May 2010 Notable Toys — Educational

Early Years are four cooperative card games for the younger ages. Each game is designed to nurture and encourage a blend of close observation, communication, imagination, and some academic, social and memory skills in a non-threatening, self-esteem-building atmosphere. The pack includes four sets of 35 cards each: a “domino” word game, an animal memory game, a number/math skills game, and a storytelling game. Jim Deacove, president of Family Pastimes, told TDmonthly Early Years is "a big bargain with lots of play value, and just plain fun to play! Special group game rules are included for accommodating as many as 36 players."

Roman Town lets the player be an archaeologist and manage a team of diggers while learning about archaeological techniques and uncovering ancient objects. Graphics rendered in 3D let players explore Roman buildings and immerse themselves in Roman history. One can put pots together, exercise puzzle skills with fun mini-games, and find out what archaeologists really do. President of Dig-It Games Suzi Wilczynski told TDmonthly, "Roman Town is unique, educational and, most importantly, lots of fun!"
Awards: The Tillywig Brain Child Award; NAPPA Honors; The National Parenting Center 2010 Seal of Approval; Creative Child 2010 Game of the Year Award; Dr Toy’s Best Vacation Product; five 2010 Life Buzz Parent-to-Parent awards.

The Grasshopper Preschool Prep Getting Our Hands Ready Kit is packed with playful games and an illustrated guidebook to get children ready for early writing and grasp. Children can feed bugs to Mr.Crunch, play with dozens of reusable stickers, dough stamps, stretchy dough, and more. The Grasshopper guidebook gives parents the tools they need to give their children a head start for school success. Rachel Rudman, President of Grasshopper Inc., told TDmonthly this is "the only product on the market to get kids ready for preschool without electronics and without workbooks ... all fun!"
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

JumpStart Pet Rescue contains five Discovery worlds where preschoolers navigate through five stories in a search for lost pets. Each Discovery world contains a guided story told by one of the JumpStart friends, leading children on a learning adventure through more than 50 learning lessons and 20 activities that teach kids more than 75 essential skills they need to succeed. As kids progress through the adventures, they improve their pre-reading skills, memory, creativity, motor skills, listening and much more. This imaginative and immersive 3D learning environment is designed to offer hours of exploration and adventure. James Czulewicz, Vice President of Sales and Planning at Knowledge Adventure, told TDmonthly this item is the "first educational product for the Wii."

This 7.5" x 6.5" plush representation of the seminal vesicle gland could make a great gift for prostate cancer survivors. It is safe for all ages and packed inside a biodegradable plastic sleeve. It is designed in California and made in China. Wendy Bryan, Founder of I Heart Guts, told TDmonthly this item is a "designer educational plush."

This pink 6.5" x 5.5" mammary gland plush can make a great gift for breast cancer survivors or mastectomy patients. It is safe for all ages and packed inside a biodegradable plastic sleeve. The plush is designed in California and made in China.

This 7.75" x 6.25" pink and purple plush of the female reproductive gland is designed safe for all ages and is packed inside a biodegradable plastic sleeve. It is designed in California and made in China.

This super-soft blue 6.5" x 5.75" testis plush comes with an informative hangtag. It is designed safe for all ages and packed inside a biodegradable plastic sleeve. Designed in California, made in China. Wendy Bryan, founder of I Heart Guts, told TDmonthly these are the "best designed educational plushes on the market."

The Zillio 2D Playground is a more cost-conscious and compact version of Mega Zillio. Using the included dice, cards, tokens and instructions, kids can play more than 20 different games to build their multiplication, pattern recognition and problem-solving skills.
Photo:
— Hula Hooping Mom found Zillio to be “a fun way to keep kids interested in math and a fun way for you to ‘refresh’ your memory so that you can help with that homework.”
— Mike from Cool Baby Kid enjoyed playing with his nephews and appreciated the educational focus of Zillio. “Being an engineer, I know the value a solid math background can provide and feel that the Zillio Games can assist in preparing the educational foundation for possibly another future engineer in our family,” he said.

Peppy Five is a wooden educational toy designed with natural dyes and lac finish. This colorful five-stem stacker helps children learn counting and understand number concepts. In playing with this toy, children learn about increasing and decreasing quantities and color matching.

First launched in the UK, About Time USA edition has all the features of the original board game plus new American content. The objective is to be the team that guesses closest to the actual date (year) of an historical event. Categories include Heroes & Villains, The Arts, Everyday Life, Innovation, Word & Thought and State & Nation. It features more than 1,600 original questions on American history and culture and world events up to and including 2009. Player pieces are historical characters including Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon and Shakespeare. The game is for two to eight players or teams and lasts between 25 and 90 minutes.

