May 2009 Notable Toys — Educational

The Vamos Kids product line is designed to introduce the Spanish language to toddlers and preschoolers through the use of toys and audio CDs while interacting with a parent. Launch date: November 2008.

This program introduces students to professionals who have chosen to work in the visual arts and related fields. The thirteen careers described and visually illustrated include Architect, Art Educator, Fashion Designer, Framer, Gallery Owner, Graphic Designer, Industrial Designer, Interior Designer, Metal Sculptor, Painter, Photographer, Publication Designer and Urban Planner. "Each career is introduced in a concise manner," President Amy Woodworth of Crystal Productions told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 16, 2009.

Claim your fortune! Twenty different Ancient Coins of unique design await your skill, luck and desire. As player’s strategies unfold, the quantity of each Coin continues to build. The temptation to claim each Coin increases as well – but don’t claim too soon, yet don’t wait too long! Players strive to claim as many of each coin as possible. As they play their cards to matching quantities of coins, their claim to their fortune begins. Sounds easy, but players encounter a few twists along the way...and a challenging strategy unfolds. Game play 30-40 minutes. Launch date: April 15, 2009.

Primo the Monkey was happily asleep until his friends swung by for a surprise pajama party. Help Primo chase away the primate pranksters by flipping and swapping cards in numerical order. Watch out for elephants and giraffes who want to crash in on the fun. And if you're lucky, draw a wild monkey card to clear out the room in one clean sweep. The first player to stop the monkey mayhem and get Primo back to bed wins. Game includes 55 cards and instructions. Launch date: March 2009.

Part of the Quarter Bear line, the coin in the pocket of the bear is a PRINTED REPLICA of the actual coin

Since their introduction in early 2000, Quarter Bears have passed the one million unit mark in sales in July of 2004 and on the way to the second million. Loyal customers and collectors have insisted on having the bears available in advance of the issuance of the State Quarters by the U.S. Mint! The quality and the detail of the embroidery of the bears is exceptional. Quarter Bears conform to all of the ASTM and CE Safety Standards.Quarter Bears are Collectible, Educational and make wonderful Gifts for young and old

Part of the Wild Creations eco-aquarium line, the Bamboo Water Garden comes with a 12" spiral bamboo, two frogs, a snail, and choice of base. This balanced ecosystem offers a low-maintenance way for children or adults to enjoy an aquarium environment.
— Two of 40 specialty retailers cited Eco-Aquariums as a June 2010 best seller. The same month, David Campbell, owner of Amazing Toys in Great Falls, Mont., told TDmonthly his store sells about 15 Eco-Aquariums each month.

Part of the Wild Creations eco-aquarium line, this balanced ecosystem offers a low-maintenance way for children or adults to enjoy an aquarium environment. This starter kit comes with the Jewel Water Garden, a snail, two little frogs, food and care pack, and choice of base.
—  Nine percent of 43 specialty retailers told TDmonthly Wild Creations’ Eco-Aquarium was a best seller in late spring 2010.

Featuring a grow-with-me curriculum that keeps children engaged and challenged as their literacy skills grow and develop, the Zap & Learn Why Writer is a motion-activated handheld learning aid that combines role play and learning. It has two learning modes and focuses on word recognition and comprehension.

The Touch & Learn Super Duper Computer features a fully interactive touchscreen and more than 36 literacy activities. Each Super WHY! Character has a series of games that help children master different literacy skills, including alphabet skills, problem solving, spelling, word families, word comprehension, rhyming, and reading.

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.