April 2014 Notable Toys — Creative Activities

Schoenhut recently added versatility to their product line by introducing a collection of electric toy pianos painted with adorable characters. Rave reviews from visitors at Toy Fair 2014 proved the popularity of these instruments.
 
Whimsical and appealing for children, these unique and fun instruments will provide hours of musical enjoyment. Included in the selection are a Dog, Elephant, Bird, Alligator, Lady Bug, Zebra and Princess. The 25-key piano sits safely and squarely on the floor within easy reach of little hands...a great choice for beginners.

Schoenhut recently added versatility to their product line by introducing a collection of electric toy pianos painted with adorable characters. Rave reviews from visitors at Toy Fair 2014 proved the popularity of these instruments.
 
Whimsical and appealing for children, these unique and fun instruments will provide hours of musical enjoyment. Included in the selection are a Dog, Elephant, Bird, Alligator, Lady Bug, Zebra and Princess. The 25-key piano sits safely and squarely on the floor within easy reach of little hands...a great choice for beginners.

For a child there truly is nothing more fun than an empty cardboard box.   Our sticker kits help the imagination soar as they build their own realistic airplanes.

MSRP: $11.95 - $49.95

Fractiles - a Real STEM toy!

This award-winning magnetic tiling toy allows one to make an infinite variety of beautiful designs. It can be used to create starbursts, spirals, butterflies, beautiful mandalas of infinite complexity, bouquets of flowers, swarms of fireflies, spaceships, illusions of 3D space, and lots more. It is easy and creative. This product is made in the USA.

"For the past several years, my wife and I have featured Fractiles in workshops we do with public school students. We have been following the currently popular STEM philosophy of combining Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to get kids interested in how to teach themselves and learn independently, with really promising results. Fractiles is ideally suited to this kind of program and extremely popular with our students as it encourages creativity and innovation. We wish there were other materials of a similarly versatile and compelling nature." - Professor John L. Hall; University of Colorado, Boulder; Nobel Prize for Physics, 2005

"It is a perfect 'STEM' toy that teaches math while kids play...it has a strong art component, too! Fractiles was way ahead of its time, and now is perfectly positioned to become a hot seller for all the families who are looking to enhance education through play!" - Sallie Kashiwa, owner/president of Timbuck Toys in Co.

"On top of being a great selling toy, [Fractiles] have become one of our personal favorites. They are educational, reasonably priced, and made in America by a reputable company. It's very rare for a toy line to meet all of those qualifications. " - Kristine Reed from Whispering Winds in Mr. Dora, Fla.

Set includes 5 pounds of Sands Alive!, 6 Geometric Shape Molds, 4 Deluxe Castle Molds, 4 Small Castle Molds, 5 Mini Castle Topper Molds, 2 Sculpting Tools, 1 Paver, Brick and Pebble Rollers with Interchangeable Handle and Large Play Tray.
— In a March 2014 survey, 2 out of 9 retailers told TDmonthly that Sands Alive! was a best-selling product.
— Kelly Ratoff, owner of Kennebunk Toy Company in Kennebunk, Maine, told TDmonthly in a May 2014 survey that Play Visions sands are consistently best-sellers. "As many as we can get, we sell through," she said.
— David Castillo, vice president of The Red Balloon Toy Store in Salt Lake City, Utah, told TDmonthly in a November 2014 survey that Sands Alive is one of their store's best-selling educational toys. "Sands Alive especially has been hard to keep on the shelf," he told us.

Let your little ones imagination run wild with our New “Striation Pink Tee Pee” Playhouse. This enormous almost 5 foot tall by almost 4- foot square Tee Pee is large enough for the entire tribe. Made of durable 100% Cotton Canvas, the easy to set-up TeePee can be used indoors. The bright walls feature interesting designs and there is an easy access opening as well as a mesh window for ventilation purposes. The “Striation Pink TeePee” playhouse features a Cotton Canvas floor for extra comfort and wooden poles for easy assembly and extra durability. Tie back dual front doors and mesh window add to the hours of fun your little Striation Pinks.  The Tee Pee comes in its very own carry bag for easy storage.

