March 2009 New Specialty Toys — Science & Nature

This game includes an inflatable globe with more than 270 animals printed on it. The point of the game is to locate the animal using a variety of clues. Children 4 and up can play up to four levels. Level 1 starts by identifying an animal's silhouette in among one of six sections of the globe. With the highest level, the player is only given a verbal description of the animal. "Everyone is able to play given that the game has different levels of difficulty," Shantel Cartwright, in sales and marketing for TEDCO Toys, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2009.

The base of the Rolling Earth Puzzle Bank is a savings bank with a screw-on cover. The Earth Globe is a puzzle. Place the globe on the base and nothing happens; however, place the magnetic jet airliner on the equator and the globe begins to turn as the jet circumnavigates the Globe. It runs on 4 AA batteries and comes assorted with light blue and dark blue globes. "People will be amazed by the simplistic magnetic science that makes the Earth turn. The motion is mesmerizing as the plane moves around the globe," Richard B. Freeman, VP of domestic sales for Fascinations Toys & Gifts, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2009.

The TK2 Microscope kit gives you the tools, knowledge, and skills you need to view virtually any specimen you can find. The microscope is a dual light 40-, 100-, and 400-power metal and plastic microscope. The two battery-powered LED light sources allow for both the viewing of large or opaque objects lit from above and the viewing of thinly sliced or translucent specimens lit from below. It has a 10-power ocular lens; 4-, 10-, and 40-power objective lenses; and an aperture wheel. The lenses are all professional-quality optical glass. The microscope is durable and powerful, permitting years of continued observations.

Global warming — the steady increase in Earth’s air and ocean temperatures since the mid-20th century — is one of the most discussed and studied topics in the scientific community today. This kit introduces you to Earth’s climate and the issue of global warming with 23 hands-on experiments. This kit gives you the basic knowledge you need to understand the climate, why it changes, and how our actions affect it.
— “Science and robotics are extremely popular,” said Dean Nelson, owner of Wizard Kids Toys in Toledo, Ohio, who told TDmonthly in June 2009 that Thames & Kosmos is one of his top-selling lines for boys.
— Two of 47 storeowners said Thames & Kosmos account for their top sales in boys' items during a summer 2009 survey.

Hydropower has been used for hundreds of years in watermills and is now commonly used to generate electricity in applications such as hydroelectric dams and tidal power plants. Explore the power of water by building models and conducting experiments with them. Learn about how different devices are used to extract useful energy from moving water — from a waterwheel in a small stream to a giant turbine in a tidal power station. Build a waterwheel, a sawmill, and a hammer mill to harness the energy of moving water to do different types of physical work.

Head into the lab for an in-depth investigation of genetics, the branch of biology focused on heredity and variation in organisms, and DNA, the acid that holds the blueprints for life. See genetic material with your own eyes as you isolate the DNA from a tomato in a test tube. Investigate inheritance and learn how traits are passed down from parents to children. Learn about dominant and recessive genes and play inheritance games to determine how traits will be expressed.

Astonish yourself with optical illusions and amazing visual phenomena as you explore the science of human perception in this fascinating kit. Experiment with light and the color spectrum by building a color wheel, a fiber optic peacock, and diffraction glasses. Learn how the eye and a camera are similar and how they are different. Build a camera obscura and pinhole glasses. Investigate lenses and light refraction. Experiment with spatial vision and depth perception with 3D glasses and an Ames room model. Find your blind spot and watch things disappear. Awards: Parent's Choice Award 2010

Find out how Earth’s rotation creates day and night, how Earth’s axis and revolution around the sun causes the seasons, and how the moon’s rotation around Earth gives us the phases of the moon. See for yourself how meteorites formed the craters on the moon. Make a moon flipbook and a moon calendar. Build a sundial and a solar collector to experiment with the sun. Grasp a comet’s tail and learn about how meteoroids become falling stars.  A full-color, 32-page experiment book guides your space exploration.

Core Science MS-1 is a supplemental science curriculum for students entering grades 5 through 8. By performing the experiments in this kit and completing exercises in the accompanying workbook, students will lay the groundwork for success in natural science courses in school. Students will gain familiarity with commonly used science terms, methods, and tools, preparing them for future studies. The full-color, 96-page experiment manual provides illustrated instructions and explanations, and the black-and-white, 48-page workbook guides students through each experiment and allows them to record their findings.

