The
American International Toy Fair is so crowded with exhibitors that it’s easy for promising new toys to slip through the cracks. Here’s a rundown of a few that, while perhaps not receiving the press garnered by the items in
yesterday’s Trendcentral, are most definitely worth noting.
Junior Scientists: Ever since the
Extreme Mentos and Diet Coke video took YouTube by storm years ago, children have attempted to replicate the experiment at home. With this in mind,
Be Amazing! Toys’ Geyser Rocket Car is powered by nothing more than the aforementioned candy and soda. For more environmentally-minded tots,
DuneCraft’s new character-based
Eco Plant Pals, which are packaged in corn resin domes and come with collectable trading cards, offer a modern alternative to the
Chia Pet.
Bigshot is an educational camera kit that exposes underprivileged children to science and engineering concepts—such as optics, mechanics, electromagnetism and image processing—through building an actual camera. Still in prototype phase, the project was inspired in part by the documentary
Born Into Brothels.
Creative Class: A number of items on display emphasized the development of creative expression. Essentially a toy version of
the popular T-Pain iPhone app, the
I Am T-Pain MicCreative Designs International from lets aspiring pop stars record their vocals and apply an Auto-Tune-like affect to the recordings. (Of course, while fun for kids, this may become one of those toys that parents will immediately regret buying.)
Razor brandished its latest offering, the
Razor Graffiti Chalk Scooter, an updated take on the iconic kick scooter that encourages children to make the sidewalk their canvas as they coast through the addition of a foot-controlled, three-pronged chalk holder fixed to the back of the board.
Bauble Bounty: Many tweens are still sporting rubber-covered wrists but, as with most tween fads, they’ll soon move on to a different novelty accessory. One Montana-based mompreneur used the Toy Fair in her effort to seize that opportunity with a product so new it doesn’t even have a website yet. Loop’emz are brightly colored plastic charms that hang on anything from
Silly Bandz and backpacks to shoe laces and belt loops. Younger tweens especially are bound to fall for the selection of silly faces, pets, and digital slang (e.g., BFF) charms. Built to snap on to popular
silicone sport watches, Italian-made
Popochos watch skins are available in a rainbow of colors, including glow-in-the-dark hues. The next
Swatch Guard, perhaps?
