February 2010 Notable Toys — Science & Nature

Animal Tracks is three traditional games in one, with a science twist - match the animals to their tracks while playing concentration, bingo, and guess the tracks games. This unique game is engaging, fun, and educational as players match cards of photographed animals to their tracks. The game comes with 80 high quality and colorful cards, a plastic storage tray, and detailed instructions for three games. Launch date: Spring 2010

This kit teaches Young Scientists about animal tracking through exciting hands-on science experiments and activities. Identify animal tracks, learn about the animals that make the tracks, cast animal tracks, play the tracking game, create animal track prints, design an animal track poster, and explore real animal tracks in nature. Includes eight realistic animal footprint molds, large colorful poster, and eighty animal game cards. Launch date: Spring 2010

On this latest Magic School Bus ride, Ms. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists back in time with the dinosaurs through these marvelous experiments. Young Scientists create a timeline, design a diorama, build a wooden dinosaur replica, make cast and mold fossils, mold clay dinosaur teeth, simulate a dino dig, fold 3D dinosaurs, and much, much more.

In this new addition to the Magic School Bus Series, Ms. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists on a wild ride with solar energy to the rescue.  Young Scientists explore the greenhouse effect, collect real carbon dioxide, recreate global warming in a bottle, use a solar panel to spin a fan, make a solar secret code, design solar spinners, watch solar energy inflate balloons, and much, much more. Awards: Parent's Choice Award 2010

Experience the strangest that the world of plants has to offer. In this collection, you will find plants that move, plants that grow eyeballs on top of their foliage, plants that grow flowers that look like brains, and plants that eat flies and small insects. All these plants are easy to grow and quick to show their freaky side. Safe for ages 4 and up.
— "I thought this product was great and placed an order for it at the show, " Jeanette Lauture, owner of Aunt Jean's Toys & Treats, told TDmonthly at Toy Fair 2010.

The classic Ant Farm gets an update from a galaxy far, far away. Kids can watch live ants dig and tunnel beneath two Star Wars planet landscapes from Season 2 of “The Clone Wars,” Geonosis and Felucia. The Ant Farms are connectable, break-resistant and escape-proof. Clean tunneling sand and clear connector tubing are included; just mail in the coupon for live harvester ants and let the digging begin.

“That’s no moon; it’s the Death Star Planetarium.” This tabletop Death Star opens up into a planetary projector to display the cosmos on a bedroom ceiling. Kids can choose to view a map of the worlds that make up the Star Wars galaxy, or view the Earth’s own night sky.

“The Clone Wars” characters come to life with the Holographic Animation Lab. Kids can learn about animation, persistence of vision, and the principles of a zoetrope, an invention that is nearly 2,000 years old. The Animation Lab comes with 10 animation disks — one side has characters from “The Clone Wars” and the other side is blank to create unique moving pictures.

The Clone Trooper Recon Kit helps kids find bugs and more, using the included tools — a soil sifter, a magnifier and a special reconnaissance tool. They can even explore in the dark with the built-in searchlight. Once an interesting life form has been found, the kit transforms to an insect viewer to examine the specimen.

Children discover the science of light and optics as they build their own miniature, 8.25”-long version of the lightsaber used by Anakin Skywalker. A choice of four different colored crystals customizes the lightsaber. There are two lenses (focusing and wide-angle) to demonstrate the principles of optics.

The final challenge in becoming a Jedi Knight is to build one’s own lightsaber. With the Remote Controlled Lightsaber Room Light, young Padawans can construct their own Jedi lightsaber and mount their creation as a room light on the wall. Eight color effects let kids personalize their lightsaber, and a wireless remote control turns the light on and off. During construction, kids learn about the electronics that make a lightsaber work.

R/C Snake is more than 20” long and slithers along any hard smooth surface. It has light-up eyes and a segmented body. Launch date: Summer 2010.

The skeleton of an extinct T-Rex has been discovered and kids can carefully remove each bone from the dig site while learning facts about dinosaurs. When users touch the sides of the pit, the T-Rex will roar, forcing the loss of a turn. The goal is to collect the most bones and win. Launch date: Summer 2010.

Star Theater 3 is an updated design of the No. 1 selling home planetarium in the world. Kids watch as hundreds of stars and constellations are projected onto the ceiling and walls. It features a CD with a guided audio tour of the night sky and Stellarium interactive astronomy software. It's designed to feel like being in a real planetarium. Launch date: Summer 2010.

The largest Lab In A Bag ever is available with 30 activities. It contains popular experiments touching on everything from chemistry and physics to biology and geology.

By air, land, and sea, migrating animals are "going home." Salmon, turtles, whales and manatees travel by sea. Hummingbirds, butterflies and geese fly with determination. And caribou thunder across vast plains. Both illustrations and text capture a sense of movement and purpose, plus a sense of mystery and amazement. This is an "educational book about why animals migrate [and] how they find their way home, and lets you discover the journey along the way," Sandy Philpott, Director of Marketing, Dawn Publications, told TDmonthly. Launch date: March 2010.

