November 2011 Notable Toys — Creative Activities

These modeling dough based language kits do such a great job of teaching literacy skills that they "make the pencil jealous."  Kit includes red, yellow and blue dough, 32 Write and Wipe cards, a black erasable marker, a black erasable crayon and instructions for step by step activities. Launch date: November 2010.

Kids can design dream cars for Hot Wheels with the Light Box Design Set. The light box makes drawing easy: simply use the sketch pages and films with the light box tracing table to outline car decals and logos to make them look like they are ready for speed. Use the Tree-Free colored pencils and instructions for tips and inspiration on how to color and shade to make each car ready for the street or racetrack. Finish off the designs with the foil stickers for extra-cool detail. This kit includes the light box tracing table, 40 car design sketch pages, 10 Tree-Free colored pencils with pencil sharpener, 15 films, 38 stickers, and instructions. Launch date: 2011.

Kids can trace, bake, shrink and build their own Christmas ornaments in 3D. Classic Shrinky Dinks with a new 3D twist. Create trees, reindeer, presents and more. The new SmArt Studio 3D Shrinky Dinks® Christmas kit comes with 10 Shrinky Dinks Sheets and tracing sheets. Just follow the easy to use illustrated instructions and kids’ll be making their own 3D Christmas in no time. Smart Studios Shrinky Dinks are 100% Made in America. Launch date: August 2011.

Draw Star Wars: The Clone Wars is packed with tips and techniques, practice space to draw right in the book, and translucent overlays to make kids a master of drawing. Start with stick figures, move onto basic shapes, and finish up with the details. Learn to draw 20 different Clone Wars characters. The book comes with everything needed, including a black marker, double-tipped metallic — colored pencils, and an always-sharp mechanical pencil. Of course, we also include perhaps the most essential tool for any artist… an eraser.
— Mary Porter Green, owner of The Curiosity Zone in Ashburn, Va., told TDmonthly in a Summer 2011 survey that she sells "Klutz books of all sorts —  dozens —  especially Star Wars," each week.

KooKoo Puzzles come in three different themes: Musical Animals, Flying, and Classic Fairytales. Each box comes with 5 different puzzles. Kids need a delicate hand and keen eye to place the puzzle cards together at the right angles to solve the puzzle and form a continuous image. The five sets of puzzle cards in each theme can be flipped over, and on the back there are different images to put together into one large 24-piece puzzle using all of the cards. Also available in a three-pack for $35.95.