Jenny's Crayon Collection: Mom Hacks

Disney Animated Movies
If you are like me, your kids love Disney animated movies. When my kids started getting old enough to watch them I was disappointed by how few of them I could find in stores and on streaming services especially the princess movies. It seems like the only way to make sure my kids can watch these movies is to purchase them myself. And with Disney keeping their movies in a "vault" it is hard to know what movies I already have when I am staring at them in the store or searching Amazon. I put together this list to keep track of all the movies that we have, and what type we have. I added Blue-ray and Digital HD, because it is nice to know if you can put it on your phone or tablet. Also if friends want to borrow a movie and they only have a certain player it is easy to know. One day I would love to turn this into an app. But I tried making apps once and realized I need an apple computer to do so, so until then here is the next best thing. You can print it out and keep it in your purse. Here is the printable version.

Disney Anywhere
Disney has a really cool feature for their Digital HD versions of movies. It is called Disney Anywhere. At first I was annoyed because I had to enter the Digital HD code to Disney Anywhere and not iTunes, but then once I played around with it, I realized it was really powerful. It connects all your accounts and will download the movies automatically to these accounts. It shares the movies to iTunes, Amazon Video, VUDU, Google Play, Microsoft, Fios by Verizon. I can download them to my phone, which is an iPhone and to my Kindle that is Amazon Video. If I just buy a regular movie on iTunes or Amazon Video it is not available on all platforms. This is super helpful with kids because you never know how they are going to watch the movie.

Warning and Tip
Also I want to issue a warning and tip when buying Disney movies. If you want a Digital HD version, read the box carefully, not all copies of movies come with and HD version. I do not know why, it seems like it would be a give in now. I went to buy Cars or my boy and the Digital HD version was sooo much money.

Next is the tip. If you want to buy movies that have more than one video in the series, such as Cinderella, Cars, Planes, Toy Story and you have a Blue-ray player, look on Amazon or other sites. They can be a lot cheaper coming from other countries and usually come in a pack. I do not know why they do not sell these packs in the US. Many of the foreign versions of the film are compatible with Blue-ray players in the US. On the back of the box there will be hexagons with one or all of ABC's in there. If the video has all of these on the back you are good to go.

Disney Animated Movie List

Blu-Ray	DVD	HD	Title	Release Date
			A Bug's Life	11/25/1998
			A Christmas Carol	11/6/2009
			A Goofy Movie	4/7/1995
			Aladdin	11/25/1992
			Alice in Wonderland	7/28/1951
			Arjun: The Warrior Prince	5/25/2012
			Atlantis: The Lost Empire	6/15/2001
			Bambi	8/13/1942
			Beauty and the Beast	11/22/1991
			Bedknobs and Broomsticks	12/13/1971
			Big Hero 6	11/7/2014
			Bolt	11/21/2008
			Brave	6/22/2012
			Brother Bear	11/1/2003
			Cars	6/9/2006
			Cars 2	6/24/2011
			Cars 3	6/16/2017
			Chicken Little	11/4/2005
			Cinderella	2/15/1950
			Coco	11/22/2017
			Dinosaur	5/19/2000
			Doug's 1st Movie	3/26/1999
			DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp	8/3/1990
			Dumbo	10/23/1941
			Fantasia	11/13/1940
			Fantasia 2000	12/17/1999
			Finding Dory	6/17/2016
			Finding Nemo	5/30/2003
			Frankenweenie	10/5/2012
			Frozen	11/27/2013
			Frozen 2	11/27/2019
			Fun and Fancy Free	9/27/1947
			Gigantic	11/25/2020
			Hercules	6/27/1997
			Home on the Range	4/2/2004
			Inside Out	6/19/2015
			James and the Giant Peach	4/12/1996
			King of the Elves
			Lady and the Tramp	6/22/1955
			Lilo & Stitch	6/21/2002
			Make Mine Music	4/20/1946
			Mars Needs Moms	3/11/2011
			Mary Poppins	8/29/1964
			Mary Poppins Returns	12/25/2018
			Meet the Robinsons	3/30/2007
			Moana	11/23/2016
			Monsters University	6/21/2013
			Monsters, Inc.	11/2/2001
			Mulan	6/19/1998
			Oliver & Company	11/18/1988
			One Hundred and One Dalmatians	1/25/1961
			Peter Pan	2/5/1953
			Pete's Dragon	11/3/1977
			Piglet's Big Movie	3/21/2003
			Pinocchio	2/7/1940
			Planes	8/9/2013
			Planes: Fire & Rescue	7/18/2014
			Pocahontas	6/23/1995
			Pooh's Heffalump Movie	2/11/2005
			Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2	11/21/2018
			Ratatouille	6/29/2007
			Recess: School's Out	2/16/2001
			Return to Never Land	2/15/2002
			Roadside Romeo	10/24/2008
			Robin Hood	11/8/1973
			Sleeping Beauty	1/29/1959
			Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	12/21/1937
			Song of the South	11/12/1946
			Tangled	11/24/2010
			Tarzan	6/18/1999
			Teacher's Pet	1/16/2004
			The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad	10/5/1949
			The Aristocats	12/24/1970
			The Black Cauldron	7/24/1985
			The Emperor's New Groove	12/15/2000
			The Fox and the Hound	7/10/1981
			The Good Dinosaur	11/25/2015
			The Great Mouse Detective	7/2/1986
			The Hunchback of Notre Dame	6/21/1996
			The Incredibles	11/5/2004
			The Incredibles 2	6/15/2018
			The Jungle Book	10/18/1967
			The Jungle Book 2	2/14/2003
			The Lion King	6/24/1994
			The Little Mermaid	11/17/1989
			The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	3/11/1977
			The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D TNBC	10/27/2006
			The Princess and the Frog	12/11/2009
			The Rescuers	6/22/1977
			The Rescuers Down Under	11/16/1990
			The Sword in the Stone	12/25/1963
			The Three Caballeros	2/3/1945
			The Tigger Movie	2/11/2000
			The Wild	4/14/2006
			Toy Story	11/22/1995
			Toy Story 2	11/24/1999
			Toy Story 3	6/18/2010
			Toy Story 4	6/21/2019
			Treasure Planet	11/27/2002
			Up	5/29/2009
			Valiant	8/19/2005
			WALL-E	6/27/2008
			Winnie the Pooh	7/15/2011
			Wreck-It Ralph	11/2/2012
			Zootopia	3/4/2016

