July 2014 New Specialty Toys — Science & Nature

All you need is sunshine, water and your creativity to make unique and beautiful sun art prints! Place natural objects like flowers, leaves, shells or even man-made objects on the sun-sensitive paper. Add the foam letters to spell out a message. Use the enclosed dry erase markers to write or draw designs on the acrylic panel. Set outside on a sunny or overcast day or even indoors in a sunny window. Sit back and watch as the sun turns the paper a beautiful blue! Everything needed to make 15 unique and beautiful sun art prints! Kit includes 15 sheets 8” x 10” SunArt paper; one 8” x 10” acrylic panel; three 8” x 10” sheets of decorative clip art; two dry erase markers and 78 foam letters. For ages 6+. Made in USA.

Build, Create and Animate! OGOBILD is a line of creative construction toys created to promote open-ended play and stimulate a child's imagination. This kit contains Animate It! Express software, which was developed with the Aardman Animations studio (the creators of Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run) and is the premier UK education stop-motion animation software. Teaches the basics of stop motion animation. Allows kids to make their own animated movies with Animate It! Express. Takes advantage of the OGOBILD System's Versatility. Share finished films with family, friends, and the world!
Awards: 2014 TDmonthly Magazine Top Toy Award

Build this Strandbeest kit yourself! It has a very interesting mechanism: blowing into the fan makes the animal start walking against the wind. The wind power is conveyed to the legs by 2 gears. The 28-page science guide gives you the history of the real Strandbeest that Theo Jansen started building in1990. The guide also includes easy-to-follow assembly instructions.

Giant-sized solar science fun! This 50 foot long balloon soars high in the sky powered by the sun. Demonstrates buoyancy, convection, thermodynamics and solar power. Teaches Bernoullis Principle and Pascals Principle. Great for science classes and the perfect start to a science project. Bright direct sunlight on a calm, cool day has the Solar Balloon soaring in just minutes. Includes one 50 foot long by 29" diameter Solar Balloon, 400 feet of string, complete instructions and science learning guide. Made in USA.

Scientists have been exploring the earth and space science from as early as 4900 B.C. From ancient Egyptians, to Galileo, to Neil deGrasse Tyson, the secrets of the cosmos have kept us wondering, observing and learning. The littleBits Space Kit will enable anyone to build their own space investigations with little to no engineering knowledge. Included is a handy 30+ page booklet, with step-by-step instructions for 10 great projects like the ISS and Mars Rover. You'll also receive 2 9V battery + cables - everything you need to get started right out of the box.

Build a working electric fan using a circuit that consists of a fan blade rotor, electric motor, LED, resistor, switch, and battery holder. Learn how motors work, the role each electronic component plays in the circuit, and how fan blades push air to make wind.
— In a January 2015 survey, four out of 10 retailers told TDmonthly that Thames & Kosmos was their best-selling brand of STEM toys.

The KT06 kit contains 6 Cubelets and is a great way to get started with modular robotics. With KT06, you can create simple mobile and reactive Cubelet robots.

These deluxe kits are an amazing way to make learning fun!
Each kit contains a sculpted and painted dig block, digging tool, dusting brush, magnifier, keepsake bag and educational booklet.  Each booklet has interesting information about the subject and fun activities. 
Assortment includes 9 kits: 2 of the Amethyst, Gemstone and Dinosaur Poop Fossil kits and 1 each of the Meteorite, Real Sea Life Fossils and Dinosaur kits.

These detailed Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops puppets are sure to bring out the imagination. Kids will have fun for hours. The assortment contains 2 of each of the 2 styles.

Endorsed by Haynes (World's No. 1 publisher of Car Repair Manuals). Construct a fully working model of a car engine with ignition sound and light-up spark plugs. These models are fun and challenging to put together. Both kits contain all the tools you'll need to assemble over 100 detailed and precise parts of this working model. Includes and electric motor to stimulate engine function and a clear step-by-step Haynes Manual to assist intrepid mechanics and motorheads. Requires two AA batteries.

Introductory DNA classroom study kit, includes buffer, protease + salt, test tubes/holders, disposable pipets, curriculum, and all materials to make DNA necklaces, for 36 students; education use only.

