February 2009 New Specialty Toys — All

Suitable for babies 6 months and up, this soft, developmental toy is made of organic cotton fabric and is machine washable. It is part of a collection that features minimal packaging made of recycled paper and printed with vegetable-based inks. Launch date: February 15, 2009.
— "[I] love the organics, as new mothers are asking for them," commented Patti Tepper-Rasmussen, owner of Learning Tree Toys, Books & Games in Oklahoma City, following the 2009 ASTRA exhibition.

This 4D time puzzle of New York City includes 765 pieces and challenges participants to build a base map from 640 pieces as they learn about city streets, museums and more. Then, they continue to build the city by adding buildings and skycrapers as they are numbered in the included booklet, which details the city's evolution from 1812 to 2013. Launch date: February 2009.

This DVD program features a full exercise routine coupled with mathematical concepts from lines to numbers. The exercise program is for kids of all ages, with math concepts ranging from 2nd to 5th grade. It was named 2009 DVD of the Year by Creative Child Magazine and one of Dr. Toy's 2009 Best Vacation Children's Products.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

The Shailie™ Closet is an 18" x 30" fabric panel and hangs from a standard clothes hanger.   The Shailie™ pieces attach by simply pressing the Velcro® side of each Shailie™ design piece onto the Closet.

The Closet helps the pieces "play nice" and not hook and snag each other, keeping everything in runway-ready condition.

Shailie™ themed fashion kits are sold separately and include the Pink Princess, Prom, Fiesta, Bride, and Fairy.  Dresses are designed to fit most girls ages 5-13.  The themed fashion kits come in pieces, from jewels to sleeves, collars, and skirts.  Girls can design their own dresses and then wear them.  All Shailie™ products can be mixed and matched, providing endless creativity and endless fashion fun!

Pink polka dot fabric is the new signature look for Shailie's™ life-size dress form—the foundation on which girls design, create, and wear their own unlimited fashions using a wide variety of Shailie™ dress-up pieces and accessories.  The pink polka dot dress form comes in child size, medium and is a darling accent to any girls' bedroom or play area decor.

Game play starts by removing the towers from the base. The goal is to place the towers following two simple rules: there must be only one of each colored tower in every row and column, and the towers must fit into the base to form a perfect cube, with all the towers being the same height. Launch date: November 19, 2008.

This playfully smart art easel has so many neat-o benefits. Use it as a traditional easel, a chalkboard, a white board, or a puppet theater. Included are two fabulous “coloring-book” scenes to use as backdrops when this clever easel is in puppet theater mode. There is room in the back to add a P’kolino Play Kit and the entire unit folds flat for easy storage. Launch date: May 2009.

P’kolino’s Puzzle Stacker increases the play value of the classic stacker by adding the benefits of puzzles. Stacking toys help develop a baby’s hand-eye coordination and recognition of sizes and colors. The puzzles fine-tune motor skills and teach spatial logic through joining the interconnecting pieces. This two-in-one toy does both, doubling the fun; and doubling the development. Also available in a 6 ring version. Launch date: June 2009.

Designed to help children connect children to nature and teach them about environmental concerns, this album features the Missoula Coyote Choir, made up of children ages 7 to 12 who are building eco-awareness. The project also promotes the process of biomimicry — learning from nature itself in order to develop solutions for a more sustainable world. The CD includes 18 tracks.  “A bunch of great songs for kids, their grownups and other animals.” —Bill Harley, Grammy® Award Winner.
Awards: 2009 Creative Child Preferred Choice Award, 2009 Parents' Choice Award, 2009 iParenting Media Best Choice Award.

