August 2010 Notable Toys — All

Includes Pair Rhythm Sticks, Tone Block with Mallet, Triangle, Pair Finger Cymbals, Jingle Stick, Pair Maracas, Automatic Hand Castanet, kazoo, Slide Whistle, and Soprano Recorder.

Includes Triangle, Tone Block with Mallet, Wrist Bells, Pair of Finger Cymbals, Pair of Rhythm Sticks, Tambourine, and "How-to Instructions".

Press the vdoBug buttons and follow along as Mason's peaceful lodge is destroyed and he is forced to find a new place to live. Watch video of the animals in their natural habitat, color along with the coloring page, work crossword puzzles and learn vocabulary words. Listen and sing along to music written by Grammy nominated Red Grammer along with Latin Grammy nominee Marie del Rey. "This is the most interactive bilingual DVD available. With the vdoBug DVD remote you can easily move between languages as well as the other 5 activities available on the DVD," Sales and Development manager Cheri Scheufler of Playentertainment LLP told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Product of the Year, Kids Products - Educational Equipment Catagory

Press the vdoBug buttons and follow along as Cinnamon Bear experiences springtime and April showers. Color along with the coloring page, watch video of animals in their natural habitat, work crossword puzzles and learn vocabulary words. Listen and sing along with music written by Grammy nominated Red Grammer with Latin Grammy nominee Maria del Rey. "This is the most interactive bilingual DVD available to date. With the vdoBug you can easily move between languages and the other 5 activites with the simple click of the button," Sales and Development manager Cheri Scheufler of Playentertainment LLP told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Product of the Year, Kids Products -Educational Equipment category

Press vdoBug's buttons and follow along as you meet perky and curious Pearl Squirrel. She is building her very first leaf nest. Watch video of the animals in their natural habitat, color along with the coloring page, work crossword puzzles and learn vocabulary words. Listen and sing along to music written by Grammy nominated Red Grammer with Maria del Rey. "Highly interactive, you can move from Engish to Spanish with just the click of a button and you can just as easily move to any of the other 5 activities," Sales and Development manager Cheri Scheufler of Playentertainment LLP told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Product of the Year, Kids Products - Educational Equipment category; 2009 Dr. Toy Best Vacation Product

This advanced-formula, air-drying natural stone clay possesses a fine body, allowing for greater detail, exceptional strength, ultra lightweight pieces and a bright white finish. It can be blended with LaDoll Clay to increase LaDoll’s strength. Premier clay accepts acrylic-, oil- and water-based paints or dry finishing powders, and can be carved, sanded or drilled when dry.

Players are visitors from outer space whose scout craft has crashed on an island. Their mission is to search the island, the shore, the sea, nearby forests and even mountains for the elements to repair their craft, before the mothership comes to pick up the scout craft. On Earth, players meet UTOCs (Ugly Things Out of Control) and use powers to deal with them. However, the aliens' world is without violence and is filled with people so deeply peaceful that they cannot harm anyone. If a player uses a special power in a violent way, his or her Being disintegrates. The game includes a 13" x 18" board, movers, a traveler chart, travel cards and dice.

Players use the detective card game to put the jigsaw together, and then have a picture mystery case to solve. Each case has 40 Clues and measures 8” x 14.” The sealed envelope contains the solutions, and a secret coded message. Rules are included for a group co-op game for 12 to 36 players, using all four cases together.

Sabu & Me is the true story of Maura and her dog Sabu and the wonderful times they spent together during Maura’s early life. The book is a re-telling of her earliest memories with her best friend. Through a rainbow of colors, the illustrations of Hazel Mitchell bring the story of Sabu & Me to life. Since Sabu was a rescue dog, profits benefit the charity PAWS Chicago. "The book was written by a 7-year-old girl who had the idea not only to write the book but to donate the proceeds to an excellent cause due to her love for animals," Alton Road Publishing CEO Jeffrey Markowitz told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Children's Picture Book of the Year; 2010 The Toy Man Editor's Choice; 2010 The Toy Man Top 10 Products of the Quarter; The Toy Man 2010 Award for Excellence; 2010 Dr. Toy Best Summer Products.

Blackjack Clay is a blend of several natural clays found in Texas. A process of blending, wet screening (slurry mixing), filter pressing and final pug milling results in a plastic and silky smooth-textured clay. This clay can be used for modeling, hand building, wheel throwing and sculpturing, and is designed to be a tool for both beginners and professionals.

This lightweight general purpose dollmaking clay contains highly refined pumice, talc, small amounts of paper pulp and additional binders. It is extremely pliant, allowing for exceptional detail, and has an ultra smooth finish. LaDoll accepts acrylic-, oil- and water-based paints or dry finishing powders, and can be carved, sanded or drilled when dry. LaDoll has the unique ability to be dissolved in water and used as a finish coat or soaked with paper or cloth to be formed into shapes.

