The Few, The Proud...The Award-Winning Toys!
Who Made the Cut This Year?
By Alison Marek and Julie L. Jones
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:
Strobotop LightPhase Animator by EYE THINK INC.
The Strobotop™ LightPhase Animator is a combination of a hand-powered spinning top and cutting-edge LED electronics to make pictures and drawings magically spring to life before your eyes. Just spin the Strobotop™, aim your LightPhaser at it, and capture the motion.
Awards: Mom's Best Award 2010, Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products 2010
7/23/2010 [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
Solar Airship by WILD CREATIONS
 Made from heat-attracting "Absorba" plastic, this giant solar airship needs only a small amount of sunlight to cause the air inside to expand and thus lift the airship into the sky. It measures 26' long. Awards: Tillywig Toy Awards Sterling Fun Winner
7/21/2010 (Price: $15.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
Mega Bubble by WILD CREATIONS
 An inflatable base holds the bubble liquid around the perimeter, allowing people to stand inside while the bubble wand is moved up over their heads. This product aims to teach the physics behind bubbles. Full instructions for use, plus instructions on how to make bubble solution, are included. Awards: Tillywig Toy Awards Sterling Fun Winner
7/21/2010 (Price: $24.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
Buzz Wire Bomb by WILD CREATIONS
 Kids can touch the wire to hear a buzz, and if unlucky, a very loud bang. Patented gearing means the balloon could burst on the first or 21st contact with the wire. Awards: Tillywig Toy Awards Sterling Fun Winner
7/21/2010 (Price: $34.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
Steps4Kids to Write Modern Manuscript by Steps4Kids, LLC
 This 90-minute, award-winning instructional handwriting DVD uses video modeling to teach modern manuscript letters. It supports D'Nealian penmanship programs and has breaks that show how to draw using select letters and Look2Write breaks to develop reading and writing skills.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Media of the Year; Dr. Toy Best Vacation Products 2010
7/16/2010 (Price: $24.99; Age: 4 to 8) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
PhotoStory by Creations by You, Inc.
 PhotoStory includes the complete cost of a professionally produced, full-color hardback photo book. A unique kit number is provided to help kids make a book online with user-friendly website. The bonus photography guidebook will teach kids how to use their camera. "Kids are getting digital cameras at very young ages and have no outlet for thier photos besides social networking sites. While there are many photobook options, we are the only one with a focus on this young market. We have hundreds of preloaded stickers and backgrounds which can be added to layered pages and are designed around what kids are photographing," Chapelle Brunk, Marketing Specialist, Creations by You, told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Kids Product of the Year
7/16/2010 (Price: $21.95; Age: 9 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
Hologram Chamber by WILD CREATIONS
 This chamber creates an optical illusion. Users can place any object in the chamber and see it appear to hover.
Awards: Creative Child Magazine Toy Award 2010
7/16/2010 (Price: $8.00; Age: 5 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
Pocket Microscope by WILD CREATIONS
 This microscope lets users view objects in intricate detail with brightness and clarity. It features a 20x - 40x zoom magnification with LED illuminator and comes complete with slides, cover slips and a lens cleaning cloth.
Awards: 2011 Teachers' Choice Award; Creative Child Magazine Toy Award 2010; Fall 2010 Parents’ Choice Recommended.
7/16/2010 (Price: $13.99; Age: 5 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
As Nora Jo Fades Away: Confessions of a Caregiver by FIVE STAR PUBLICATIONS INC.
 Life goes from Hollywood to Michigan to Mars when Lisa and her family take in her grandmother who has dementia. The Weavers quickly discover the “comicals” of Nora Jo bring a whole new realm of “crazy” to their copasetic abode. And the question becomes, how high a price can they pay for this traumatic change? "As Nora Jo Fades Away is a great read with an even grander cause: to create action and awareness," Lisa Goldman, Five Star Publications office coordinator, told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Paris Book Festival Romance Award First Place
7/9/2010 (Price: $15.95) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
Magnetic Mosaics ® Kids Magnetic Art Kit by THE ORB FACTORY LIMITED
 Sticky Mosaics bring the fun and excitement of mosaic art home. Package includes black and white numbered templates for preschoolers to create any of 20 fun designs with the 600 half-inch magnetic foam cubes. The cubes are easy to handle and the large easel can be flipped into either portrait or landscape orientations.
Features:
- 600 Magnetic Foam Cubes
- 20 Reusable Templates
- 12” x 17” Easel
- Convenient Easel Stand
Awards: 2008, Learning Express Best Preschool Toy Award
7/9/2010 (Price: $24.99; Age: 4 and up) ENTER THE ORB FACTORY LIMITED TOYSHOW [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]
Related Video:
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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