May 2010 Notable Toys — Educational

Ideal for the budding scientist, this slime lab allows kids to make some of the strangest, most anomalous slime they have ever encountered - weird slime that changes color with body heat, magnetic slime that slithers towards magnets, and even slime that glows eerily in the dark. Kids can learn the science behind these amazing hydrophilic polymers while mixing up gobs and gobs of slime.
— As of 05/12/2012 this product had 4.3 out of 5 stars from 15 reviews on Amazon.com. Cons: Too messy; supplies run out too quickly; does not come with containers for the slime.
— John Blair, owner of Science Safari in Cary, N.C., told TDmonthly in late Spring 2011 that he sells 3-4 kits from Scientific Explorer each month.

AquaPlay is a Swedish line of educational water products for indoors and outdoors that allows all children, young and old, to find joy in playing with water. The system is modular and provides endless opportunities for expansion and rebuilding. It stimulates imagination and role-play.

Lock & Harbour World includes:

• 1 lock (including 3 lock gates & 1 water pump)
• 1 paddlewheel
• 1 harbor world (including 1 water gate, 1 crane with bucket & 2 stickers)
• 1 barge
• 2 fasteners with sealing strips

Same or Different offers funny, full-color illustrations, predictable formats, and easy-to-follow directions to ensure success. To compare and contrast the items in these exercises, your child must look for significant details, a critical reading readiness skill.

Fun activities and helpful tips make learning division easier. Great for test prep and review. Cards are self-checking, colorful, durable, and feature rounded corners for quick sorting. 99 cards.

Discover a world of fascinating award winning miniature collectibles in a myriad of popular themes. Each collection is professionally sculpted and finely hand painted. Great for school projects or it's just fun to display near your computer. Excellent "carry-along" for any excursion since the figures are neatly packed in a reusable acetate tube. Choose from over 45 different themes! All our products are phthalate-free and thoroughly safety tested to safeguard your child's health. Safari Ltd.® takes pride in providing breathtaking, innovative and value priced figures for now over 3 generations. Featured is our Rainforest Toob®. Replica Size: 1.5" to 3" H (4 to 7.5 cm). Suggested age 3+ Toob® includes: Caiman, Red Eye Tree Frog, Emerald Tree Boa, Iguana, Poison Dart Frog, Human, Tapirs, Toco Toucan, Jaguar, Anteater, Spider Monkey and Red & Blue Macaw. Awards: Parent's Choice Award 2010
— This product is a best seller at Neely's in South L.A.

Teacher-created, child-tested cards are ideal for reinforcing basic skills at home or school. Handy 3 1/8" x 5 1/4" size makes these 56 cards great for travel. Set includes activity ideas to challenge growing skill levels. Cards feature rounded corners for quick sorting.
— This product is a best seller at Neely's in South L.A.
— In a November 2011 survey about educational items, Stephanie Dupuy of Playville in Covington, La., told TDmonthly that "For general parents," their best selling item "would be flashcards by Trend," which they sell 48 units of each month.

Teaching the parts of an animal cell to your child is easy, thanks to this hands-on model! The soft foam cell splits in half to show the key parts of an animal cell, including the nucleus, nucleolus, vacuole, centrioles, cell membrane and more. One hemisphere is labeled with the parts of the cell; the other features only letters next to each cell part, making it a natural tool for your child to practice for his next test at home. A Reference Guide is included, providing activity ideas and facts about animal cells.
— This product is a best seller at Neely's in South L.A.

