May Peeks

Top New Toy Picks of TDmonthly Staff Members

By TDmonthly Staff
May 2006

Last month, TDmonthly staff members sprang forward into the office an hour earlier every day. Once they cleared the sleep from their weary eyes, they discovered some delightful toys. As spring lures children and parents out later in the evenings and into your toy store with renewed energy, they just might become enamored with the following products as well.

Floor Standing Bookcase by DELTA ENTERPRISE CORP.

Floor Standing Bookcase by DELTA ENTERPRISE CORP. Delta Enterprise introduces its ‘Tween Dollhouse Collection, a line of multifunctional furniture that turns girls' bedrooms into life-sized dollhouses. The standing bookcase features a slanted roof design and curtained “window” and “door” storage with multiple shelves. The bookcase matches all of the pink with white “lace” trim furniture pieces in the ‘Tween Dollhouse Collection, including the Desk with side drawer and computer storage compartment, Chair and Hutch, Headboard with shelves room, Night Table with drawer and cabinet; and Coat Rack Shelf. The bookshelf’s been available since January 2006. 3/28/2006 (MSRP: $99.99; Age: 5 to 13)

Slooh Explore Space Live Telescope Card by BLUESTORM PRODUCTIONS INC.

Have you ever wanted to look through a high-powered telescope to explore outer space? This new product provides kids (and adults) with the amazing opportunity to explore the heavens by accessing time on an observatory. Log in and start exploring (by the minute, by the card); card-carrying astronomers will be notified in advance about upcoming missions so not to miss anything that maybe of interest. Furthermore, they can take and store pictures, zoom in on objects, listen to expert storytellers, etc. (uses either Mac or PC). Each $10.00 card is good for 50 minutes of viewing.
— Patrick Paolucci of Bluestorm told TDmonthly what makes the Slooh Explore Space Live Telescope a great alternative to a real telescope: "Families have the opportunity to access the same high-powered telescopes that professionals in the field of astronomy use to explore space. For most families, purchasing a telescope to explore the heavens is not a practical option.” The Slooh Explore Space Live Telescope Card is a winner of the 2006 Parents' Choice Gold Award.
1/17/2006 (MSRP: $10.00; Age: 8 and Up)

Happy Cube by KYP SALES & DISTRIBUTIONS

Happy Cube by KYP SALES & DISTRIBUTIONS This unique construction toy comes in six different colors, all of different difficulty levels. The cube is sold as a two-dimensional flat foam rectangle. It's easy to pack because pieces fit together jigsaw-style. The challenge is to remove the six pieces and then reconnect them to form a seamless cube. In addition, each Happy Cube comes with instructions on how to make larger cube formations by interlinking various pieces of the different colored cubes. Although each cube has only a few small pieces, it can be quite a brainteaser. This European product is available through U.S. distributor, Kyp Henn.
— "The Happy Cube has been around since '92 and still is going strong!" Kyp Henn told TDmonthly. "Math teachers love it and so do 99 year olds. I get calls daily from people who are trying to find them." ( Watch Video) 1/5/2005 (Age: 3 and Up)

Geniu$ by VIVA MEDIA

Geniu$ by VIVA MEDIA In Geniu$, the Tech Tycoon Game, kids get to be the entrepreneur, taking a small start-up company to a multinational level by combining invention, innovation and luck. The game features five locations around the globe: Detroit, Pittsburgh, London, Berlin and Melbourne and more than 40 types of buildings can be viewed in stunning real-time 3D graphics. Players can solve and apply more than 100 challenging physics puzzles and see key inventions of the 19th and 20th centuries and witness how they changed the world.The game is different every time it’s played. 4/12/2006 (MSRP: $29.99; Age: 10 and Up)

Flowboards by SPORT TECHNOLOGY INC

These boards provide a truly unique riding experience. Kids can experience the thrill of snowboarding in the summer as they carve their way down hills or through local skate parks or surf the streets. Riders will swear they feel the frost in the air or the salt spray as they drop in to the pipe. The patented 14-wheeled Deep Carve System (DCS) is what sets the flowboard apart from other board designs. Flowboards enable riders to carve through 45° turns with smooth, fluid transitions from edge to edge. 4/13/2006

GUPI – Intelligent Robot Guinea Pig by BBGADGETS

From England comes: GUPI. This super-cute interactive robotic squealer becomes happy if given attention (touch sensors) and nervous and shy if ignored. It reacts to sounds and will come to kids if happy or run away if scared. It also interacts with its environment; it will not bump into anything and can find its way out of a maze. As all good “pigs,” it will follow its robo-carrot’s "food" light beam when it gets “hungry” (needs to be recharged) and will “feed” on the carrot to recharge. It also interacts with other GUPIs and will learn to recognize as well as share food with them (that’s beyond sweet). GUPI makes more than 30 sounds, comes with rechargeable batteries (for GUPI) and three LR44 batteries (for carrot). An initial charge time of 12 hours is recommended. 4/20/2006 (MSRP: $47.45; Age: 4 and Up)

Faucet Light by HOG WILD

Faucet Light by HOG WILD “Faucet Light is just different,” said Joe Rooper of Hogwild. “ You screw it on your faucet and when you turn on your water, the light comes on. Turn off the water and the light goes off. Again, it is completely different, no one else has anything like it and it fits with toy stores, gift stores and more.” “I sold out of it!” Bettie Lee Moore, owner of Kaboom! in Leesburg, Va., told TDmonthly in December 2005. “And people were coming back for it!” ( Watch Video) 3/20/2006 (MSRP: $14.95)