November 2008 Notable Toys — All

These playful dragons capture the spirit of those illusive mythological creatures. Perfect impulse buy item near the register and are available loose in bins. Meticulously painted by hand, phthalate free and safety tested. Size: 5” D x 3.5” H. Ages: 5+. View our entire collection at safariltd.com.

Jumbo-sized and child-friendly wildlife wonders of the world. Designed to be lightweight and soft to the touch. This series consists of an elephant, a tiger, a giraffe, a rhino, a zebra, a hippopotamus, a gorilla and a polar bear. Meticulously painted by hand, phthalate free and safety tested. Each comes with an educational hang tag in 5 languages. Size: 10” L x 5.5” H. Ages 3+. View our entire collection at safariltd.com.

Isolate begins with the tactical positioning of game pieces on the board. Then it's a race to be the first player to "slide, separate, and remove" all your pieces. Simple to learn, yet challenging enough for experienced competitors. Isolate is a great game for two to four players of all ages.

This book starts out traditionally, but after that...watch out! There’s nothing usual about what happens when favorite fairy tales are put together in a book, and the reader is asked to decide what happens next. It’s an entertaining and exciting adventure through the intermingled paths of a fairy tale maze. And when Little Red Riding Hood (who later becomes Snow White) meets up with Hansel (who later turns into the Handsome Prince), well, anything can happen – maybe even 1001 NEW stories.

A book about a pill bug … plain and simple, written by Yukihisa Tokuda and illustrated by Kiyoshi Takahashi. It’s kind of a day-in-the-life of a pill bug: what they eat, what they do, why they curl up into little balls. The pictures are stylized and beautiful. The words are a little beyond the very beginning readers, but not much. This book won a Booklist Editors' Choice Award.

 The Ancient Egypt Toob® features replicas that range in size from 1.5" to 3" H (4 to 7.5 cm). All of Safari's products are phthalate-free and thoroughly safety tested to safeguard children's health.

This 20- to 30-minute game offers 432 different oddball scenarios (for example: You’re dining with the president of Finland and roasted reindeer and fish pie are on the menu). Players predict which person in the group is most likely (Party Animal) and least likely (Party Pooper) to go along with a given scenario.

Go back to prehistoric times and tame one of these meat eating predators! Hand crafted from shock absorbing recycled tires. Fully assembled and ready to ride. Hanging instructions included. Supports up to 200lbs.

Ride the wind! No need to tell them they can't ride the neighbors motorcycle, head for the backyard and jump on this mini hog! This swing, handcrafted from a shock absorbing recycled tire is fully assembled and ready to ride. Hanging instructions included. Supports up to 200lbs.

Fire not included! How much fun would it be to take yourself to an enchanted land and tame one of these fire breathing beasts? Handcrafted from shock absorbing recycled tire. Fully assembled. Hanging instructions included. Supports up to 200lbs.

Imagine your little dare devil flying through the backyard in this handcrafted biplane tire swing. No flying license required. Guaranteed safe landing for dinner! Handcrafted from a shock absorbing recycled tire. Fully assembled. Hanging instructions included. Supports up to 200lbs.

Paci-Plushies® are an extraordinary new pacifier holder that connects popular name brand infant pacifiers with a super-soft and light plush toy using a patent-pending flexible Hug Ring™. Paci-Plushies® are the answer a common problem: the all too often missing pacifier. When a Paci-Plushie® is attached to Baby's pacifier, the pacifier becomes easy for both Mom and Baby to find. Pacifers are fully removable allowing for proper sanitation of both the pacifier and plush toy. Paci-Plushies® are compatible with over 200 varieties of name brand pacifiers allowing for ultimate usability and versatility. Launch date: 2008

This dual-headed gripping spoon is intended to be used prior to an infant/toddler actually needing it to eat.  This allows a child to target the path from table to mouth ,so when they are fully fledged table eaters, there are less mishaps and increased success. The arc-shaped handle with angled lateral guard forms a wedge-like shape to reduce hand shifting along the handle.  This allows for a more consistent path from table to mouth. The dual lateral guards pevents gagging and the dual heads prevent choking.  Additionally, the arc-shaped handle makes the spoon–end angle toward the mouth so by just pivoting at the elbow toward the mouth enables success (no wrist movement required).  This reduces the need to coordinate the movement of multiple body parts, which reduces neurological stress and increases time on task and focus. Launch date: January 25, 2007

Create-a-Dream's mix-and-match bedding packages let moms and dads design a custom sleep environment for their little ones. The "Joey" pattern features a cute little boy who can be found on crib bumpers, comforters and shams. There are also designs just for girls, plus geometric shapes in a variety of colors to let parents get creative. All bedding is 100% cotton percale.

With this construction toy, kids can make a Jurassic model. Interchangeable parts in the Tyrannosaurus Kit can be used to create a plesiosaurus or an ammonite. With the Triceratops Kit, one can create a mammoth or an allosaurus head. The pieces in both sets can be combined to form a Pteranodon or Stegosaurus. Launch date: June 1,2008.

This 175-piece kit can be used to snap and click pieces together to create eight different items: bunny, flower, pencil box, picture frame, coasters, eyeglasses, play house set, and ring and bracelet. Launch date: June 21, 2008.

This 6” mini doll kit comes with all the supplies — paint, brushes, doll kit, tutorials and more — a person needs to reborn their first doll. Reborning can require days of work, but the starter kit makes it possible to reborn a doll in less than three hours. The kit includes a CD with a full tutorial plus a PC video that gives instruction on painting the dolls. Launch date: 2008.

This wall-mount coat locker, with side-mounted double-coat hooks, is available in eight Rainbow Accents colors. Each of the 10 cubbie holes measures 8.75" D x 14" W x 6.75" H. It is available with trays (MSRP shown) or without ($371.30). The product features KYDZSafe edges and KYDZStrong construction. It is also available in Birch and Sproutz designs.

This game allows children to practice creating singular from plural words and vice-versa. It goes over eight rules for making words plural, strengthening both oral and written language skills.

Flat Friends are unstuffed soft toys made of 100% Australian sheepskin. The 11.8" sea turtle is brown and green and comes with his own totebag and gift card.

The Tata-Mia is a three-in-one system that allows parents to easily transition from a baby recliner to a swing to a high chair. It can also fold up quickly and tightly for each storage. It comes preassembled; only the casters must be added, for easy transportability. Launch date: 2008

The No Slippy Hair Clippy features magnets for a tighter clasp, plus a velvet cover to keep them soft and comfortable. They stay in little girls' hair even during play. They're also handmade in America.

Kids can use this kit to build a working wind turbine to harness power out of thin air. Wind is one of the most promising sources of clean, renewable energy available today. During the experiments, kids will learn the physics of force and motion as it applies to wind power technology. The kit includes a full-color, 32-page experiment manual that offers illustrated instructions for 20 experiments and scientific information. Kids will build a working wind turbine, harnes mechanical energy to lift weights and more.
— “I’m featuring science kits that teach kids about the environment or renewable energy, such as the Thames and Kosmos Wind Power and the Fuel Cell X7,” said Michelle Smith of Piccolo Mondo Toys in Portland, Ore., of this good seller in her store.

Learning multiplication facts and related lessons is now a truly exciting game. Students begin at the appropriate level: beginning, intermediate or advanced. There is a practice section to work on specific multiplication problems. Then the student builds skills while playing challenging games such as; baseball, long jump, basketball or bowling. Each of these games has 11 levels of play.