Add sparkling jewels to these glittering bugs. Use 11 reusable stickers to decorate mirrors, windows, notebooks and more. Create beautiful bug designs by matching sparkling tiles to a numbered legend. Best of all, these stickers can be peeled right off with no residue and reused for years to come. Launch date: March 2012.

Showcase a special memory in this sparkling frame. Follow a numbered legend and add sparkling jewels and tiles to create a colorful Picture Perfect frame. This frame will brighten up any little girls’ bedroom. Launch date: March 2012.

Kids can go to school in style with this totally blinged out Fashion Bag. Follow a simple numbered legend and add over 200 sparkling jewels to create this totally fashionable messenger bag. With a sturdy over the shoulder strap, this bag will carry books and important notes. Launch date: March 2012.

Kids can show off their fashion flair with Hippy Chic Crystal Cuffs. Follow a simple numbered legend and add sparkling jewels to create cool denim cuffs and add a flower power any outfit. This kit comes with two different cuffs to wear and share. Launch date: March 2012.

Find & Make has added a new project kit that directs children to make their own original creations using Makedo connectors and packaging commonly found in the home. This product invites child to be resourceful by sourcing boxes and packaging from around the house and using them as the ‘building blocks’ . Once built, the Shop becomes the source of endless role-play fun. Through this experience, the child changes their perception of a box as something they would throw away. Instead it becomes an object of value. The child has learned about reuse and upcycling in a fun and playful way. Each Makedo Find & Make kit includes a safe-saw for cutting and punching through materials safely; re-clips and lock-hinges for connecting, themed decorative stickers, beautifully illustrated step-by-step instructions and a gorgeous inspiration poster. The material contents and packaging has been kept to a minimum. The reusable nature of Makedo’s connectors means that the child is able to pull apart and reconstruct their shop over and over for new building and role-play experiences. Construction with Makedo also minimizes the use of virgin materials by directing the child to make their own toy rather than going out to buy something completely new.
Awards: 2013 TDmonthly Seal of Approval, 2012 Dr. Toy Best Green Toys

2 Birdie Banks™ is a new activity kit in the ALEX Eco Crafts series. Kids can save their money and at the same time help to save the planet! This all-in-one environmentally-friendly craft kit lets kids create 2 bird-shaped banks out of recycled paper molds. It comes with 2 makeshift banks (fashioned from recycled paper) that kids can outfit with coin slots and lids before decorating them with colorful squares. Using the included sponge brush, kids can easily affix the paper tape with glaze and wait a while for their creation to dry. Launch date: 2012.
Awards: 2012 Dr. Toy Best Green Toys, 2012 Dr.Toy Best 20 for $20

Andrea works at the City Park Cafe and loves dishing out tasty treats — when she is not singing into her broom and daydreaming of her big performance. It's the perfect place in Heartlake City for all of the Lego Friends to meet for milkshakes and burgers or to chill and have fun. Kids can bake goodies for the girls in the cafe kitchen, complete with everything needed to serve up cafe cuisine in style. Then hang in the outdoor dining area and have a milkshake in the sun. Order up a sweet snack, serve the customers and pay with Lego money bricks. Includes 2 mini-doll figures: Andrea and Marie.
— As of 4/18/2012 this product had 4.9 out of 5 stars from 14 reviews on Amazon.com. Pros: Cute; fun to play with; very detailed. Cons: Too easy to put together; not as much educational or developmental value as other LEGO sets.

Relate rocks to the history of the planet. Uses exciting eruptive experiments to foster comprehension. Mold and slice open a model of the earth, Create a lava fountain to explore density, Spew a volcano, Make pyroclastic eruptions, Discover which rocks will float and which will burn, Identify, break & display volcanic rocks, Sediment sedimentary rocks, Acid test rocks, Explore metamorphic rocks, and Form fossils.
Awards: 2013 TDmonthly Seal of Approval
— John Blair, owner of Science Safari in Cary, N.C., told TDmonthly in a late Summer 2012 survey that Norman & Globus products "are perennial. I continuously do well with these."

Store your secret treasures in these super sparkly KeepSake Boxes! Follow a numbered legend and add sparkling jewels to make three special boxes. Each box features a different Princess along with her special animal friend. Launch date: March 2012.

Add sparkling jewels to these ghoulish girls. Use 8 reusable stickers to decorate mirrors, windows, notebooks and more. Create colorful frightfully fashionable designs by matching sparkling tiles to a numbered legend. Best of all, these stickers can be peeled right off with no residue and reused for years to come. Launch date: March 2012.