Have you ever spent hours trying to pick out a toy for your kid, have them look at it for a minute then go play with the pots and pans? So much time is spent scouring amazon reviews looking for the perfect gift. So much money is spent on buying these gifts and so many homes are cluttered with unnecessary toys.

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Why did your children not respond toys the way we anticipate? What can you get your child for birthdays and holidays that they will not disregard and in a matter of minutes? I've got a few suggestions and toys that will change your life forever. The key to finding a good toy is how well it engages the children's imaginations. Plain and simple as that, if the child can play with the toy in multiple ways, they will. If they can only play with it one way they will grow bored with it.

How can we find these toys? Here are 4 guidelines to examine when buying a toy.

1. Find generic toys. We bought this kitchen for our kiddos this summer, toys are usually cheaper in the summer. We loved the colors because we have a girl and a boy. We wanted both of them to feel like it was their kitchen. The pots came from from Ikea. They are simple and plain, but can be used in many different ways. My kids have spent countless hours fixing food with friends, having picnics, and cooking soups in the pots. It is one of our friends favorite spots when they visit. My son loves to use the kitchen to play with his cars. He also cooks food for us. The kitchen also contains storage room for their food so they can pull it out when they want it and put it away when they are done.

Click here to buy on Amazon

2. Avoid talking and complicated toys. We have a lot of talking toys at our house. Do my kids play with them? Not really. The problem with these toys is they only allow the child to play with them one way, they are not using their imagination. The toy is telling the kids how to play with it. The kids are not engaging their imaginations and become bored. We bought a hot wheels raceway for our son and gave it to him a month ago. He plays with it sometimes, but he found the track didn't work very well, the cars sometimes fall off. Most of the time he ends up just stacking his cars on the raceway instead of turning it on. I am glad we did not pay full price for it. We are getting him a train set for Christmas and I have a feeling he will like it so much better. He can move the trains anywhere he wants and there is not a wrong way to play with the toy.

3. Coloring is for girls and boys. My kids love to color, both of my kids do. I have often heard moms say their boys just do not like to color. What do they color most of the time, coloring books? No, they color on blank pages. They LOVE blank pages. They can created anything they want on these pages. My five year old now carries around a blank notebook and is writing letters because she wants to, not because the page is telling her to write letters. My boy loves to color with his markers and makes some of the funnest designs on his pages.

My son's art
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4. Blocks, Legos, Haba toys and Melissa and Doug toys, are your friends. What are so good about these type of toys? They engage their imagination, have I said this already? They can sort them by size and color. They can create whatever they want to. The list goes on an on. When my son turned two he instantly gravitated to Duplo blocks. He spends hours arranging them. My kids love creating airplanes with Legos. My daughter and son use pattern blocks to create fun unique patterns. There are endless possibilities with these toys.

Now that you know how what to look for in toys, get rid of some of those non engaging toys in your house and find the perfect fun, engaging and imaginative toy for your little one. Your house, kids and pocketbook will thank you.

List of Disney Animated Movies

4 Ways to Find Engaging Toys For Kids