Toys in the News: 11-20-09 The Toy Industry Association announced Friday the finalists for the 2010 TOTY (Toy of the Year) Awards, a program that will mark its 10th year...
How a 5-MINUTE CHALLENGE® Trumps Challenging Times On the prowl for a product that meets the needs of the times, TDmonthly Magazine and TOYDIRECTORY took a trip to Redondo Beach to visit Kathie and Marshall Gavin, founders of b. dazzle, inc. and makers of Scramble Squares® brain-teaser puzzles...
10/1/2009
Top-10 Most-Wanted Science & Nature Toys It’s becoming easier and easier for toy stores to bring “life” to science lessons, with butterfly homes, frog-filled aquariums, multiple ant farms and all sorts of robotic creatures...
Learning Resources Keeps Teaching in 25th Year In 1984, Jane Woldenberg realized a need in the educational market for hands-on elementary school math products. Her solution was creating Learning Resources...
Families Flip Over Wild Creations Frogs TDmonthly Magazine’s Roundtable participants recently adopted new pets and created an eco-system with Wild Creations’ Classic Water Garden Starter Kit Eco-Aquarium...
9/1/2009
Retailer Spotlight: The Tutoring Toy A desire to work together as a family first led Diane and Bill Sartain to investigate opening a toy store, and the opportunity to help parents understand the value of play clinched the deal in 1988...
Holiday Preview - Books Pleasant picture books for babies, Jonas Brothers diaries for tweens and good ol’ story books give kids of all ages a reason to curl up and read (or write!) this winter. See some of the latest launches below...
5/1/2009
TDmonthly’s Charitable Kid Contest #1: Schoenhut Piano Co. Inc. Will YOUR Customer Give Away 100 Schoenhut Pianos? TDmonthly Magazine is teaming up with manufacturers, specialty retailers and kids to bring joy – and toys! – into the lives of needy children...
5/1/2009
Retailers Take Home Extras in Toy Giveaway Want to score some great samples for your store, or really get to check out new toys by having them in hand? TDmonthly Magazine's new Weekly Toy Giveaway Sweepstakes for Storeowners gives your store the chance to bring in extra product...
5/1/2009
New ABC Conference Aims to Inform The ABC Kids Expo is in its seventh year, with plans to take over the Las Vegas Convention Center again this September. But this year, All Baby & Child is also offering something completely new...
4/1/2009
TDmonthly's Top-10 Toy Fair Toys Among the tens of thousands of products on display at Toy Fair, there's always a select few that stand out, especially in terms of their promise for the specialty market. This year, TDmonthly Magazine was pleased to find an even broader variety of eco-friendly goods...
3/1/2009
MORE Secret Lives of Toymakers What is it like to have $100,000 on the line and no buyers? Find out by watching more rough sequences from ToyDirectory's upcoming documentary...
3/1/2009
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom recently found a tree full of creative play possibilities, practiced logic with colorful cubes, brushed up on spelling, and Bingo’d her way to a nutritious lifestyle...
3/1/2009
MagnaPlay Cases Hit Market in Just Months MagnaPlay, a magnet toy company, grew from a project that scientist Maya Gowri was working on with her 10-year-old son, who had to develop a board game for a class project, she told TDmonthly Magazine...
2/1/2009
Regional Reports: What’s Selling … And Where Sticky Mosaics by Orb Factory are just blowing away the competition. Not only did they rank at the top for girls’ arts and crafts toys, but some storeowners reported they were the best-selling item in the store...
2/1/2009
HEXBUGs Trio Plays With Technology If a robot toy were crossed with an insect, what would you get? A HEXBUG! For Innovation First, the result has been a sellout, with demand overwhelming supply in the products’ first year...
1/1/2009
What Roundtables Mean for You Throughout the year, TDmonthly Magazine's Roundtable reviewers — parents, their children, and occasionally retailers and experts — don their testing gloves and give their honest feedback about dolls, toys, games and infant products...
Roundtable Roundup: Measuring Toys’ Lasting Value TDmonthly Magazine recently checked in with its Roundtable families to find out which toys and games they reviewed from April through October still held their interest and continued to be part of their weekly play...
12/1/2008
In This Issue If you’re going to Toy Fair in February, prepare with TDmonthly Magazine’s videos and tips here...
12/1/2008
Strategic Word Play Game Earns Reviewers’ Praise TDmonthly Magazine’s Tweens & Teens Roundtable took word play to a higher level with Jumbulaya, the ever-changing word play game … and had so much fun they wanted to play again and again...