They had no pens. They had no paper. It didn't matter. They could neither read nor write, but slaves had plenty to say and share - their stories, their sufferings, their wisdom, their wit. Kids will learn that nothing is more powerful than oral history. Words spoken and tales told completely unfiltered by others can teach young people not only the facts, but the very soul of what happened in the past. Hear the people of the past in their own words through diaries, interviews, quotations, poetry, and songs.
— This product is a best seller at Neely's in South L.A.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most influential civil rights leader of his time. A minister and pacifist, Martin encouraged peaceful demonstrations to bring about change. These popular readers include easy-to-read information, fun facts and trivia, humor, activities and a whole lot more. They are great for ages 7-12 (grades 2-6), because although simple, these readers have substance and really engage kids with their stories. They are great for social studies, meeting state and national curriculum standards, individual and group reading programs, centers, library programs, and have many other terrific educational uses.
— This product is a best seller at Neely's in South L.A.

Chalk boards convey a classic look at home or school and have many modern applications. They are great classroom learning tools, and have many business and recreational uses as well.
— This product is a best seller at Neely's in South L.A.

This full-color 22" x 28" poster depicts 26 different feelings in correlation to the alphabet. It contains both an English word and a Spanish word for each feeling. "This product teaches about feelings, but it also teaches both Spanish and English words," ABC Feelings Vice President Gene Abrams told TDmonthly.

The Hydroponics Lab gives a 360 degree view of growing plants, revealing the hidden magic of plant roots with no soil required. This set of three growing tubes is a mess-free way to explore hydroponics. Transparent seed baskets provide a few seedlings growing both up and down.

“Cosmo the Boat Cat” is created and illustrated by Key West artist Sherry Sweet Tewell and written by Marky Pierson. It follows her cat Cosmo as he goes on adventures in the Florida Keys.
— This book was listed as a top seller at Key West Toy Factory in Key West, Fla., in May 2010 by Katie Harris, manager. “It’s a story special to Key West, which is why people love it,” she told TDmonthly.

The Preschool Activity Pack for uses different textures to create activities.

The Preschool Activity Pack uses different textures to create activities.

This dashboard has a steering wheel with three horn sounds and an ignition key with a realistic revving sound. It also includes moving windshield wipers, turn signals, a car phone, sirens, a radio and an electronic roller gear shift.

The Alphabet Pal can giggle, sing, walk and flash its antennae. Four learning modes are designed to introduce letter names, letter sounds, colors and music.

This fishbowl features five fish that each make a sound such as a rattle, crinkle, bell or squeak.

The fronts of the 26 colorful cards from the Under the Sea set feature marine life illustrations from Janell Genovese. The backs of the cards include facts about the animals so kids can learn on the go.
— Laurie of Double Bugs liked that the flash cards encourage thinking and imagination. She said, “My boys have a blast with these and even made the animal noises to match.”
— Dee from Two of a kind, working on a full house found that within a week her son was remembering what he learned from the flash cards. She felt this would give him an advantage when he started preschool.

This natural wood teether is also a colorful infant rattle. The rattle inside is designed to entertain infants while the natural wood soothes sore gums. Made of ECO rubber wood and machine-washable polyester, the rattle's pieces separate for easy cleaning.

This stacking toy has endless variations allowing toddlers to build their very own playmate. The stacking features are intended to fine-tune hand-eye coordination and strengthen manual dexterity as they teach children about size and proportion. Eight felt accessories stack in between the wood pieces to become arms, legs, clothing or even a super-hero’s cape.

Simple shapes make this puzzle suitable for early developmental stages. The creative variations and mixing features are intended to fine-tune hand-eye coordination and strengthen manual dexterity as they teach children about size and proportion.

These birds nest inside each other and are designed to teach the fundamentals of size and shape while engaging reasoning skills. Children can rock and balance the birds to learn spatial awareness and to fine-tune hand-eye coordination. These functional features combined with bright colors and natural wood create a playfully educational nesting toy.

This inflatable 16"-diameter "reality globe" is made with thousands of digital images of the world from space. Visually authentic, the EarthBall also features accurate glow-in-the-dark cities and atmospheric conditions as seen from space. The ball is easy to inflate and suspend from the North Pole in a classroom, office or a bedroom. "This inflatable globe is photo-realistic, offering a beautiful, fun and important global perspective," Sole Proprietor Didier Gincig told TDmonthly.