Unscramble the stickers to create surprise pictures of everyone's favorite Frozen sisters, Anna and Elsa. Place the numbered stickers on a numbered grid to complete the pictures.
Book Includes a booklet of 8 colorful jumbled sticker puzzles, book of 8 numbered puzzle grids and 240 stickers.
— In a May 2014 survey Suzi McMullen, manager of Doodlehopper 4 Kids in Falls Church, Va., told TDmonthly that they sell 1 Frozen toy per hour, making it the store's best-selling license.
— In a August 2014 survey, two out of 10 retailers told TDmonthly that Frozen licensed products were their best-selling toys.

Enjoy a matching game with the Disney Princesses. Then create magical stories with the colorful play scene. Each tin consists of a color play scene printed on the inside of the tin, 2 additional cards with matching game board and 3 sheets of magnets.

Not a pest but rather a jewel, the brilliant, emerald green Caterpillar puppet is a shining example of nature's wonder. Feel the silky, smooth texture of its flexible "skin" as you use two hands to create a wave-like motion. This baby insect is hungry for playtime!

The first product product in the Funnybone Muse offerings is: Rolli™ – a line of rolling stamps. Imported from Japan-based PLUS Corporation, Funnybone Muse has been given the exclusive rights to 10 of their best-selling designs (each sold millions of units in Japan), rebranding them in the US as Rolli™.

Marker pens for every situation: Wide fibre-tips are available for large color surfaces, while thin tips are available for drawing fine lines and accentuating details. Connector Pen Bucket includes 50 pens and 10 Connector Clips. Exclusive Connector Pen Caps and Clips offer endless opportunities to make dimensional sculptures from your drawings. Pens feature non-toxic inks in vibrant colors. Sturdy pen nibs are perfect for pointillism, shading and lettering.

For all the paleontologists in training or for those just fascinated by prehistoric life, we bring you Dino Dig! WABA Fun is always looking for additional ways to make learning fun and what better way than to combine Kinetic Sand with ancient beasts! Bury your Tyrannosaurus Rex or Triceratops bones in the sand and use the provided tools to excavate right in your living room! Become the next Dr. Alan Gran and start your own Jurassic Park! (Dino DNA not included). Each Kit contains 1 kg of award-winning Kinetic San, one 3D Dino puzzle skeleton and tools for excavating. The box has fun facts about your dinosaur and serves as a containment site as well!

Finger Puppets Inc. is proud to introduce our collectible collections of handmade finger puppets. Each of these adorable characters is skillfully hand-crafted by artisans from the high plains of Peru. Sure to be the new darling of collectors everywhere, no two puppets are exactly alike, each has its own unique charm and personality. Finger Puppets have been used for generations to help children learn how to express themselves and develop their communication skills. Guaranteed to ignite the imagination, whether at story time or on long trips, from the classroom to the playroom, our finger puppets provide hours of fun while building lasting memories for young and old alike.

Who can "resist" creating with neon crayons and Faber-Castell Watercolor Connector Paints? Learn how to use a crayon resist technique to make irresistible colorful artwork. This set includes 5 Watercolor Connector Paints, 6 neon crayons, 20 sheets of watercolor paper, foam brush, sharpener, 5 foam mounting boards, sticky squares, hang tabs and a complete instruction book to guide you along the way.

Get "blown" away creating stencil art with blow pens and colored pencils! Children can experiment with fun blow pens to create brightly colored artwork in their sketchbook using the stencil spinner, chipboard shapes and colored pencils. Practice mixing colors, creating “negatives” with the chipboard shapes, or using the stencil spinner – choose from a variety of shapes and letters. When the fun is over, everything stores neatly inside the package. Blow pens are BPA-free and safe for children.

