December 2010 Notable Toys — Outdoor Fun

Discover rare glowing fluorescent minerals. Shine a UV light on these fluorescent minerals and what looks like an ordinary rock suddenly becomes a brilliant display of fluorescent color. Only 15-percent of the world's minerals are fluorescent, making for a fun challenge to go hunting for more of these rare minerals. Kit includes a portable, battery powered UV lamp, 6 fluorescent minerals that glow in beautiful colors and an information packet filled with fun experiments. Requires 4 AA batteries.

Helmtops are soft helmet decorations to style bike, skate, ski and snowboard helmets. Helmtops come in playful designs that let children and adults personalize their helmet. "Helmtops encourage children to get active in a safe way," Gregg Mastoras, owner of Helmtops, told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 - Creative Child Magazine, Seal of Excellence. Launch Date: February 2011 at Toy Fair

Easy Fill & Tie features a way to fill and tie water balloons easily, quickly and finger friendly. This kid-friendly device can screws onto an outdoor tap to enable everyone to make water balloons. Using Easy Fill & Tie, one can tie water balloons with just two fingers.
Awards: 2010 INPEX Silver Medal awards in Toy/Games, Sports, Gadgets, and Lawn/Garden categories.

Duncan Toys introduces the Metal Drifter yo-yo, featuring a ball bearing axle for long sleep times, and an aircraft aluminum body. Included is a collectible counterweight, to attach to the string for Duncan's patented Freehand style of play where the yo-yo isn't attached to the players hand. "Metal Drifter takes competition yo-yo tricks to a new level," Brandon Jackson, National Sales & Marketing Coordinator for Duncan Toys, told TDmonthly.

Weighing less than three pounds and the size of a rolled towel, the Piggyback Rider bonds parent and child in active transport that is natural and instinctive.  Rather than a seat attached to a frame or wheels, the brothers Jonny and Wayne Lifshitz designed a backpack with a shoulder mounted foot bar for a child to stand on, four integrated grab handles for a child to hold, and a safety harness to secure the child. The foot bar rests just below adult waist level, allowing the child to stand perched on the adult’s back and be engaged in active transport, rather than sit (and fall asleep). The Piggyback Rider is built strong and sturdy, made with high quality climbing buckles, webbing and a tempered aluminum bar. The foot bar has textured grip tape to ensure  traction on the shoes; the child’s harness is clipped to the adult carrier at two points and the back has a neoprene panel for comfort. The entire carrier comes in a convertible multipurpose storage bag/mudflap.

The GoCrib is a standard-size portable crib that packs into an accompanying backpack. Its rigid-inflatable-airframe technology creates a light-weight, yet strong and safe environment for children.  The total weight of the crib and backpack is 10.5 pounds.  Its side door allows the crib to morph from a safe and secure place to a fun play area as your child grows. The GoCrib is designed to set up quickly, and the included dual-action pump inflates the crib in less than a minute.  The self-inflating, insulating mattress sets itself up and protects children from the ground.

With Terra Kids from Haba, children are perfectly equipped for adventurous rambling nature tours. Terra Kids are bubbling over with ideas and love to get to the bottom of things and conduct their own experiments. Knack of Knots - the knots contained in this kit can be a little tricky! The box contains everything little fidgets need to understand complicated knots or to be able to tie them perfectly. Includes information cards, screw links, rope and instruction booklet. Stores in a screw topped box with aluminium snap link.

The Nerf N-Strike Longshot CS-6 Blaster is a two-in-one dart blaster that's more than 3' long and sends darts zooming up to 35' away. Your child can take their blasting skills to the extreme with pinpoint precision using the targeting scope. Two quick-reload clips hold a total of 12 Streamline Darts. There's even a fold-down bi-pod to help your child steady their aim for important shots. If they're looking for a quick shot at close range, the blaster has removable parts to give one-handed freedom with a pistol-style blaster. In either mode, they can load up, aim, press the trigger and watch the darts go the distance.
— As of 10.25.10, this product was rated #8 in Walmart's Outdoor Play category.

