August 2012 Notable Toys — Educational

A fun way to learn step counting, an important stage in learning multiplication. Count by 2s, 5s, 10s and 20s...all the way to 100. Colorful I Spy images make the game even more exciting. Also includes catchy rhymes to say when counting.

Electric motors and generators are in countless devices, appliances, and vehicles we use every day. They are an essential technology in our modern world. With this kit, kids can conduct 25 experiments to learn how an electric motor converts electricity into motion, and how an electric generator does just the opposite, converting motion into electricity. The electric motor is made of transparent plastic to show how the inside components work. Set up the motor to run on battery power and learn how a motor works. Then reconfigure the device to work in reverse as a hand-crank electric generator. Experiment with magnets to learn about the force of magnetism, and how magnetic fields relate to electric current. Build simple circuits consisting of the motor or generator, wires, and a light bulb to learn about the flow of electricity. Learn about gears and drive-trains and how they work to effectively convert kinetic energy into electrical energy and back again. The full-color, 48-page manual guides your experiments with step-by-step instructions.

This kit has everything kids need to get started on the path to handwriting proficiency. Includes activities that help kids improve gross and fine motor skills. The I Can Write Lower Case! writing tablet will help teach kids proper lower case letter formation. Large muscle movements prepare childrens' bodies for writing. With magnastix, kids will have a great time and grow more confident as they learn to identify and form the letters of the alphabet. Gross motor cards are a fun and easy way to practice letter recognition while improving flexibility and strengthening muscles. The handy carrying case makes this kit perfect for use at home or on-the-go. Launch date: 2011.
Awards: 2012 Tillywig Brain Child Award; 2012 The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval

Includes everything kids need to create an enchanting home for three wee gnomes. This all-inclusive garden craft kit includes a garden dish, potting mix, wheat grass seeds, bark house, leaf-shaped pond, mossy rocks, stepping stones, resin gnomes, toadstools, ladybugs, paint, brush and a mister - just add water and a little sunshine. The garden dish measures 11"w x 2"d. The natural wheat grass seeds are pet friendly and sprout in just a few days.
Awards: Summer 2012 Tillywig Award Winner

Hand crafted from hardwood the 38 piece hand held version of Mentagy measures just over 6" x 6". To play simply mark the blank spaces with the black pegs and seed letters with the red letters. Players are now ready to use the remaining white letters to solve the puzzle. One advantage of the wooden Mentagy ™ set is that players can solve the puzzles without using an eraser. If a player is in the middle of solving a puzzle and has to stop, they simply place the top on the base and the pegs cannot move. Take the Mentagy ™ set anywhere and continue where the game was left off.
Awards: Summer 2012 Tillywig Award Winner
— As of 12/6/2012 Mentagy: The Next Puzzle Craze (the book) had 5 out of 5 stars from 4 reviews on Amazon.com.

The Early Lingo German Edition Box Set is the latest language release in our series. The award-winning Early Lingo DVD Series gives children ages 6 months to 9 years a solid foundation in a second language through an animated and live-action adventure series. We currently offer the first 6 DVDs of the Series in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and German with more titles and languages to follow. Launch date: June 2012.

Inference Jones provides short, fun, and easy-to-use activities that improve critical reading and higher order thinking by developing the student’s ability to draw inferences from written text. Research shows inferential reasoning is a prerequisite component to superior reading comprehension. Launch date: February 2012.
Awards: Creative Child Magazine

A petite package to stack for whenever a child needs an activity. Each portfolio includes over 100 awesome drawings to color plus 4 rubbing plates and 8 crayons. Simply lay the drawing over the rubbing plates and rub with the included crayons to create cool textures and patterns. Use Pocket Portfolios to exercise fine motor skills, expand vocabulary, and promote creative thinking. There are 120 pieces in all. Launch date: August 2012.

