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Santa’s elves are putting the finishing touches on a new batch of toys, and our own little testing elves have had a tour of the workshop. Here’s what they say are some of the top and most noteworthy toys from about 500 new toys they play-tested this year.
3-in-1 Learning Zebra (shown above) (18-36m, VTech, $44.99)
Parents loved that this low-to-the-ground riding toy was easy to transform between modes, and the kids loved everything else about it: the buttons, the lively music, and especially the basket at the front that holds snacks, doll passengers and other “can’t put them down” treasures.
Lamaze Rusty the Robot Stroller and Car Seat Toy (0m+, Learning Curve Brands, $17.99)
Featuring interesting textures to explore, bright colours, clacking rings and a mirror, this stuffed robot is well designed to keep baby amused in the car seat.
Shapes & Sorting Picnic Basket (6-36m, LeapFrog, $24.99)
Lay out the red-checkered cloth and have a pretend picnic. The basket plays catchy learning songs, asks questions about shape and colour, and makes a great carry-all for little treasures. Kids also enjoy some early puzzle play matching the shaped food pieces to indents on the plates.
Brainy Baby Animals Book (12m+, The Brainy Company, $8.99)
Our testers loved using the tabs along the top of this colourful board book to flip the pages - especially to find their favourite pictures. Illustrated with real-life photos of animals, this is a great book thats sturdy enough for toddlers, but also interesting enough to appeal to their older siblings.
Playskool Poppin’ Park Bounce ‘N Ride (12m+, Hasbro, $29.99)
As if bouncing’s not fun enough, each bounce on this toy also makes a fun new sound. Our littlest testers had as much fun bouncing in place, as the older ones had riding from room to room.
Little People Zoo Talkers Animals Sounds Zoo (18m+, Fisher-Price, $54.99)
The animals are a huge hit, but this play set is also loaded with lots of intriguing features: peek-a-boo door, slide, swing, a hippo that opens its mouth, as well as fun sounds and a talking guide who identifies the animals placed in the “hut”. Includes a zookeeper and three animals. Additional Zoo Talkers animals are sold separately.
3D Sneaky Puzzles Singing Sea Creatures (3+, Patch Products, $17.99)
While the 3D glasses definitely made the picture pop, that wasn’t the main attraction. Our testers just loved the colourful jumbo-sized puzzle itself – making it over and over again, and finding all the hidden numbers and letters.
Go to page 2 for more top kid toys!
Great Pretenders Spider/Bat Reversible Cape (3+, Creative Education of Canada, $29.99) Easy to get on and off; fun to play in; and a lot snazzier than a dish towel. Our testers loved how this reversible cape flaps when they run; parents loved that the cape withstands so many adventures. The Princess Fairy Tunic with its classic Great Pretenders easy-fit tunic design, was also very popular (5+, $34.99).
Rescue Heroes Fire Truck with Billy Blazes (3+, Fisher-Price, $54.99) The sheer size of this truck impressed our kid-testers even before they played with it. But the truck also features fun stuff like blasting water darts, a large swiveling cab with a lift up window for easy access, a movable ladder - and of course Billy Blazes himself.
PLAY-DOH Cookie Monster’s Letter Lunch Playset (3+, Hasbro, $17.99)
There’s probably some tactile learning happening, too, as kids make and play with the letter shapes. But the real kiddi-attraction is how Cookie “eats” everything they shove in his mouth. And for some, that he then “poops” the letters out his backend is a hilarious bonus.
Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game (3+, Educational Insights, $19.99)
This simple, but pleasing spinner game was both fun and a great way for little hands to practice some fine motor control. Good colour-matching and counting practice, too.
uKloo Early Reader Treasure Hunt Game (4+, uKloo Kids, $14.95)
A fast, and easy way for parents to set up treasure hunts. So much fun, our kid-testers didn’t even care if there was a “treat” at the end; it’s the hunt itself they loved – over and over again, all the while practicing simple word recognition.
Perplexus Rookie (4+, Busy Life/PlaSmart, $22.99)
Designed smaller for little hands, and with fewer – and easier – barrier challenges, this preschool version of the popular 3D marble maze was incredibly popular with both our kid-testers, and their parents.
Spuzzle (4+, GameBrotherZ, $24.99)
A fun set-collecting game that’s refreshingly different because players use a deck of cards (rather than a spinner or die) to collect their puzzle pieces. And, since cards are drawn only once, this method is not only different, it also offers the potential for kids to intuit some early strategy skills.
Go to page 3 for the last 6 top kid toys!
Tell Tale (5+, Blue Orange Games, $14.99)
An excellent selection of picture prompts, with the added richness of wonderful detailing. Certainly one of the best story-telling games we’ve seen. Great for ad-lib bed-time storytelling, too.
Flip Six Card Game (6+, US Games, $7.99)
An exciting new draw and discard game that requires a little risk-taking, because sometimes the swap involves a face down card. Our testers loved the thrill of turning over the unknown card to see if they made a good trade.
Playful Pets Nesting Dolls (6+, Creativity for Kids, $16.99)
Craft, toy and keepsake. This set of Russian-style nesting dolls is fun to paint, and with four of them to colour, more than one child can share in the activity. A great family project.
Whipple! Craft’n Fun Crème (7+, International Playthings, $15 and up)
Huge appeal - especially, because this new craft medium works really, really well: the finished creations are easily mistaken for real pastries. Note: making key chains was the most popular activity, because they’re such unique backpack accessories.
Stamp Art (8+, Klutz, $23.99)
A well designed kit, with see-through stamps for perfect placement. But it’s the idea book that really inspired our testers. Full of tips, and patterns, and step-by-step guidelines, it’s an excellent introduction to the creative design possibilities that can be made using a few basic shapes.
Utopia (8+, Popular Playthings, $24.99)
Our preteen testers loved these do-able, but brain-flexing puzzle challenges. Offers two puzzle styles and a range of skill levels from Sudoku-like set-ups that feature an added height dimension, to challenging logic puzzles solved using visual perspective clues.
See the full list of our 2011 GOLD and PLATINUM toys at www.thenoiseontoys.com/awards.