread the information many researchers and organizations are trying to get out to parents regarding your child's media usage. 
Dr. Jenny Radesky, Pediatrics-Developmental/Behavioral and Pediatrics specialist, provided some very compelling facts about kid's media use in her article "Kids & Digital Media". (click title to read the full article) Radesky's list included:

• In 1970, children began watching TV regularly at about 4 years of age, whereas today, children begin interacting with digital media as young as 4 months of age.
• In 2015, most 2-year-olds used mobile devices on a daily basis and the vast majority of 1-year-olds had already used a mobile device.  Preschoolers were already starting to media-multitask in this study (in other words, use 2 or more forms of digital media simultaneously, such as watching TV while using an iPad).
• Pre-teens and adolescence use a combination of different digital media sources an average of 8-10 hours per day, often in the form of media-multitasking, which has been associated with more attention problems.
• Three quarters of teenagers own a smartphone, 24% of adolescents describe themselves as “constantly connected” to the Internet,and 50% report feeling “addicted” to their phones, according to research.  Teens who report feeling “addicted” have higher rates of mental health problems as well.
• Excessive use of digital media, use too close to bedtime, or viewing violent content are associated with worse sleep, higher obesity risk, and worse developmental and academic outcomes. 

Allowing your children to use media & technology can have its benefits if you, as parents, use it with them to encourage connection, learning, and healthy use. Here are a few tips on how you can achieve this:

1. Teach your children that media can be used for more than just entertainment, such as connecting, creating, and learning. Some ways you can do this are by video chatting with family and friends, allowing your children express their creativity through photos and videos, and by using educational media to enhance our child's literacy skills. In the long-term, these steps can help your child use media more respectfully. 
2. Be a role model to your children. By being unplugged during family time, you can teach your child media manners. If you use media as an outlet for your emotions or to relax and relieve your stress, your children will come to the conclusion that this is how media is supposed to be used. 
3. Create a media plan. Talk with your children about their media use. Designate spaces and times that are unplugged and media friendly. By setting these boundaries, you can better control what media your child is using and how much time they spend around it. 
4. Introduce media when you think your child is ready. Do not feel pressured to introduce media to your child if you don't think they are ready. When you decide to do so, be involved and aware of what media they are consuming. 
5. Do your research. Just because an app says it is educational, doesn't mean that is actually is. Be an active participant and really look into what apps, games or television your kids are consuming. Having the help of an adult will not only keep them from consuming what you don't approve of, but will also allow them to better understand how to use media properly. 
6. Create a media plan. Map out time and spaces that are media friendly or unplugged. This will help set boundaries on how much time your child is consuming media and, with time, help them use media more responsibly. For help creating a media plan for your family, check out the American Academy of Pediatrics Family Media Planner and Media Time Calculator.  

Here at Big Country Farm Toys, we value the importance of healthy play for your children. Our full line of farm & rodeo toys can help your child live a healthy, social, and creative life. 

For more information on your child's media consumption, please refer to these resources:

• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): The mission of the American Academy of Pediatrics is to attain optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents and young adults. To accomplish this, AAP shall support the professional needs of its members. 
• Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood: CCFC’s mission is to support parents’ efforts to raise healthy families by limiting commercial access to children and ending the exploitive practice of child-targeted marketing. In working for the rights of children to grow up—and the freedom for parents to raise them—without being undermined by corporate interests, CCFC promotes a more democratic and sustainable world.
• Center for Media Literacy: The Center for Media Literacy (CML) is dedicated to a new vision of literacy for the 21st Century: the ability to communicate competently in all media forms as well as to access, understand, analyze, evaluate and participate with powerful images, words and sounds that make up our contemporary mass media culture. Indeed, we believe these skills of media literacy are essential for both children and adults as individuals and as citizens of a democratic society. 
• Common Sense Media: Common Sense is the leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology. We empower parents, teachers, and policymakers by providing unbiased information, trusted advice, and innovative tools to help them harness the power of media and technology as a positive force in all kids’ lives.
• Media Smarts: MediaSmarts is a Canadian not-for-profit charitable organization for digital and media literacy. Our vision is that children and youth have the critical thinking skills to engage with media as active and informed digital citizens

 

Summer is a time that is meant to be spent outdoors. 

