March 2012 New Specialty Toys — Creative Activities

A rolling pin, cookie cutters, and felt "dough" make baking seem real. Flip the shapes over and they're already decorated. Made of Wood, Water based paint, Felt, Aluminium alloy.

Kids can hypnotize their friends and family with the 30+ tricks they can do with the Funtrix Cat's Cradle from Eolo Sport. Includes an instructional DVD filled with new tricks to master. Launch date: March 2012.

Build a five-foot-tall marble track out of paper and tape. Eleven different patterns are printed onto 45 sheets of card stock and cut into strips. The kit comes with five marbles and a detailed instruction manual with over 90 color photographs showing kids how to make each piece and how to connect the pieces together. Made in USA; marbles made in China. "This is the only commercially available marble track kit made out of paper," Andrew Gatt, owner of Paper Roller Coaster Company, told TDmonthly. Launch date: October 2011.

Sticker Farm Sticker Books are keepsake quality sticker albums for storing and playing with a child's sticker collection. These  large sticker albums have reusable specially-coated pages for repeated positioning and repositioning of stickers, plenty of sticker space, a designated trading page and even a built-in pouch for storing extra stickers. Thoughtfully designed and engagingly illustrated by up and coming illustrators. Launch date: May 2011.

Nanodots: how do they work? Users can see for themselves with the Magnetic Field Viewer and Splitter. Straight from the labs of Nano Magnetics, the MFV Splitter allows users to see magnetic interactions, carve and divide creations while also serving as a Nanodot ruler.

Great for backpacks and carry-ons, this fun and friendly, go-anywhere travel buddy puts an international twist on the message of friendship. Globe Clip keeps bracelet in place during knotting. Numbered slots keep threads organized for written and video instructions featured online. Slide-out drawer features 20 pre-cut Prism® threads in 10 different colors. Easy instructions included. Launch date: February 12, 2012.

Our Eco Green Acrylic Paints come in 54 vibrant colors and are "NO-VOC", or "LO-VOC" products that do not bring toxic fumes and chemicals into the studio, school room or play area. Launch date: January 2012.

Design “Full Throttle” cars with this portable light-box. This set includes light-box, 30 stickers, 25 car design sketch sheets, 20 films, 10 “Tree-Free” colored pencils, pencil sharpener, storage pouch and instructions. 3AA batteries required, batteries not included. Launch date: 2012.

PLAY-DECO is a unique craft for home decor that combines wooden "bone" with paper "skin." Users can either use the skin as is or create their own original works. "You can also download new 'skins' and accessories from the website as well as templates to design your own," Shinya Fujimoto, CEO of Magnote, told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 2012.
Awards: 2011 Good Design Award

For Young Fashion Designers! Choose a border from transparency pages. Then place the trace paper over any of the hairstyles, shirts, skirts, shoes and accessories. Use the colored pencils (included) to create unique fashion styles. The possibilities are endless.
Each spiral bound book includes 8 colored pencils in a re-sealable pouch, 16 pieces of trace paper with colorful borders and 10 pages of traceable clothes, shoes and accessories.

For Young Fashion Designers! Choose a border from transparency pages. Then place the trace paper over any of the hairstyles, shirts, skirts, shoes and accessories. Use the colored pencils (included) to create unique fashion styles. The possibilities are endless. Each spiral bound book includes 8 colored pencils in a re-sealable pouch, 16 pieces of trace paper with colorful borders and 10 pages of traceable clothes, shoes and accessories.

What a blast kids will have when they can shoot aliens (or next-door buddies) with a 30-foot blast of water? This space pack holds a liter of water and can shoot water in two directions at once, or choose the more traditional single straight-on stream. Strap on the space pack – on top of other space gear or while still wearing pajamas -- and have a blast indoors or out. Like all Aeromax products, attention to detail is paramount with pretend pressure and instrument panels along with adjustable black straps. The modestly priced shooter can be played with or without water for priceless galactic role-playing. Watch more videos: Toy Fair 2012.

Junior explorers can hop on this inflatable space shuttle and blast off for both indoor or outdoor adventures. Ideal as a floating ride-on, this handsome shuttle boasts genuine looking instrument panels, gauges, a built-in portal view of Earth and the red & white stars & stripes of the U. S. of A. Kids will enjoy incorporating into play the clear window view of Earth and the international space station as seen from outer space. After touring the stars and the moon, move the furniture and make way for a shuttle landing that boasts a 45” wingspan and spreads 43” in length. Designed for a weight limit of 90 pounds.

