Site: About Toys
Tiki Time! Check Out Idolz
 Remember when Greg Brady found that Tiki idol? Their whole Hawaiian vacation was cursed! CURSED! Well, hopefully Idolz won't have the same effect on your Hawaiian vacation.
Idolz are collectible, posable figures that stack to make a sort of action-figure totem pole. You can even wear them around your neck like Greg did! They are funny and sort of quirky with names like, "Gruntor" and "Zebo." Gruntor is one of the many odd little toys that decorate my desk and he always makes me smile.
Don't miss the results of the company's custom art contest. Eighth graders decorated the Idolz and the company polled Toy-Fair attendees to select a winner. Tiki Time! Check Out Idolz originally appeared on About.com Toys on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 08:03:54. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Educational Toys: Tangle Toys
 For some reason Tangle Toys (compare prices) are intriguing. They just beg you to pick them up and fidget with them. That's why the Original Tangle has spawned a long line of toys with varying colors, textures, sizes and shapes.
Tangle Toys are fun for fidgety adults but I think their real calling is helping kids with special needs. Twisting, turning and curving the Tangle in their hands makes it easier to focus in school or sit through circle time. I really like the rubbery, bumpy textured version for kids who respond well to texture.
A new book called, "Learning with Tangle Brain Tools" features great ways parents and teachers can use Tangle Toys in the classroom or at home.
The sections do come apart so it's not for kids younger than 3.
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Educational Toys: Tangle Toys originally appeared on About.com Toys on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 07:37:11. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Zipfy Freestyle Mini Luge - More Snow, Please!
We've had a ton of snow this winter, and until my Zipfy Freestyle Mini Luge arrived I never would've wished for more. Now I'm checking the 10-day forecast and hoping for the white stuff! The Zipfy is a high-tech, fast-moving, maneuverable sled that comes in 1o snazzy colors.
I test and try every product I review, so there won't be a comprehensive toy review until I get to ride the Zipfy on the sledding hill. I'd love to hear from you if you've tried it because it really looks like fun.
Visit the company's website for amazing videos, some really cool music, community conversations and even a schedule of local races.
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Zipfy Freestyle Mini Luge - More Snow, Please! originally appeared on About.com Toys on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 07:25:35. Permalink | Comment | Email this
It's National Grammar Day, March 4th (Or march forth!)
In honor of National Grammar Day, March 4th, I'm outing myself as a grammar freak. I was raised by two teachers, I started learning AP style (the writing rules journalists follow) in high school and I majored in journalism in college. I've been writing and editing professionally for more than 15 years and I do my best to ensure that my writing is free of grammatical errors. Though I'm far from perfect, now that I'm a mom who's trying to teach correct grammar to two small boys, I have no patience for toys that use bad grammar.
I hope my one-mama crusade against trash-talking toys will be heard by the toy manufacturers, especially now that my voice is slightly amplified by toys.about.com. In honor of National Grammar Day, here are three products in which I've found grammatical errors.
- Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! A Tale of Tails DVD - It says, "I got it! I got it! I don't got it!"
- Chicco's Talking Vacation Car - It says, "In the middle's where it's at."
- LeapFrog's My Pal Scout - It says, "Me and my pal Johnny, we do everything together."
Is it important that toys use correct grammar? Would you buy a toy that sings in conversational English?
It's National Grammar Day, March 4th (Or march forth!) originally appeared on About.com Toys on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 16:53:23. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Toy Preview: Chicco's New "1 Two 3 Playhouse"
I saw about a million new toys at Toy Fair, but only a few really stood out as innovative and fresh ideas. Chicco's 1 Two 3 Playhouse is definitely special. (That's pronounced "KEY-co"...it's Italian!)
It's a kid-sized clothing rack with cute little cloud-shaped hooks. The playhouse toy hangs from the rack, flush against the wall until playtime. Then it easily comes out and invites kids in with its cute, red front door and working mail slot. (What is it about kids and mail slots? They love them!) Then the 1 Two 3 Playhouse easily hooks back up to the rack with Velcro tabs, so there's no flipping and flopping and trying to find a storage space, like we all do with other tents and tunnels.
When the 1 Two 3 Playhouse becomes available this spring, I will try it out with my in-house toy testers and provide a full toy review. This adorable and convenient playhouse (a perfect toy for small spaces!) will cost around $50. Toy Preview: Chicco's New "1 Two 3 Playhouse" originally appeared on About.com Toys on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 08:01:55. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Educational Toys: Maze Books
 Maze books can be fantastic educational toys. They help kids work on fine-motor skills like pencil grip, and they help develop eye-tracking ability. My 4-year-old son is obsessed with maze books right now. He loves to sit at his own "desk," which we made out of an end table and the fabulous, colorful, cardboard Elia Chair.
Each of the activity books below offers colorful, educational and interesting mazes for preschoolers. They gradually get harder as the child works through the book. This is a fun way to incorporate educational toys with one-on-one playtime with Mom or Dad.
Here are some terrific maze books for preschoolers.
