March 2011 New Specialty Toys — All

Geodes are formed by prehistoric bubbles in lava. Over time, surrounding minerals penetrate the bubbles forming crystals. The adventure is in cracking open these real geodes to reveal the crystal caverns hidden inside. The basic kit contains six geodes from one mine. This kit includes safety glasses and instructions.
Awards: 2009 Informal Education Product of the Year Award; 2010 Museum Tour Excellence Award

Geodes are formed by prehistoric bubbles in lava. Over time, surrounding minerals penetrate the bubbles forming crystals. The adventure is in cracking open these real geodes to reveal the crystal caverns hidden inside. The Ultimate kit includes 15 geodes from three different mines for a wider variety of crystal formations which could include: quartz, fluorite, calcite, or even amethyst. This kit includes safety glasses and instructions.
Awards: 2009 Informal Education Product of the Year; 2010 Museum Tour Excellence Award

Only One Ocean contains 14 original songs from the award-winning Banana Slug String Band; all designed to inspire young people and their families to learn about and care for the ocean. Special guests include Grammy winners George Winston, Victor Wooten of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, and BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet. All songs are based on "Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences K-12." Associated curricula also available.
Awards: 2008 NAPPA (National Parenting Publications Awards) Honor Award; 2008 Skipping Stones Honor Awards; 2007 Moonbeam Children's Book Gold Award; 2007 iParenting Media Award; 2005 Gail Rich Award; 2005 NAPPA (National Parenting Publications Awards) Gold Award; 2005 Parents' Choice Silver Award; 2004 iParenting Media Award; 2004 Creative Child Magazine Seal of Excellence Award; 2000 AFIM Children's Album of the Year; 1997 American Library Association's Notable Children's Recording Award; 1996 NAPPA Honor Award; 1996 Parent's Choice Honor Award;  School Library Journal starred review

Made in Brazil, these life-like babies that float inside a magic bubble feature artistic characteristics such as skin, touch, and other life-like baby properties. Sculpted by Luciana Miglioranzi.
Awards: 2009 DotY Award Industry Choice, 2009 DotY Award People's Choice, 2010 IDEX Tiny Treasures

Mouth Man long-sleeve hoodie apparel feature animated designs that form an open-mouthed animal when the arms are folded at the chest level, bringing the particular animal to life. Eco-friendly and made in the USA.

Rain or shine, these colorful rainbow socks are sure to brighten your little one's day! Available in sizes 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-2 years, and 2-4 years as well as the new larger sizes of 4-6 years and 6-8 years.

Bestie Buds can show their bestie love with bestie necklaces based on sweet treats. There are nine adorable sets available, including peanut butter & jelly, milk & cookie and ice cream & cake. "We also have 2 charms on each necklace instead of the old style which is just one of each," Darcee Matlen, President of VioletGumDrop, told TDmonthly.

Popochos™, Columbian slang for "cool" or "sweet", is the watch skin made to accompany the silicon sports watch. This watch accessory is stylish, colorful and simple to click on and off of the sports watch. The diverse collection of watch skins includes several trendy designs for Fall including: plaid, animal print and camouflage.

Helmtops are soft helmet decorations to style bike, skate, ski and snowboard helmets. Helmtops come in playful designs that let children and adults personalize their helmet. "Helmtops encourage children to get active in a safe way," Gregg Mastoras, owner of Helmtops, told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 - Creative Child Magazine, Seal of Excellence. Launch Date: February 2011 at Toy Fair

Easy Fill & Tie features a way to fill and tie water balloons easily, quickly and finger friendly. This kid-friendly device can screws onto an outdoor tap to enable everyone to make water balloons. Using Easy Fill & Tie, one can tie water balloons with just two fingers.
Awards: 2010 INPEX Silver Medal awards in Toy/Games, Sports, Gadgets, and Lawn/Garden categories.