A petite package to stack for whenever a child needs an activity. Each portfolio includes over 100 awesome drawings to color plus 4 rubbing plates and 8 crayons. Simply lay the drawing over the rubbing plates and rub with the included crayons to create cool textures and patterns. Use Pocket Portfolios to exercise fine motor skills, expand vocabulary, and promote creative thinking. There are 120 pieces in all. Launch date: August 2012.

A petite package to stack for whenever a child needs an activity. Each portfolio includes over 100 awesome drawings to color plus 4 rubbing plates and 8 crayons. Simply lay the drawing over the rubbing plates and rub with the included crayons to create cool textures and patterns. Use Pocket Portfolios to exercise fine motor skills, expand vocabulary, and promote creative thinking. There are 120 pieces in all. Launch date: August 2012.

Have a sensory extravaganza with the Sensory Sensations Finger Painting Kit. Add textures to finger paint to create gritty, squishy, or spongy sensations. This multitasking kit has diverse benefits for all children, especially those with sensory challenges. Uses a Sensory Sensations Finger Painting Kit to exercise fine motor skills, talk about texture and build vocabulary, learn about senses, and enhance sensory experience. The kit includes 2 oz. each nontoxic finger paint in red, blue, green, and yellow; 6 gentle and safe tactile additives; a plastic palette tray; 2 mixers and paper. Launch date: August 2012.

Stand them up and knock them down. Make your domino Topplers tumble, swing, and wind along a colorful obstacle course track. Turn and connect the printed tracks to form over a hundred possible routes. Combine the tracks with plastic obstacle “stations” like bridges, teeter-totters, and slides. Use the kit to develop fine motor skills, exercise concentration and coordination, customize your own domino obstacle course, and build dexterity and creativity. The Topplers Domino Obstacle Course includes 100 Topplers, 21 printed tracks, and 8 obstacle stations. Launch date: September 2012.

Keep children creatively engaged with the Dip & Print Sponge Painting Kit. Use this kit to experiment with colors and print techniques, develop gross and fine motor skills, explore color theory, and stimulate visual development. Roylco’s Dip & Print Sponge Painting Kit comes with easy-to-clean sponges in 15 popular shapes; 2 oz. each nontoxic finger paint in red, blue, green, and yellow; 4 bowls for dipping; 2 mixers; and 24 sheets of paper. There are 49 pieces and all. This product is suitable for children ages four and older. Launch date: August 2012.

The Play Clay Gift Pack includes 6 wonderfully scented Play Clay rolls in Blueberry Blast, Cherryberry, Pineapple Punch, Orange Sherbet, Grape Bubblegum, & Sour Green Apple. Made from organic ingredients, Play Clay is the dough that moms love because there's no crumbly mess or staining. Approx. 2 lbs.
Award: 2012 Creative Child Preferred Choice Award

The Steps4Kids to Draw DVD provides approximately 90 minutes of video modeling to help viewers learn how to draw animals, people, shapes and things. Excellent tool to help children feel successful with art. Video modeling is shown at a pace that helps children learn how to draw animals (farm, house, water and zoo animals - total 20), people (faces, profiles, clothes), shapes (circle, square, triangle, rhombus/diamond, cube and star) and things (bike, car, flowers, etc.). Launch date: July 2012.

This soft and cuddly hippo is loaded with discovery for the young mind. Features attached legs (pull one the other retracts), a teether hand, a baby safe mirrored hand, a peek-a boo silky bellybutton (just got to poke it!) and an ergonomically designed teether tail which encourages gripping. When pulled, it makes Soft Hippo vibrate with excitement. Launch date: July 2012.

It’s a busy day in Crazy Cake Café. Baker Bernie needs kids' help getting cakes stacked as quickly as possible so they can be delivered. The first player to finish stacking one of Baker Bernie’s famous twelve layer cakes wins a recipe card. Collect ten recipe cards and winning the game will be the icing on the cake. This fast-moving game is a delectable visual-spatial, brain-teasing treat. 2 to 4 players. Launch date: August 2012.

