Toying With You - White Ibis Inn Home

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Time: 17:41 - 02-27-2006
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Product: DAILY
LayoutDesk: STY
PubDate: 02-28-06
Zone: MD
HIGH-RES PROOF. IMAGES ARE RIPPED. FULL PROOF INTEGRITY.
Edition: RE
Page: KIDPST
DAILY 02-28-06 MD RE C12
www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost
R
SURVEY
SAYS
C12 Tuesday, February 28, 2006
K
Y
M
C
Last week’s survey
asked: Have you
been watching the
Olympics? More
than 180 readers
responded:
Yes, a lot
27.5%
Yes, some
29.7%
Not very much
18.1%
Not at all
24.7%
WEATHER
TODAY’S NEWS
Take Me to Your Leaders
K What’s in a name?
A lot of history, if you’re a mem-
ber of the Scheppler family of
Texas.
Each of the seven children has a
presidential name — or at least a
name that sounds presidential.
The tradition started by accident
17 years ago when Regan Nicole
was born to Richard and Regina
Scheppler.
Regan’s name
wasn’t meant to
honor
Ronald
Reagan, our 40th
president.
For
one thing, it’s
spelled differently. “We named
the first one Regan because her
name meant prin-
cess,” Richard Scheppler said.
“Regina’s was queen, and Richard
means king.”
Still, an aunt objected so much
to the presidential-like name that
she insisted on calling Regan by
her middle name.
The couple named their second
child Tyler Landmon Keith. And
by the time third child Madison
Elaine came along, the presidential pattern was set. The next four
kids also got presidential names:
Grant William Earl, McKinley Ann,
Kennedy Kate and Harrison James.
Regina Scheppler said the kids
are more interested in history because of their names, but 5-yearold McKinley wishes her name
had fewer letters to write in kindergarten.
Hail to the Schepplers: Clockwise, from top left, are
McKinley Ann, 5; Madison Elaine, 11; Tyler Landmon Keith,
12; Grant William Earl, 8; Regan Nicole, 17; Harrison James,
1; and Kennedy Kate, 2.
SPEAK OUT
THIS WEEK’S TOPIC
The Oscar Goes to . . .
Newsy Number
26
That’s how many
countries won medals
at the Winter
Olympics, which
ended Sunday in Turin,
Italy. The total is a
record for the Winter
Games; 24 countries
won at least one
medal in the 1998 and
2002 games.
Germany won the
most medals this year,
29. The United States
was second with 25,
and Canada won 24.
BY STACI GRAY LUBBOCK — AVALANCHE JOURNAL VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
TODAY: Mostly
sunny.
HIGH
LOW
47 34
TOMORROW:
Cloudy; warmer.
High 52. Low 44.
ILLUSTRATION BY TAYLOR LEGALL, 13,
BOWIE
WEATHER
TRIVIA
WHAT’S THE MOST
SNOW IN A SINGLE
SEASON AT ONE
U.S. SITE?
The Academy Awards will be
given out Sunday. Which movie
should get the little gold statue
for being last year’s best animated film? Go to www.
washingtonpost.com/
kidspost and vote:
K What was the best
animated movie
of 2005?
A. “Howl’s
Moving Castle”
B. “Tim Burton’s
Corpse Bride”
C. “Wallace &
Gromit — The
Curse of the
Were-Rabbit”
ANSWER: 1,140 INCHES,
MOUNT BAKER,
WASHINGTON, 1998-99.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WRITE KIDSPOST, THE WASHINGTON POST, 1150 15TH ST. NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20071. K E-MAIL US AT [email protected] K FAX US AT 202-496-3780. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME, AGE, ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER.
Toying With You
Here’s a Look at This Year’s Coolest Play Things
Every year, the biggest and best toy makers get together in New York to
show off their newest creations. The event is called Toy Fair, and it’s like a
toy store that’s the size of five football fields — but just about everything
on display is brand new! Could you go into a toy store and pick just one
item that you think is the absolute best? It’s a tough challenge, but that’s
what KidsPost’s Margaret Webb Pressler tried to do at Toy Fair. She
found a dozen standout items among thousands of new toys. Some aren’t
in stores yet, but this will give you something to look forward to!
