December 2010 Notable Toys — Kits

Geodes are formed by prehistoric bubbles in lava. Over time, surrounding minerals penetrate the bubbles forming crystals. The adventure is in cracking open these real geodes to reveal the crystal caverns hidden inside. The basic kit contains six geodes from one mine. This kit includes safety glasses and instructions.
Awards: 2009 Informal Education Product of the Year Award; 2010 Museum Tour Excellence Award

Geodes are formed by prehistoric bubbles in lava. Over time, surrounding minerals penetrate the bubbles forming crystals. The adventure is in cracking open these real geodes to reveal the crystal caverns hidden inside. The Ultimate kit includes 15 geodes from three different mines for a wider variety of crystal formations which could include: quartz, fluorite, calcite, or even amethyst. This kit includes safety glasses and instructions.
Awards: 2009 Informal Education Product of the Year; 2010 Museum Tour Excellence Award

Build a brain and then pick it apart with this sequel to the Squishy Human Body. This anatomically correct model, complete with moving mandible (jawbone) and squishy plastic brain and eyes, makes for a realistic experience of our body's gray matter. With the included illustrated book, kids go on a tour through the sense, movement, memory, emotion, decision-making, and automatic functions like breathing and digestion. Phenomena like brain freeze and notes on how and when things go wrong are also explored. Includes: 9-piece transparent skill that fits together at the sutures, 8 squishy brain parts, Squishy eyeballs, 4 vertebrae pieces with spinal cord, Skull base, Tools: forceps, scalpel, and tweezers, Skull map, Brain blister with labels, and 32-page, fully illustrated book.
— In a December 2013 survey two out of 10 retailers told TDmonthly that skull and brain novelty items were Halloween best-sellers.

With this hands-on kit and tour guide, kids enter the world of the human body — complete with removable squishy vital organs as well as skeletal, vascular, and muscular systems, kids explore the complex inner workings of the human body and see how everything fits together. Research physician Lucille M. Kayes helps examine the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of the human body by following a bite of pizza as it travels through the body. Includes: 12" plastic human body model and stand, 12 plastic bones and muscles, 9 removable squishy vital organs, Body parts Organ-izer, Tweezers, Forceps, and 32-page fully illustrated book,
Awards: 2008 NAPPA Honors Award; 2008 Creative Child Preferred Choice Award (Educational/Science Toys Category); 2008 Parents’ Choice Recommended Award

This kit was developed by a pediatrician to assist parents in getting through their child's first year. The kit comes in a pastel colored gift box and contains a Fussy Baby Soother blanket, diaper rash ointment and skin protectant, a Gumdrop pacifier, a bottle for homemade saline solution, a digital thermometer and a nose suction bulb. Also included is a Baby Care guide, covering topics such as developmental milestones, health care, rashes and common questions new parents ask.

The MathMosis Classroom Kit is an instructional tool which coincides with a school’s already existing math program. MathMosis was designed for kindergarten through third grade classrooms. Supported by research, this math supplemental teaches children to count by multiples through a variety of learning modalities and utilizes a strategy which assists in understanding and memorizing multiplication and division problems beginning at an early age. Kit includes MathMosis Book, MathMosis Mania Games, MathMosis Posters, and MathMosis Music CD.

Little sleuths can fingerprint suspects, collect evidence and record findings with this "CSI"-themed kit. The set includes a field case, mini microscope, stamp pad, replacement ink, fingerprinting powders, fingerprinting brush, fingerprint lifters, plastic gloves, tweezers, magnifying glass, crime scene tape, goggles, string, L-shaped ruler, evidence bags and tags, slides, evidence markers, alternative light source, evidence logs, test tubes, stencil, plaster frame, crime scene journals, activity book, evidence, book of charts, fingerprint cards and situation cards.

This kit contains materials for making up to 22 friendship bracelets. It includes four looms for two styles and eight patterns, along with 22 colors of floss, beads, a beading needle and a convenient storage case.
— As of 05/12/2012 this product has 3.9 out of 5 stars from 54 reviews on Amazon.com. Cons: Instructions are not helpful enough; not enough designs included.
— Kim Myers, co-owner of Hobbytown USA in Murfreesboro, Tenn., told TDmonthly in late Spring 2011 that ALEX arts and crafts were best-sellers in their category, especially among older girls.
― As of 9.21.2010, this product had 4 out of 5 stars from 24 reviews on Amazon.com and was No. 33 on the top 100 best-selling toys and games. 

This step-by-step CPR training program for parents contains a 20-minute DVD and a care kit. The DVD includes training modules, chapter summary reviews and an on-screen quiz. The kit includes a practice guide, diagrams, flash review cards and a babysitter information sheet.
Awards: Mom's Best Award 2010