11/1/2008
Karito Kids Provide Health and Homes for Children KidsGive makes dolls and books that represent girls and cultures around the world. It’s also a children’s charity and the result of a vision shared by Co-founders Laura Rangel, president, and her friend Lisa Steen Proctor, COO...
11/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom While reviewing the products below, TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom learned lessons on geography, had some fun with dentist-developed paint for teeth, and brightened up bicycling with a flashing safety component...
Holiday Gift Guide: Teach Kids to Choose Quality Intense marketing or fancy packaging can make a toy seem better than it really is, and sometimes, perception complicates the task of selecting safe, quality toys for children — or helping them pick the right one!...
11/1/2008
Find More Positive Toys in TDmonthly's Report Kathy Mabry of The Village Toy Shop in North Easton, Mass., recently told us how TDmonthly Magazine's 2008 Specialty Toys Report, "Positive Toys for a Promising Future," benefited her business...
11/1/2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Alison Marek, Managing EditorPhone: (310) 979-4330 E-mail: alison@toydirectory.comwww.tdmonthly.comwww.toydirectory.com BUY INNOVATIVE AND EDUCATIONAL TOYS WITH TDMONTHLY MAGAZINE’S 2008 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Shopper-Friendly Advertising Venue Offers Original Finds and Click-Through Convenience Los Angeles, Calif. (October 21, 2008) – Parents can forget...
10/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Top-10 Most-Wanted Science and Nature Toys Parents were grateful for the opportunity to turn kids out of the house for active play during summer, but opportunities to bring the outside in topped sales numbers for the year so far...
10/1/2008
Challenges of Chess Spawn Line of Educational Cards A passion for chess was behind Jean-Pierre Grenier’s line of educational and souvenir playing-card decks. But it was his weakness in the game that sparked the idea for his first product...
10/1/2008
In This Issue Did you miss last month's announcement about our 2008 award winners and Promising Toys for a Promising Future(tm): TDmonthly Magazine's 2008 Specialty Toys Report?...
9/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Top-10 Most-Wanted Educational Products TDmonthly Magazine recently surveyed more than 60 specialty retailers around the country about their strongest-selling educational toys and school supplies...
9/1/2008
Manners Game Teaches Social Graces, Panel Says TDmonthly Magazine’s Homeschool Roundtable participants reviewed their own manners as they played Blunders, a board game designed to make learning etiquette and social skills fun...
9/1/2008
Uberstix Kits Construct Eco-Friendly Play Überstix building system is unique. You can build buildings as tall as your ceiling, and airplanes that fly and boats that float...
8/1/2008
GeoPuzzle Teaches Homeschoolers European Geography TDmonthly Magazine’s Homeschool Roundtable studied geography the fun way by constructing GeoToys’ GeoPuzzle Europe piece by piece. Their reviews show that the hands-on geography lesson was a huge hit...
8/1/2008
Brainy Baby Gets Smarter By the Year For parents who want their children to learn the ABCs, 123s, animals, shapes, colors, Spanish and French, Brainy Baby makes toys, games, music, books, videos and more so that babies, toddlers and preschoolers can do just that...
8/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom In her latest round of reviews, TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom found a 3-D puzzle up to the challenge, brushed up on world geography, and studied phonics in a flash...
8/1/2008
ThinkFun Puzzles Set Brains on Fire When husband and wife Bill Richie and Andrea Barthello co-founded Binary Arts in 1985, they started with the premise that “having fun is a great way to learn"...
7/1/2008
Rebuilt Griddly Games Sports Strategy and Fun Named after the world grid, Griddly Games makes sports-themed games that feature diverse, hand-painted characters. Reisa Schwartzman, now owner and president, took over the bankrupt company in December 2006 and, with Penny Osborn, director of operations, revamped the business...
7/1/2008
Homeschoolers Turn Pages for Digital Bookmark It didn’t take TDmonthly Magazine’s Homeschool Roundtable participants long to see that the ease of use and practical application of the Digital Bookmark by Mark-My-Time make it a product to … well … bookmark as a favorite...
7/1/2008
June Staff Picks: Crafts and Critters Start summer off on the right foot by exploring new products and prepping your mind (and budget) for those ever-important holiday orders...
6/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Top-10 Most-Wanted Construction Toys Of the 50 specialty retailers who spoke with TDmonthly about construction toys, more than 30 percent named LEGO as their best-selling construction toy...
6/1/2008
Critical Thinking Series Challenges Homeschoolers' Thought TDmonthly Magazine’s Homeschool Roundtable families exercised their brains in a fun way when they reviewed Building Thinking Skills software and workbooks from The Critical Thinking Co...
6/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom Two five-star games and a strong lineup of other items — from space-themed art to decades-old airmen stories — gave Dr. Wright and her fellow kid reviewers plenty to rave about.....