Skate Ranger R/C Action Figure.
There are lots of remote-controlled cars
and trucks, but this new company has
created a remote-controlled, roller-blading action figure. Better yet, he skates in
multiple positions — even on his knees
or lying face down. He’s just cool. Coming soon: Skate Ranger comic book and
animated series — and Skate Ranger accessories for you, including a helmet as
well as wheels for your elbows and
knees! (Skate Ranger, $39.99, in stores
by spring, ages 6 and older.)
Big Bad Booming Bugs. Collecting
bugs is even more fun with this electronic
observation station. Put a few ants on the
sound-sensitive surface and give them a
leaf. Watch through the magnifying-glass
top and listen to them munch their lunch
through earphones. Makes you feel like
you’re in there with them! (Little Kids,
$19.99, available now, ages 6 and older.)
MixTools iDrum. Slip your iPod
into this hard plastic case and use
the drum pad on the back to add
beats and riffs to the music. It’s like
making your own remix! (Spin
Master, $29.99, coming this fall,
ages 8 and older.)
Cool Coloring RainbowBrush. You’ve seen street artists who make names
out of rainbow pictures — now you can try it yourself. These ingenious markers clip together and let you create pictures just like the artists you’ve seen.
Five markers come with a how-to sheet or full-size instruction book. (RainbowBrush, available in May, $9.95-$24.95, ages 6 and older.)
Glow And Go Toppers. We’ve seen markers that glow under
black light. But these markers come with their own black light attached. They turn on by flipping a lever. (Can You Imagine, available now, $9.99, ages 6 and older.)
NerdyWordy. Boggle meets Battleship
in this game of words and strategy — in a
well-designed package. Using the same
letters, two players compete to spell the
most two- to five-letter words on their
boards, with bonus points for words within words. A great travel or restaurant
game. (Briarpatch, $17.99, available in
April, ages 8 and older.)
Digi Makeover. Ever wanted to see yourself with long hair?
How about blue eye shadow? Plug this simple, well-designed
console into your TV, point it at yourself to take your picture,
and your face pops up on the screen. Then use the controls to
change your image any way you want. Makeover magic without
the mess. (Radica, $59.99, available in fall, ages 8 and older.)
ZOOMBOX Projector. Make a home
theater instantly. Just pop in a DVD,
point the projector at a screen or wall (or
ceiling!) and you’ve got a big-screen experience. Also plugs into video games,
plays CDs and will connect to many TV
sets to display your fave shows. (Hasbro,
$249, available in August, all ages.)
Air Hogs Hydro Freak. Here’s the latest and greatest in R/C vehicles: It
speeds on land or water — then takes
off into the air from either surface. We
didn’t think we could be impressed by
another R/C contraption, but we
were! (Spin Master, $99.99, available
in fall, ages 10 and older.)
Hot Wheels Radar Gun. Point this radar gun at
your buddy’s pitches to see how fast they really
are! You can measure the speed of anything. The
radar gun also converts the speed of Hot Wheels
cars; if regular size, they would be going 600 miles
per hour! (Mattel, $29.99, available in June, ages 7
and older.)
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Toy Creator. Soak the hard-plastic
disks and string in warm water and
they get soft like putty. Mold them
into anything you want, or make a car
with the enclosed kit. Dip in cold water to turn rock hard. Want to make
something else? Put it back in warm
water to soften it again. (University
Games, $10-$15, available now, ages
6 and older.)
Moon Sand. This fake sand is the
perfect texture for building sand castles indoors. Bake your creation in
the oven to make it hard. Bake it
again to mush it up. (Spin Master, $5$20, available in fall, for all ages.)
PHOTOS AND ILLUSTRATIONS COURTESY TOY COMPANIES