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The Few, The Proud...The Award-Winning Toys!

Who Made the Cut This Year?

By Alison Marek and Julie L. Jones

Thousands of products are introduced to the toy industry every year, but only a limited number are good enough, playable enough and innovative enough to garner an award.

In addition to issuing TDmonthly Awards, TDmonthly Magazine regularly asks manufacturers to present their award winners to our readers so that retailers can quickly identify products with great potential and manufacturers can learn and be inspired by others' successes. Here are the most recent responses:

Magic School Bus Series – The Mysteries of Rainbows by THE YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB

Magic School Bus Series – The Mysteries of Rainbows by THE YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUBMs. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists on a wild ride into the mysteries of rainbows with these awesome experiments. Young Scientists wear rainbow glasses, design a rainbow spinner, blow rainbow bubbles, make rainbow milk, bend white light, mix colored paddles, bounce light waves off ceilings, recreate Newton’s prism experiment, and much, much more. This product received the National Parenting Center Seal of Approval and an iParenting Media Award.
 1/11/2007 (Price: $19.99; Age: 5 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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Magic School Bus Series – The World of Germs by THE YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB

Magic School Bus Series – The World of Germs by THE YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUBMs. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists on a wild ride into the world of germs with these thrilling experiments. Young Scientists will grow bacteria and fungi, test antibiotics, make a fungus bubble, explore antibiotics, grow mold, wake up fungi, cultivate bacteria in yogurt, use yeast to inflate a balloon and much, much more. Seatbelts, everyone: Get ready to discover The World of Germs. This product received the National Parenting Center Seal of Approval and an iParenting Media Award, as well as a 2007 Parents' Choice Approved Award. Launch date: January 1, 2007.
 1/11/2007 (Price: $19.99; Age: 5 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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Konstruk-Tubes™ by LOCKMADE LLC

Konstruk-Tubes™ by LOCKMADE LLCKonstruk-Tubes allows kids to safely build creations of all shapes and sizes. There are three sizes of tubes to choose from and ten types of easy-fit connectors. All pieces are dishwasher safe and helps kids improve many skills, including problem-solving, hand-eye coordination, color recognition and hand dexterity. This item is featured on Dr. Toy's Summer 2007 Best Products List. Launch date: February 2007.
 1/9/2007 (Price: $29.95; Age: 3 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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The Original Fortamajig™ by THE HAPPY KID COMPANY

The Original Fortamajig™ by THE HAPPY KID COMPANYThe Fortamjig provides a fun, easy way to build cool play spaces anywhere. The Fortamajig measures an open 8' square and is created out of durable nylon ripstop with no hard pieces to break or lose. It has open-able, stretchy loops around the interior and exterior edges for attachment to chair backs, tree branches, doorknobs and more, and features a closable mesh window, a flap door and four corner pockets. A reversible double-layer design is available for $89.95. This product is a Fall 2007 Parent's Choice Gold Award and Summer 2007 Dr. Toy Best Product Award winner. Launch date: February 2007.
— “The Fortamajig's open-ended design allows kids to create any play structure they can imagine, both indoors and out. Parents will appreciate the versatility the Fortamajig offers in one lightweight, portable and washable unit,” founders Katherine Huck and Kristen Stocking of The Happy Kid Company told TDmonthly.
 1/8/2007 (Price: $49.95; Age: 3 to 12) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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The Magic School Bus Series by THE YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB

The Magic School Bus Series by THE YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUBThis series of fun and exciting science kits is based on the popular Magic School Bus book series by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. Ms Frizzle and her students make science an exhilarating experience in "The World of Germs," "The Mysteries of Rainbows" and "A Journey into the Human Body." The series has received the following awards: Spring 2007 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval; 2007 Toy of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine; 2007 Father's Day Seal of Approval from Mr. Dad; eChoice Award, 2007 Seal of Approval and Award of Excellence from The Toy Man; and two 2007 Parents' Choice Foundation Recommended Awards.
 1/8/2007 (Age: 5 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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Hyper Dash by WILD PLANET