Requiring no reading from its players, Qwirkle is a simple-to-learn but stimulating game based around matching the attributes of the game play tiles. Players build rows and columns by placing tiles adjacent to tiles they share an attribute with (shape or color), and score bonus points if they can think ahead and put a tile down touching multiple other tiles. While the game is easy to understand, a good eye and quick thinking make Qwirkle challenging enough for a wide range of ages to play together.
Awards: 2011 Speiele des Jahres (German game of the year).
― “We sell a lot of Qwirkle,” Sue Banducci said of popular games in her Danville, Calif., store, Games Unlimited. “Qwirkle was best-selling over Christmas,” said Shirley Reilly, owner of Let's Play in Hillsboro, Ore., in January 2009.
― When asked about his top-selling games in early 2009, Tye Steinbach of Thinker Toys in Portland, Ore. told TDmonthly, “It was probably Qwirkle. We're not huge gamers in our family, but it's really fun.”
— Four of 44 specialty retailers named Qwirkle as a best seller in late fall 2009. Ages & Stages Toy Box in Golden, Colo., sells about 10 Qwirkle games per month, Manager Holly Anvers told TDmonthly.
— As of 12/17/2012 this product had 4.8 out of 5 stars from 483 reviews on Amazon.com and was No. 6 on the top 100 bestselling toys and games. Pros: Exciting; intellectually stimulating, easy to learn. Cons: Some said it took too long to play; only had 3 reviews less than 3 stars, however.

Based on the sizes and shapes of standard unit blocks, these blocks feature hand-scrolled and turned detailing that turns block towers into buildings with archways, buttresses and columns. These blocks are smooth-sanded hardwood with a natural finish, and come packed in a wooden crate for storage. The set contains 44 pieces in 11 shapes. 
― “Wooden blocks by Melissa & Doug” are best-selling wooden toys, Marianne Kearns, owner of Second Star to the Right in Bridgehampton, N.Y., told TDmonthly in January 2009. She said she sells an average of eight sets per month.

A super-smooth ring secures a small wheeled duck that rocks as the clutching toy is moved. Just the right size to be easy for a little hand to hold, the ring is intended for tactile stimulation or teething, while the cute duck character and pleasant colors engage the eyes. It is made in Germany and finished with non-toxic paints.
― “Anything from HABA overall in the wooden toy market” does well, said Nancy Nigl, owner of Playthings in Madison, Wis.
― “Haba's clutching toy and rattles. It's our No. 1 best-selling toy,” Jenny Bramhall, owner of Dandelion Toys in Fort Collins, Colo., told TDmonthly in early 2009.

Painted in a whimsical style, this 24-piece jigsaw puzzle features a host of sea creatures, from whales and sharks to anemones and starfish. The wooden pieces lie in their frame once assembled to keep the image and pieces together. 
― “Wooden puzzles by Melissa & Doug. Weekly we sell a wide variety of them,” said Chuck Harper, owner of Explorations Toys in Granger, Ind.
― “We literally sell thousands through the year,” remarked Fred Meyer, owner of Meyer's Toy World in Battle Creek, Mich.
― Also in early 2009, another retailer reported sales of 200 to 300 Melissa & Doug puzzles per month.

Healthy breakfast, refreshing snack-time treat? Whatever the occasion, kids can cut into this 17 piece set of bright colored wood fruits, such as kiwis, oranges and a big slice of melon. Velcro rounds between the segments serve the dual purpose of holding the uncut fruit together and creating a satisfying crunch sound as the included wooden knife slices right through. It comes with a wooden crate in which to store the food.
― “Anything Melissa & Doug. Play food is probably the best,” Linda Hanzelko, owner of Timmy's Toy Chest in Lake Mary, Fla., told TDmonthly regarding best-selling wooden toys.
― “All wooden cutting food from Melissa & Doug” sells well, added William Bingham, owner of Firefly Toy Shop in Milford, Pa.
― Seven of 56 retailers surveyed said cutting food was a top-selling wooden toy.