Add sparkling jewels to these retro owls. Use 8 reusable stickers to decorate mirrors, windows, notebooks and more. Create colorful owls on their perches by matching sparkling tiles to a numbered legend. Best of all, these stickers can be peeled right off with no residue and reused for years to come. Launch date: March 2012.

Look sweet as sugar with this Cupcake Clutch. Follow a simple numbered legend and add over 150 sparkling jewels to create this tasty clutch. Skip right to dessert and pair this with any outfit for some funky fashion flair. Launch date: March 2012.
— In a May 2012 survey, two of 13 retailers said that The Orb Factory was a best selling brand of activity kit.

PLAY-DECO is a unique craft for home decor that combines wooden "bone" with paper "skin." Users can either use the skin as is or create their own original works. "You can also download new 'skins' and accessories from the website as well as templates to design your own," Shinya Fujimoto, CEO of Magnote, told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 2012.
Awards: 2011 Good Design Award

Kids activate traps and prepare the knights to guard the Playmobil Falcon Knights' Castle from intruders. The castle comes with a drawbridge, breakout wall, drop-down ladder, and a trap door. The set also includes four Falcon Knights, horse, functional cannon, and many other accessories. Dimensions: 23.6 x 22.8 x 13.8 inches (L x W x H).
— In a May 2012 survey about best selling toys, Erin Blanton of Pufferbellies Toys & Books for Children in Staunton, Va., told TDmonthly that they sell 250 Playmobil sets each month, especially the knight sets.

Kids will learn over 30 amazing tricks and effects and learn the science principles behind them. Science and magic are very closely related. In fact, many science experiments look like magic and many cool magic tricks are science based. Kids will make water disappear, learn to read minds, mix up some disappearing orbs, levitate magnets, lift up a bottle of rice with a chop stick, stick pencils through a bag of water with noting leaking out, write secret messages and much more.
— In a late Summer 2012 survey, Joe Berardoni Sr., owner of Pun's Toys in Bryn Mawr, Penn., told TDmonthly that "Any of the Lab-in-a-Bag kits from Be Amazing Toys" become their best selling Science & Nature toys.

Grow dozens of dazzling crystals and conduct 15 illuminating experiments with this classic science kit. Experiment with four chemically different crystals each with different properties, including potassium alum crystals that form regular octahedrons, rapidly growing sodium sulfate crystals, long needle-shaped sodium acetate crystals, and plaster which is made from gypsum crystals. Mold fun plaster shapes and mix the dyes to grow a rainbow of custom colored crystals. Measure how the crystallization of solids out of a solution, and the dissolution of crystals back into solution, affect the temperature of the solution. Learn about the energy of crystallization. Investigate solutions, crystallization, and the chemistry of crystal growing. Learn about the structures and geometries of different crystal shapes. This kit is thoroughly tested and safe: Over one million units of this kit have sold worldwide. A full-color, 32-page experiment manual guides your experiments in crystal chemistry and Earth science. Launch date: Summer 2012.
— Mary Porter Green, owner of Curiosity Zone in Ashburn, Va., told TDmonthly in a Fall 2012 survey that kits from Thames & Kosmos are one of their top-2 bestselling educational products. They sell dozens each month.
— Mary Porter Green, owner of Curiosity Zone in Ashburn, Va., told TDmonthly in a March 2014 survey that crystal growing kits were a best-selling products.

Add a recycled magazine and two plastic bottles to this kit and blast a paper rocket up to 80 feet high. Exclusive to Toysmith in the U.S.
— In a January 2015 survey, 2 out of 10 retailers told TDmonthly that 4M, distributed in the US by Toysmith, was their best-selling brand of STEM toys.

Pick a theme, find the materials, and let the creativity flow. Each kit includes Makedo’s reusable re-clips, lock-hinges, safe-saw, an inspirational poster and stickers to complete the creation. Through playful creativity take recyclable materials commonly found in the home and transform them into creations. Exclusive to Toysmith in the U.S.