These natural rubber baby toys and teethers are made from the rubber tree sap and hand-painted with non-toxic paints. These toys are water-resistant and are completely PVC, BPA and Phthalate free. Babies can chew and mouth safely. "Our natural rubber toys and teethers are made in Spain since 1952," Olek Zhylin, manager of Nova Nature Distributing, told TDmonthly.

Meet Mrs. Pinkelmeyer, Silliest, Warmest Know-It-All™ and her lovable dog Moopus McGlinden. Follow their adventures in the Pinkelmeyer book series, dance along with their music or snuggle up with their plush, singing doll as they inspire self-esteem in children through love, warmth and silliness.

The Take Home Center unit features ten locker sections, each with a paper-tray slot. Designed for organizing messages and homework amongst other things. Each locker contains two double hooks for hanging book bags, jackets and more. Ten paper-trays are included and come in a variety of colors. This stationary unit has a lifetime warranty is made with KYDZSafe® edges, KYDZStrong® construction and KYDZTuff® finish.

Classic real-world games, like billiards and foosball, use sticks and pegs to propel balls. Birkball uses steerable chutes to accelerate and aim balls. Two, three, or four people can play simultaneously. Play consists of rolling steel balls down steerable chutes across a field into a target ball to move the target to the other team's back wall.

A child will never have to hop alone again. Using this tandem hopper increases kids' agility and copperative skills. Plus, they get exercise without even noticing.
Awards: 2010 National Parenting Center Riding/Exercise Toys award

Dinosaur fans can dig up their favorite bones using a plastic chisel and hammer. After assembling the pieces, they'll have a museum-quality display piece.
Awards: 2010 National Parenting Center Toys That Teach award

Kids use a plastic chisel and hammer to unearth the bones of extinct animals, then assemble the pieces into a skeleton. The finished piece can be used as a display.
Awards: 2010 National Parenting Center Toys That Teach award

Between a Roc and a Hard Place is the story of a young dragon named Tephra, who is abandoned as an egg and is subsequently adopted and raised by a family of giant birds (Rocs). Through trial and error, Tephra and her family members learn along the way what being a family really means. The story explores intricacies of adoption, especially interracial adoptions, all without ever mentioning the word ‘adoption.’ Author Danny Birt has an MA degree in music therapy, and has worked with children who have special needs.
Awards: 2010 National Parenting Center Children's Books award

A new series of Superstructs, plastic rod-and-connector-style construction toys, called Arc-A-Teks from WABA Fun will have kids as young as 3-years-old creating, building and imagining. Each of the three Arc-A-Teks sets comes with 40-42 pieces, enough to build two Arc-A-Tek characters simultaneously. Children can also build a third character from each set, and instructions can be found online using a special code included in each Arc-A-Teks set. It’s a thoroughly non-violent, character-building construction set made with bigger parts for littler hands.

Check out Ugly any time of day with a new line of high-end ceramic watches from the Ugly Doll people. As of 11/29/10, watches were not yet available for purchase, but could be pre-ordered.

Andy Mills is a fashion-doll first: an openly gay event planner. Made of vinyl and hard plastic, this new, original sculpt doll has hand-painted facial features and comes dressed in a sharp pin-striped suit, complete with a contrasting pocket square and spectacles. He has blue eyes and wigged brunette hair. He’s a full 17” high.

This compilation by Susan Magasmen uses a developmental skills model called the 6Cs™ that was created by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Golinkoff to help parents and teachers see the immediate links between learning and play.  The stories come from families and educators at Goddard Schools around the nation.

A classic scene of enjoying Coca-Cola during the holiday season. Completed puzzle measures 28.75" x 36". © The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola, Coke and the Contour Bottle Design, the Dynamic Ribbon device, the Red Disk Icon and the Coca-Cola Santa are trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company and in Canada, Coca-Cola, Ltd.  All rights reserved.  Allied Products Corporation is an official licensee of The Coca-Cola Company.

Put together this 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle to reveal a collage of women's shoes. © Hallmark Licensing