These short mysteries have a clever twist — readers have to tap into their science wisdom to solve them. Each story, just one page long, tests readers' knowledge of earth, space, life, physical, chemical and general science. Written by a father/daughter team, this educational book is designed for anyone who loves engaging mysteries, challenging science or both. These "clever one-page stories turn curious kids into scientists," Science, Naturally! President Dia Michels told TDmonthly.
Awards: NAPPA Honors; 2008 Nattional Best Books Award Finalist; 2008 NSTA Recommends; Library Media Connection Editor's Choice

This pushable, rollable, graspable vehicle is designed to get young drivers excited. The gracefully curving roof does double-duty as a handle and rubber coated wheels glide smoothly along any path. The Go Car comes in red, blue and green versions.

In this game, players are a team of private detectives solving such cases as theft, smuggling and blackmail. They move around a city looking for clues, while trying to avoid locked doors, guard dogs, getting tied up, secret codes, even mobsters — and using disguises, fast moves, a special tool kit, and their quick wits to get out of tight corners. If players pool strategies, use some intuition and help each other out of tough spots, they can get their client out of trouble. Investigators is a quick-moving game with lots of opportunity for sharing, consultation and decision making. It includes a 13" x 18" board, cue cards, "big bucks," a solution envelope, dice and movers.
Awards: 1989 Canadian Toy Testing, Top Rating

In this game, players try to gather the ingredients to fill various shopping lists. They must do this before the ingredients spoil and go to the green bins and the recycle truck, and are carted off to the Recycle Compost Depot. The set includes a game board, 10 spoiled stuff signs, 20 ingredients, six shopping lists, a shopping cart, a recycle truck and rules.

Spies & Alibis is a cooperative mystery game in which players act as a team of special unit detectives working together to discover which of the suspects has taken the government’s top secrets. Players must solve the case before the Spies board the Airplane and get away. The game includes a full color 12” x 12”board, 10 time flies cards, 22 eye witness cards, a government building card and three pairs of handcuffs for making arrests.

In these four mathematical games, players are partners, forming as many good flower gardens as they can using their trowels to dig up the weeds that threaten to choke off the flowers. The basic mathematical skills of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing are all practiced in gameplay. 20 tiles, 12 garden trowels and rules are included.

This DVD, created by two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Tennis Hall of Famer Gig Fernandez, introduces children to sports at a time when brain development is at its peak. Kids learn and move with Emkei the Monkey and high level athletes while enjoying original sing-along songs. Interactive on-screen flashcards reinforce all motions and equipment associated with the five sports throughout the 25 minute video.
Awards: 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll participant; 2010 Bronze Telly Award; 2010 Parent Tested Parent Approved Award

This 19" x 13" jigsaw puzzle illustrates over 20 popular dinosaurs. The puzzle features 100 durable easy-fit pieces made from recycled cardboard, recycled paper and vegetable-based ink. Puzzles feature detailed illustrations and text in multiplie languages. "Assembling puzzles improves fine motor skill, picture recognition abilities and task completion; promotes both cooperative and independent play," Erich Fellinger, sales manager, EuroGraphics, told TDmonthly.

This 26.5" x 19.25" jigsaw puzzle illustrates a modern map of the world. The puzzle features 1,000 durable easy-fit pieces made from recycled cardboard, recycled paper and vegetable-based ink. Puzzles feature detailed illustrations and text in multiplie languages. "Assembling puzzles improves fine motor skill, picture recognition abilities and task completion; promotes both cooperative and independent play," Erich Fellinger, sales manager, EuroGraphics, told TDmonthly.

This 26.5" x 19.25" jigsaw puzzle illustrates the Atlantis space shuttle taking off at Cape Canaveral. The Space Shuttle became the first vehicle to not only take off for space, but also to return from space to be reused. The puzzle features 1,000 durable easy-fit pieces made from recycled cardboard, recycled paper and vegetable-based ink. Puzzles feature detailed illustrations and text in multiplie languages. "Assembling puzzles improves fine motor skill, picture recognition abilities and task completion; promotes both cooperative and independent play," Erich Fellinger, sales manager, EuroGraphics, told TDmonthly.

This 26.5" x 19.25" jigsaw puzzle illustrates detailed views of the major systems of the human body. The puzzle features 1,000 durable easy-fit pieces made from recycled cardboard, recycled paper and vegetable-based ink. Puzzles feature detailed illustrations and text in multiplie languages. "Assembling puzzles improves fine motor skill, picture recognition abilities and task completion; promotes both cooperative and independent play," Erich Fellinger, sales manager, EuroGraphics, told TDmonthly.

This hard plastic set features 30 1:56 scale Zulu warriors. Included are six sprues of warrior bodies and arms, totalling five unique body poses and 18 arm options, and five sprues of weapons and shields.

This box set from the Wars of Empire range provides four sprues for creating 20 multi-part 1:56 scale British soldiers suitable for the Zulu War of 1879 and other late 19th century conflicts. Possible poses include firing, loading, advancing and at-ready. Separate arms, heads, and helmets allow for maximum customization. "Being multi-part plastic means the kit is highly customizable and no two kits need to turn out the same," Wargames Factory sales director Lonnie Mullins told TDmonthly.