Commemorate with pride the patriotism of the seven men through whose courage and vision gave birth to the nation we love. George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and John Jay. Seven magnificently sculpted coins, lavishly coated in 24 karat gold reflect the image of each Founding Father on the front and an inspirational quote from them on the back. The collection comes with a personalizable hardback book of the US Constitution, a magnifying glass and deluxe gloves for studying the coins and a deluxe hardwood display box, also with a personalizable nameplate to preserve and protect the collection for years to come. Also included are a set of history cards that describe the contributions of each of the celebrated patriots and a Certificate of Authenticity. Launch date: August 2012.

Each mini figure in Safari Ltd®’s Toob® ranges from 1” to 3” and is carefully sculpted and finely hand painted. Packaged in a reusable acetate Toob®, the figures guarantee years of learning fun. Safari Ltd® introduces for 2012 small, highly detailed musical instruments that play together in symphony. This Toob® includes a violin, guitar, clarinet, flute, French horn, saxophone, trombone and horn. All figures are 100% guaranteed and lead free to ensure children’s safety. Suggested ages 3+. Launch date: January 2012.
Awards: 2013 TDmonthly Seal of Approval

Each mini figure in Safari Ltd®’s Toob® ranges from 1” to 3” and is carefully sculpted and finely hand painted. Packaged in a reusable acetate Toob®, the figures guarantee years of learning fun. Safari Ltd® introduces for 2012 highly detailed butterflies from around the world that flaunt their vibrantly colored wings. This Toob® includes a Red Glider, Green Swallowtail, Orange Barred Sulphur, White Angled Sulphur, Evenus regalis, Anaea clytemnestra and a Papilio garleppi. All figures are 100% guaranteed and lead free to ensure children’s safety. Suggested ages 3+. Launch date: January 2012.

Our Name Train Peace Train Car Set contains a flower power engine, a dove & love car and a peace sign car on one 9" straight piece of track. Individual cars measure about 3" long by 2" high each and have a non-toxic finish. Each car is printed on both sides. Track is sanded smooth with laser-engraved stripes and is unfinished. All pieces are crafted from locally sourced, sustainably harvested hard maple and are compatible with our and other wooden railway systems. Cars sold individually. Launch date: June 2012.

Robbin’ Eggs is the eggciting game of math, memory, and luck. Each egg has a number on the bottom - some positive, some negative. Players turn over eggs trying to get the sum as close to the rolled number on the die, all while following sometimes silly rules on the cards. Meanwhile, opponents might have a “rob” card and can steal the egg other players need.  Players try to remember the location of numbers as the game progresses…that is, until another player scrambles the locations with a drawn card. The player with the lowest score at the end wins the game. "This game is much more than just an educational math game or a memory game.  Because it adds these components together along with the uniqueness of the nest and eggs, and the randomness of the action cards, this game becomes an entertaining family game that happens to help players hone their math skills," Tami Murphy, marketing manager at The Haywire Group, told TDmonthly. Launch date: June 2012.

Bowl, Spell and Score is a wacky word bowling game in which bowlers roll a unique wooden character ball to determine the amount and location of bowling pin letter tiles to flip over in an attempt to spell words for points each frame. Launch date: 2011.
Awards: December 2011 Toyman Award

Roll-a-chore is a dry erase chore, rewards, message chart game. In the bag: 10"x13" themed game board, dry erase marker, dice, spinner, draw string bag, suction cup and adhesive magnets. This game takes the "chore" out of assigning chores in a fast, fair, fun way. There are countless benefits when using this product: math, writing, reasoning, teaching responsibility. Themes available include: Basketball game board, Baseball game board, Policeman game board, Jake (one of roll-a-chore's characters) surfing game board, Molly (one of roll-a-chore's characters) surfing game board, Flowerpower game board, Blue Hearts game board, Molly Soccer game board, color-a-chore (for the little tikes learning their colors) themed game board, and Handy Helpers 2 & 3 (a general family theme look) game board, with more themes to be available later in the year. Launch date: February 2005.