Biloid is an educational robot kit with which one can build various robots including the autonomous exploration robot, quadruped puppy robot, hexapod spider robot, dinosaur robot, and bipedal humanoid robot. Launch date: 2010.

The 4D Vision Dolphin Anatomy Kit from Tedco Inc. includes 18 detachable parts, display platform and illustrated guidebook. A transparent cutaway design shows the inner details of the dolphin's anatomy. Launch date: 2010.

This 4D Vision Frog kit from Tedco Inc. has 31 detachable organs and body parts with finely detailed sculpting and hand-painted parts. A display platform and illustrated guide book are included.  Launch date: 2010.
Product Features:
    * Anatomically-correct model
    * 31 organs and body parts
    * Includes display stand and assembly guide
    * Museum quality model
    * 5.5" long

The 4D Vision Human Head Model from Tedco Inc. consists of 14 detachable parts in a transparent cutaway design that shows the inner details of the human head. The anatomy model comes with a display platform and illustrated guidebook. Launch date: 2010.
4D Human Head Anatomy Model features:
    * Human Head Model Toy with New Puzzle Concept
    * Up to Medical Educational Quality
    * Fine Detailed Sculpturing with hand painted parts
    * Product Size: 11.44 cm Tall

An inspiring story about responsibility and young entrepreneurs. A boy and his sister, their love of horses, and an idea—all come together in this delightful and educational story of the entrepreneurial spirit of American youth today.

Everything in life starts out with one idea. A child, a summer on Nantucket Island, and an idea—all come together in this beautifully illustrated and inspiring story of the entrepreneurial spirit of American youth today.

An inspiring story of a boy with a dream who learned skills that would last a lifetime. A boy takes his love of fishing and turns it into an adventure, learning skills that would stay with him forever and turn his passion into profit.

In this game, children work together to solve world and human problems presented in a simplified way. Players are divided into simulated social groups (tribes, nations, etc.). Each group gets World Problem Cards and a share of Solution Cards. Through discussion, trade agreements and world councils, the players try to solve all the problems facing them. The debriefing session at the end allows for everyone to learn from each other. Together includes two decks of cards, grouping tokens and rules for teacher preparation, interaction and final evaluation. Launch date: 1971.

In this game, six "Nations" must solve internal affairs without creating conflicts within their own borders. As the game progresses, hot spots can develop — and by game’s end several or all of the Nations may be at war. The game is then lost. Each Nation creates a balanced territory so that a balanced world results in which population does not exceed land and resources and work is available for everyone. On the religious, cultural and political side, all sectors are also in balance with no particular sector dominating another. The key to achieving this balance is Right Education, in which intelligence and compassion are nurtured. How well the players use Right Education and deploy the other factors within their borders while making trades to assist each other across borders will determine the degree of success in establishing firm and lasting peace in our time. The game includes six nation charts, two sets of cards (110 total) consisting of population, land/resources, work/technology, religion/culture, politics/military and right education, one die, and rules of play. Launch date: 2006.

This game is designed to nurture imagination, listening, self-expression, collaboration and clear thinking, using a story-telling format. The setting is science-fictional and the issues presented everyday and real, tackled by players with role-playing, values discussions, dialogue, problem-solving, and creative writing. Not an Island is adaptable to any group situation and includes 55 situation cards, 55 resource cards, six life force markers, two booklets of scenarios, and rules for basic, medium and hard levels of play. Launch date: 2003.

In this cooperative game, players try to develop a series of balanced patterns. The moving principles are simple, but the variations and complexities of play are almost infinite. This is a game for those who like abstract, meditative endeavors. A simpler game, Clarity, is included for the beginner or younger players. The game also includes a 12" x 12" board, three sets of colored "pebbles," and scoring sheets. Launch date: 1973.

This values-oriented, moral-dilemma game of discussion and evaluation presents challenges an individual encounters from childhood to old age. The situations and questions appear on cards with choices to make. Players can create their own responses and more situations to enter into the game. This game is a useful tool to stimulate values discussion in a non-competitive framework and includes a 14" x 18" play pad, four sets of questions (for childhood, adolescence, middle years and old age), mover, die, game and complete rules. Launch date: 1976.

Starwords is a cooperative word game in which players make words to cover as many Star Spaces as they can. Each word must be about what players see in the picture. The picture changes, letters get recycled, and letters are given away. Players can discuss, share and compare ideas in a natural, friendly way. Word wizards can play the Advanced Version in which dice are rolled to see what kind of word has to be formed. The game includes a 13" x 17" board, die, reference chart, 100 letter tokens, and a collection of unusual pictures. Jim Deacove, president of Family Pastimes, told TDmonthly, "Our games foster the spirit of cooperation. Players help each other climb a mountain, make a community, bring in the harvest, complete a space exploration... They are never against each other." Launch date: 1983.