Mysterious Creatures, a game from Education Outdoors, teaches kids about geography, world cultures, and the research process.

TDmonthly caught up with our Blog correspondent John MacDougall of The Golden Apple Learning Store in Pleasanton, Calif., who is currently on the floor at Toy Fair 2011.

In another week, Back to School will have come to an end for us. The end of summer marks a seismic shift for a learning store, which is what we call ourselves.
Our business runs on a school year rhythm that is very different from the average retail store. We divide our days from September to June with moms in the mornings and teachers in the afternoons. In the summer months we spend June with panicked parents, July planning for August, and August up to our armpits in teachers. Teachers care …

It happens very often. A customer (often an aunt or uncle) comes in and asks for an “educational toy for a 2-year-old.” My staff prefers it’s not me they ask, because they know this is one of my “buttons.” Depending on the length of my fuse, I may or may not spare them the lecture on why there is no such animal as an “educational” toy for a 2-year-old. But who wants a lecture? So I show them something that has the alphabet printed on it, or involves numbers …