Play the role of archaeologist as you explore this pyramid model and the treasures buried within. After using hieroglyphics to decipher the secret to unlocking the pyramid, use tools and techniques similar to those of a real archaeologist to carefully excavate a sarcophagus, death mask, and four canopic urns from inside. Open the sarcophagus, and you will discover a model mummy preserved within.

Part of the Wild Creations eco-aquarium line, the Bamboo Water Garden comes with a 12" spiral bamboo, two frogs, a snail, and choice of base. This balanced ecosystem offers a low-maintenance way for children or adults to enjoy an aquarium environment.
— Two of 40 specialty retailers cited Eco-Aquariums as a June 2010 best seller. The same month, David Campbell, owner of Amazing Toys in Great Falls, Mont., told TDmonthly his store sells about 15 Eco-Aquariums each month.

Part of the Wild Creations eco-aquarium line, this balanced ecosystem offers a low-maintenance way for children or adults to enjoy an aquarium environment. This starter kit comes with the Jewel Water Garden, a snail, two little frogs, food and care pack, and choice of base.
—  Nine percent of 43 specialty retailers told TDmonthly Wild Creations’ Eco-Aquarium was a best seller in late spring 2010.

This fascinating science toy gives kids a look into the inner workings of their favorite animals. Children can explore animals from the inside out with X-ray-like effect, using a light table or a flashlight to reveal the skeleton underneath the animal’s skin. The box comes with 16 scratchproof photographic cards to compare and study the anatomy of animals. An extensive guide is included with useful information about the classification of animals, and more.

An ant farm and an art project!  An elegant acrylic case shipped with a multi-colored filling made with finely ground glass, the ant farm starts like a sand sculpture.  Children can design their ant habitat by carefully pouring the colors into layers and hills.  Detailed instructions are included on how to infuse the sand with sugar water while sending away from the ants.  After the ants are added, the ant farm becomes self-sustaining, requiring no further feeding.  Then, as the ants tunnel and build their home inside the ant farm, they alter the sand sculpture, piling the colored sand on top where they have been digging.  Comes with habitat, special building sand in five colors, facts and instructions booklet, zoom lens, and mail-in coupon for ants. Launch Date: 2009

With its over sized 5" lens, the green-handled BigEye magnifying glass zooms kids in on the world at 2.5x magnification. Manufacturers of professional optical equipment, Carson makes their light-weight acrylic lenses durable enough kids' outdoor adventures but still with clear, consistent surfaces to yield a crisp view of the observed world rather than blurry or distorted images.

Made from the versatile, multi-experiment Snap Circuits that allow kids to safely and easily build real electronic projects, this kit features many of the latest innovations in alternative energy. Featuring a hand-crank dynamo, solar panel, and wind turbine, kids can light up an LED, power a clock, charge a rechargeable battery (included), run a small radio, and watch the created energy on an analog meter. Instructions for many other projects are included in the kit; can be integrated with other Snap Circuits sets. This product received a Dr. Toy Green Award. Launch Date: Fall 2009

This balanced ecosystem offers a low-maintenance way for children or adults to enjoy an aquarium environment. It comes complete with water, a snail, two little frogs, food and care pack. The water in the aquarium only has to be changed every five or six months.
— ''We sold about 660 during the year,” Marc Holcomb, owner of Toys & Co. in Greensboro, S.C., said in autumn 2010. Dave Campbell of Amazing Toys in Great Falls, Mont., sells approximately 12 per month.
— "I brought in 20, and in two weeks it sold out. I brought in 20 more and it sold out," Gage Brownell, manager of Belmont Toys in Belmont, Mass., told TDmonthly in March 2009 about the EcoAquariums he discovered at Toy Fair the month before. Molly McMullin of Twirl in Taos, N.M., reported sales of about 70 a month in March 2009.
— "Everyone was excited about them," Jeanne McCullough, owner of Children's Store Inc., said following ASTRA Marketplace in June 2009.
— In late summer/early fall 2009, three of 38 retailers named EcoAquariums as a best-selling science and nature product, noting sales of 18 to 60 a month. “We were hesitant to bring them in. We didn’t want to be a pet store. But it’s a neat idea. It’s low maintenance. It’s something the parents and kids can agree on,” Gary Green of Toy Box of Asheville in Asheville, N.C., told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Tillywig Top Fun; Parent's Choice Award 2010
Past Videos: Toy Fair 2009

