October 2008 Notable Toys — Educational

View-Master® Viewers are available in red, blue or black. Quality optics provides an awesome, eye-popping 3D experience. Each Viewer includes one View-Master® 3D reel. Different View-Master® 3D reels featuring favorite friends, fun themes, amazing animals and popular places are available.

America’s National Parks are some of the best places to view wildlife. Enjoy twenty-one eye-popping 3D images that bring you the sights of animals in their natural habitat.

Would you like to travel around the USA?  Three View-Master® reels with twenty-one eye-popping images let you enjoy the sites all in 3D!

Look and learn!  Twenty-one 3D Authentic Stereograph images from 1861-1865, allows you to learn interesting facts about the history of The Civil War.

These full-color flash cards are printed on extra-heavy card-stock to withstand even the most curious babies. Photos of real animals accompany the animal's name in English, Spanish and French, as well as fun facts to help give context, such as the animal's habitat. The set comes with play suggestions.
— “Flashcards have been huge,” said Merrick Smith of Piccolo Mondo in Portland, Ore., in July 2008. "Flash of Brilliance is great for younger kids."
— Seven percent of 68 retailers said flashcards are their top-selling educational product.
— “Flash of Brilliance is popular with my customers because they’re sturdy and the quality of the graphics is good. That speaks to parents and younger children a lot,” said Janet Gregory, owner of Over the Rainbow Toy Store in Anchorage, Alaska.

This workbook includes exercises on basic early-math skills, including writing numbers, sequencing, and matching words to numerals for numbers 0 through 10.  The write-in book is illustrated with fun images to interest the child and help them remember what they are learning.
— “We carry a bunch of their workbooks,” Sue Banducci, owner of Games Unlimited in Danville, Calif., told TDmonthly about School Zone.
— “Math in general gets requested a lot,” said Merrick Smith, owner of Piccolo Mondo in Portland, Ore., of her customers’ needs in school supplies.
— Ten percent of the 68 retailers surveyed said in July 2008 that, of their educational products and school supplies, workbooks are the strongest sellers.

Based on the No.1 bestseller by William J. Bennett, "Adventures From the Book of Virtues" reaches out to children to teach important life lessons and morals, illustrating a central theme through classic international heroes and stories and illuminating the core virtues of honesty, compassion, responsibility, courage, self-discipline, work, friendship, loyalty, perseverance and faith. Stories are seen through the eyes of young Zach and Annie, who live in Spring Valley and deal with the same pressures and situations faced by kids everywhere.

Parts of a Story Thumball has 12 Multi-colored panels, and is 4 inches in diameter. It helps teach key elements of stories including plot, setting, characters, conflict etc. Improves verbal expression and organization of thoughts. A Book Report on a ball that increases motivation and participation.

Teach the value of saving with these wooden animal banks for a young child. High quality, solid hardwood bank with six different animal shapes to choose from.

This system utilizes TAG’s unique toy design that teaches counting in a concrete, active and enjoyable way. 10 interchangeable number plates can be placed individually into the top of the counting box. Child places pegs into the holes next to the number while counting aloud, first with help, then alone. When the count is complete the child pulls the knob on the side of the box and the pegs come tumbling down. With this reward the child will repeat the activity with a given number over and over again, eventually practicing each number and becoming aware of the concrete quantity associated with the numerical symbol.

Young minds are ready to spell before the hand is ready to write. This giant alphabet puzzle contains letters in bright primary colors. Letters are raised above the surface of the puzzle board, for easy removal and fitting. TAG's unique spelling tray allow the child to stand up letters and build words by copying word cards provided with the puzzle.

Squeek, The Monster of Innocence is a cotton candy pink little guy who lives in a bubble! As you can see by the look on his face, he’s shy and needs you to introduce him to the world. Just hold him in your arms and describe everything to him. You can be his teacher and show him all the fun things that are special in your life. Oh, and don’t forget, he’s the pip “squeek” of the bunch so be gentle! Squeek is a part of the The WorryWoo Monsters series that tackles complicated feelings and transforms them into quirky, loveable characters.

