July 2011 Notable Toys — All

Come On, Let’s Go! will guide children (and their parents) on a musical and visual journey. Susie Tallman’s first DVD compiles 22 fun-filled music videos from the best of Children’s Songs, Nursery Rhymes and Let’s Go! Travel, Camp & Car Songs. The full-length DVD offers all the musical brilliance and charm of Susie Tallman with lots of new faces and wonderful, imaginative places. Join Susie and her friends on a farm horsin’ around, quack like ducks on a lake, jump on the bed with monkeys and eat cupcakes at a tea party.  "As with all Susie Tallman’s music CDs, Come On, Let’s Go! offers fresh, upbeat styles, real instruments, lots of voices, and interesting, inspired visual takes on old favorites," Amy Steadman, President of Rock Me Baby Records, told TDmonthly. Launch date: June 2011.
Awards: Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award; Parent’s Choice Recommended Award.

The goal of Predikto is to score the most points at the end of 12 rounds. The game comes with several possible dice roll choices. Each choice includes both the probability of making the roll, as well as the points that can be won for actually rolling the prediction. "It's not your ordinary dice game where you roll numbers or totals to get points. You need to predict what you're going to roll and then actually roll what you predicted to score points," Kevin Greenberg, owner of All The King's Games, told TDmonthly. Launch date: August 2011.

For infants from 3 months to 24 months. A fun new design from the creative minds at Baby Banana Brush. The Baby Sharky Brush is still made from the highest quality medical grade silicone. His “teeth” are actually short massaging bristles, and his fins give babies additional places to chew. In fact, Baby Sharky can stand up all on his own using his unique back fins.

For infants ages 3 months and up. Thick, massaging bristles are perfect for sore teething gums. “A-peel-ing” handles are easy for little hands to hold, or for a parent to loop a binki strap through. Dishwasher and Freezer Safe. Made from highest quality medical grade silicone. Teething and brushing can be fun!
Awards: 2010 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval.

Who will be the player/team to win the most cards by guessing other players' words correctly the fastest, and with the fewest letters possible?  Players take turns making a word from the lettered cards in their hand, but they don’t show their word to any of the other players. Instead, they place each lettered card of their word face down on the table.  Then... the first letter of the word is revealed (and the timer is started) as the other players begin to shout out possible words for what the hidden word could be. A player must guess the word before the timer runs out... so if at any time two or more players agree to see another letter, another card is turned over and players continue to try and guess the word. The player who first guesses the hidden word correctly wins the number of cards that are still left face down... or ALL of the cards if the word is discovered with only one letter revealed. Launch date: June 2012.

Small World Underground is a stand-alone game set beneath the surface of the same fun, light-hearted Small World universe of epic conquests and fallen empires. Featuring new Races and Special Powers, Small World Underground also introduces Monster occupied regions that protect Relics and Places of great power! It can be played on its own or combined with other Small World game elements, and is recommended for experienced Small World players. "The new game mechanic (conquering Monster-occupied regions to gain Righteous Relics and Popular Places) brings a new twist to original game play," Mark Kaufmann, VP of Sales & Marketing at Days of Wonder, told TDmonthly. Launch date: July 2011.

Robotime is a real wood three dimensional puzzle that when assembled is a fully functional robotic dinosaur.  It is an intelligent high-tech toy with high simulation and interaction. No tools needed to construct these creatures. Approximately 100 pieces. Launch date: August 2010.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Toy of the Year; 2010 Preferred Choice Award.

WallPops is a Peel & stick, repositionable and totally removable wall art designed for kids of all ages, including baby, toddlers, tweens and teens. WallPops is affordable, easy to apply and can dramatically transform a room in minutes, without harming the wall. "WallPops offers an extensive array of colors and designs that allows one to create their own signature style," Paula Berberian, Creative Services Manager at Brewster Home Fashions, told TDmonthly.

This soft and safe ring toss pops open for portable fun. Kids can take it and play anywhere, outdoors or indoors. Play solo or with the whole family. To collapse, hold the mat at the corners and twist. Comes with six rings, PopOut target with posts and storage bag. It's "A classic game that POPS open for big fun!" Jenny Stern, VP& Founder of Diggin Active Inc, told TDmonthly. Launch date: February 2011.
Awards: 2011 Oppenheim GOLD Award

The more brain cells you have, the smarter you are.

Merry Christmas Microbes! Tree Ornaments: Trim your tree with Common Cold, Brain Cell, Kissing Disease, E. coli and the limited-edition Red Amoeba, festively adorned with a Santa hat, reindeer antlers, winter scarf, candy cane, and mistletoe.
Launch date: November 2010.

Illuminate your message with Shains Glow in the Dark Starter Kit with 30 Glow in the Dark elements. Perfect for the Halloween season. "What sets these apart is the ability to change your message whenever you want and the ability to mix, match and combine various Shains products to create new cool looks," Chris Ohama from Shainware told TDmonthly. Launch date: July 2010.
Awards: 2010 Women in Toys Green Award
— Diana Nelson, owner of Kazoo Toys in Denver, Colo., told TDmonthly in a Fall 2012 survey that Shains bracelets are one of her top-2 best selling jewelry items. "This is a great new line," she told us.

