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:
With the upcoming release of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, the Tim Burton-directed adaptation of the classic story, Alice’s adventure and tea party is fresh on our minds.
In fact, another whimsical adaptation of Alice in Wonderland has us seeing the Cheshire Cookie Cat, the Grouch of Hearts and a fuzzy red rabbit.
Wait, what?
The always-precocious fairy-in-training, Abby Cadabby, stars in Abby in Wonderland, the Sesame Street version of this classic tale. In this re-release from Warner Home Video and Sesame Workshop, along with Elmo and several friends, Abby dreams that she takes a journey down a rabbit hole and bumps into some familiar friends along the way.
The kid, who is way too young for the latest Disney version of Alice in Wonderland, has fallen in love with Abby in Wonderland. Over the past week or so since receiving the review copy, we have watched Abby in Wonderland nonstop. It’s a 30-minute primer to the storybook classic that cutely incorporates a few Sesame Street characters who play Alice in Wonderland characters, and even has Abby and Elmo singing a few sweet tunes. This watered down version of Alice in Wonderland is a great alternative for preschoolers, especially those who have piqued interest in the eye-catching Disney commercials. And to boot, this DVD release comes with 5-song CD that features a few favorite Sesame Street hits.
Abby in Wonderland, the Sesame Street adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, goes on sale March 2, 2010 but of course, I have a copy for one NKT reader.
To win a copy of Abby in Wonderland, comment below and tell me who your favorite Alice in Wonderland character is and why.
For extra entries, share about this giveaway on any social media site and comment below. Sign up for the NKT newsletter below and get 2 extra entries. (If you’re already a subscriber, invite a friend to subscribe.) Please leave a comment for every entry.
This contest will end this Friday, March 5, 2010 at midnight. The winner will be chosen by random.org and will then be notified by email.
Toy Fair had so many larger than life toys that were on display, but one trend that I noticed that paralleled the aforementioned accessibility theme was the presence of so many teeny tiny toys. And for this first toy, I’m talking tiny.
Bandai was showcasing their new Tiny Little Families line, which is described to be the smallest collectible doll. The story behind these guys is that the little animal families–The Bakers, Acorns, Nibbles, Purrbrights, Waddles and Pollywogs–take up residence in abandoned, mundane objects such as shoes, alarm clocks and even a wee little cell phone. Their little town/playsets include homes, pampering spots and many more locations for the families to enjoy. Teeny Little Families is a new take on doll houses, giving girls another alternative for cutesy collectibles.
In perhaps every imaginable shade of pink on the spectrum, Toy Fair 2010 offered a glimpse of some of the girliest toys a girl could imagine.
Beyond the obvious girl toys–dolls– Toy Fair showcased a lot of girls’ (and guys’) best friends, too. Continuing the ongoing trend of taking stuffed animals to the next dimension, here are just a few of the many, many pet-themed toys I learned about at Toy Fair.
One of Hasbro’s best selling girls properties that are best known for their cute, beady eyes, The Littlest Pet Shop, has quite a few new goodies this year. Just a few of the many new additions to their line include the Rescue Tails Center that will give girls a platform to care for their pets. This set comes with an ambulance with a light-up X-ray machine and plenty of accessories to provide thorough check-ups. Retail Price: $39.99/Available: Fall 10
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.)
In honor of tonight’s Olympic Opening Ceremony that will officially kick off the Winter Games, I thought I’d mention these Olympic inspired video games.
There’s no shortage in video games inspired by major sporting events, and yes, that includes the most revered sports event of all time, The Olympics. If you couldn’t make it to Vancouver to see the Olympics in person, Sega has a pair of Olympic-branded video games so that everyone can play along.
In case you’re wondering why only Sega? Well, that’s because Sega is the sole video game publisher of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, through an agreement with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), exclusive licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC.)
Two beloved video game characters, Mario and Sonic, are once again taking their rivalry to the snow and ice in another officially licensed Olympic-themed game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.
Exciting news for Buzz Lightyear and Woody fans: the new trailer for Disney Pixar’s highly anticipated Toy Story 3 has hit the web. From what I’ve seen, not only is Andy all grown up, but there’s also some new faces in the latest installment of Toy Story.
Just a few of the new characters in Toy Story 3 are Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, Ken Doll and Peas in a Pod.
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.
