December 2011 New Specialty Toys — All

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.

HEXACUS is an exploration in creativity and fun for the entire family. Just sort by size and color, then stack, nest, and balance to create a wide variety of patterns and shapes. Our Idea Booklet shows over 100 examples of easy to challenging patterns and shapes to build.  Ages: 2+  CONTENTS: 12 Hexagonal Pieces – 3 Red, 3 Orange, 2 Yellow, 2 Green, 1 Light Blue, 1 Dark Blue, Idea Booklet. "Due to it's unique and geometrically accurate shape, children are able to nest and stack HEXACUS pieces in a wide variety of ways using horizontal, vertical and diagonal planes," Jason Cheung, general manager of Huntar Company, Inc., told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2012.

Founding Fathers is a game for 2-5 players competing to be the man remembered for the writing on the US Constitution.  Play revolves around delegate cards that can be used for several options. "The game also comes with a brief history of the constitutional convention as well as the delegates," Jim Dietz, president of Jolly Roger Games, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2011.

Junglemorphs, new for 2011, is part of the Zoomorphs pop-together building system.  The child can build animals that exist or have existed in nature; or easily pop the pieces apart to make all sorts of friendly, poseable fantasy creatures.  There are four characters in this set:  Tree Python, Bird of Paradise, Tiger and Tropical Beetle.  All sets are interchangeable.  Some animals have hinged jaws. Launch date: August 2011.
— Karin Evick, manager of Kids' Ketch in Lewes, Del., told TDmonthly in an April 2012 survey that Zoomorphs are one of their best selling construction toys.

A fun way to discover 100 everyday sounds. Children will be delighted to hear sounds that come to life when bar codes are scanned by using the Smart Pen.  Crystal clear technology teaches animals, musical instruments, vehicles, machinery and nature sounds. The sounds are recorded in high fidelity and are very realistic. 50 double sided learning cards are included for hours of learning fun. Launch date: July 2011.
Awards: 2011 Creative Child Toy of the Year

Zafari is a puzzle game that teaches the alphabet and animal names in English & Spanish. 27 Brightly colored puzzle cards have unique die-cut openings to help children complete the puzzle and identify beginning sounds in English & Spanish. On the other side of the card, it has a realistic photo of the animal and its name in English/Spanish.  Sturdy puzzle cards are self correcting and easy for a child to play with. Launch date: July 2011.
Awards: 2011 Creative Child Puzzle of the Year.

From Spanish designer Emilio Garcia's original creation, The Jumping Brain, Toy2R is pleased to offer the latest 5 inch incarnation in DIY form allowing the collector to customize it any way they see fit. Ideal for shops catering to the brainiac or geek shoppers. Launch date: October 2011.

This exciting new word game requires a quick hand and a keen eye. Players create words by combining letters from their own racks with letters from another player's rack. With double-sided letter cards, everything can change in a flash. When the timer goes off it becomes  a free-for-all FlashRound. Game includes 100 two-sided letter cards, 4 card racks, FlashWordz Timer, and FlashRound Token. Launch date: July 2011.
Awards: 2011 Creative Child Preferred Choice Award.

Thumbuddy To Love- the Binky Fairy helps children wean from pacifier sucking. It comes with a children's book, matching Binky Fairy puppet and success chart. Launch date: June 2011.

Lil' Iguana Feelings Calendar features master copies of a calendar in Spanish and English with 9 wooden and rubber stamps depicting different childhood feelings. The calendar "has been used by schools and child care facilites with tremendous results of understanding how children are actually feeling inside. Has been credited for saving young children from abuse," Jim Tomaszewski,  executive director of Lil' Iguana's Children's Safety Foundation, told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2010.

Spanish & English educational album for children 3 years old and up. With themes like "ABC", "Months", My Name Is", "Ice Cream", "Goodbye Friends" and many more. Includes lyrics and sing along instrumentals. This is a great tool for schools and homeschooling. "All kindergarten teachers from Puerto Rico adopted this album," Blanca Castro, director of Little Xavier, told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 2011.

Kid-friendly dry erase markers with felt erasers that rinse with a simple solution of soap and water. Eight new colors. Our markers are compliant with CPSIA and are non/toxic-low odor. "Our marker tips don't push back up into the barrel when pressure is applied," Julia Rhodes, CEO of KleenSlate Concepts, told TDmonthly. Launch date: September 2011.