Loopdedoo is a new spinning tool that makes fabulous twisted bracelets in just a few minutes. It's fast, easy and fun. Just wrap the threads around the Loopdedoo device, turn the knob, guide the thread and minutes later the bracelet is done. Kids can even make necklaces, anklets, belts and more. There's no pattern to follow so each accessory is completely different and unique. Kids can use as many threads and color combinations as they like, and can make them thick, thin or anywhere in between. Launch date: November 2011.
— In a January 2012 survey, Barbara Finblum, owner of Barston's Child's Play in Baltimore, Md., told TDmonthly that Loopdedoo is their best selling arts and crafts toy. "They came in in December and we sold 194 out of 5 stores - 163 out of 3 stores alone. We sold out and couldn't get them back," she said.
— As of 10/5/2012 this product had 4.5 out of 5 stars from 8 reviews on Amazon.com. Pros: Easy to use; promotes creativity; fun. Cons: One user couldn't figure out how to start.
— In a Fall 2012 survey, Dean Smith, owner of Jazams in Princeton, N.J., told TDmonthly that they sell 15 of this item each month, making it one of their top-2 sellers in the Hobby category.

Coloring meets crafting in the innovative, patent-pending COLORGAMI. It debuts with several thematic sets, including "Space Adventure," "The Red Carpet Collection" and the "Puppet Maker Activity Kit."  Each COLORGAMI kit includes markers, giant COLORGAMI design sheets with characters, accessories, themed environments and more. When the coloring is finished, the illustrations can be popped out, folded and constructed into a three-dimensional scene. Launch date: February 2012.

Kids can make gobs of gum with this bubble gum factory. Create unique recipes by mixing and matching different flavors. Kit Includes citric acid packet, corn syrup, confectioner sugar, gum base, watermelon flavoring, blueberry flavoring, mint flavoring, 2 note cards, activity guide, and a plastic tin with lid.
— Andrea Scartozzi, from Hardware Toys in Paoli, Pa., told TDmonthly in a September 2011 survey that Bubble Gum Factory is their bestselling science toy.
— In a late Summer 2012 survey, Joe Berardoni Sr., owner of Pun's Toys in Bryn Mawr, Penn., told TDmonthly that "a certain few of the kits from Scientific Explorer, mostly any one that has to do with food," are their second-best selling Science & Nature item.
— Mary Porter Green, owner of Curiosity Zone in Ashburn, Va., told TDmonthly in a Fall 2012 survey that kits from Scientific Explorer are one of their top-2 bestselling educational products. They sell dozens each month.

3-D Laser Cut Models featuring detailed laser etching and laser cuts on a 4.5" square metal sheet.  Easily assembled by popping out the pieces and connecting them at the attachment points using the easy to follow instructions.  Eleven styles to choose from:  Golden Gate Bridge, Cable Car, P-51 Mustang, Fokker D-VII Bi-Plane, Boeing 747 Jet, Beach Buggy, Checker Cab, Huey Helicopter, Staten Island Ferry, Empire State Bldg, Chrysler Bldg. Launch date: September 2011.

Where to buy:
NORTH WEST

Adopt a Plant - Save a Species. Encourages the public, one at a time, to adopt and nurture an endangered plant until it is sturdy enough to release back to nature or be re-potted as a house plant.  Kit includes actual rooted baby plant, plastic terrarium with small loop for attaching, coconut substrate and assembly instructions.  "Adopt a plant, build it a home, then take it with you wherever you roam." Launch date: May 2011.

Kids will amaze their audience by rehearsing and performing 25 awesome chemistry experiments in their own science show. Whether they’re moving particles with their magic wand, creating self-destructing bottles, sparking fireworks from an orange, or watching mystical black snakes grow from a pile of power, this kit is sure to educate and entertain friends and family of all ages. Includes lab equipment, materials, chemicals, cue cards with stage directions, and a 64-page, full-color, comic-book style manual. The kit "Provides young scientists with the tools and instruction to create their own science show instead of watching one," Kim Hammann, sales & marketing manager at Thames & Kosmos, told TDmonthly. Launch date: July 2011.
— In a November 2011 survey about hobby toys, Mary Porter-Green, owner of The Curiosity Zone in Ashburn, Va., told TDmonthly, "We sell lots of science kits — the best selling ones are chemistry sets from Thames & Kosmos."

Kids construct circuits with colorful electric building blocks to learn about electricity and how electronic devices work. The innovative snap-together blocks in the ElectronX building system make learning electronics fun and accessible. Use the blocks’ bright colors and unique shapes, and easy-to-follow assembly diagrams to construct a variety of functional circuits. Includes Over 70 different experiments and building projects, plus capacitors, resistors, LEDs, phototransistor, cable blocks, battery holder, speaker, sound-integrated circuit, 30 contact blocks, and a 64-page, full color manual. Launch date: June 2011.