In a unique blend of caricature and realism, five adorable cartoon bluebirds — a band in search of a different song for their upcoming concert — go birdwatching (and bird-listening) across the continent. Along the way they see remarkable (real) birds from the bald eagle in Alaska to mallard ducks in Boston, and discover the joys of birdwatching. The book is full of information about the birds, in the form of “field guide” pages, journal entries by the BLUES, and birding tips. "This book, the first in a series, is not just an imaginative travelogue — it’s also a young person’s primer to birdwatching! The book combines realistic birds with caricature birds. The BLUES offer a delightful way to introduce young children to birds and birding," Sandy Philpott, Director of Marketing, Dawn Publications, told TDmonthly. Launch date: March 2010.

Pangaea Mountain comes with a fascinating book about Dr. Geostone and his two students Rocky and Crystal. The students fall asleep in class and wake up on a mysterious mountain in search of the "Living Dinosaur." As the three explore, Dr. Geostone teaches the children about the many fossils and Gems discovered within. In the end they learn a bit about everyday life, geology, geography, biology and earth science. Finally they are amazed that the mountain really does contain living organisms (Triops) they bring back to life by just adding water. This kit keeps you learning and having fun for months. "Most "I dig" kits simply let a kid dig something out and go wow. Activities are lacking and education is not the objective...TOYOPS stands behind its image of Tops in Toys That Teach. The illustrated book which accompanies this kit along with all the tools of a field scientist are fun, and teach while enjoying the excavation. The book is written to permit simple activities to make science hands on and fun. You will learn...My favorite is the story behind the buried hematite and how it defined the auto industry sprouting up in Michigan. It isn't just a mineral - it is part of history," Eugene Hull, Ph.D., President of ToyOps told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 2013.

In bed at night, Amy peers from under her covers at the dark shadows on the wall. But what is that flicker of light from the window? As she discovers the source of the mysterious light in her own backyard, she also learns something important about herself. The light, like many things in life, is something to be treasured but not contained, appreciated but always free. Inspiration for the book came to Robert Nutt, author and illustrator, one summer evening when he and his wife were walking and came upon a house with a yard full of dancing, flickering firefly lights. At that moment, he knew he would write about it. The photo illustrations are his own daughter, Amy. Launch date: March 2010.

TDmonthly Review:

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Kids can marvel at the fastest-growing fish in the world, growing from egg to adult in just six weeks. The adult can reach up to 2" (7 cm) in length. The Killifish eggs used in the kit are from the same family of Killifish eggs that were flown and studied by NASA on the space station. These eggs are homegrown in the USA and raised in Toyops labs to preserve their native habitats. Owners just add bottled water and a light source to watch them spring to life. Launch date: March 2010.

These science construction kits are designed to allow young minds to build and understand Solar, Water, Elastic, Dynamo and Wind power sources while building kinetic models and vehicles. They are "well-conceived and comprehensive kits with many variations and high value," a representative of Perisphere & Trylon, Inc., told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2010.
— John MacDougall, owner of Golden Apple Learning Store in Pleasanton, Calif., was impressed with the Wind Energy kit with giant turbine blades at Toy Fair 2010. "We love renewable energy education kits," he said.
— ''Science kits do well overall,'' Cheryl Richmond owner Punkin Doodles Havre, Mont., shared with TDmonthly.

This product consists of a toy polariscope and soft flexible models that show beautiful prismatic rainbow colors when touched, bent or stretched and viewed under polarized light. Other contents include a prism, bell, magnifying glass, magnets, origami cellophane and adhesive tape in dispenser for amazing rainbow art, and ambiguous shapes of Black Glossy Cardboard for experiments with Brewster's angle and for stimulating the imagination. Instructions brochures and a Book of Science provide many activities for adventures with light and photoelasticity. "This is the first and only toy polariscope and the first toy based on photoelasticity. The toys are soft and flexible and provide the experience of magically causing brilliant rainbow colors to appear and move around within them with manipulation under polarized light. Other adventures involving origami cellophane and rainbow art with tape are also unique," Pamela Saha, Vice President, Biomedical Research and Services, Inc. (as Glitterins), told TDmonthly. Launch date: February 10, 2010.

Just Look is a palm-sized, glass optics microscope that lets one explore the small details of the world around. This handy little scope has infinite uses in all activities — from looking at freckles on an arm to watching ants in an ant habitat. The microscope is designed to be used in almost any profession, from judging the quality of fabrics to finding inclusions in gemstones. "It is a pocket-sized microscope that children can use to explore the scientific world," Rachel Neuland, Marketing Coordinator, Toyops, told TDmonthly. Launch date: March 2010.

These African dwarf frogs are sold individually, to be added to a self-sustaining Wild Creations eco-aquarium.
— The eco-aquariums were top sellers at the end of 2009 at RoundTable Toys in Winterville, N.C., according to David Davis, owner.