March 2009 Notable Toys — Educational

Astronomy and crafting are combined in Planets – Create a Solar System Mobile, which provides kids with the ingredients they need to create a solar system. The set includes foam balls with eight colors of air-dry clay to create an array of planets that later can be fixed to the galaxy base with string and displayed. An instruction booklet contains planetary science facts.

Would-be gumshoes have new crime-fighting gear with Wild Planet’s Spy Gear Evidence Kit, a portable, all-in-one mystery solver that helps kids determine who is guilty and who has been framed. The kit provides the tools for collecting fingerprints and the ID cards to keep track of them, plus fingerprint powder, brush, ink, lifting tapes and ID card, 30X microscope, tweezers, flashlight, UV light, specimen bags and carrying case with storage compartment. Launch date: Fall 2009.

This fascinating science toy gives kids a look into the inner workings of their favorite animals. Children can explore animals from the inside out with X-ray-like effect, using a light table or a flashlight to reveal the skeleton underneath the animal’s skin. The box comes with 16 scratchproof photographic cards to compare and study the anatomy of animals. An extensive guide is included with useful information about the classification of animals, and more.

The Deluxe Set includes 15 clowns, 2 dowels, 6 toss rings, and an instruction booklet. Bill Ding Balancing Clowns are considered one of the best eye/hand coordination toys ever made.

This starter set of nine balancing clowns is a great introduction to the Bill Ding product, or a perfect addition to grow your set. Bill Ding Balancing Clowns are considered one of the best eye/hand coordination toys ever made.

The dining set consist of a plate, bowl, cup, fork, knife, and spoon all labeled with name and phonetics. Includes a CD with Spanish pronunciations and activity phrases. Made in the USA.

The wood animal puzzle is great for the 2 to 3 year old, it teaches the Spanish names of commonly found animals: dog, cat, bird, and fish. Includes CD with Spanish pronunciations and activities. Knobs on puzzle pieces help to develop fine motor skills. Made in the USA and is lead and toxin free.

All the common colors are presented in fun to play with wood blocks labeled with the name of the color in Spanish and the phonetic. Eleven blocks in total, white, black, blue, red, green, yellow, purple, pink, gray, orange, and brown. Includes CD with pronunciations and activity phrases. These wood blocks are made in the USA and are lead and toxin free.

Including six different snap-together models, this kit provides children with examples of many uses for solar panel technology. A car, robot dog, hover boat, and other models spring to life when their solar panels are hit by direct sunlight, or the illumination of a 50 watt halogen bulb. Models are compact and light weight, making them easy to take outside and watch as the sun's rays are converted into clean electrical energy.
— Kate Tanner, owner of Kidstop Toys, informed TDmonthly that this was one of her favorite products at Toy Fair 2010.
— Lisa LeStrange, owner of Lucky Duck Toys in Wayne, Pa., told TDmonthly that this solar kit is a bestselling science toy. It's "not expensive. We just got it and it's selling well. It's a good product — you shine a flashlight on it and it goes," she said.

Complete with capital letter tiles featuring various designs (dots, lines, blank and solid), this game comes packaged in a zip-open, pear-shaped pouch with a hanging rope (stem) at the top. It is designed to help kids work on cognitive skills and memory, as well as the order of the alphabet, vocabulary and rhyming as they practice forming words. Launch date: February 2009.

Complete with capital letter tiles featuring various designs (dots, lines, blank and solid), this game comes packaged in a zip-open, pear-shaped pouch with a hanging rope (stem) at the top. It is designed to help kids work on cognitive skills and memory, as well as the order of the alphabet, vocabulary and rhyming as they practice forming words. Launch date: February 2009.