Constructed from sustainable cedar wood, the Adventure Wooden Swing Set includes a covered play deck above a clubhouse, an 8' Super Safe Speedy Slide, two belt swings with kid-friendly chains, two-person glider with kid-friendly chains, covered lower-level picnic/activity table, rock climbing wall, flat step ladder, sand box.  This Adventure Wooden Swing Set features the Safe-T-Fuse Fastener System (Patent Pending).
— As of 10.25.10, this product had 4 out of 5 stars from 29 reviews on Walmart.com and was listed as the #1 bestseller in Outdoor Play.  PROS: great value, fun for kids. CONS: Difficult, lengthy assembly.

Add sunshine and water and see what develops. Use natural or man-made objects to make unique prints, by placing the objects on the included light-sensitive paper on bright sunlight or outside on an overcast day. Available in three different kits; each kit includes 15 sheets of paper.

This is a double stroller, developed to accommodate twins as well as two children of different ages. The Stroll-Air My Duo stroller has the ability to reverse each seat independently of each other, so that older baby could be facing forward and the younger one would still face the parent. The stroller accommodates one (when using in combination with one seat) or two infant car seats (for twins), as well as one or two bassinettes. The narrow 29 inch wide frame allows passage through doorways and compact fold allows the double stroller to fit inside a car trunk.
Awards: 2008 JPMA Innovation Award.

This is a new activity toy that provides a variety of activities and sounds to keep baby entertained while on the floor or in the crib. Use on floor, or attach straps for use in crib. Includes multiple activities to develop different motor skills.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

The One World Futbol was specially designed to meet the needs of children who live in war zones, refugee camps, poor villages, and inner cities. This ball never needs a pump and never goes flat even if punctured. Children and parents in the U.S.A and Canada can help to get balls to needy children every time they buy one. One is donated each time one is bought.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

The new and clever Strength Ball will give your child’s muscles a revolutionary workout.  Spin the gyroscope that’s inside the ball and watch it rotate. Spinning the ball in your hands increases the rotation. A digital counter measures the speed of
the gyroscope and displays its rotations per minute. Challenge yourself and your friends.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

This Super Glow-in-the-Dark Basketball let’s your child play basketball in the day or in the dark. Patented Hyper-Glow technology makes the ball, rim and backboard glow in the dark in super-bright full color. If you see it in blue, it glows in blue. If you
see it in red, it glows in red.  Just hold it under any light and it is charged for hours. Set includes Glow Basketball, Glow Backboard with two suction cups, Glow Hoop, and instructions. Your child will also enjoy using the new giant sun catchers.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

This is an exciting new product that helps kids with coordination. The E-Z Bat set includes a soft foam bat, 2 E-Z balls, and an adjustable E-Z Stopper. With this Bat young ball players can experience the wow factor of hitting a home run or a big hit with a simple swing.  Simply swing the Bat and the Ball goes flying.  Dads can adjust the Stopper so that the ball goes flying at the apex of their kids’ swing. As dads work with their kids on learning to swing with the Bat, they can easily move on to the Pitch & Hit by simply removing the Stopper.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

This monkey slingshot's strong elastic arms can propel him far distances. Users simply put two fingers in the hand pockets, pull back and let go. He comes complete with a cape and mask, and lets out a loud monkey call when released.
— In autumn 2010, Christine Osborne, co-owner of Wonder Works in Charleston, S.C., said she was still selling about 30 soaring simians per month.

The Okee Dokee Brothers deliver a collection of 13 original songs designed to get families on their feet and out of the house. Take It Outside offers enough witty wordplay, musical sophistication and food for thought for listeners of any age. The Okee Dokee Brothers, the Twin Cities duo of Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing, won national notice for their first release, Kids with Beards (2008). The album was produced by Grammy Award nominee Tor Hyams and features Adam Levy of the Honeydogs. Awards: Parent's Choice Foundation Audio Award Fall 2010

This lightweight, 100-percent waterproof boot has no seams, meaning no leakage. It was built for optimum functionality for spring, summer and fall. Weighing only 10 oz. per boot and manufactured using Holeys TREVA 2.0 process, Weatheralls are designed to be durable but comfortable.  It is the lightest 100% waterproof boot in the world.