July 2010 Notable Toys — Preschool

This cheery garden-themed activity playset is designed to encourage developmental learning while planting the seeds of wonder, discovery and exploration. There are three cute little "bugs" for children to grasp, hide and drop. The "flowers" wiggle and sway, and the flowerpot comes equipped with numerous places for the bugs to hide. The garden-themed discovery playset includes three toy bugs, a watering can and a flowerpot.

Kids can squeeze and push this free-rolling play figure with a cute character face. The soft, brightly-colored bumblebee is designed for on-the-floor fun.

Kids can squeeze and push this free-rolling play figure with a cute character face. The soft, brightly-colored caterpillar is designed for on-the-floor fun.

This non-toxic wooden child-sized Healthy Basics food set lets kids create their own mealtime treats. The food is undersized, making it perfect for small hands, and simply designed so that it is identifiable but durable. The set includes three eggs, a bottle of apple juice, a bottle of orange juice, an orange juicebox, a jar of blueberry jam, strawberry yogurt, a carton of milk, and a wheel of cheese.

It's "rock a bye" for a favorite baby doll in this beautiful ruffle-trimmed classic cradle complete with coordinating pillow and blanket. Little ones will love to place their dolls snuggly inside for nap or bed time. Fits up to a 17" baby doll (not included).

This light up 12" bear is a night light and a teddy bear all in one, designed to help calm children's fear of darkness. When the bear's hand is squeezed, he  lights up and changes colors.

Made of super-soft plush with unique details just like the characters on the show, each "Yo Gabba Gabba!" beanbag pal measures 7" tall.

In this novelty peek-a-boo book, children are invited to look through the holes on every other page to answer the repeating refrain, "Who’s coming to see how my garden grows?" The energetic, rhyming text introduces all sorts of creatures that are busy foraging and frolicking in the garden.

Even though it doesn’t have a door, Chicken, Pig and Cow love everything about the home that Girl made for them out of Popsicle sticks. Everything but Dog, who lives outside, but whose drooling makes it feel as if it’s raining inside. When Cow is left alone one day, she ends up making friends with Dog. Best of all, Dog knocks down two Popsicle sticks creating a door, so that now their home is truly perfect.
Awards: 2010 Great Books for 2010, Canadian Toy Testing Council; 2009 Toronto Public Library First and Best List; 2009 Pennsylvania Center for the Book Best Books for Family Literacy; 2009 Ontario Library Association Best Bets List; 2009 Cdn Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids and Teens; 2009 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Awards finalist

A pony in a field moves a child to play giddy-up on her father’s shoulders; a plane high above invites kids to pretend they are birds soaring in the sky. Everyday things, seen here in striking photos, are the catalyst for imaginative play, which is captured in lively illustrations. Short bursts of energetic, rhythmic poetry are designed to inspire preschoolers to create their own fun from what they see around them.
Awards: 2009 First & Best List, Toronto Public Library; 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award

Designed to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Green Toys Fire Truck is solidly constructed from 100-percent recycled plastic milk containers and has no metal axles. It includes a sturdy extendable ladder that rotates 360 degrees and two removable side ladders. The truck contains no BPA, PVC or phthalates, and is packaged using only recycled and recyclable materials.  Made in California.
—  Joe Mitchell, owner of YoYo Joe’s Toys & Fun in Wilmington, Del., called the Green Toys Fire Truck a “slam dunk” at ASTRA 2010.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

Children can get actively engaged with these easy circle time ideas for a daily routine. Circle time activities and games are designed to provide structure and help children develop important concepts and skills, such as listening, color and letter recognition, patterns, rhythms, body identification, weather and counting. "The music and movement action will help calm kids down and get them ready for learning," Elaine Murphy, Kimbo Educational director of sales and marketing, told TDmonthly.

This Read Along Storybook, the first in a series of five, is a companion piece to Queetles plush toys.

Featuring a padded cover and sturdy board book pages for easy handling, this 24-page book follows inquisitive Caillou as he explores the zoo and finds all kinds of interesting wild animals. Each page features a different animal and its name, including a panther, tiger, parrot and giraffe.

In this paperback children's book, a little girl named Lily travels into space to talk to the moon.

Miracle Pounding is designed to add excitement to a traditional ball pounding activity. When children hit the ball with the wooden mallet the toy pushes out a different ball, ready to pounded again.

Young children can create colorful mosaics with the Fantacolor Junior peg board set. The set includes eight pattern cards, a clear peg board and 48 colorful pegs that are large enough for preschool-age children to handle. This toy is designed to help children develop motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

These animal Lunchies have a roomy, insulated bag that keeps food and drinks cold. The large main compartment is big enough to fit a sandwich, apple and juice box, and the interior mesh pocket can carry utensils and more. The top handle clips onto other bags or Zoo Packs. These 7.5" x 9" x 3.25" packs come in dog, monkey, mouse, penguin, bee and owl versions.

These animal backpacks have a roomy main compartment, insulated pouch for snacks, mesh bottle pocket and padded adjustable straps. The 10" x 11.5" x 4" packs come in dog, monkey, mouse, penguin, bee and owl versions.

Suitable for children 1 1/2 and up, this bucket is made of nylon and measures approximately 23 cm tall.
Awards: 2010 Dr. Toy Best Vacation Children's Product

Hazel likes to make a lot of noise. She loves banging on the cymbals of her father's drum set. Honey really likes playing in his father's mail bags and throwing envelopes in the air. He tends to make a big mess. This pair is part of the Calico Critters of Cloverleaf Corners collection.
— Mary Sisson, owner of Kazoodles in Vancouver, Wash., named the Pickleweeds family among her top-30 best sellers in early June 2010.

Created to entertain and educate preschool children through colorful and lovable live-action puppet characters and animation, the DVD teaches fundamentals such as colors, sizes and shapes with the help of its distinctive characters.
Awards: 2010 Dove Foundation; 2009 KIDS FIRST! Coalition For Quality Children's Media

This full-color 22" x 28" poster depicts 26 different feelings in correlation to the alphabet. It contains both an English word and a Spanish word for each feeling. "This product teaches about feelings, but it also teaches both Spanish and English words," ABC Feelings Vice President Gene Abrams told TDmonthly.

The Preschool Activity Pack for uses different textures to create activities.