I remember when I was a kid, my mom would always tell us to "go play". That usually meant get outside and stay outside until she told us it was time to come in. Back then, parents didn't have to worry about us kids as much as today's parents worry about their kids. We would run around the neighborhood, hang out at our friends houses, and most of the time, our parents weren't exactly sure where we were. But, we always ended up safe at home by the end of the day. And it was fun!
I find myself telling my kids to "go play", but they don't have the freedom that I did. They are restricted to our yard, unless I know exactly where they are going to be. That doesn't mean that they don't know how to play. Yesterday, my kids were outside with a couple of the neighborhood kids, and they were playing hard. I could hear them laughing and screaming as they made up games and enjoyed the beautiful Fall weather.
A couple of weeks ago, Growing Tree Toys (the people who sell the best learning toys) asked me to review some Shout products, and to let my readers know about the Shout
Go Play initiative. Simply put, this is an initiative to help parents encourage their kids to play.
Along with the Shout products, I also received a deck of
52 Nature Activities Cards, each one having an activity on it that kids can do outside. The kids and I have done a bunch of the cards recently, and they were pretty fun activities. One of the cards said to sit quietly and just listen to the sounds around you. Then describe what you are hearing to your friends, and have them guess what you are describing. Another card said to find a rainbow in nature, and the kids had a ball finding all the different colors. Their favorite so far, though, was the card that said to write their names using objects found in nature, like sticks and rocks. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of what Brandi created.
After my kids get done playing outside, they always come in covered in dirt. Seriously, I have no idea how they get so dirty! Luckily, I was able to put the Shout products I received to the test.
The first product I used was the Shout Color Catcher sheets. I simply threw one in the washer when I started a load, and it "catches" all the colors that bleed into the water, stopping them from depositing on the other clothes in the load. Now, I will admit, that I am not very good at separating the laundry before I wash it. I have two piles; clothes and towels. I am bad about washing my whites with my colors, so these sheets are perfect for me.
The next product I tried was the Shout Stain Remover Spray. Ryan had some grass stains on the knees of his jeans from playing football with the neighborhood kids. These were his play jeans (I have "school clothes" and "play clothes" for my kids) but I still want him to have the best looking clothes, no matter what he is doing. The Shout Spray took out the stain, and left his jeans looking great. I am looking forward to seeing what other messes my kids will get into so I can use the spray more often.
My favorite product, though, is the Shout Advanced Ultra Concentrated Gel because it is fun to use. Laundry itself is not a fun activity, so anything that can make it more enjoyable is awesome in my book. I love the way you squeeze out the gel, and then use the little brush to work the gel into the stain. I used this on a pair of my pants that had a little grease stain on them from riding in my friends truck. I simply used the gel, then washed the pants like I normally do after letting the gel sit for five minutes. When the pants came out of the dryer, you couldn't tell where the stain had been.
After seeing what these products can do, I can now encourage my kids to not only go play, but to get dirty, knowing that whatever they get into, Shout can get it out.
***I received these products free from Shout to facilitate my review. No other compensation was given.
