November 2014 Notable Toys — Educational

Four intense categories are waiting to work out your brain from all angles at once - Brain Bending Conundrums, IQ Squares, Picture Problems, and Word Mixers. Challenge your friends and see who's the smartest!

Solve 2-D and 3-D puzzles by rearranging game pieces. Pick a puzzle from the book, set up the challenge and then place the remaining game pieces to solve the puzzle. Kanoodle Genius offers 200+ brain-busting puzzles for you to solve all on your own. If you've completed the puzzles of the original Kanoodle, you'll love the even more challenging Kanoodle Genius. You'll feel yourself getting smarter.

For the first time ever, Goldie comes to life as an action figure! More than just a doll, her articulated shoulders, hips, knees and joints along with specially designed hands and feet are designed for action. With the included construction kit, kids learn how to build Goldie a 13' zipline and send her soaring! Encourages spatial skills, basic engineering principles (suspension), and confidence in problem solving. Kids can now bring Goldie along and place her in the middle of the action with specially designed feet that fit on axles and hands that grip. New pieces! The GoldieBlox action figure comes with newly designed pieces that are compatible with all existing GoldieBlox construction sets. Includes: 1 action figure with articulated shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, 1 action figure tool belt, 1 action figure wrench, 4 wheel ends, 4 elbow joints, 4 T joints, 6 mini axles, 2 short axles, 2 spacers, 4 washers, 1 4-meter long zipline.

Our Earth Science kits are guaranteed to bring out the geologist in everyone! Each kit includes rock specimens, an educational booklet and other accessories for learning fun.

Turn this plastic mason-style jar into your own little habitat with real plants and tiny figurines. Set includes a 5” h x 3 ¼” w jar, decorative lid, potting mix, organic chia and wheat grass seeds, garden figurines, decorative sand, river stones and a plant mister. Add dimension to your garden with translucent and glow-in-the-dark stickers – hold it up to the light and watch the fireflies glow.
— In a September 2014 survey, three out of 11 retailers told TDmonthly that this product was one of their top-two best-selling science & nature toys.
— Barbara Fineblum, owner of Barston's Child's Play in Baltimore, Md., told TDmonthly in October 2014 that this was one of her store's best-selling jewelry and accessories item.
Awards: 2014 TDmonthly Magazine Top Toy Award

Pick it, build it, animate it, guess it. Get ready to make sounds, act out words and race against the other teams to see who can guess the mystery word. A laugh-out-loud game that challenges players to use 35 pieces to build words for their teammates to guess. The first team to reach the final lily pad wins.
Awards: 2014 TDmonthly Magazine Top Toy Award

Put your name in lights with vibrant electroluminescent wire (EL wire for short) and a pegboard. Learn about electric circuits and lighting technologies. Write up to eight characters, or combine two kits to make longer names or words.

Build an electronic musical device that works like a simple theremin, an instrument in which the pitch is controlled by the movement of your hand. In this device, a light sensor inside the UFO’s dome senses the changing light level as you move your hand above it, changing the sound.

The Mark-My-Time™ 3D Digital Bookmark is a convenient, easy to set timer to count down or accumulate reading time.
Motivational - encourages kids to read often and independently while helping them to record time for school or library reading logs.
Portable - Encourage reading anytime and anywhere with a design that can remain in the book and be “on the go” like you are. Time is stored in the bookmark until you delete it.
This bookmark is ideal for timed math fact activities, music practice sessions, homework study sessions and more. Parents and teachers across the country confirm that Mark-My-Time bookmarks are a great way to get kids excited about reading and wanting to read more. Made of durable polyethylene plastic and now available in three cool 3D Royce animal images, a Snow Wolf, Turtle Town and a special “in motion” T-Rex which transforms from reptile to skeleton. These  exciting new bookmarks will be shipping, just in time for the holidays at only $11.95.
Launch date: October 7, 2014