Fresh from Toy Fair 2000
Cynthia Clark -- 2/28/00
Hot new sidelines include charts, maps, cookie-cutters and chain-mail garments
As the new year moves ahead to spring and beyond, companies large and small prepare their wares to begin the great round of trade shows. Fresh from Toy Fair 2000 come a number of intriguing new products and lines to fulfill the seemingly endless demand for entertainment by children of all ages.
A clever new company in New York City called eeBoo offers a growing array of charming products featuring the work of well-known children's book illustrators. Among the highlights are what may be the most appealing growth charts on the market today; each beautifully illustrated and heavily laminated. Additional charts, all winners of Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal awards, include Growing Like a Weed, illustrated by Melissa Sweet; and The Growing Tree and Favorite Things, both illustrated by Megan Montague Cash and Saxton Freymann.
A colorful, laminated linen wall map of the United States, created by Dan Yaccarino, presents the 50 states in an easy-to-read format embellished with more than 150 illustrations of industry, landmarks and wildlife. The 35"x25" map can be personalized with stickers bearing such pertinent information as "My Grandmother Lives Here!"
Tot Towers, multiple award-winning stacking blocks, feature 10 progressively sized blocks of sturdy board covered with laminated paper; Baby Things and Things I Know, both with pictures and words, are joined by the new Shaker ABC, which adapts a 19th-century Shaker rhyme and accompanies it with images of more than 100 animals by Melissa Sweet. Nursery Friends, illustrated by Holly Berry, depicts nursery rhymes in words and pictures that run as continuous illustrations (available for holiday 2000).
While cookie cutters may not seem likely candidates for toy awards, eeBoo's Garden Bug Cookie Cutters brought home an Oppenheim Best Toy Gold Seal in 1999. Equally intriguing are monster and outer space cookie cutters. Newly repackaged in clear jars, each set comes with five cookie cutters and recipes for dough and icing, plus decorating tips. Call (212) 222-0823, fax (212) 678-1922.
The ultimate kids' calendar series belongs to Inner Works Enterprises Inc., of Huntington Station, N.Y., whose super-big Creative Calendar bagged a Parents' Choice Gold Award. This monster monthly includes 500 activity and holiday stickers and eight washable markers to help children learn about time. It's a perennial calendar, so there's no seasonal limitations on sales; in fact, packaged in its own clear plastic portfolio carrying case, this is a terrific year-round gift. Creative Calendar also comes in two 11"x17" formats, one geared exclusively for girls (Best Friends) and one targeted to family sports activities and schedules, season by season. Glirbles Job Chart, for ages three and up, takes things one week at a time, with a write-on/wipe-off board and Dry-Erase pen plus over 100 reusable stickers. The refrigerator door has never seemed so colorful, or so organized. Call (888) 868-7883, fax (631) 549-1433.
"Interactive" may be past its prime as a buzz word, but several new products touted as such deserve notice. Snubelgrass Interactive, a recently founded high-tech toy company of New York City and Matan, Israel, announces the arrival of its flagship product line, the Snubelgrass family -- birdlike plush toys that come from distant reaches of the galaxy. These cute, fanciful critters include a father, mother, two babies and two interactive eggs. The egg underg s a pre-hatching gestation period that requires care by its owner or it will not hatch; during this time the egg emits a purring sound in response to care and gives off a series of different light signals as it develops. When the egg is ready to hatch, the owner holds it in his or her hands, touching sensors on the egg's shell; the shell springs open, revealing a baby Snubelgrass plush toy. A hardcover illustrated book explains the history and habitat of the Snubelgrass species. Call (212) 590-2440, fax (212) 590-2310.
WonderTales, of Van Nuys, Calif., presents its inaugural series of four audiocassettes, which engage kids ages four and up a variety of adventures. Each WonderTale involves children in imaginative experiences like flying a space shuttle, leading a jungle expedition, rescuing wild ponies and more, all presented from the child's perspective with lots of action, heroism and humor. Designed to be story album, audiobook and movie script rolled into one, each tale revolves around the listener, who ultimately saves the day. The audio characters talk directly to the listener, indicating what the child needs to do to act out the story as it unfolds. Hundreds of film sound effects and an orchestrated motion-picture score help bring the experience to life. Each WonderTale is rated for either open-space (indoors or outdoors) or seated (indoors or in the car) play. Scripts for each adventure are available separately. Children, call your agents! (818) 785-3876, fax (818) 785-5040.
Taking "interactive" back in time, ADLM Incorporated in Quebec, Canada, introduces its unique line of top-quality, affordable, do-it-yourself, historically correct medieval armor kits that allow would-be knights to forge their own aluminum chain-mail garments in a fashion comparable to the good old days. Eight different kits in two categories are now available. The Medieval Knight series offers the Gauntlet Kit (glove), the Short Coif Kit (short headpiece), the Camail Kit (full headpiece with shoulder protection) and the Hauberk Kit (shirt). Among the selections in the Amazon Warrior line are the Camisole Kit and the Combat Skirt Kit. In addition to aluminum rings, each kit contains two color posters illustrating the art of chain mail and forging. Something new to cross-merchandise with Le Morte D'Arthur, perhaps. Call (514) 849-7418, fax (514) 849-9199.
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