6/1/2008
Investing in Time In 2004 stay-at-home mom Maureen Farinella, a former district manager for Barnes & Noble's software division, realized timing her elementary school-aged children’s required reading was difficult, as one child was a voracious reader, and the other reluctant...
5/1/2008
Getting Kids to Talk, One Card at a Time Glad you’re not a kid in this hooked-in, constant-access, grow-up-now world? If you were, wouldn’t you need a little help wading through society’s ethical quagmires?...
5/1/2008
Strategic Space Runs the Race Mark Salzwedel, president and CEO of Strategic Space, Inc., reflects on the history of his game design and his first year publishing tabletop games...
5/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom Things have been shaded yellow and green for TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom, who rated the following five products with 1 to 5 TD stars (for TDmonthly!); 5 is the top mark...
5/1/2008
Homeschoolers: Ethical Dilemmas in the Cards TDmonthly Magazine’s Homeschool Roundtable families faced a series of ethical dilemmas when they played “what’s the deal?” from ethiKids inc...
4/1/2008
Toddler Roundtable: Goosie Cards Read Well Goosie Cards impressed TDmonthly Magazine’s Toddler Roundtable with their sharp design and eye-catching logo, as well as the fact that the cards are made in the USA and were invented by a mom...
Preschool Roundtable: Peace Under Foot For this month, the Preschooler Roundtable parents expressed interest in learning ways for children to resolve conflicts...
Writer Invests Self in All 4 Kidz Most writers know that being published involves getting an agent and suffering rejection and disappointment. But Angela E. Davis-Lewis of All 4 Kidz Enterprises avoided these traditional obstacles by creating her own publishing company...
8/1/2007
H & T Imaginations Is More Than Plush Kids are supposed to eat right, play well and grow up to have healthy bodies and curious minds. Yet, so many of today’s toys are about having fast fingers and eyes...
8/1/2007
Build a Better Brain When babies read and kids blow up their own skeletons, you know something's going on...
7/1/2007
TDmonthly's Developmental Expert Christina Liu uses toys to help kids with or at risk for developmental delay reach their full potential. This month, her kids make up new animals, break secret codes, learn story structure and more...
3/1/2007
Poppo Plays With Passion Business is poppin’ for Poppo, which sees itself as both a game and toy company, utilizing interactive website marketing and retail outlets to bring its products to a family-targeted demographic...
2/1/2007
Simple Toys Teach Best Two-thirds of the retailers TDmonthly surveyed indicated that educational purchases begin with ages 4 and younger...
2/1/2007
Bubble Gum Turns Kids to Chemists Science products from Scientific Explorer, Tedco and others rank as educational best sellers, six of 18 retailers told TDmonthly...
2/1/2007
A No. 5, With Plush on the Side Though some manufacturers of educational products are sticking with simplicity, others indicate that combos and extras are what people want...
TimeOut Tot's Tots Avoid Timeout "It's human nature. Reward good behavior and the kids will want to do it again," Ann R. Brazil, of TimeOut Tot, told TDmonthly...
1/1/2007
Preschool Prep Brings Life to Letters Preschool Prep Company produces DVDs and books that teach toddlers the alphabet, numbers and shapes while they are learning to talk...
10/1/2006
TDmonthly's Hollywood ToyBoy Parents want their kids to do well in school. Fact. Unfortunately, most kids would rather watch TV, play video games, or hang out with their friends goofin’ off rather than study...
9/1/2006
Education is a Child's Game Retailers and manufacturers TDmonthly spoke with agreed: Games make great back to school products...
TDmonthly's Developmental Expert Christina Liu has a B.A. in Child Development and Family Studies from California State University and has worked for more than three years as an early intervention specialist .....
8/1/2006
Homeschoolers Are Fashionable This month both the homeschooled girls and boys had fun crafting items to play with, wear or display...
Corporate Consultant Goes Crackers Mark Liebig has spent the last 23 years educating cherry-picked employees of multi-national corporations on global market operations. His latest challenge? Eight-year-olds...
Bringing Up Baby, Bebe, Bambino With the popularity of multicultural toys on the rise, retailers and manufacturers who’ve jumped on the global product bandwagon say their products are selling like hotcakes...
2/1/2006
Preventing Kindergarten Dummies and Social Morons According to Kathy Oxley, founder of Preschool Prep Company, research shows there is a direct correlation between kids falling behind in reading skills in the 2nd grade and dropping out of high school...
Tween Girls Go Scientific Five homeschooling moms in North Carolina and their nine tween daughters evaluated six toys for TDmonthly Magazine...