Kids will spend hours of creative fun decorating their pets with their own bright colors and patterns with this Design a Pet Kit. The Design a Pet Kit from Toysmith 4M contains a sand filled lizard, fish and frog for kids to paint and decorate. Each pet has their own adoption certificate and habitat. Kit includes: 3 sand filled pets, water soluable paints, paintbrush, adoption certificates, and habitats.
— In a January 2012 survey about arts and crafts toys, Mary Porter Green, owner of The Curiosity Zone in Ashburn, Va., told TDmonthly that they sell a dozen of this toy each month. In fact, they sell so quickly that they "Can't keep them in stock!"

A complete Shrinky Dinks fun factory with oodles of supplies. Includes 10 sheets of pre-printed Shrink film, charm bracelets, beads, greeting cards, gift tags, jewelry cord, hair clips and key chains. Plus 8 color pencils, pencil sharpener and hole punch.
— In a January 2012 survey about arts and crafts toys, Grafton Stine, owner of Toys on the Square in Hummelstown, Pa., told TDmonthly that Shrinky Dinks Deluxe was a best selling item.

Kids can custom design this jewelry box with shimmering faux jewels and colorful foam tiles. Includes more than 750 sparkling tiles and jewel pieces. Launch date: 2011.
Awards: 2011 ASTRA Best Toys for Kids
— In a January 2012 survey about arts and crafts toys, ten of 13 retailers said Sticky Mosaics from the Orb Factory were among their top two best sellers in the category. Retailers reported selling anywhere from 10 to 150 each month.
— In a March 2012 survey, 2 out of 12 retailers told TDmonthly that Sticky Mosaics from The Orb Factory were their best selling product. Elmer Caranza, manager of Doodlehopper 4 Kids in Springfield, Va., told TDmonthly that they sell about 2 dozen items from the Sticky Mosaics line each month, and that it's been a best seller for almost a year now.

Pick a theme, find the materials, and let the creativity flow. Each kit includes Makedo’s reusable re-clips, lock-hinges, safe-saw, an inspirational poster and stickers to complete the creation. Through playful creativity take recyclable materials commonly found in the home and transform them into creations. Exclusive to Toysmith in the U.S.

This red-roofed barn has dual purposes, as a handy farmhouse setting for adventures and later as a carry-all for stored farm toys. The large playset includes Farmer Tim, a tractor, 8 animals including a cat and dog, straw bales, shrubs and fencing. Launch date: 2012.

It’s almost time for the Heartlake Dog Show and Mia is getting her puppy groomed and ready. Use the soap, spray bottle and tub to help Mia give her puppy a bath. Brush its hair on the grooming table and dress it up with a pretty bow. Head out to the puppy parade and win a first prize ribbon to hang on the puppy’s house. All of the Lego Friends will be so proud to watch her compete. Includes Mia mini-doll figure and puppy, plate, bone, bows, prizes, spray bottle, soap and brushes. Set features grooming table, tub, puppy house and apple tree.

Children use their building skills to create machines, buildings, robots, and more from their imagination. Easy to grasp Magic Brix assist children with fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, logic, creativity and sensory awareness. Just put two blocks together and apply pressure to connect them. The littlest kids can create houses, vehicles, animals, or whatever their minds dream up.

This set includes 41 magnetic geometric shapes that can be creatively combined to animal shapes, people, patterns, and more. The set includes 24 design suggestions cards to get the creative juices flowing.

Thanks to the pre-cut wooden pieces budding craftsmen have immediate construction pleasure without having to do any sawing. Thanks to the easy to read instructions assembling the pieces is very simply. The construction sets bring physics within easy reach and are real fun to assemble, and then to observe and test the results. More than 50 wooden pieces to glue and assemble together (3 mm strong waterproof plywood), 2 plastic swimming elements, 3 plastic bushings, 5 propulsion rubbers, glue.

This kid sized Ukulele from the Hohner Kids line, all wood ukulele with real tropical sound is 21" long and includes instruction book. The Kohala is a little bit of a step up in quality and materials but essentially the same look and size as the HOH029.

"A Day in Paris" is the latest in eeBoo's award-winning Paper Dolls' series. The set comes two 8 1/4" tall dolls - one is a baker, the other a painter - and a colorful 2-sided stand-up scene featuring a bake shop on one side and a Parisian street on the other. Two sheets of re-usable electro-static sticker clothes and accessories suit up the dolls to bake, paint, or stroll cobble-stoned city. Launch date: January 2012.