December 2012 Notable Toys — Preschool

Hello Sunshine is a delightful learning game for toddlers. Play hide and seek with Sunshine – a huggable plush toy – while teaching your toddler positional words such as In, On Top, Below and more. As one of your child’s first games, Hello Sunshine builds interaction between parent and child while building vocabulary and language skills.

It’s three times the love, laughter, sharing and caring when Barney®: Barney Loves You from Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment. Huggable, loveable Barney and his playground friends discover the joys of friendship and family through imagination, song and dance. So come along with everyone’s favorite T-Rex in this heartwarming collection featuring Barney: We Love Our Family, Barney: You Can Be Anything and Barney: I Love My Friends. Launch date: February 19, 2013.

JAKE AND THE NEVER LAND PIRATES characters come to life in these Action Adventure Pirate Packs. The characters are in cool action poses and are ready for an island adventure. One pack includes Jake and his Telescope, Izzy and her Pixie Dust pouch, and Cubby and his Treasure Map. The second pack includes Jake and his sword, Captain Hook and Tick Tock Croc.

Explore and build EVEN MORE endless possibilities by combining the expanded assortment of gears. Place the puzzle pieces together and watch the amazing movement you can create by spinning and twirling the gears. (24 pieces included)

Touch Magic™ is a new product line from LeapFrog that brings intuitive touch technology to preschool toys for the first time. It combines fun, learning, and creativity. Touch Magic learning toys utilize capacitive touch technology that recognizes every tap, touch, and swipe to bring each product to life. This new collection of interactive toys includes four products that help develop core learning skills, and encourage exploration and discovery. The Touch Magic Rockin’ Guitar brings musical fun and develops preschool skills with every little touch. It fits kids’ development, engages their creativity, and builds their confidence as they learn ABCs and many new words through educational songs. Kids can choose to play solo without a backup, play along with a band, or select an electric or acoustic guitar to accompany songs including Rockin’ Robin, Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You’re Happy and You Know It, and Pop Goes the Weasel.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

TDmonthly recommends looking at Schoenhut for similar, high-quality musical toys and instruments.

Get the road trip started as you steer your little car around the B. town on the screen, which lights up for night driving. Shift through forward, neutral and reverse. Both the engine and the horn make actual sounds. The LED blinkers let everyone know where your little driver is headed. Your child can push the music button to hear 3 driving songs in 3 unique styles. The YouTurns also make the perfect car seat toy – flip it over and it doubles as a pillow.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best Picks

This special assortment of 8 fuzzy colorful durable, safe and fun toy vehicles includes plane, car, fire engine and bus. They are the perfect size for little ones to grab onto. With all the different colors and shapes they provide endless hours of pretend play and story telling. Rubbabu toys are made of soft, squishy rubber foam, which is organic, hypo-allergenic, and completely biodegradable. They are covered with the brightest, best-quality Swiss flock for a surface your child will enjoy playing with. This is a safe, durable and fun toy for preschoolers to enjoy at home and on travel. They are also available as a Little Vehicle Assortment B and the new Shape Sorter Bus.
Awards: 2012 Dr.Toy Best 20 for $20

A peaceful slumber full of sweet dreams are on their way with the Baby Stella™ Dreamy Bedtime Set™. With a cuddly soft blanket, a plump pillow and snuggly little lamb friend, Baby Stella is sure to get a good night's sleep. The soft lamb is attached to an elastic strap that fits snuggly around baby Stella's wrist for easy attachment. Tuck Baby Stella in tonight with the Dreamy Bedtime Set and watch her slip into a simply serene slumber.

My name is Ima Bananerd, and yes, I am proud to be a nerd. I am of above average intelligence and enjoy studying. I also love performing science experiments and testing theories; it is very much like a mystery! Plus, it is the only time I am not awkward and clumsy; I trip just walking down the hall, but I never spill chemicals or cause explosions! For fun, I write the advice column for our school paper (shhhhh). No one has a clue that I am "Dear Nan," and I am really good at it!

Be prepared for any medical emergency with the Fisher-Price Medical Kit - Pink. This case is just what the doctor ordered with a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, thermometer, play syringe and bandage. The stethoscope really works so you can listen in amazement to your patient's real heartbeat. The blood-pressure cuff really pumps so you can fit the sleeve and watch as the spinning gauge goes around and around. The sick-to-well thermometer helps you keep track of your patient's health, and a fun, spring-loaded syringe is included for tough cases.

Detailed plush with embroidered details. Textured fabric clothing with embroidered details and glitter accents. Launch date: 2012.

Always the faithful companion, Digger the dog digs deep to help anyone. In Digger's storybook, the kids on the playground discover the importance of including others. Ideal for reading aloud, this 33-page interactive book offers fun-filled rhymes and beautiful illustrations. Stuffies are clever, cozy toys on a mission to keep kids' treasures safe. They have top-secret pockets that are fun to discover and store all kinds of keepsakes.
Awards: 2012 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval; Parents' Choice Classic, Fun Stuff Award Winner
— As of 12/11/2012 this product had 4.8 out of 5 stars from 16 reviews on Amazon.com. Pros: Well made; Lots of pockets for kids to store their stuff; cuddly. Cons: One reviewer said the book accompanying the toy wasn't well written.

