The Few, The Proud…The Award-Winning Toys

Who Made the Cut This Year?

Thousands of products are introduced to the toy industry every year, but only a limited number are good enough, playable enough and innovative enough to garner an award.

In addition to issuing TDmonthly Awards, TDmonthly Magazine regularly asks manufacturers to present their award winners to our readers so that retailers can quickly identify products with great potential and manufacturers can learn and be inspired by others' successes. Here are the most recent responses:

MoonBeam Mini Projector Solar Nightlight by SOLPALS

MoonBeam Mini Projectors are the first solar-powered nightlights for kids that project fun, softly-lit designs in their rooms throughout the night. They simply attach to any window, giving parents peace-of-mind by removing temptations for little ones to be drawn to traditional plug-in nightlights. Parents will also love that MoonBeam Projectors automatically turn on at dusk and off at dawn. MoonBeam Mini Projectors come in four stylish colors: green, blue, pink, and purple. All MoonBeam Mini Projectors are sold with the Starry Night theme with additional interchangeable projector lenses available for purchase in the following 3 Packs: Christmas, Flower Garden, & Dinosaurs OR Halloween, Sports, & Starry Night. MoonBeam Mini Projectors keep children safe by removing the dangers of traditional nightlights, such as potential fire hazards, while teaching children the importance of using alternative energy. Launch date: January 2012.
Awards: 2012 WTS Toy Review Four Star Certified, 2012 Moms Choice Award Product of the Year, 2012 National Parenting Publication Award, 2012 Creative Child Magazine Product of the Year Award

PowerUp(TM) - Electric Paper Airplane Converstion Kit by TAILOR TOYS LLC

PowerUp - Electric Power Module will convert origami homemade paper airplanes from a glider into a soaring free flight airplane. Make a paper airplane from any 8.5x11 or A4 copier paper and clip on to it the PowerUp electric module. Quick charge and toss the airplane into the air. 3x1.5V AA alkaline Batteries and paper for the airplane are not included. This product is great for science classes and after school activities. It is lots of fun and challenging for both kids geeks adults and seniors. It could be used in science fairs and aerospace competitions. Launch date: July 2011.
Awards: 2012 ATA Best Toy Hobby of the Year Award

Puzzle Match - The Pet Shop by WOWOPOLIS LLC

Different from traditional memory games in which two identical cards are matched, Puzzle Match has kids search and match three puzzle piece parts of one image to complete the match. For example, players search for puzzle pieces of the head, body and claws of a parrot to make the match. As an added value, once kids finish the memory game and match the interlocking pieces, the pieces can be assembled into a giant, beautifully illustrated scene. "Unlike traditional memory games in which two identical cards must be found for the match, Puzzle Match - The Pet Shop has players searching and matching three different parts of one full picture to make the match," Ari Weinstock, CEO of Wowopolis, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2013.
Awards: 2012 Dr. Toy Best Picks New Products

SmartMax Flower Palace by SMART TOYS AND GAMES INC

SmartMax Flower Palace provides your child with four colorful flower-shaped pieces, along with 19 magnetic medium bars, 16 large ball-shaped magnetic connectors, and two peaked rooftops so she can use their imagination to build a multitude of creations. These extra-large pieces make it easy to use creative-thinking skills to mix-and-match the pieces and create new combinations. Unique houses and large-scale castles are among just a few of the many options. Children can use the four panels to strengthen the structure of their construction and build walls, floors, or forts. Flower Palace is one of several new 2012 sets in the award-winning SmartMax® magnetic construction toy line. It can also be combined with all existing Smart Max ® sets for unending play opportunities.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

Pony Royale™ Dressing Carousel Playset by RAZOR

This beautiful tented carousel is adorned with intricate royal details and opens up to two-feet wide, revealing a dream closet fit for a Princess Pony. The playset features display areas not only for her Change-It-Up Hair™, but for her Mix-It-Up Fashions™, too, making it easy for the Princess Pony to appraise her pony wardrobe and decide on just the right fashion for the royal occasion. The Styling Center, with three mirrors and storage for her hair brushes, jewelry, and Saddlettes™, lets girls add the finishing touches. The Dressing Carousel comes with two Princess Pony skirts, which also dress the windows as fanciful curtains.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

Touch Magic Rockin' Guitar by LEAPFROG

Touch Magic™ is a new product line from LeapFrog that brings intuitive touch technology to preschool toys for the first time. It combines fun, learning, and creativity. Touch Magic learning toys utilize capacitive touch technology that recognizes every tap, touch, and swipe to bring each product to life. This new collection of interactive toys includes four products that help develop core learning skills, and encourage exploration and discovery. The Touch Magic Rockin’ Guitar brings musical fun and develops preschool skills with every little touch. It fits kids’ development, engages their creativity, and builds their confidence as they learn ABCs and many new words through educational songs. Kids can choose to play solo without a backup, play along with a band, or select an electric or acoustic guitar to accompany songs including Rockin’ Robin, Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You’re Happy and You Know It, and Pop Goes the Weasel.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

Sparkling Hair Accessory Set by CREATIVITY FOR KIDS

Sparkling Hair Accessories provides your child with all the items needed to create fashionable hair accessories with trendy ribbons, feathers, rhinestones, bows, gemstones and sparkle accents and make an endless array of interchangeable designs with six glittery headbands and four spring hair clips. Complete set includes glue and all the crafting essentials needed.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

Glitter Nail Art by CREATIVITY FOR KIDS

Super sparkly manicures are right at your little girl’s fingertips. Glitter Nail Art craft kit includes glitter application station to minimize mess and maximize fun! Complete set also includes six pots of glitter, confetti and rhinestones, sparkling nail file, three bottles of glitter nail polish, tweezers and manicure storage bag.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

YouTurns by B. toys by BATTAT INC.

Get the road trip started as you steer your little car around the B. town on the screen, which lights up for night driving. Shift through forward, neutral and reverse. Both the engine and the horn make actual sounds. The LED blinkers let everyone know where your little driver is headed. Your child can push the music button to hear 3 driving songs in 3 unique styles. The YouTurns also make the perfect car seat toy – flip it over and it doubles as a pillow.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

Temple In Paradise Scramble Squares® 9-Piece Puzzle by b. dazzle, inc.

The Temple In Paradise Scramble Squares® 9-piece educational brain teaser puzzle for all ages celebrates The San Marga (“The Good Path”) Iraivan Temple being constructed at the foot of an extinct volcano on Kauai, the northernmost of the Hawaiian Islands. The temple is being constructed at Kauai's Hindu Monastery, 5 miles from the town of Kapaa, 4 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. The temple construction commenced in 1975 and is scheduled for completion in 2017. There are Hindu temples in virtually every nation on earth, over 1,000 in the United States and nearly a million in India, but this temple was destined to be unique—a white-granite edifice being brought stone by stone from south central India after being hand-carved by 75 sculptors working for 27 years with simple bamboo-handled mallets and tens of thousands of mild steel chisels. Their monumental efforts reflect the ultimate in artisan craftsmanship and design, surrounded by as beautiful a setting as the paradise island of Kauai could provide.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

Following are some of the programs represented in TDmonthly.com's section of award winners: Dr. Toy, iParenting Media Awards, TIA T.O.T.Y., Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, The National Parenting Center, and Parents' Choice Awards.

You may also access TDmonthly's review section to see which products earned 5 TD stars.

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