Got Something to Say? Want to keep your thoughts in writing? Kids can let their inspiration and imagination flow with Shains Notebook. Personalize the cover with their name, class subject, or decorate and change it whenever you want. Use the unlined paper as a journal, sketchbook or scrapbook. Portable. Available with 30, 60 or 100 elements. Price quoted is for 30 elements. "What sets these apart is the ability to change your message whenever you want and the ability to mix, match and combine various Shains products to create new cool looks," Chris Ohama from Shainware told TDmonthly. Launch date: July 2007.
Awards: 2010 Women in Toys Green Award

This recycled cuff bracelet features two rows to display colorful, snap-on Shains letters and icons. The cuffs are now available in our favorite Popsicle colors; Blue Hawaiian, Grape, Cherry and Lime. "What sets these apart is the ability to change your message whenever you want and the ability to mix, match and combine various Shains products to create new cool looks," Chris Ohama from Shainware told TDmonthly. Launch date: July 2007.
Awards: 2010 Women in Toys Green Award

In the game Fauna, players are not expected to know all the answers, simply gather their wits and make an educated guess. Right on target? Great! Close? That's good too, since players can score partial points. The more they play, the better they get.  Playing Fauna involves some fun betting for points. Contents: 1 double-sided game board (metric & imperial units); 180 animal cards with 360 animals; 1 card box; 42 bet markers, divided in 6 colors; 30 black evaluation markers; 1 lion marker (for the starting player). Launch date: July 2011.
Awards: 2009 Spiel des Jahres Nominee Germany

The taiga is home to many kinds of animals. Families of red foxes, porcupines, beavers, snowy owls and caribou live there, hidden in nature. Sarah and Jacob, two biologists, are trying to study them and need to take a closer look. Players must help them find the hidden animals. In this memory and deduction game, flip the wooden disks to reveal the animals hidden below. Contents: 10 cards; 10 wooden discs; 1 bag; Wooden tokens; Game rules. Launch date: July 2011.

Each player has 8 tiles. The first player puts one of their tiles on the table. In turns, they place their tiles edge-to-edge. The graphics must match perfectly (sea must connect to sea and land must connect to land) and players have to respect a 4x4 grid. The last player to be able to place a tile wins the round. They receive one island token. The first player to receive 3 island tokens wins the game. Contents: 16 wooden tiles; 5 island tokens; 1 bag; Game rules. Launch date: July 2011.

Part of the four games of the Architecto line, use these 18 orange blocks to build and replicate different models in order to enhance spatial visualisation skills. Children will be captivated by the amazing structures they create, whether in perspective or a towering high rise. The Geoblocks are sold separately so users can transform Architecto, Equilibrio, Tangramino or Cliko into a two-player game. One set of Geoblocks is already included in the four Architecto line games. Launch date: 2005.

Two spider clans are fighting each other in an epic duel. Spiders in bigger groups will defeat the weakest in the intersections of the web. A thrilling and challenging strategy game, where players attack and capture their opponent's spiders. Contents: 18 spiders (9 white and 9 red); 1 board; 1 bag; Game rules. Launch date: 2010.

Kids create beautiful designs with these colorful wooden pieces. With hundreds of wooden pieces, this creativity kit provides endless hours of imaginative play and self-expression. The wooden shapes are designed to interlock perfectly, making it easy to create beautiful, artistic designs, while learning about geometry.  Contents: 240 wooden pieces; A booklet with suggested patterns. Launch date: 2010.

Players place their cards so that the patterns match, aiming to create point-scoring sets. Smartrix can be appreciated on several levels; for beginners, it is a smart and fun matching game. As players' skills improve, Smartrix provides deep and captivating strategy, combining memory, risk-taking, tactics and a touch of luck.  Contents: 70 cards; Game rules. Launch date: June 2010.
Awards: 2010 6/6 Consumer Guide Canada

Set of three, one small, one medium and one large Amanita Muscaia mushrooms, made by hand out of 100% wool felt, and stuffed with sheep wool. The dots are needle felted onto the cap and the felt is plant dyed, all natural and environmentally friendly. These magical creations fall under the Waldorf Toy umbrella and can also be purchased as decorative items by collectors of mushrooms or unique toys.

The new SmArt Studio 3D Shrinky Dinks Build-a-bot kit comes with 10 Shrinky Dinks Sheets and tracing sheets. Just follow the easy to use illustrated instructions and kids will be making their own  3D robots in no time in no time- up to 3000 combinations are possible. Smart Studios Shrinky Dinks are 100% Made in America. "These are the only Shrinky Dinks on the market that teach kids how to make real 3D figures," Andrew Tober, Director of Creative Development at BSW Toy, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2011.

The new SmArt Studio 3D Shrinky Dinks Pirates kit comes with 10 Shrinky Dinks Sheets and tracing sheets. Just follow the easy to use illustrated instructions and kids will be making their own 3D armada in no time. Smart Studios Shrinky Dinks are 100% Made in America. "These are the only Shrinky Dinks on the market that teach kids how to make real 3D figures," Andrew Tober, Director of Creative Development at BSW Toy, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2011.