With over 100 ukulele models in our professional line, the Hohner Kids soprano ukulele features all the right materials to provide you with that real tropical sound right out of the box. All wood body, nylon strings, and geared tuners.

One of the oldest professional accordion manufacturers, we’ve taken our extensive experience in this category  and designed an affordable model to get children involved in active music making.  Includes seven treble buttons along with 2 bass chord buttons.  Also includes an instruction booklet with songs.

Prized for their lustrous, warm fleece, Alpacas grow their long wooly coats for the crisp mountain air. The Folkmanis Alpaca puppet is as soft and gentle as a Peruvian flower. Its sweet face and ultra-soft micro fiber body plush make this puppet irresistibly cuddly. Winner of the 2013 PARENTS' CHOICE Gold Award and the 2013 CREATIVE CHILD Preferred Choice Award. 19-inches long. MSRP $43.99

The Royal Prince puppet features a noble crown and a scarlet robe bearing the royal Folkmanis crest, while the jewel in the crown, the Royal Princess puppet is demure and graceful in her tiara and formal gown. Beautifully detailed, embroidery stitched eyes and movable mouth and arms to command hours of playtime. 11-inches tall. MSRP $23.99

The new Ostrich puppet is a rare bird indeed. A beautiful specimen with feathery soft plush and lustrous long eyelashes, this lovely long-legged creature holds its head up high when you insert your hand up the neck and into the beak. Two handed wing movement allows for pecking, strutting and flapping fun! 23-inches tall. MSRP $49.99.

Regally perched and ready to swoop comes an unmistakable symbol of majestic beauty, great strength and long life. The Perched Eagle puppet is realistically rendered with keen, piercing eyes and plumage of dark brown with white head and tail. The hooked beak and powerful talons are featured in gold-hued leatherette. This puppet is a stunning representation of our national bird often prominent in seals and logos and sacred to Native American cultures. 17-inches tall. MSRP $35.99.

Schoenhut’s popular Twinkle Tunes Piano book enhanced with a limited edition song book and CD featuring the music loving characters from the award winning children’s television show Raggs. Twinkle Tunes is a 1-octave (8-note) keyboard that electronically produces lovely piano sounds. This instrument, designed for the child who has no previous piano study, is paired with Schoenhut’s patented Tri-Play Learning System. Easily portable for young children, this unique toy provides hours of musical fun. Battery included. Additional hardbound books featuring 12 simple songs are sold separately.

Create and design mosaics with the new PlayMais® MOSAIC. The new smaller PlayMais® MOSAICS open up a new kind of activity and will therefore expand the potential of PlayMais. PlayMais® stands for natural learning and sensible playing. With our new PlayMais® MOSAIC series, we especially encourage children's fine motor skills. Children are introduced to a variety of designs and colors with the help of included craft cards to stick PlayMais® on. This way, kids develop creativity, and motivation is boosted by quick success. PlayMais® MOSAICS is the perfect addition to our already existing PlayMais® variety. The new PlayMais® MOSAICS series is available in 6 themes for boys and girls. Each box consists of 2300 PlayMais® MOSAICS, 6 printed cards to stick them on, instructions, and accessories. Each box guarantees more than 8 hours of fun. PlayMais® MOSAIC LITTLE SEA, ZOO, FRIENDS and TRAFFIC are fun for kids 3 years and older; focusing especially on developing the fine motor skills. In order to create the mosaic, children have to combine color and shapes; perfect also for the hand-eye coordination.

The new FUN TO LEARN series supports the educational character of PlayMais® three years. It introduces children to different themes in a playful way. Each box contains more than 550 PlayMais® pre-cut cartons with different tasks, and instruction. The first box COLORS & FORMS is suitable for children from three years on to learn something about colors and forms. To learn playfully about forms and colors and to overcome the gap between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional is possible with this series. The boxes of the FUN TO LEARN series guarantees more than 8 hours of fun. The FUN TO LEARN series is ideal for costumer who would like to learn in a playful way. The ideal present for every occasion.