Hyper Dash by WILD PLANETHyper Dash is a fast-paced electronic game, for one to eight players, that encourages physical activity while challenging speed, skill and agility. It’s easy to pick up and hard to put down, as players want to conquer the next level and beat their best time. The game’s five targets can be arranged in any way, and players dash among them based on what the electronic tagger calls out. Different modes focus on math skills, teamwork and timed tests. This product is a winner of numerous awards, including a Fall 2007 Parent's Choice Award, an iParenting Media Award, a 2007 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award, a 2007 Creative Child Seal of Excellence Award and a 2007 BabyZone Amazing Toy Award. Launch date: Fall 2007.
 1/5/2007 (Price: $19.99; Age: 5 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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"Wild Science" Eco System by TREE TOYS CORP.

"Wild Science" Eco System by TREE TOYS CORP.Children can create their own self-sufficient world and global greenhouse with this product. They can explore closed and open biological systems, learn how life, atmosphere, water and geology are linked in a cycle powered by the sun, grow plants in microhabitats, track temperature changes, create rainstorms and more. ToyOps distributes this toy. This product appeared on Dr. Toy's Spring 2007 Best Products List.
— “There has never been a true Eco System developed for the toy industry, and in today’s changing world of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, we look forward to helping children under[stand] this and how their precious resources can be secured for the future,” Dennis Callaghan of TreeToys Corp. told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2007.
 1/5/2007 (Price: $39.95; Age: 8 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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Professor Woodpecker® Educational DVD: Health and Nutrition - Volume 1 by H & T IMAGINATIONS UNLIMITED INC.

Professor Woodpecker® Educational DVD: Health and Nutrition - Volume 1 by H & T IMAGINATIONS UNLIMITED INC.Children can enter Professor Woodpecker’s world and learn about nutritional foods and snacks as they explore good eating habits and good health habits in a fun and exciting way. The DVD provides an interactive method of teaching fun basics while maintaining a child’s attention by feeding the imagination with live characters and their animated counterparts. Viewers can watch as Professor Woodpecker and friends meet Jerry the Gorilla, Squirmy the Worm and Billy the Goat on three different adventures. This product received a 2007 Seal of Excellence Award from Creative Child Magazine.
TDmonthly Roundtable reviewer Mildred Tong said her four children (from ages 2 to 9) "loved the song" on this DVD. "Professor Woodpecker was a neat character," she added. "They liked the costume and his accent."
 1/5/2007 (Price: $12.95) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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Exercise Party by CASABLANCA KIDS INC.

Exercise Party by CASABLANCA KIDS INC.Designed to get young bodies up and moving, Exercise Party features some of the best children’s artists, including Sharon, Lois & Bram, Parachute Express, Dog on Fleas and Jack Grunsky. This CD first warms up the muscles, then gets hearts pumping and bodies moving, and ends with cool down songs. A coloring page is included. This product received a spring 2007 Parents' Choice Award and 2007 National Parenting Publications GOLD Award.
— The CD differs from similar products because “the movement songs all cheerfully encourage the listeners to participate in a fun, friendly way,” A & R Manager Ricki Glinert of Casablanca Kids told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 30, 2007.
 1/5/2007 (Price: $5.95; Age: 3 to 6) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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Jet Plane by PLAYMOBIL INC.

Jet Plane by PLAYMOBIL INC.The jet contains room for cargo and passengers, movable seating for more cargo space, mobile doors and four figurines with luggage. "Reality playsets are a feature of Playmobil," Playmobil Inc. Advertising and Marketing Manager Michelle Winfrey told TDmonthly. This product is a Fall 2007 Parent's Choice Award winner. Launch date: August 2007.
 1/4/2007 (Price: $49.99; Age: 4 and up) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]


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Following are some of the programs represented in TDmonthly.com's section of award winners: Dr. Toy, iParenting Media Awards, TIA T.O.T.Y., Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, The National Parenting Center, and Parents' Choice Awards.

You may also access TDmonthly's review section to see which products earned 5 TD stars.

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