A rich vocabulary is critical for successful test-taking, particularly in reading comprehension. Hot Dots Laugh It Up! Vocabulary Card sets are a fun and interactive way to grow kids’ vocabularies. Includes 6 Interactive vocabulary card sets in all, including synonyms (2730), antonyms (2731), multiple-meaning words (shown here), prefixes and suffixes (2735), context clues (2733), and homophones (2732). 50 double-sided, illustrated cards per set (100 questions), featuring jokes, riddles, cartoons, and kid-friendly questions.
— In a Fall 2012 survey, two out of 12 retailers told TDmonthly that Hot Dots were their best selling educational toy.

SIMPLE CIRCUITS, BIG IMAGINATIONS! Learn the fundamentals of circuitry, off the board and out of this world!

MAKE THE CONNECTION: System-ready pieces light up when kids follow the symbols and connect the vehicle's circuits

BLAST OFF INTO STEM LEARNING: Keep them connecting on their own with safe circuits kids can build themselves

EVERYTHING YOU NEED to build a Communication Station with a rotating Radar Dish, Power Station with Rover Charger, and a Powered Space Rover and a free wheeling Space Rover both with light-up headlights. Also includes astronaut and robot figures for pretend play. and stickers for customization. Communication Station, Rover and Power Station require 3 AAA batteries each, not included.

Real-working, kid-friendly 3D circuit pieces designed specifically with safety in mind, eliminating the worry of short circuiting or other hazards to allow for independent play for kids ages 6+. Children utilize cause and effect logic to determine when they have completed the circuits correctly. Each set also comes with friendly astronauts, robot figures, and stickers, so children can customize their Circuit Explorer sets and launch into hours of space-age adventures. To add even more customizable fun, Circuit Explorer sets feature a universal grid-like design to allow for additional construction play pieces to be incorporated.

Get preschoolers excited about science and introduce them to the miracles of magnification with My First Microscope! Magnify any small object – flat or dimensional – at 8x with this real, working microscope designed especially for little kids! Encourages scientific exploration; Rewards curiosity ; Introduces kids to a key scientific tool.
— Matt Peel, manager of Toys & Co. in Greensboro, N.C., told TDmonthly in a January 2015 survey that the GeoSafari line from Educational Insights was their store's best-selling STEM toys.

Solve 2-D and 3-D puzzles by rearranging game pieces. Pick a puzzle from the book, set up the challenge and then place the remaining game pieces to solve the puzzle. Kanoodle Genius offers 200+ brain-busting puzzles for you to solve all on your own. If you've completed the puzzles of the original Kanoodle, you'll love the even more challenging Kanoodle Genius. You'll feel yourself getting smarter.

Order up! It’s a busy day at the diner, so don’t dilly-dally. Help your customers get just what they ordered by racing the other servers to the grill, relay style, and piling up pancakes in precisely the right order in this stack ‘em high, serve ‘em up, relay race game!

The Hot Dots pen works with dozens of Hot Dots card sets, providing instantaneous visual and audio feedback. Simply press the pen to choose an answer on any Hot Dots or Hot Dots Jr. card for an immediate response—cool, kid-friendly phrases for correct answers and gentle redirection for incorrect responses.

Three oversized puppets on sticks inspire dramatic play with silly faces, movable mouths and endless possibilities.
Awards: 2012 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Toy Award Seal; 2012 Oppenheim SNAP (Special Needs Adaptable Products) Award.

Grab your spatula and dig into this silly, burger-slidin’ game. Race to fill your paper plates with burgers with each different topping or scoop up all the burgers with matching toppings—either way, the sliding burgers won’t make it easy.

Kids will share thoughtful, personal responses, and really listen to each other in this family-friendly game that includes game board, 7 character pieces, 7 token holders, 7 sets of tokens, 12 Wild Ernie tokens, and 1 pair of “Ear-Resistible” Jumper Rabbit ears. For 3–7 players. Launch date: April 2012.

Kids can view more than 180 amazing, up-close images with the Talking Electron Microscope. They can view various zoomed versions of 60 images and hear 5 fun facts about each image in Learning Mode – then switch to Quiz Mode and test their knowledge. Images include the human body, viruses and bacteria, plants, animals, and other “stuff.”
Awards: National Parenting Center Seal of Approval

This game is set up as a reading race through the southwest. Players pick their cards, gallop around the board to round up all their words, and must giddy up home before the other players to win. Game features the top 25 building block words. Includes game board (16.5"W x 16.5"H), 50 word cards, and 4 game pieces. For 2-4 players.