Make a wish on Prancine's golden horn and it's almost sure to come true. But this unicorn isn't the only one with magic inside. In Prancine's storybook, a little ballerina discovers how to believe in herself. Ideal for reading aloud, this 33-page interactive book offers fun-filled rhymes and beautiful illustrations. Stuffies are clever, cozy toys on a mission to keep kids' treasures safe. They have top-secret pockets that are fun to discover and store all kinds of keepsakes.
Awards: 2012 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval; Parents' Choice Classic, Fun Stuff Award Winner.

Where to buy:
SOUTH

eeBoo's long awaited Animal Tower Growth Chart, illustrated by children's book illustrator Melissa Sweet, is finally here. The Growth Chart features an enchanting tower with a smiling animal at each window, so that with each growth spurt, children will come eye-to-eye with a new animal friend. Comes with 32 fun stickers to mark birthdays and other important events. Other great eeBoo Growth Charts include Space, Hot Pink Flower, Growing Like A Sunflower, Up in the Castle, Musical Fairy Tree, Baseball, Birds in a Birch Tree and Firemen.

Stephanie Graegin, the artist behind eeBoo's popular "Animal Village" graphics, has lent her talents to eeBoo's new Animal Tot Tower. Each side of the light, stackable blocks features a different illustration: the face of an animal, a rhyme, and the number that corresponds to the block's place in the stacking sequence. For instance, the largest block features the number 10, an elephant decked out in a spiffy orange hat and pink dress, and the following rhyme: "The elephant is loyal, wise / And also packed with power. / And when she wants to take a bath, / Her trunk works like a shower."
Awards: Openheim Toy Portfolio Best Toy Award Gold Seal

All the world's a stage with eeBoo's first Play Masks. Each package of eeBoo Play Masks comes with 7 heavy cardboard masks that represesent 7 uniquely illustrated characters. The sturdy masks have cut outs for eyes and handles for little hands, making them perfect for make-believe, drama, storytelling and other forms of imaginative play. Our Mystery in the Forest Play Masks are illustrated by Melissa Sweet and include an array of enchanted characters and forest friends. Our Animal Village Play Masks are illustrated by Stephanie Graegin and feature an adorable assortment of animal characters.

Learning about dinosaurs has never been so much fun. Expand your knowledge of dinosaurs with this 100-piece Puzzle Double! After you put the puzzle together, turn off the lights and the puzzle glows in the dark! Additionally turn the puzzle over and you have a coloring activity. The bright illustrations encourage parent-child conversation. Each 100-piece puzzle measures a giant 3’ X 2’. Launch date: November 2012.

This fun and colorful tray puzzle features numbers and equations and will encourage children to develop counting and early math skills. Lined text teaches uppercase and lowercase handwriting skills. Pictures are also printed under the pieces to guide younger children. Launch date: November 2012.

This fun and colorful tray puzzle features the alphabet and will encourage children to develop letter recognition skills.  Lined text teaches uppercase and lowercase handwriting skills.  Pictures are also printed under the pieces to guide younger children. Launch date: November 2012.

From the creator of the #1 New York Times best-selling and award-winning I Want My Hat Back comes a second wry tale. When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not like he’ll ever know what happened...Visual humor swims to the fore as the best-selling Jon Klassen follows his breakout debut with another deadpan-funny tale. Launch date: October 2012.
— In a Winter 2012 survey, Jessica Wood from Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., told TDmonthly that This is Not My Hat is a recent bestseller.

Have fun with Olivia...dressing up, singing songs, building sand castles, napping (maybe), dancing, painting on walls and — whew! — going to sleep at last.
— Jessica Wood from Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., told TDmonthly in a Winter 2012 survey that Olivia books are perennial bestsellers.

Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur...and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway. One day—for no particular reason—they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then—for no particular reason—they decided to go...someplace else. They were definitely not setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl. Definitely not! This new take on a fairy-tale classic is so funny and so original—it could only come from the brilliant mind of Mo Willems.
— As of 12/4/2012 this product had 4.4 out of 5 stars from 22 reviews on Amazon.com.
— Pat Siegfried, co-owner of Black Forest Books & Toys in Charlotte, N.C., told TDmonthly in a Winter 2012 survey that this is one of their best selling books.

This delightfully illustrated nursery rhymes book offers parents and children the joy of reading all the best-loved rhymes, as well as discovering some of the less familiar ones. My Nursery Rhymes Collection is divided into 12 themes, such as farm animals, numbers, and action rhymes — creating shorter sections to suit the attention span of young readers. Settle back together and enjoy all the merry old souls. 184 pages with beautiful, full-color illustrations. Elegant gilded spine and cover highlights. Themed sections for easy reference. Padded hardcover edition.
— In a Winter 2012 survey, Teresa Derry, owner of Annie's Toy Chest in Cocoa, Fla., told TDmonthly that they sell 20 of this item each month.

Awesome Man can shoot positronic rays out of his eyeballs, fly as straight as an arrow, and hug mutant Jell-O! Even villains like Professor Von Evil and the Flaming Eyeball are no match for this caped crusader. But Awesome Man also has a secret...Can you guess what it is? The first picture book from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon perfectly captures the fantasy life of young superhero fans. Launch date: September 6, 2011.
— Pat Siegfried, co-owner of Black Forest Books & Toys in Charlotte, N.C., told TDmonthly in a Winter 2012 survey that this books sells well and is on "constant reorder."