December 2009 New Specialty Toys — Language

This toy looks like the real thing and is designed to be very sturdy. It is also lightweight, compact and portable. There are eight early learning activities in English and Spanish. The interactive bilingual toy teaches the alphabet, words, numbers, shapes and colors. Includes 3 AAA batteries. "The Ingenio line is affordable and innovative, making it attractive for the specialty market," Ilango Sankaralingam, President, Smart Play, LLC, told TDmonthly. Awards: 2009 Creative Child Toy of The Year. Launch date: October 2009.

Conceived by child literacy expert Dr. Brij Kothari, BookBox Series stories are designed for child entertainment while simultaneously improving reading skills. Using scientifically tested same language subtitling (SLS), children are assisted in the improvement of listening comprehension and reading and foreign language skills — while watching fascinating “Stories from Around the World” that bring cultural and educational values to children. The "Animal Stories" DVD features three stories: Based on an ancient Indian fable, "Four Friends" is about animal friends that work together to outwit a hunter and protect each other. "The Turtle’s Flute" is about a turtle that is a gifted flutist. When the turtle played her flute, everyone danced. One day, she is trapped by a greedy man. How will she escape? "Zippy the Zebra" is about a zebra that is bugged by a hide full of fleas. No amount of tail swishing or tree trunk scratching would give him any relief. Finally a pair of birds help him out by making a meal of his unwelcome guests. "This DVD helps children to read in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German or Italian. With three ways to use the program - Read to me, Let me read and Let me listen plus you can print the PDF of the book from a computer," Selina Yoon, President, Master Communications, told TDmonthly. Launch date: October 6, 2009. Awards: Kids First, Dr. Toy's 100 Best Products, Dr. Toy's 10 Best Audio/Video.

Let's Go Guang! Chinese for Children is a kit for kids to learn Chinese as a second language. Children join Ling and Kai while they visit their grandparents and discover Guang, a fun-loving dragon. It's designed for kids to learn how to properly pronounce about 50 useful everyday Mandarin Chinese words, phrases and sentences, including greetings, introductions and numbers. Each kit includes: DVD: "Meet Guang, the Chinese Dragon" (Animated Feature), "Making Dumplings" (Live footage), and "Mini Lessons and Songs," all in English and Mandarin Chinese; illustrated hardback book: "Story of Meet Guang, the Chinese Dragon with Pinyin"; English audio CD; flash cards with simplified Chinese characters, Pinyin; English Parents/Educator Guide; and vocabulary list.
— "This is a unique, high-quality, high-production toy/product that is effective, yet fun and engaging for kids," Karen Wu Audi, Co-Founder of aha! Chinese, told TDmonthly. "Kids learn Chinese and don't realize that they are learning the language." Awards: 2009 iParenting Media Award; and Dr. Toy's 10 Best Educational and 100 Best Children's Products Awards. Launch date: August 8, 2009.

A-B-C OY! contains eight surprisingly adaptable word, spelling and alphabet based games for any age or ability level. Players can learn letters backward and forward with ZOOM OY! or speed spell with SLAPSPELL OY!. They can use the blank cards included to make their own foreign alphabet. The deck contains 120 cards, which includes both capital and lower case letters. Instructions are in English, French and Spanish and include comprehensive information for parents and educators. Launch date: 1996.

When baby gums or bites the largest soft disk on this teething ring, it vibrates, offering comfort and a lesson in cause and effect. A disk with bold, red and white stripes catches baby’s eye. Raised stripes and smooth sections encourage teething. Completing the ring are six chewy, textured disks filled with orange, purple and red beads. Some are water-filled and, when refrigerated, provide a cool diversion from sore gums. Varied textures cultivate tactile sensitivity, helping to develop communication skills. Launch date: October 2009.

Caregivers can refrigerate this colorful, water-filled rattle to bring cool relief to teething babies. On one end, a red, squishy, water-filled, oval ring with nubby bumps invites baby to soothe his gums. In the middle, a curved, white handle features raised, black stripes and three colored rings click-clacking around it. The handle is thin enough for even young babies to grasp. There is a black ball with white polka-dots on the other end of the handle to help baby focus. Launch date: October 2009.

These sleek, boldly colored ladybugs can be refrigerated so that their water-filled sections provide cool comfort for sore gums. Bendable, squishable textures and raised polka-dots encourage exploration by mouth. A smooth, black head provides bold contrast in color and texture to the rest of the little bug. Nubby antennae offer additional teething fun. They are available in two-packs with either a red and a purple ladybug or a red and an orange ladybug. Launch date: October 2009.

Based on The Entire World of R™ program, this 8-book set targets each of the eight variations of /r/ [ar, air, ear, er, ire, or, prevocalic r, and rl]. Also included are /r/ blends and recurrent /r/. Children can change stories by flipping one of three panels that comprise each sentence story. The books can be an aid to focus on single words, phrases, sentences or conversational speech. Stories are divided and color coded by word position (initial, medial, and final) for  focused therapy. Books vary in size from 51 to 72 panels (17-24 pages).