Build an energetic bouncing robot that uses an electric motor and a springloaded mechanism to jump forward in a continuous motion. Watch the robot crouch down, compress its coil spring, and store up energy. Then see how it instantly extends its legs and releases the stored energy all at once, launching itself upward and forward. Experiment with the metal coil spring to discover how the robot’s jumping mechanism works. See if the robot can jump over objects in an obstacle course you design for it. Learn about elasticity, potential and kinetic energy, the spring constant, cams, and linkages. Build seven other functional models using the same mechanical components — the spring, cams, and motor — to perform other tasks and demonstrate physical science principles firsthand. Construct a car that moves forward on spiral-shaped wheels. Build a crab that moves sideways, a kicking machine that uses the spring-loaded mechanism to propel an object away, a pitching machine, and a grappler claw. Assemble a fun amusement park ride that spins around using the electric motor. Learn about the physics of force, mass, and weight by making and experimenting with a spring scale. The full-color, 24-page instruction manual provides step-by-step illustrated assembly instructions.

A souped-up version of the best-selling Remote-Control Machines kit! Build your own motorized vehicles and machines and control them with a wireless remote control unit. A unique six-button infrared remote allows you to control three different motors simultaneously, moving each of them forward or in reverse, with easy-to-activate touch sensors. The three motors can be combined to make complex vehicles and machines in numerous configurations limited only by your imagination. Assemble 20 models demonstrating different ways in which the motors can be used including a three-wheeled car, bat-bot, stag beetle, robot, battle car, ball collector car, forklift, tunneling vehicle, truck, drilling machine, crane, robotic arm and more. After you have built the models in the instructions, you can design your own remote control creations! The kit comes with three motors, remote control unit, battery holder, and 155 building pieces. 128-page, full-color instruction book.
— In a September 2014 survey, Kai Rady, owner of Shenanigans Inc in Charlottesville, Va., told TDmonthly that Remote Control Machines is the store's best-selling science & nature toy.

The Geek & Co. Craft line connects science, art, and nature through fun, hands-on activity kits. With Braided Slingshot, you can learn how to weave, interlace, and ultimately transform a thin string into a strong elastic cord. Attach a sewn leather cuff to hold a soft foam ball and voila - you’ve made your own slingshot! One of 10 new kits in two different sizes.

Plush 18" African American Doll with a wavy, interchangeable plaitnap of synthetic hair. This doll is soft, plush and cuddly and comes without the internal framework. A favorite doll to enjoy for years to come. Protectors of Knowledge. Time Traveler.

The first book in the Knowledge Trackers series. Becca & Bas, The Knowledge Trackers is dedicated to empowering, equipping and promoting literacy among African American children through an interactive doll and adventure series called "The Knowledge Trackers."

40 page science book with materials. An exciting set of selected experiments (Split water into rocket fuel! Pop hydrogen! Flame test salts! Grow huge crystals! Model 3D electron orbitals!) designed to make elements elementary and explore the periodicity of the periodic table. Learn about atoms and the stuff they are made of - protons, neutrons and electrons. This beautifully illustrated book takes children through the alphabet of the universe.
— In a November 2014 survey, two retailers told TDmonthly that Science Wiz kits are one of their store's best-selling educational toys.

Blast off with Newton's laws of motion and prepare to excel in PHYSICS! Develop a fundamental understanding of inertia, the laws of motion, centripetal force, mass, weight, velocity and acceleration. Concepts are covered with time tested experiments and highly visual illustrations. This kit includes a balance scale for measuring mass, a stopwatch accurate to 1/100 of a second to clock speed and a jet car that really zooms.
Awards: Dr. Toy's Best Toys Award; Dr. Toy's Best Vacation Toy Award; Creative Child Magazine Award

40 page science book with materials. Candle making, water squirting, freezing thawing, glop, and mud pie experiments -- things every child should do to explore the matter of matter. 35 activities include: Capture a CO2 explosion; Squeeze an egg into a bottle; Grow crystals and more. Authors Note: When my children were small they tested the experiments that are in this book. We sorted through many, many projects and picked our favorites. In high school and college both my son and daughter loved chemistry. I took a lot of chemistry, but I never loved the field the way my children do. I think this kit and their early experiences with chemistry had a lot to do with this difference.
Awards: Creative Child Magazine Award

Projects in Electrostatics! Build 6 different devices to explore CHARGE! Build a hair raising Van de Graaff Generator; Detect charge with an electroscope; Store charge in a Leyden jar; Spin an electrostatic motor; Transport charge with an electrophorus; Ring a Franklin bell. Complete 15 Activities with these devices, including: Spew a glitter fountain; Make your hair stand on end with electrostatic CHARGE!; Generate large sparks with an electrostatic generator; Spin an electrostatic motor; Explore and detect plus and minus charges; Propel objects with an electrostatic generator.

The Solar System and Beyond Puzzle. Explore the solar system with this unique puzzle while expanding your knowledge of planets and more. The pieces of this puzzle are shaped like the planets and other stellar bodies. 500 pieces.