July 2010 New Specialty Toys — Kits

Made of heavy-duty plastic with snap-together tubes and chutes, this kit includes plenty of marbles for hours of building and rolling.

The Mehndi Glitter Kit allows users to create unique body art designs with three colors of glitter. The cosmetic grade adhesive and glitter are long-lasting but easily removable. Each kit includes three jars of glitter (silver, lavender and turquoise), adhesive in a fine applicator bottle, a special applicator tip, five self-adhesive stencils, cotton swabs, instructions and design ideas.

This kit comes with over 200 pieces, including 10 sturdy mask forms with elastic cords, double-stick tape, pompoms, jewels and fringed paper, plus ready-to-decorate cutouts of hats, glasses, funny lips and more.

Build your own electric vehicles and machines, and then power them up with a hand-crank generator. Assemble 11 models including a racecar, “flying” car, radar car, satellite car, propeller airplane, drilling car, bulldozer, space station, well-digging machine, and portable camping torch. Experiment with your electric generator and your models: Alter the crank-time and the crank-frequency and see how these variables affect the performance of your cars and machines. The 36-page color instruction book included in this kit illustrates the step-by-step assembly of each model and related principles so that children learn through playing. The 122 building pieces included in this set are compatible with those in all Thames & Kosmos Construction Series kits, Physics Series kits, Wind Power, and Hydropower kits.

Build wind-powered generators to energize your electric vehicles and charge your rechargeable batteries! The wind spins the turbine, which turns an electric generator, which in turn charges your rechargeable AA batteries (not included). You can then use those wind-charged batteries to power the model vehicles you build. The six models include a glider, sail car, jet car, tractor, racecar, and tricycle. This kit includes two styles of wind turbine blades and a gearbox with three different gear ratios for experimenting. You can adjust the angle and number of wind turbine blades to make best use of wind, to make the LED light up brightly, and to charge the rechargeable battery as fast as possible. Explore this amazing, free source of renewable energy and store the electricity you generate for use in practical applications. Included also is a 40-page color instruction book with illustrated step-by-step instructions for assembling two windmills and six model vehicles, and conducting various experiments. The 133 building pieces included in this set are compatible with those in all Thames & Kosmos Construction Series kits, Physics Series kits, Wind Power, and Hydropower kits.

Pneumatic-Hydraulic Engines. Build your own models powered by air and water pressure to learn about the laws of physics. This unique kit allows you to build two different air-and-water-powered systems: water-jet propelled cars and hydro-pneumo (which simply means air pressure and water pressure) powered engines. The hydro-pneumo system uses a self-contained air-and-water turbine system as a motor. Construct 15 models including a truck, excavator, radar car, tank, antique car, helicopter, motorbike, backhoe, rocket car, forklift, roadster, propeller plane, grinder, and cutting machine. The water-jet propelled cars are a fun outdoor activity, while the self-contained hydro-pneumo powered models are fun both indoors and out. The 48-page color instruction book included in this kit illustrates the step-by-step assembly of each model and related principles so that children learn through playing. The 165 building pieces included in this set are compatible with those in all Thames & Kosmos Construction Series kits, Physics Series kits, Wind Power, and Hydropower kits.

For birthday parties, classroom projects and even fund-raisers. The party pack comes with ten 1 lb. bags of different colored sand and 25 bottles with caps. The Sandtastik Colored Sand included in the Party Pack is blue, black, red, emerald green, mauve, orange, pink, light blue, white and yellow.

With more than 60 activities, this set can serve as a great introduction to the wonders of science. It allows kids to set up their own science lab and investigate activities in chemistry, physics, biology, geology, weather, magnets and electricity. Activities include Insta-Snow , the Geyser Tube (Mentos and diet soda geyser), Water Gel, Gravity Goo, Windbags, Twister Tube and more.  "We have billed it as “the best of Be Amazing!” since it contains many of our signature science activities," Renee Whitney, president of Be Amazing Toys, told TDmonthly. Launch date: June 2010.

This solo activity kit doesn't require reading and comes with 13 interchangeable parts for three spaceships, plus 60 decorative stickers. Awards: Parent's Choice Award 2010

This craft kit allows one to create the Beaky Family: Mama Owl, Papa Owl and their little 'un. Young sewers can design their own color scheme from a selection of felt sheets (brights or pastels). The owls are approximately 3.75", 2.75" and 1.75" tall when sewn. The sewing kit makes all three owls and includes re-usable patterns and full instructions, wool felt (5 colors), stuffing, embroidery thread, buttons and needle. All the crafter needs to supply is tracing paper, scissors, pencil, pins and dried beans for balance. Owner Sarah Ketchley of Kit and Caboodle Designs told TDmonthly, "Kit and Caboodle Craft Kits are designed and developed to emphasize the natural, the reusable and recyclable and are ideal for the beginning crafter with scope for embellishment and personalization by those more experienced." Launch date: June 2009.