May 2009 Notable Toys — Science & Nature

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.

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.

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.

An ant farm and an art project!  An elegant acrylic case shipped with a multi-colored filling made with finely ground glass, the ant farm starts like a sand sculpture.  Children can design their ant habitat by carefully pouring the colors into layers and hills.  Detailed instructions are included on how to infuse the sand with sugar water while sending away from the ants.  After the ants are added, the ant farm becomes self-sustaining, requiring no further feeding.  Then, as the ants tunnel and build their home inside the ant farm, they alter the sand sculpture, piling the colored sand on top where they have been digging.  Comes with habitat, special building sand in five colors, facts and instructions booklet, zoom lens, and mail-in coupon for ants. Launch Date: 2009

With its over sized 5" lens, the green-handled BigEye magnifying glass zooms kids in on the world at 2.5x magnification. Manufacturers of professional optical equipment, Carson makes their light-weight acrylic lenses durable enough kids' outdoor adventures but still with clear, consistent surfaces to yield a crisp view of the observed world rather than blurry or distorted images.

Made from the versatile, multi-experiment Snap Circuits that allow kids to safely and easily build real electronic projects, this kit features many of the latest innovations in alternative energy. Featuring a hand-crank dynamo, solar panel, and wind turbine, kids can light up an LED, power a clock, charge a rechargeable battery (included), run a small radio, and watch the created energy on an analog meter. Instructions for many other projects are included in the kit; can be integrated with other Snap Circuits sets. This product received a Dr. Toy Green Award. Launch Date: Fall 2009

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

Each Lid Popping kit has just the right soil for its approximately 300 seeds. It's covered with a write-on label that starts the lesson, map of Jack's meadow, and a custom grid for practice charting growth over time.

Now that you know how to grow the delicious sunflower sprouts, you can order more crops and watch the "pop-up tray" pop up again. Included: new label, soil and seeds for one crop in your existing tray.

The World's #1 Sprout Song and Jack's Story on CD! Electronic files are also available for free on A Jack Sprout Inc.'s website.

These are first edition signed and numbered dolls. There are 1,500 left out of the original 2,400. Jack Sprout is a soft cotton stuffed doll. He's 22” tall, light green, with dark green removable cotton overalls. He's always waving and smiling and a positive influence for any classroom or child's bedroom.

Designed to help children connect children to nature and teach them about environmental concerns, this album features the Missoula Coyote Choir, made up of children ages 7 to 12 who are building eco-awareness. The project also promotes the process of biomimicry — learning from nature itself in order to develop solutions for a more sustainable world. The CD includes 18 tracks.  “A bunch of great songs for kids, their grownups and other animals.” —Bill Harley, Grammy® Award Winner.
Awards: 2009 Creative Child Preferred Choice Award, 2009 Parents' Choice Award, 2009 iParenting Media Best Choice Award.

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.