It’s a time where children have a break from school and can enjoy the outdoors.  Camping, swimming, or days at the park and zoo are all great ways to enjoy summer but the most important activity your child should continue this summer is reading.  You may have seen Big Country post about the “summer slide” along with some tips to avoid this but many may wonder what this is.  The “summer slide” is a level of learning loss that some children can experience if they do not engage in educational activities during the summer months.   

Overall, the best way to avoid this type of learning loss is to be an educational coach for your child.  As an educational coach, it is important to set reading goals, enforce daily practice, and reward your child for their hard summer work!  Incorporating reading during daily activities also helps lessen the learning loss.  So, when you and your young one take a trip to the zoo, have them read to you about their favorite animal!  These types of activities make reading fun for children and they will want to continue to read and learn more. 

Incorporating arts and crafts also helps the creativity of your child. 

Including activities like drawing or writing encourages creativity and this can easily be done just by asking them to draw their favorite animal after the zoo visit. 

Reading material can also be of benefit to you as a coach.  Children want to read fun and adventurous books as it sparks their imagination and curiosity.  If you are currently looking for new reading material, our book collection is a great place to start and will be an absolute hit for your child’s nighttime reading.

Homeroom, the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education speaks more on the summer slide for all levels of education – from elementary to high school students.  For more information on how you can become a better educational coach or ways to avoid the “summer slide” visit Homeroom here.

 

Customer satisfaction is essential to our business. 

From manufacturing to packaging to customer service, we keep customers happy with our products.  Our unique and signature products such as the PBR/PRCA figurines offer something competitors cannot.  Outside of our unique toy designs and ideas, we manufacture our toys with the highest quality possible.  We understand the importance of durability when it comes to kid’s toys.  Below is a customer’s satisfaction testimony related to our product durability:

“My son first saw your T.V. ads during the 2014 NFR. At that time he thought your toys were neat.  Santa brought him the first of his pieces - a set of panels, the roping steer and chute. I was thoroughly impressed with the construction and sturdiness of the toys. He has had several rodeo sets and they never last. So when these held up to his daily playing and the little boy wear and tear, I became more impressed.

Since then we have pretty much acquired every piece offered.  Whenever we go to a store to buy a piece usually the sales clerk engages in a little conversation. This allows me the opportunity to tell them why Big Country is the better toy. I know that on one occasion this caused a customer to take their Priefert set back and get a Big Country! When we buy for other kids we only buy Big Country.

We have become loyal Big Country fans and supporters!”

-- Tina Cruce

Parents have said that Big Country products make excellent gifts for any young cowboy or cowgirl. We build our products to last with great child appeal; giving you ultimate confidence in purchasing from us.  So, if you haven’t branched out from our competitors or if you are just looking for long-lasting toys for your children, be sure to give us a try!

We’ve always believed in the uniqueness and durability of our toys; it is great to hear that our customers do too!

 

Bedtime stories have long been known to foster parent-child bonds and prepare children for sleep

But research has shown that these stories have a far greater impact on children than we may think.

Reading to your child regularly can improve many aspects of your child’s logic skills, but perhaps the most profound benefit recently discovered, is the way reading bedtime stories can rewire children’s brains to quicken their learning of language.

 Neural research has shown that there is a clear neurological difference between children who have been read to regularly and those who have not. The children who were read to showed significantly greater brain activity in the verbal processing area.

 When children hear stories, particularly while looking at picture books, they begin to connect words with images and understand their meaning. This will help them develop skills to make images and stories out of words later on in life. Children who are read to from an early age become better readers because they’ve already developed the skills they need to understand the story.

Not only does reading help a child’s verbal skills, it may also stimulate creativity. Unlike TV, where the story is completely drawn out for them, books require a child to use their imagination.

 Reading also lends the opportunity for a child to hear more words than when listening to people talk. When parents and family members talk, they generally use the same set of words out of habit. Books provide an opportunity to hear more “unique word types.” They contain a more diverse set of words than what might be heard in everyday conversation.

 So when you put it all together, reading picture books to your child will allow them to hear more words, allow their brains to practice creating images, and help them develop skills to understand language.

 The best thing about reading to your child before bed is that it happens during the context of quality, face-to-face time with one another. So enjoy getting comfortable and cozy while you tuck your child into bed, take advantage of the face-time you get with one another, and let them drift off to sleep while reading them a good children’s book.

 Looking for a good children’s picture book? Check out Big Country Farm Toys’ selection of children’s books. They’re perfect to spark the imagination of your little cowboy or cowgirl.

 To learn more about the benefits of bedtime stories for your child’s brain read the original article by the New York Times.

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