The latest and greatest in gadgets, gear and goodies
Born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2, 1904, the writer and illustrator better known as Dr. Seuss, produced classic children’s books that have rhymed, reasoned and influenced many generations. (Including the Olympian I had the honor of interviewing! more on that later.)
With Dr. Seuss’s birthday in mind, I thought I’d share some of my most recent Dr. Seuss finds:
Apologies for the lack of posts, but as Toy Fair wrapped up, I had my own wrapping up to do, to the tune of 3,000 photos and bags upon bags of flyers and flashdrives of press kits. I’m sure you noticed, but I did much more Facebooking and Tweeting than updating over here, simply because internet access was scarce in the media room. But I digress…
For my First Toy Fair, this was an exciting and extremely productive event. I was been able to meet with a number of the big companies to hear about their latest and greatest, but, as you know, I also love learning about the smaller, lesser known companies as well.
I’ll try not to be redundant in my posts, as I’m sure a few of you have read some of my updates already. So, as I continue to wrap my brain around all of these toys, I thought I’d offer a quick update. Next week, I’ll go through a myriad of topics, but for now I thought I’d talk about what I saw and relate it to what the “real” experts had to say.
Several of the “Toy Experts” have cited accessibility and affordability as prominent themes throughout the event. Obviously, I’m no expert, but as a parent and writer who seeks out these trends, I’m always drawn to see how it all fits.
Generally speaking, of all the modern and attention-grabbing products, I found, for the most part, many new products were being marketed as affordable. Of course, affordability is a subjective term in this context, but nonetheless, affordability is a burgeoning theme throughout this industry.
Heavily influenced by the turbulent economic crisis and volatile job market, companies recognize the consumers’ needs, thus emphasizing affordability of their new products. There’s so many to include in the affordable category, but since I met with MegaBloks, Goldberger and ImagiPlay, these companies come to mind. All three of these companies had seemingly different new products to showcase that were tailored for budget-minded families.
MegaBloks, well known for their Preschool Construction Toys, had several new items that I know my kid would love, most notably the new Thomas construction train sets, which are in the $20 range. Goldberger had a variety of dolls I loved, but the new Lily dolls from their eco-friendly line are under $20. ImagiPlay, as one of my favorite sites tweeted, is pioneering the eco-affordable toys, especially with their new yoyos
But, perhaps accessibility of toys is most noticeable in the size of toys. As the toy experts said, many toys were compact, condensed and suitable for on-the-go play.
For both boys and girls, from tiny tots to teens, compact toys ranged from new variations of plush rattles as seen in Playskool’s new Gloworld line to wooden playsets such as the ones from ImgaiPlay to electronic readers like VTech Toy’s Flip to the new bikes like those from Tech Deck.
(I’m still updating photos, but I’ll be sure to update as soon as they’re all up!)
Live from Toy Fair: Here’s a sneak peek of Cepia’s next line of Zhu Zhu Pets: Kung Zhu. The ninja-themed Zhu Zhus are going to be marketed to boys, but after someone asked, “why not girls too?” the president of the company said they’ll address their focus.
The robotic hamsters, which were “it” toy for 2009 are hoping have another hit with these battling hamsters. I will be sure to add more details later, but for now, here’s a glimpse at the new guys:
So, it’s here! For the past couple of days, I’ve been indulging in the excitement of Toy Fair, here in NY. Because it’s an industry trade show, I’ve been busy working and meeting with various companies that reached out to me.
In case you haven’t already, be sure to join me on The Next Kid Thing Fan Page and twitter to see my updates throughout Toy Fair.
With thousands and thousands of exhibitors at Toy Fair, it’s obviously going to be difficult to cover every single company. I will, however, try to do a roundup of products that are of interest, and perhaps, the next kid thing.
Yesterday, after my meetings, I spent the majority of my day walking the floor. There are a lot of really great exhibitors, and of course, many new products that are being launched in conjunction with Toy Fair. I made it a point to check out green and sustainable toys, and was quite pleased with the amount of products that have joined this category.
Some companies have been in the Green sector before “green” was its own category. There are literally hundreds of fabulous toys, so for now, here are just a few of my findings. (Please note, these photos are from my phone, but I’ll be sure to share much, much more tonight.)
We’re in the midst of a crippling snowstorm here on the east coast, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a snow day than checking out cold weather kid accessories. The stroller blankets and buntings from 7 A.M Enfant have been a noticeable newcomer to the cold weather accessory scene, especially here in the NYC area.
Yesterday, our First Lady, Michelle Obama, unveiled the nationwide campaign Let’s Move, which aims to tackle childhood obesity. This campaign is geared to engage every sector that impacts the health of our kids, giving schools, families and communities the tools to help everyone be more active, eat better and get healthy.
Mrs. Obama unofficially initiated this campaign when she broke ground on the White House organic Garden last year. In a NYT article, Mrs. Obama said, the main purpose of the garden will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.
Soon after, Mrs. Obama appeared on an episode of Sesame Street touting the importance of fruits and vegetables, as well as healthy eating habits.
The Let’s Move Campaign will emphasize four major facets, all of which underline the changes needed to combat childhood obesity:
Helping Parents Make Healthy Family Choices
Serving Healthier Food in Schools
Accessing Healthy, Affordable Food
Increasing Physical Activity
To further prove just how digital our world has become, the White House announced the launch of a new mobile health service for pregnant women and new moms that distributes helpful tips timed to their pregnancy or age of baby a text.
Text4baby is an educational program that was spearheaded by the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, which is a resource in maternal and child health.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, love is surely in the air. Sure, some people consider Valentine’s Day a Hallmark holiday, but it’s still a great excuse to spread a little extra love for the littlest sweethearts.
While perusing the web for some Valentine’s Day gift ideas, I actually came across a really sweet line of modern children’s clothing by Glug Collection. The name, itself, is catchy and so are their designs.
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but today is America’s favorite fuzzy red monster’s birthday.
Yup, Elmo turns 3 today (again, I know!) Happy Birthday, big guy!
In honor of Elmo’s birthday, I thought I’d mention this new app released by Sesame Workshop, which just so happens to feature the birthday boy himself.
Elmo’s Monster Maker App, which is now available on iTunes, is an app where kids of all ages can create their own monster. With all the different body parts, the choices are limitless as to how many unique monsters can be created. With this app, kids become more aware of several different body parts, with a little Sesame Street-style creativity.
With our kids’ and babies’ safety in mind, Toys ‘R’ Us is re-launching its Great Trade-In Event today. Just like the popular campaign that took place in September 2009, TRU is, once again, urging consumers to bring in old and used baby gear that may pose as safety hazards for the wee ones.
The Great Trade In Event kicks off today and lasts until Saturday, February 20. For the fine print, the company said:
Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us stores will accept returns of any used cribs, car seats, bassinets, strollers, travel systems, play yards, high chairs and toddler beds in exchange for a 25% savings on the purchase of any new baby item, in any of these product categories, from select manufacturers.
With several recent stroller and drop-side crib recalls that have made news in the past few weeks, it seems like it’s a good time as ever to do a trade-in. That 25% off is certainly a great initiative to shop and to keep the kiddies safe in the process.