Photo of Mindware's maze books © Mindware. Disclosure: Review samples were provided by some of the manufacturers. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy. Educational Toys: Maze Books originally appeared on About.com Toys on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 06:18:33. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Bug Toys Have Buzz
 Among the thousands of new toys announced last week at Toy Fair I found a surprising number of bug toys! Bug toys were everywhere. It was an infestation! Bug toys are definitely a hot trend for 2010. Here are some of the new bug toys I discovered at the show.
- Backyard Safari - (Compare Prices) This line has dozens of nature-themed bug toys that let kids raise caterpillars and catch bugs and examine live specimens up close. Their Bug Collector Flashlight - (pictured) is adorable because it's shaped like a giant bug! Their bug toys include an ant farm, a magnifying glass and a working bug vacuum, to name a few.
- Glo Worms - Remember these from the 1980s? Their faces glowed when the baby squeezed them. Hasbro is bringing back Glo Worm toys for Christmas. There's even a Glo Worms mobile in the works!
- Hexbugs - (Compare Prices) I have already recommended Hexbugs, mostly because I think they're cool and fun and hardly creepy at all. This year they have cool Hexbug Habitats that give Hexbug Nano toys a place to race. Also new are giant Hexbug Ant toys. (Compare Prices)
- Tolo - Tolo's darling toy, Anthony Ant showed me that even baby toys have bugs! He's simple, colorful and happy just like all Tolo toys! (Compare Prices)
Bug Toys Have Buzz originally appeared on About.com Toys on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 01:40:43. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Great Girls' Toys: Go! Go! Sports Girls Toys
 I don't care if you have boys or girls, positive female role models are so important. I recently discovered Go! Go! Sports Girls toys (compare prices) and I'm so impressed! The girls each wear different sports uniforms and they model great attitudes like "Be active!" and "Live a healthy lifestyle!"
Go! Go! Sports Girls toys come with accessories all right, but they're not pink plastic pumps. Each doll comes with a tiny basketball, a soccer ball or a volleyball in an oh-so-chic, so-NOT-designer backpack! The dolls come in many styles of sportswear including soccer, golf, gymnastics, running, dance, swimming, basketball or softball. They have different hair and skin color, too. The volleyball doll I have has a full head of unruly curls that look fantastic. In fact, she reminds me of a former-college-athlete friend, so I think I'll pass the doll on to her daughter.
These cute, high-quality dolls are a refreshing departure from the trashy-looking, furiously texting, rocker girls we often see on toy-store shelves and I love that they go to soccer practice instead of shopping. For every Go! Go! Sports Girls toy they sell, Dream Big Toy Company donates 5% of the profits to Girls Inc. What's not to love about these dolls?
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy. Photo © Dream Big Toy Company.
Great Girls' Toys: Go! Go! Sports Girls Toys originally appeared on About.com Toys on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 01:00:02. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Great, Old-Fashioned Outdoor Toys
 More than 7000 new toys debuted at Toy Fair in New York last week, but two outdoor toys that stood out to me were true classics. The Bubble Thing and The Sno Baller are two old-school outdoor toys that were both invented by really nice guys.
The Sno Baller (compare prices) is a no-batteries-required snowball press that really works. The inventor even showed me his first wooden prototype. How cool is that? I took the Sno Baller outside and quickly made about a dozen snowballs (they say it can do one per second!) and had a blast throwing them at my husband. They fly really far but they disintegrate on contact because they're not packed hard like handmade snowballs. They've sold more than a million Sno Ballers so you might want to get one, if only to ensure that your kid can hold his own in a snowball fight!
The Bubble Thing (compare prices), invented in 1984, will really come in handy this spring. It's a pole with a long loop of fabric and a bottle of bubble mixture that's designed to make huge bubbles. In fact its inventor, David Stein set the first Guinness World Record for a 50-foot bubble, so he knows his bubbles! They've sold more than 3 million Bubble Things, and now for every two Bubble Things sold, the company plants a tree in India.
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Great, Old-Fashioned Outdoor Toys originally appeared on About.com Toys on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 18:57:17. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Brandy And Val: Dog Toys For Kids
Today my dog Ace, a golden-retriever mix we rescued from a shelter, and I passed our therapy-dog test! Together we'll be able to visit patients in hospitals or nursing homes and share Ace's sweet personality with people who could use a canine pick-me-up. In honor of this long-awaited accomplishment, I want to share some great toys that are designed to bring smiles from friendly dogs.
Brandy and Val are two big dogs who love little kids. Their "dog mom," Ilene wanted a way to share her two sweet dogs with a little boy who lived far away, so she invented board books about the dogs. Zachary is a boy with special needs, so she made the pages easy to turn with big tabs. You could add her Brandy and Val stuffed toys to the package to make a really special gift.
They always contribute to animal-rescue efforts with a portion of their profits, but through the end of February Brandy and Val are giving $5 from each sale to help the animals in Haiti. Considering that their books sell for about $12, those are some generous dogs! Brandy And Val: Dog Toys For Kids originally appeared on About.com Toys on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 18:48:08. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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