12/1/2005
LeapFrog Enterprises: Self-Investment Pays Off In 1994, Mike Wood left his successful law practice to invent the prototype for what has become a multimillion dollar product: the LeapPad Learning System...
11/1/2005
You See ‘Em In Museums When did museum gift shops go from corner asides to big business?...
Homeschooled Kids Teach Toys How to Play TDmonthly Magazine interviewed five homeschooling mothers from Western North Carolina who are raising a total of 15 children among them to find out what kinds of toys they buy...
11/1/2005
Homeschoolers Like Toys, Too Homeschoolers are in your community — in growing numbers — and they’re looking for quality toys to stimulate and teach...
11/1/2005
It Belongs In a Museum! Gone are the stodgy days of dusty tables in basements; there is a large, flashy and growing market in museum gift shops...
10/1/2005
After-School Specials TDmonthly Magazine talked to over 30 manufacturers about selling to the after-school market, and what the kids are playing with...
Back-to-School for Babies? At one time, the term “going back to school” referred only to children 5 and older. These days, between schools, parents and government-sponsored programs, children are getting “ready” for school literally from day one...
6/1/2005
Science + Fun = Great Chemistry! Starting in 2007, national science competancy tests will be administered across grades three through eight for the first time...
Play With a Purpose “Low-tech” learning toys have been gaining popularity in a key demographic...
5/1/2005
High Tech Gadgets for Hip Kids As iPods, VAIOs, Blackberries and Treos become mainstays of modern adult life, children and teenagers have often lamented the lack of trendy electronic products targeted towards their age group. Finally, the toy industry has heard their cries...
Baby Brains Abuzz with Baby Bumblebee At Baby Bumblebee, where producing award-winning educational videos and DVDs for the infant and toddler market has become the norm, brainstorming is a way of life...
Educational Toys: Where Fun Gets Smart Educational toys are clever at mingling fun with learning. Toy manufacturers are becoming increasingly savvy at providing children school and life lessons without the young students even realizing they are gaining a valuable education. The following thought-provoking products use modern-day materials to help a new era of young minds grasp...
1/1/2005
Mom´s Perspective: Weird Science I have a friend who used to think her son was a prodigy. "You don´t have to get smashed over the head with a beaker to realize that Ralphie is going to get the Nobel Prize in Science someday," she´d brag. It all began when Ralphie was just a wee lad. In an effort to "see the pichers inside de telebishion," he dismantled his mother´s computer monitor. Ralphie´s father was appalled...
12/1/2004
Science and Nature Toys Inspire Kids to Get Smart From Erector and chemistry sets to microscopes and sea monkeys, buying a child a science-based toy opens them up to a whole new world. Through these products, children can learn the disciplines of scientific methods, appreciate the value of observation, and realize that good results are predicated on following directions...
12/1/2004
Five Science Books to Captivate a Child With the educational and science-related book category enjoying increased visibility and sales success, TDmonthly magazine takes a look this month at five all-ages titles that will entrance young readers with surprising perspectives, compelling narratives and timeless themes. The unifying thread, of course, is science...
12/1/2004
Science and Nature: Not Just For Geeks For the child or teen that loves an intellectual challenge, many Toy and Hobby manufacturers have created products that will challenge and entertain the science-oriented young mind...
12/1/2004
Thriving Fat Brain Toys is a Family Affair Call it magnetic attraction. Or, you could say they were “drawn” to the toy business. But one thing is certain: a magnetic construction toy led Mark and Karen Carson to found Fat Brain Toys in 2002. The Elkhorn, Nebraska, company boasts five specialty online toy stores and a burgeoning toy distribution business. And it all began with GeoMag, an Italian toy given to their son, Adam, for his 10th birthday...
12/1/2004
Musical Training Can Start with Toys Toy Symphony products, were developed by Tod Machover, a composer and professor of music and media, and his research team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The project is co-sponsored by MIT Media Consortia Fund, Yamaha, Sega, Fisher-Price, and Mattel...
11/1/2004
TDmonthly´s Top 10 Most Wanted Interactive Games The future of toys is now, as today´s interactive playthings incorporate components like invisible data streams, voice activation and color recognition technology. Interactive products have become user-friendly, insisting children participate with the toy instead of simply playing with it in a one-sided fashion. Tom Conley of the Charleston Post...
11/1/2004
Books: Coloring & Activity Betty Lukens Learning Fun with Felt Activity books become educational when a child can interact with the characters themselves. A series of books by Betty Lukens Learning Fun with Felt teaches about many fun topics, such as, “Holidays & Seasons” and “Animals of the World.” These books encourage your...