Brightly colored and heavy-duty, this large shoe-shaped cut-out comes laced with thick fabric shoelaces. With one half of the lace in one color and the other in a contrasting color, young children who are learning to tie their shoes for the first time can easily keep track of which lace is which as they memorize the steps of the knot. The material of the laces is designed to be easy for little hands to handle and stay tied securely. Bi-colored laces are also available separately to put in kid's actual shoes. Launch Date: 2008

This balanced ecosystem offers a low-maintenance way for children or adults to enjoy an aquarium environment. It comes complete with water, a snail, two little frogs, food and care pack. The water in the aquarium only has to be changed every five or six months.
— ''We sold about 660 during the year,” Marc Holcomb, owner of Toys & Co. in Greensboro, S.C., said in autumn 2010. Dave Campbell of Amazing Toys in Great Falls, Mont., sells approximately 12 per month.
— "I brought in 20, and in two weeks it sold out. I brought in 20 more and it sold out," Gage Brownell, manager of Belmont Toys in Belmont, Mass., told TDmonthly in March 2009 about the EcoAquariums he discovered at Toy Fair the month before. Molly McMullin of Twirl in Taos, N.M., reported sales of about 70 a month in March 2009.
— "Everyone was excited about them," Jeanne McCullough, owner of Children's Store Inc., said following ASTRA Marketplace in June 2009.
— In late summer/early fall 2009, three of 38 retailers named EcoAquariums as a best-selling science and nature product, noting sales of 18 to 60 a month. “We were hesitant to bring them in. We didn’t want to be a pet store. But it’s a neat idea. It’s low maintenance. It’s something the parents and kids can agree on,” Gary Green of Toy Box of Asheville in Asheville, N.C., told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Tillywig Top Fun; Parent's Choice Award 2010
Past Videos: Toy Fair 2009

Part of a collection designed to introduce children to Spanish in a fun way, this set of five vehicles (car, truck, airplane, boat and bus) bearing their names in Spanish as well as the phonetic pronunciation. It also comes with a CD that has the pronunciation and activity phrases. Launch date: 2009.

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

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.

The Tag Junior system comes with a LeapFrog-original board book called If I Were, which explores animal sounds. Each of the other eight sturdy board books in the Tag Junior library focuses on a different preschool theme, including sounds, colors, letters of the alphabet, numbers and social play. Curious George, Dora the Explorer and Winnie the Pooh are just a few of the childhood favorites featured in the Tag Junior library. Launch date: January 26, 2009.

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

Intro to Engineering is part of the Little Labs line, which is intended to be the portal through which children ages five to seven first begin to explore and appreciate science. Intro the Engineering introduces young children to the field of engineering with 25 experiments in five sections. Children learn engineering basics with experiments on levers, forces, and pulleys. They explore engineering on land by building vehicles with wheels; engineering in the air with a helicopter, a parachute, and a glider; and engineering in the water with a diving bell, a sailboat, and a paddleboat. They even find engineering at home, with experiments modeling the telephone and television (without breaking them, of course). This kit has a 48-page, full-color experiment manual, and a retail price of $34.95. Available summer 2009.

The Dangerous Book for Boys: Electronics presents information on electronics every child should know through fun, engaging, and impressive experiments and activities. Children ages eight and up learn how to construct simple electronic toys, such as a joy buzzer and insect. It comes with a 32-page, full-color experiment manual and retails for $35.95. Awards: Parent's Choice Award 2010. Launch date: Fall 2009.

Targeted for ages ten and up, this edition enables a younger audience to experience one of the most significant technologies of the early 21st Century — especially appropriate in the midst of our auto industry crisis and global energy situation. By constructing and operating a unique reversible hydrogen fuel cell, powered by water and sunlight, children build a model car that actually runs on water! And in so doing, they join auto manufacturers in experimenting with a technology that will power not only automobiles, but electronic devices such as laptops and cell phones. This new edition has a beautifully redesigned car body with a display stand and a rewritten 64-page, full-color experiment manual, and retails for $169.95. Available fall 2009.

As a follow-up to the bestselling Power House kit comes Power House Green Essentials Edition, targeted towards a younger audience of ages 10 and up. This kit teaches children about the timely issues of alternative energy and sustainable living, by conducting 30 experiments and building ten energy-related models: the power house itself, a greenhouse, a solar cell array, a passive solar collector, a solar oven, an air conditioner, a refrigerator, a hydrometer, a lemon battery, and a wind power generator. They can even sow seeds in the greenhouse! The kit comes with a 64-page, full-color experiment manual and retails for $89.95. Available now.
— “Most anything from Thames & Kosmos, like the Power House, Wind Power [and] Creative Cosmetics,” sells well for education, according to Patti Tepper Rasmussen, owner of Learning Tree Toys, Games & Books in Oklahoma City, Okla.
— Three of 40 retailers mentioned science kits by Thames & Kosmos when discussing best-selling educational items in fall 2009.