July 2009 New Specialty Toys — Puppets

Playing with puppets can be a joyful experience for children as they create stories, use new words and practice fine motor skills to make puppet gestures.

This pig glove puppet is soft and easy to manipulate. Snort.

"Thumbuddy To Love" is an illustrated story book that comes with a thumb puppet to help children stop thumb sucking. Fireman Fred (for boys) matches the character in the book. A calendar at the end of the book allows kids to mark off the days they do not suck their thumb. "Thumbuddy To Love is a positive teaching tool for kids to help them break the thumb-sucking habit," Andrea, president of Thumbuddy To Love, told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2009. This product received a 2009 Mom's Choice Award.

Princess Catherine Castlehoff is regally dressed in purple and gold. This unique royal puppet features elegant hand detailing and materials carefully crafted for years of pretend play. She measures 17" x 7" x 8".

Kids can slip their hand through the opening of this soft, slinky ferret puppet's chest to work his mouth. There's an additional rear pocket for extra wriggling. Launch date: August 4, 2009.
Awards: A TDmonthly Classics Award for being an all-time favorite toy.
— As of 7/21/2011 this product had 4.8 out of 5 stars from 4 review on Amazon.com.
— In late Spring 2011, eight out of 15 retailers surveyed said that puppets from Folkmanis were best-sellers in the category. "They have all kinds, and people can get odd things, like a ferret," Lisa LeStrange, owner of Lucky Duck Toys in Wayne, Pa., told TDmonthly. She sells 10-15 Folkmanis puppets each month.

These flexible hand puppets will let dino-buffs take their play to a new level. Assortment of three, approximately 8” long.

With his bright yellow feathers and familiar, wide-eyed face, Big Bird is a staple character for many children.  Gund captures one of Sesame Street's cardinal characters in a soft, flexible hand puppet where little players or big can move both his wings and his long beak to act out favorite or original stories. The puppet measures approximately 12” tall.
— “The Gund plush [is] the only licensed product that's ever done really well,” Mike DiAndrea, manager of Hardware Centre in Paoli, Pa., told TDmonthly in spring 2009 of his top-selling licensed toys, Gund Sesame Street characters.
— “The Sesame Street 11" dolls are selling very well,” Fran Anaya, owner of Golden Aspen Toys in Flagstaff, Ariz., said, reporting sales of 15 to 20 plush characters per month in spring 2009.
— Nine out of 49 retailers named Sesame Street as their best-selling licensed character line during an April 2009 survey.

This series includes six individual preschool books with lessons written in rhyme. It features distinctive new cat and dog characters presented in a hand-carry book box with a plush hand puppet, plus an audio reward activated sound chip allowing the puppet to bark or meow. The packaging has a "capture system that enables the hand puppet or finger puppets and book to stay together in [the] attractive book carry box," Debby Carman, president of Faux Paw Productions, told TDmonthly. Launch date: October 2008.

This 11" machine-washable puppet doll is designed to be soft and snuggly for baby.

Featuring a bright color palette, this 11" puppet is soft and snuggly.

These funny looking glove puppets measure 9.5" H x 5.5" W. There are four varieties available colors: yellow, green, orange, and blue and red combo. The machine-washable puppets are made of cotton plush material and meet all CPSIA requirements. "Child can make-believe puppets are anything they want them to be," Mariann Wedel, sales manager for Children's Factory, told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2009.

Floppy Bunny Rabbit is a 17" bundle of soft, cream-colored fabric. It's "innovative and works well as a puppet but looks like plush," Elaine Kollias, marketing director for Folkmanis, told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 2, 2009.

Folkmanis’ whimsical Frog in Spaceship puppet is designed to be easy to operate. Kids can simply insert their fingers like putting on a glove and wiggle them to make the frog steer his spaceship and flop his legs. Frog flies a one-of-a-kind spaceship created from soft, shiny silver fabric. Launch date: January 2, 2009.

The magician wearing this well-traveled top hat has a few tricks up his sleeve. When one pokes a hand up through the velvet hat, out pops a fluffy white bunny waving his paws and twitching his nose (with movement from the magician, of course). It "actually works well as a puppet but looks like a stuffed animal," Elaine Kollias, marketing director for Folkmanis, told TDmonthly. This product received Dr. Toy and Parents' Choice awards in 1999. Launch date: January 2, 1999.