Made in the United States from sustainable basswood grown in Michigan, Uncle Goose's Nursery Rhyme Blocks give a whimsical twist to standard block play. The set of nine 1 1/3” cube-shaped blocks are embossed and painted with classic children's nursery rhymes. Two sides feature scenes in silhouette, while the other four feature the words to the rhyme itself, encouraging early reading and memory skills. Rhymes included with Set A are “Little Jack Horner,” “Three Little Kittens,” “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary,” “Old Mother Hubbard,” “Humpty Dumpty,” “Diddle Diddle Dumpling,” “Little Boy Blue,” “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” and “Old King Cole.” 
― “I'd say blocks, and the manufacturer is Uncle Goose,” Rebecca Pfeil, owner of Timeless Toys in Homer, Alaska, told TDmonthly about best-selling wooden items.
― Sandra Bartholomew, owner of Wingdoodle in Warner, N.H., told TDmonthly her best-selling wooden toy is “wood blocks, the basic kind.”
― Ten percent of 56 retailers said blocks were a top-selling wood item in early 2009.

Modeled after the DVD of the same title, the Great Discovery set offers a wide variety of experiences. After building the wide figure-8 of track, kids can act out the familiar story, or stories out of their own imaginations, with two talking engines and two talking destinations that actually recognize which engine has just approached them. Unique phrases at each destination greet the engines with salutations or instructions from the merry conductor, Sir Topham Hatt.
― “Thomas and Friends wooden train pieces by RC2,” are best-selling wooden toys for Michelle Deutschmann, owner of Kaleidoscope Toys in Falmouth, Mass.
― Buddy Wood, owner of Le Jouet in Metairie, La., said he sells between 75 and 100 Thomas the Tank Engine pieces per month.
― Thirteen percent of 56 retailers named wooden railway as a top seller in early 2009.

This 24-piece all-wood kit features a plethora of nails, screws, nuts, bolts and panels for preschoolers to pretend-play all kinds of building and repair projects. The primary-colored tote serves as tidy storage and a pounding bench, making it easy to transport the toolbox to wherever work might need to be done.
― “Melissa & Doug sells well,” Amy Akin, manager of Giggles for Kids in Suwanee, Ga., told TDmonthly when asked about wooden toys.
― “The quality of the product is so good, and the pricing,” said Sue Banducci, co-owner of Games Unlimited in Danville, Calif., in early 2009.

A simple rolling push toy, the Walk N Roll features an elegant, sturdy structure and brightly colored bars that form the rolling barrel. Inside, a loose ball rattles against the interior panels as a toddler pushes, or pulls, the toy along with her first steps. The Walk N Roll is made of rubber wood, a sustainable resource, and non-toxic, vegetable-based inks.
― “Plan toys, probably specifically their Walk N Roll,” Jeff Oslick, owner of The Enchanted Toy Store in Fullerton, Calif., told TDmonthly of his store’s best-selling wooden items.
― “We carry a lot of their line,” added Teneen Dobbs, owner of Kits and Kaboodle in Carmel, Ind.
― Twenty percent of 56 retailers named Plan Toys as their best-selling line of wooden toys in early 2009.

These trucks are sized just right for little hands, and are a great first vehicle for little kids. They have smooth, soft edges and working parts, and are dishwasher safe.
— This “little guy” truck was named by Kazoo & Company Owner Diana Nelson as a best seller in her store in January of 2009.

This soft, fleecy white lamb produces sheep sounds when squeezed.
— This little lamb is a top-selling toy at Kazoo & Company in Denver, Owner Diana Nelson told TDmonthly in early 2009.

This vinyl apron gives kids the freedom to be creative without worrying moms about the mess that results. It ties behind the neck and includes three oversized pockets in the front for supplies.
— This art apron was on the list of best sellers at Kazoo & Company in Denver at the beginning of 2009, Storeowner Diana Nelson told TDmonthly.

The Breadheads, Personalized Learning Cartoon is a personalized learning cartoon where a child's name will be heard 50 times throughout the educational DVD cartoon. Designed to have children sitting and dancing in front of the TV, learning and hearing their own name