Fuddle, the flighty Monster of Confusion can never make up her mind. It’s as though you can see her thinking aloud; Do...Don’t... Up... Down ...Yes…No. She’s so confused about making decisions. All she needs is a pat on the back and a few positive words. Wouldn’t you like to whisper in her ear “Go for it"? Fuddle is a part of the The WorryWoo Monsters series that tackles complicated feelings and transforms them into quirky, loveable characters. All the characters in the series were created and developed by Andi Green, a creative director from NYC who received such positive responses from her art exhibition The Monsters In My Head, she decided to develop these characters into books and plush dolls. Launch date: December 2, 2008.

Play games and learn new words in Spanish with Trampoline®’s flashcard sets. The front of each card features a colorful graphic; the back, the Spanish word and its phonetic pronunciation. Each set also contains a quick reference Teacher’s Key and suggested activities.  Card packs come in 15 different themes.  (Themes include:  Animals, Alphabet, Weather, Colors, Numbers 1-100, Food, Clothing, Body, School, Family, Opposites, Transportation, House, Calendar, and Shapes.)  Each set is $5.99.

Complement your Spanish program with Trampoline®’s colorful posters featuring theme-based Spanish vocabulary and phonetic pronunciations.  Posters come in 23 themes including: Alphabet, Days of the Week, Months of the Year, Shapes, The House, Transportation, Numbers 1-20, Numbers 21-100, Colors, Opposites #1, Opposites #2, In the School #1 (Parts of the Classroom), In the School #2 (School Supplies), Family, Food, Fruit, Vegetables, My Body #1 (Face), My Body #2 (Body), Clothing, Weather, Animals #1 (Farm/Pets), and Animals #2 (Zoo). Each poster is $10.00.

Use colorful, canvas bean bags to master Spanish vocabulary via large motor activities – choose from colors (8 per set), numbers (10 per set) and shapes (8 per set).  Each bean bag is imprinted with a Spanish word on one side. Each set is $16.50.

Bongo Bi-Lingo Buddy, a Caribbean tail! Bongo invites kids on a Bi-lingual Web Adventure by having them help Bongo on a musical island hopping adventure back to his homeland, Banana Isle, where he reunites and celebrates with his familia, the Bongo Cats! Kids play bi-lingual games to help Bongo advance to the next Island, while watching out for grumpy, unsharing, music hating Huracan! Launch date: September 15, 2008.

This matching game will help kids reinforce their learning by matching images together and learning the English/Spanish versions of the same item.

Keep children entertained with this audio coloring book. The story unfolds as kids color in the pages while listening to the audio playback, which is available in both English and Spanish.

This t-shirt features a colorful set of 9 Spanish words on the front of the shirt, with English equivalents in small text on the lower right of each word.

This book will quickly help beginning readers to recognize and understand the meaning of over 300 basic English words from A through Z. Each word is clearly defined and then used in one or more sample sentences. Lively, full color illustrations enhance the text. Each word has its own, easily recalled image. The 26 letters of the English alphabet are printed in sequence, in capitals and lower case, at the top of each page. Young children will thereby learn what a dictionary is and how to use it. Although designed for young children, this book will appeal to older children with reading difficulties and, of course, their teachers.

The third and final installment of this music education series. With seven new composer characters making an appearance, this title takes music learning to a whole new level. Features another year of new lessons, activities, songs, and games. Completing the Children’s Music Journey Series in the home, studio or classroom will ensure your child has fun learning the language of music, leaving them with an interest and talent they can enjoy. Piano skill levels 3A, 3B, 3C. Assessment Included.  Concepts learned: Sharps, flats, naturals, Notations, Moving hand positions, Key signatures, Intervals of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and more.

Volume 2 of Children’s Music Journey software series is packed with more of everything such as new activities, songs, games and famous composer ‘teachers’. New, fun and exciting games such as Guitar Girl, Metronome Soup, Dueling Musicians, Build a Song and others keep kids on the edge of their seat throughout the program. Parents increase their child's musical knowledge and playing skills within this entertaining and comprehensive second year program. Piano skill levels 2A, 2B, 2C. Assessment Included. Concepts learned: Dotted half notes, Grand staff, treble & bass clef, Time signatures, bar lines, tempo, and more.

VEXplorer is the ideal robot kit for the novice builder and hobbyists. Complete with detailed step-by-step plans, this almost-ready-to-run kit comes with pre-assembled modules making it quick and easy to build. Best of all, your robot is compatible with Innovation First's VEX Motion and Structure parts allowing you to expand and grow your robot.