Legos are an icon of childhood for most of us, whether you were the one building elaborated fantasy worlds or your children are/were. Like just about every other product you can think of, Lego seizes just about any opportunity for merchandising that it sees and has moved out of the playroom and into the kitchen. Earlier this year, we saw some Lego Eggos, but now the company is offering us real kitchen gear, like ice cube trays shaped like Legos and salt and pepper shakers shaped - somewhat disturbingly - as Lego-men heads. They also have a Lego Apron, which is not made of Legos, but features the classic body of a Lego person on it, a set of Lego coasters and Lego corkscrews for opening wine (probably not something you want your kids to see in case they mistake them for toys).

All this Lego gear is a lot of fun to have around and definitely gives a new twist to playing with your food. The only way that this stuff could be more fun is if the ice cubes were stackable, though it should only take a little water to get them to stick together long enough to build a small tower. You'll need more than one tray for a fort.

For years and years, the best thing about eating cold cereal in the morning was the fact that toys came in the boxes. They were tiny and cheap, but they were free and that is all that matters when kids are concerned. As sponsors moved their toys to happy meals and cereal companies began cutting costs, the free cereal toys became fewer and farther between. To delight of kids everywhere, and probably more than a few adults, Ford is reviving the tradition of toys in cereal boxes by putting 600,000 Ford Fusion Hot Wheels into boxes of Kellogg's cereal sold at Target stores. No cutting bar codes or collection box tops necessary.

Ford is, of course, trying to promote its mid-sized Fusion by appealing to families with kids. The cereals that have the cars will be Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Frosted Flakes and Cocoa Krispies, all likely to be consumed by cartoon-watching children on Saturday morning, but the parents will be the ones reading the boxes and learning more about the car. At least, that's what Ford is hoping. The rest of us are just hoping that other companies follow suit.

I need some new x-ray specs.

It's fun to check out Topher's Cereal Character Guide, which lists just about every cartoon cereal character you can imagine (and some you can't), but another fun part of the cereal box is the back. The back of the boxes have games, puzzles, promotions and other information. They change frequently, but there is a site that has a cereal box archive, with photos of both the fronts and the backs of hundreds of cereal boxes. Many of the boxes advertise free or discounted products that tie in to the cereal itself. Merchandise includes dartboards, gum and even door knockers - all of which can make us remember why we got up to eat cereal and watch cartoons on weekend mornings: free stuff. 

Generally, meat is for eating and not to be used as a toy. In this case, however, I think we can make an exception. Sweet Meats sells (vegetarian!) meat plushies, all made from and stuffed with a super-soft fleece. The varieties they sell include ham, t-bone and pork chops, as well as ribs and hot links. Most of the plushies are available in a "family size" for those who like their meat larger, too.

It seems like they would make an amusing gift for vegetarian friends, since no animals were harmed in the making of these meats, or a cute alternative to a teddy bear for a young carnivore-in-training. Can you imagine a little kid carrying around a plush steak instead of a security blanket? Adorable!

Nick posted about crocheted food a week ago, noting that it was far more popular than he had anticipated. Some of the creations were fantastic, but if you're not very crafty, it's going to be hard to fit in with your cupcake-crocheting friends. The solution is to get some pre-made play foods, like the ones available from Mahar Drygoods. Each of the food items is hand-crafted from soft felt and makes a great starting set for your budding chef because there is no risk of cooking-related injuries. The sets available include pancake and bacon breakfast set, a brown bag lunch (pictured), a dinner set and a pizza. Heck, they're cute for any chef. I know that I want the those pancakes!

It seems that Giant Food Stores loves to sponsor events that get principals dirty. First, they sponsored an event at a York, Pennsylvania elementary school where the principal became a human burger and now they have a principal dunking her head in a vat of chocolate pudding. To help raise money for the school's Life Skills class, Kristin Herb, the principal of Carlisle High School, went bobbing for objects that were hidden in a huge container of pudding in front of a cheering crowd of students. Though she requested the flavor, after pulling out a plastic action figure, a baby's teething ring, a rubber ball, a squid and a toy dog bone, she probably won't be eating any voluntarily for quite some time.

[Image The Sentinel]

Fast food franchises all over the world give out toys with their kid's meals. Not all of them do, of course, but the companies know that is no better way to lure a hungry child in for lunch than with the promise of a free toy. Until recently, I generally assumed that the majority of the restaurants that did this were in the United States. Though the toys vary by location, they are distributed in even unexpected places. In the US and some other countries, the toys are very centered on cartoons and movies. In Qatar, as it turns out, they look to provide "fun and quality toys that kids can interact with" in their kid's meals. And by "interact with,"  they mean that their toys still have movable parts, because the "quality toys" are mostly likely still manufactured alongside the "quality" US kid's meal toys.

I do recall getting a surprisingly nice watch - plastic, but stylish - at a McDonald's in France, though it was about 9 years ago when the kid's meal toys seemed to be of a higher quality in general.

[Image via Peninsula Qatar)