New Deluxe Dry Erase Response Paddles with marker and eraser in handle for that all-in-one experience. Great for travel, working on homework and for family games.Environmentally friendly and clean up with a soft cloth and a simple solution of soap and water. Paddles Come in 8 colors. Launch date: September 2010.
Awards: 2010 Kidlutions; 2008 Teachers Choice Award - Best in-classroom tools.

Lil' Cutesies are play dolls that are dressed in the cutest outfits. Cutesies encourage creative play. Each doll is sold separately, or they can be purchased in sets of three. Launch date: January 2011.
Awards: 2011 DOTY (Doll of the Year) Industry Choice Play Doll

With Teach My Preschooler, little ones can get Ready To Read, Print, Count to 100, Add & Subtract, all in one kit. Teach My Preschooler is the multi award winning, all-in-one learning system for preschoolers. The kit has all the educational tools necessary to help prepare preschoolers for kindergarten. The kit is divided into four sections – Ready to Read, Ready to Print, Ready for 1-100, and Ready for Math – each fully-coordinated with books, flashcards, posters, a print guide and magic drawing board. Developed with education consultant Judith Rowlands, M Ed., Teach My Preschooler is designed to give preschoolers a head start, develop fine motor skills, encourage parent/child interaction and increase school readiness skills. Launch date: September 2010.
Awards: 2010 Dr. Toy 100 Best; 2010 iParenting Media Award

Our Flamingo Bouncie is one of the latest additions to our family of Bouncies. The Flamingo is 9 inches from head to toe and is hand crafted. "The Flamingo Bouncie is hand crafted with typical German attention to detail, using wood from the forests of the Czech Republic. Bouncies are only available through Ammon USA LLC or our partner company in Germany," Jenean Derheim, co-owner of Ammon USA LLC, told TDmonthly. Launch date: November 2010.

Our Mozart Bouncie is one of the new additions to our family of Bouncies. Mozart is 7 inches from head to toe, has beautiful detail including a little violin and bow with real strings. All Bouncies are hand crafted. "The Mozart Bouncie is hand crafted with typical German attention to detail, using wood from the forests of the Czech Republic," Jenean Derheim, co-owner of Ammon USA LLC, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2011.

This is a story about a good witch who lives in a good neighborhood. Written and illustrated by Norman Bridwell, the creator of Clifford.

As soon as geese fly south, children take autumn's cue to start their preparations: it’s almost Halloween. With poetic language and vivid collage illustrations, Tom Brenner and Holly Meade follow all the familiar rituals, from hanging paper skeletons to carving pumpkins, from costume-making to trick-or-treating. Halloween lovers will be eager to grab a bag or bucket and join them on this lively and lyrical journey. When nighttime creeps closer to suppertime, And red and gold seep into green leaves...Then it’s time to decide what to be.

It's Halloween on Sodor and Thomas is ready to trick and treat. This exclusive new 2-pack features Thomas with a Halloween banner and Halloween decorated caboose.

Encourages kids to explore the human body by piecing together a life-size puzzle. Invites children to make comparisons to their own bodies as they lie on top of the completed puzzle. Features 15 illustrated pieces with both formal and common bone names printed on the reverse side. Provides a fun activity for spooky-themed parties. Soft foam puzzle measures 4'H when assembled.

The Shrinky Dinks Monster Lab includes 50+ pre-cut Shrinky Dinks, Faber-Castell color EcoPencils, brads, chenille stems, wiggly eyes and more. When you are finished, place them inside the 3-D pop-up laboratory. This craft kit is perfect for play and display. The Laboratory measures 16" x 7 3/4" x 6". This is a spook-tacular kit for Halloween too.

This quick and easy craft makes a spook-tacular Halloween decoration. Includes genuine Shrinky Dinks®, 11" x 8" sturdy black velvet tree, colored pencils, sharpener, mini hole punch and all the extras needed for decoration and display.

Kids can make up their own royal adventures, swashbuckling stories, superhero missions, and pretty kitty tales with these themed puppet packs containing six puppets each. For use alone or with the Soft Shapes Puppet Theater. Launch date: August 2011.