Designed to help children connect children to nature and teach them about environmental concerns, this album features the Missoula Coyote Choir, made up of children ages 7 to 12 who are building eco-awareness. The project also promotes the process of biomimicry — learning from nature itself in order to develop solutions for a more sustainable world. The CD includes 18 tracks.  “A bunch of great songs for kids, their grownups and other animals.” —Bill Harley, Grammy® Award Winner.
Awards: 2009 Creative Child Preferred Choice Award, 2009 Parents' Choice Award, 2009 iParenting Media Best Choice Award.

Intro to Engineering is part of the Little Labs line, which is intended to be the portal through which children ages five to seven first begin to explore and appreciate science. Intro the Engineering introduces young children to the field of engineering with 25 experiments in five sections. Children learn engineering basics with experiments on levers, forces, and pulleys. They explore engineering on land by building vehicles with wheels; engineering in the air with a helicopter, a parachute, and a glider; and engineering in the water with a diving bell, a sailboat, and a paddleboat. They even find engineering at home, with experiments modeling the telephone and television (without breaking them, of course). This kit has a 48-page, full-color experiment manual, and a retail price of $34.95. Available summer 2009.

The Dangerous Book for Boys: Electronics presents information on electronics every child should know through fun, engaging, and impressive experiments and activities. Children ages eight and up learn how to construct simple electronic toys, such as a joy buzzer and insect. It comes with a 32-page, full-color experiment manual and retails for $35.95. Awards: Parent's Choice Award 2010. Launch date: Fall 2009.

Targeted for ages ten and up, this edition enables a younger audience to experience one of the most significant technologies of the early 21st Century — especially appropriate in the midst of our auto industry crisis and global energy situation. By constructing and operating a unique reversible hydrogen fuel cell, powered by water and sunlight, children build a model car that actually runs on water! And in so doing, they join auto manufacturers in experimenting with a technology that will power not only automobiles, but electronic devices such as laptops and cell phones. This new edition has a beautifully redesigned car body with a display stand and a rewritten 64-page, full-color experiment manual, and retails for $169.95. Available fall 2009.

As a follow-up to the bestselling Power House kit comes Power House Green Essentials Edition, targeted towards a younger audience of ages 10 and up. This kit teaches children about the timely issues of alternative energy and sustainable living, by conducting 30 experiments and building ten energy-related models: the power house itself, a greenhouse, a solar cell array, a passive solar collector, a solar oven, an air conditioner, a refrigerator, a hydrometer, a lemon battery, and a wind power generator. They can even sow seeds in the greenhouse! The kit comes with a 64-page, full-color experiment manual and retails for $89.95. Available now.
— “Most anything from Thames & Kosmos, like the Power House, Wind Power [and] Creative Cosmetics,” sells well for education, according to Patti Tepper Rasmussen, owner of Learning Tree Toys, Games & Books in Oklahoma City, Okla.
— Three of 40 retailers mentioned science kits by Thames & Kosmos when discussing best-selling educational items in fall 2009.

Get ready to Explore Space with this exciting mini-kit! Young Scientists recreate a solar eclipse, match planets to their descriptions, make their own “moonlight,” recreate the phases of the moon, construct a constellation box, identify mystery constellations, and design constellation cards. Explore Space will make Young Scientists want to be future astronomers! Launch date: February 2009.

Get ready to Save the Earth with this exhilarating mini-kit! Young Scientists learn about acids and bases, use pH paper to test rain water, make Styrofoam magically disappear, create pulp from old newspapers, recycle paper, make new paper, recycle leaves in a peat pellet and learn about the three R’s! Go Green teaches Young Scientists all about recycling and how they can help Save the Earth! Launch date: February 2009.