10/1/2004
Oregon Scientific: Children´s Learning Devices Steve Jackson, executive vice president of Oregon Scientific has been involved in the toy industry most of his life. "The greatest influence on my success has been an insatiable drive to provide a fun and valuable play experience for kids...
9/1/2004
Electronic Learning for Kids: Working Hard or Hardly Working? Electronic learning toys currently account for nearly 10% of annual sales in the $21 billion toy industry. Overall, educational toys are the fastest growing segment in the toy industry. Current trends within the electronic learning toy segment include:...
9/1/2004
Adventureville: Interactive DVD of the Future U-Pic Entertainment and Psychic Bunny Productions teamed to create Adventureville, a new interactive DVD that encourages children to make decisions as they watch...
9/1/2004
Educational Insights, Inc. is a Leader in Interactive Educational Toys Educational Insights, Inc., a leader in the interactive/educational toy market, has been in the business since 1962 when founder Burt Cutler, an electronic engineer, and his wife, Diana, decided to develop a phonics course for their own children...
9/1/2004
EDUCATIONAL Dowling Magnets The educational Wonderboard Magnet Set is a great way to introduce spelling and words to children! It includes 99 magnet lower case letter, 26 upper case letters and 7 blank magnets that can be used to create your own words. Kids ages 3 and up can have...
8/1/2004
The Latest Formats Bring the World to the Latest Generation In the evergreen Infant and Toddler market segments, book publishers and media content providers are eyeing products for the youngest children as fertile ground for new cultivation...
7/1/2004
EDUCATIONAL Barker Creek Barker Creek (ToyDirectory) offers the Parents´ Choice-Award Winning KidUSA™ Activity Kit. The kit includes over 300 brightly colored magnetic pieces-States & Capitals, State Flags, State Abbreviations, State Birds, and State Flowers. It also includes a reproducible 152-page activity book which is packed with state specific activity pages, maps,...
When the Telephone Rings Barbara Gilmour is the Creator and Developer of Tanner’s Manners: Be a “Kool Kind Kid” Manners Curriculum, Award-winning Audio CD and other products...
MULTIMEDIA TV Games JAKKS Pacific introduces additions to its award-winning TV Games line based on top brands and licenses. New releases include: Ms. Pac-Man TV Games, featuring miltiple classic games including Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Xevious and Mappy; the Atari Paddle TV Games, which look like the...
3/1/2004
Featured Products in TDmonthly Magazine: Educational
A-Rest-A-Pest Inc. has a new line of adorable A-Rest-A-Pest Buggies. All A-Rest-A-Pest Buggies come with tags on them which includes their name and their story. With 20 to most every Buggies sizes you can think of, we also include an 8 pc. snap together plastic jail cage with a jail door that opens and closes, along with a handle for kids to carry their cage around. Our hard-bound picture book about how all the A-REST-A-PEST BUGGIES met each other serves as a good day... More information on A-REST-A-PEST INC. products.
Mary and Gregg Pembleton are the founders of Answers In Motion, LLC. and the creators of Thumball.Originally designed for speech therapy, it has become the premiere toy, game and experience for everyone.Stay up to date with Thumball news with our Thumball blog:http://thumball.blogspot.com/Special OfferBuy 6 of each of our 18 designs and receive your choice of 10% off your order or a free display rack... More information on ANSWERS IN MOTION products.
Innovation First incorporated in 1996 and is a privately held enterprise. The company is founded on the belief that innovation very early in the design process is necessary to produce simple and elegant designs. The company first began producing electronics for unmanned mobile ground robots, and is now an industry leader in the education, competition, hobby and toy market... More information on INNOVATION FIRST INC. products.
JAX LTD., the fun and games people, is recognized for our exceptional family games, including the long-time favorite SEQUENCE game. JAX games are designed with the idea of providing family interaction - with an educational flair. In addition to our complete line of SEQUENCE games, your whole family will enjoy all of our unique, fun-to-play games including SOLITAIRE FRENZY, OVER and OUT, RESPOND, TAKEAWAY, CUBES, MATCH'EM, SHAKE-UP, POLYGON, THE GAME OF CHIPS and everyone's favorite, KINGS IN THE CORNER. While the majority of our games... More information on JAX LTD INC. products.
The Learning Journey International is an international manufacturer and distributor of an exclusive line of award-winning children’s interactive educational products. Our products encourage learning and confidence building as they enhance a child’s potential. All products build on the skills necessary for children to be ready for school as they prepare to become our leaders of tomorrow. To learn more about The Learning Journey, please visit them online at www.thelearningjourney.com or contact them toll free at 877-839-3969... More information on THE LEARNING JOURNEY INTERNATIONAL products.
