May 2009 Notable Toys — Educational

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.

Created with the help of developmental education experts, My First Story Reader® is the younger sibling of the bestselling Story Reader®. It is geared towards beginning readers and features a smaller design that is friendly to little hands. Place one of the included sturdy board books into the reader and plug in the story cartridge to let the fun begin. Activities include first steps to reading, sound identification, matching, shapes, and colors. The reader features three big light-up buttons that play silly sounds.  Available storybooks feature favorite characters.

The bestselling and award-winning Story Reader® is a book that reads itself. It makes reading a fun experience and lets kids learn to love to read at their own pace. As each page of the book is turned, a narrator reads the page, while Story Reader® adds effects and music. Story Reader® is easy to use: parents or children simply insert the story cartridge, insert the book, and turn the page to let the adventure begin. Story Reader® boasts an ever-growing range of titles featuring favorite characters.

In this unique puzzle, players must solve 3 challenges each one has multiple solutions. Using the 16 scenery tiles of a sinuous and complex river, the player must be part of the legendary Tautoniac raft race. Arrange the scenery tiles and bring the meanders of the TAUTON River to life while setting the rafts in the right direction. The player who finds the highest number of solutions of all the challenges wins. Tauton may be played alone, or in a competitive mode with family and friends.

In this amazing puzzle, players must solve one challenge: create KEFER™ serpent body as a continuous, unbroken path. Player must seek for different solutions, making sure to keep unbroken the red and yellow bands that go along the serpent body. This challenge has multiple solutions. The player who finds the highest number of solutions wins. Kefer may be played alone, or in a competitive mode with family and friends.

In this maze, players must solve 8 challenges. Each challenge has multiple solutions. The maze consists of a single pathway that forms four concentric circles, bounded by mobile walls, surrounding the center. The player who finds the highest number of solutions on all the challenges wins. NOXOS™ may be played alone, or in a competitive mode with family and friends.

Welcome the whale's song awakens the music in each of his friends.  Each character has special gifts that make this group truly unique.  The story and illustrations will delight children and families for generations.

Both the single (8') and double (16') are made from a double-braid, soft polypropylene rope that swivels right in the hand, making handles unnecessary. These colorful and durable jump ropes (available in six solid colors and six confetti colors) can be adjusted to fit most size kids, and they can be put into the family wash if soiled. They can be used by adults, too.
— “Jump ropes … are really big right now,” Linda Hamm, owner of Early Work Toy Station in Petaluma, Calif., told TDmonthly in spring 2009.
— Four of 60 retailers surveyed in March 2009 said jump ropes account for their top sales in outdoor and sports toys.