April 2012 Notable Toys — Creative Activities

Soft, Light Pink Nail Polish. Piggy Paint Nail Pen has a felt tip for easy coverage and quick drying results. Piggy Paint Nail Pens are packaged as shown.

Sets of essential art materials for on-the-go artists. High-quality Thin Markers, Colored Pencils, Watercolor Pencils, and Oil Pastels in clear durable cases. Inner trays neatly hold materials. Expandable handle and snap closure. Descriptive label. AP Non-Toxic. Launch date: January 2012.

Now youngsters can take pegging to a whole new level of excitement when playing with this versatile building set that combines popular Tall-Stacker Pegs with Mighty Monkey Pegs. Kids can stack colorful pegs and create different configurations for their monkeys to play. Use the included monkey figurines to swing from a vine, zoom down the slide or ride the elevator basket — with the Tall-Stacker Mighty Monkey Playset, the thrills are endless. "The Tall-Stacker Mighty Monkey Playset encourages free-form building and role-play, while fostering creativity and imagination," Mary Dolan, public relations coordinator for Patch Products, told TDmonthly. Launch date: July 2012.
Awards: 2013 TDmonthly Seal of Approval

Build some sweet structures. Stretches creativity, problem solving and fine motor skills. Includes chunky, durable candy pieces in a variety of fun, familiar designs plus Activity Guide with illustrated, step-by-step building directions. Largest piece measures 7"L x 1⁄2“ in diameter. Launch date: January 2012.

Made of safe, uniquely shaped, brightly colored and highly textured dense foam, this toy is designed for purposes beyond fun. Made for one or more players, it teaches agility and consequence while developing Fine/Gross Motor Skills, Reasoning, Logic, Hand-Eye Coordination, Socialization, Tactile Sensory Development, Color Matching and is an easy to grasp toy. Highly textured pieces make it easy for small hands, as well as Special Needs hands, to grip. As opposed to toys that ask players to retain balance while removing pieces, this is a stack and balance toy. Launch date: June 2012.

A complete art kit for families on the go. This natural cotton carry case with built in crayon holster, pencil holders and pockets is fully equipped with a 6"x9" recycled paper notepad, 10 soy crayons, 5 drawing stencils including a 6" ruler (metric and inches), 2 wood pencils, and plenty of storage! Perfect  for restaurants when waiting for your food, airports, and road trips. This 8"x10"carry case fits in a baby bag and has built in handles for the little ones to carry proudly. Made from Plants - primarily natural cotton, soy, paper.

The book is divided into six themed chapters—transportation, buildings, space, kingdoms, adventure, and useful makes—each with basic templates of key models and spreads to inspire kids to create their own. Hints and tips from Master Builders can help kids turn their classic car into a race car or add a bridge to their castle. Featuring all-new LEGO® building projects, tips to supplement and enhance LEGO creations, inspirational builds, and expert advice from LEGO Master Builders, The LEGO Ideas Book will keep kids of all ages creating for hours. Launch date: September 19, 2012.

Nickelodeon Gak is back. The Nickelodeon Gak - Blue is the incredible squishable, squeezable, squashable, stretchable, bounceable, ploppable, poppable stuff. Gak's  "Splat" container lets kids make all sorts of wacky sounds when they squish the Gak around. Smoosh it, Twist it, Bubble It, Mix it.

With 4-in-1 endless fun, the Vtech Kidizoom Camera - Pink allows children to become an instant photographer and movie director with the press of a button. Kids' creativity will come alive as they learn to take and edit their photos with wacky effects. They can also shoot their own video movies or play 3 cool games right on the camera. With storage of up to 1000 photos, and the ability to connect to a computer, children can easily keep all of their creations so they can be treasured forever.
— As of 4/11/2012 this product had 4.1 out of 5 stars from 8 reviews on ToysRUs.com. Pros: long battery life; lots of fun for kids; durable. Cons: Picture quality isn't great.

A delightful sticker book with over 500 colorful stickers to complete the summery scenes. There's a summer flower garden to decorate with buzzing insects, pirate mice to add to a treasure ship, and stickers for beaches, boats, airports, picnics and other summer scenes. An amusing activity with lots to talk about on journeys and long summer days.
— In an April 2012 survey about best selling travel toys, three out of 11 retailers said that sticker books from Usborne were their best sellers.
— In a September 2014 survey, Kai Rady, owner of Shenanigans Inc in Charlottesville, Va., told TDmonthly that their store sells "hundreds and hundreds" of these sticker books each month, making them one of the store's best-selling novelty items.

Captain Charlie sets sails and heads off on his big journey. Equipped with the jacket, belt, hat and beard children quickly transform into brave pirates. An enemy ship ahoy! Captain Charlie whips his sword out and prepares the fetters for his prisoners. Together with his parrot he has many exciting adventures on the high seas.

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.

The Crayola Imagination Tent boasts it’s very own Art Display System which allows kids to showcase their artwork. Clear mesh panels offer 360º views so kids can see their masterpieces from anywhere. Tent made from Crayola inspired design and graphics. Equipped with a storage pocket for art supplies. Easy to set up. Comes with Carry Pouch. Launch date: November 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.