January 2010 Notable Toys — Wooden Toys

Baby can clutch and chew the Perlina with either hand. Plus there's a bell for extra entertainment.

Place the red ball on the flipper stick, press down and let it snap back up. The ball will fly towards the basket. Solid wood, 9.5 inches long by 3 inches wide.

This 32-piece wooden railway set includes 15 pieces of track to connect into the figure 8 pattern, a couple of trees, a conductor, three vehicles, a bridge and a Stop & Go Station.
— David Campbell, owner of Amazing Toys in Great Falls, Mont., told TDmonthly in late 2009 his store sells about two per week of this item.
— "I started doing a lot better with Thomas when they brought back reps," Steve Levy, owner of Toy City in Keene, N.H., said in fall 2009.

This set of two construction vehicles is outfitted for Nuchi train tracks. There's a rubber tread on the front of the steamroller and a functional red tipper decking out the front of the bulldozer.

This product is designed so that young toddlers will delight in placing the dowel/balls in the holes, turning the base, and watching the whirling forms turn around. Older toddlers can start to build with the hardwood squares, put “red hats on the red heads," and stack colored shapes into sturdy towers. Preschoolers can build more complex and imaginative structures while exploring how motion changes the appearance and stability of forms. "Torno Torno combines a wood building toy with a wood turn-table base that is activated by the child — no batteries, just the child's gentle push and imagination," Karen Hewitt, president of Learning Materials Workshop, told TDmonthly. This product was named one of Dr. Toy's 10 Best Toys 2009. Launch date: November 2009.

Made from organic cotton and sustainable rubber wood, this mischievous monkey hangs from just about anywhere. Launch date: October 15, 2009.

Made from organic cotton and sustainable rubber wood, Momma and Baby Elephant are connected via Velcro at the mama's tail and can be separated. "As with every piece in this line, the classic-meets-modern design makes it suitable for nursery decor as well as play!" Michael Daner, president of I Love My Planet Toys, told TDmonthly. Launch date: October 15, 2009.

Available in cat, dog, and cow, these colorful pull toys will provide hours of fun for infants and toddlers.

25 piece wooden set of animal blocks made in Germany!

RiNGLEY is a natural teething toy made with a combination of untreated maple wood and 100-percent organic terrycloth. The wooden ring is attached by Velcro, making it easy to remove to machine wash and dry the cloth. RiNGLEY provides babies and toddlers with two safe and efficient textures that enable children to satisfy their teething needs. RiNGLEY was designed with a child’s development in mind and is handmade in Toronto, Canada. Launch date: October 2009.

With a future-retro design, and connectable, interchangeable parts, this sleek toy vehicle can fit in the palm of a hand. Automoblox Minis received a TDmonthly Top Toy Award 2007.
— Automoblox has been a best-selling line, according to retailers surveyed by TDmonthly, since 2007.
— "That little three-piece Automoblox set sold extremely well. I've sold about 40 of them in two months," Janet Gregory, owner of Over the Rainbow in Anchorage, Alaska, told TDmonthly leading up to Christmas 2009. Two of 44 specialty retailers named Automoblox as an overall best seller in late 2009.
— In a February 2012 survey about wooden toys, two out of 14 retailers said that Automoblox were their bestseller in the category. Pam Byrd, manager and buyer at The Little Cottage Toy Shop in Franklin, Tenn., told TDmonthly that "Automoblox is still strong."

Where to Buy: Blue Turtle Toys; Camelot Kids; The Satin Button

This performance design of the S9 sedan features a deep blue shade with two color emblems and fully branded center capsg. It rides lower to the ground on bigger wheels with low-profile tires, and has been reduced to three blocks. The front and rear blocks accept a front splitter and a rear diffuser.

Part play theater and part brainteaser, this forest exercises imagination and depth perception. Children can make up their own stories or use the cards; the challenge is to determine which animal is standing deeper in the forest. The "unique gift item inspires imaginative play as well as developing depth perception," Brooke Sherman, wholesale manager of Kid O Products, told TDmonthly.

A bright spot in memorization games, the natural wooden board (made from sustainably grown wood from German beechwood forests) holds 4 different double sided cards for 8 different games. Lift the red dots to match numbers, animals, patterns and more.

Bright and pastel colors comprise this set of wooden letters by Tatutina. The letters are made of durable wood, painted with non-toxic paints and have an easy key hole on the back for easy hanging on the wall.  The letters are bright, colorful and measure approximately 7" in height.  These large letters make a great display of any child's name or a family's favorite phrase or room.  Available in bulk or by custom name.

The Climbers is an all-wooden, 3-D strategy game for two to five players. The object is to move your climber pawn to the top of a stack of colored blocks first. On your turn, you move one of the blocks and then climb up if you can, using your ladders for the larger steps in your climb. You must stay on surfaces that are your color or gray. You can also use your blocking stone to keep a block from being moved or occupied. Most games last 30 to 45 minutes. "If you have an open box, customers will be drawn immediately to the colorful blocks, the delicately crafted ladders, the simple rules, and the high replay value," Mark Salzwedel, president and CEO of Strategic Space, Inc., told TDmonthly. Launch date: October 15, 2009.