Kids spin the spinner, squeeze the matching colored acorn with their Squirrel Squeezers, and place it in their log. The first to fill their log with delicious acorns wins. But players need to look out - they could spin "steal an acorn" or "lose an acorn."

This chart provides hands-on environmental education by introducing six key recyclable material categories and teaching how to sort 48 “recyclable” cards into the right bins. The cards are made of 65-percent recycled card stock and the chart is made from 80-percent recycled plastic. Awards: Dr. Toy Best Green Toy Award 2010

Kids can fire up this "power drill," grab some bolts and create a mosaic masterpiece. Designed to build coordination, the kit includes a power drill, screwdriver, wrench, three interchangeable drill bits, 20 bolts, an 11.5" pegboard and 20 idea cards.

Stix & Stones is a prehistoric picture-making race designed to build fine motor, creative and social skills. Kids can create like a caveman using only sticks and stones; no drawing skills are required. Players make a picture with as few pieces as possible, then challenge each other to guess what it is. Along with 40 plastic sticks, 15 plastic stones, an arrow and a timer, Stix & Stones features 75 game cards providing 450 words of varying difficulty, ensuring a different game every time. Instructions and a storage bag are included.

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.

With 48 game cards and six transparent puzzle pieces, this spatial reasoning game challenges kids to cover up arctic animals, making sure they don't overlap with people in the scenes. The single-player game has four levels of difficulty and built-in storage for all the pieces.
— "By the end of the month, I'll be selling 200 to 300 [of this game]," Lori Hershman, owner of Evan's Toy Shoppe in Camden, Conn., told TDmonthly in early December 2009. "It's very easy to explain and every age is attracted to it. Maybe it's because we (the staff) love it so much."
— Two of 44 specialty retailers named it as an overall best seller in late fall 2009.

Each single-color mini pack is designed to introduce kids to the texture and possibilities of PlayFoam. The collection includes six colors, which may be used as party gifts or stocking stuffers.
— PlayFoam small bricks have been consistent best sellers for the last two years at The Parent-Teacher Store & Toys Too in Louisville, Ky., Owner Kimberly Kopatz told TDmonthly in fall 2009.

Made entirely out of recycled newspaper, Smencils are gourmet-scented pencils designed to retain their scents for two years. The tightly rolled newspaper is hardened around a core of No. 2 graphite, so it sharpens like a standard wood pencil. The Smencils are then soaked to infuse their fragrance, finished with an eraser and identifying sticker, and packaged in a biodegradable, corn-based plastic Freshness Tube. There are 10 scents available: Bubble Gum, Cinnamon, Tropical Blast, Grape, Cotton Candy, Very Berry, Black Cherry, Orange, Watermelon and Rootbeer. They are available assorted in packs of 10 (one of each scent) or buckets of 50 (five of each scent). 
— “One kid has it, then everyone has to have it. I've been selling buckets of those things,” Sherry Phipps, owner of School Crossing in Williamsburg, Va., told TDmonthly in July 2009 about why Smencils are a top seller in her store.
— Smencils are also strong sellers at Golden Apple Learning Store in Pleasanton, Calif., Owner John MacDougall told TDmonthly in summer 2009.

Think fast! What word means “a partially dried grape”? Be the first to say “raisin,” and you’re on your way to winning this riotous game of rapid word recall. Players take turns reading clues aloud, competing to blurt out the correct answer first and move ahead on the board. The first person or team to circle the board wins. Sounds simple, right? But as the race for the right word heats up, and the blurting gets boisterous, it’s easy to get tongue-tied! Blurt is a great vocabulary builder for kids, a hilarious addition to adult parties, and a must for family game night. Includes junior version for ages 7 to 9. For 3 to 12 players.

Hear it crackle and feel it crinkle while you make animals, decorate frames and pencil cups, or roll it into a real bouncing ball. This special sculpting mix dries by itself, turning your idea into a fun work of art or keepsake. Foamfetti™ sticks to itself, to unfinished wood, and to paper. It’s easy to make all sorts of cool stuff with Foamfetti!

Includes red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, white, and black.