Toys Worth Seeing…
Baby/Toddler Toys
What you need to know: Stack A Cake is a super cute and clever game for young kids. It’s super simple, but incorporates a variety of social-emotional, motor, and cognitive skills that young kids need to learn.
What You Need To Know: Tinker Rings is a cute toddler toy that comes with 5 textured nesting rings with 3 magnetic spots on the sides.
What you need to know:
Ringlets are silicone textured rings with suction cups that attach to most flat surfaces (including each other). They can twist and turn to create fun structures.
What you need to know: Topper Takes A Trip is a game for 2 year olds that focuses on teaching children about different objects and the settings that they belong to.
What you need to know: (Ad) Magicube is an open-ended magnetic construction toy that comes in a bunch of variety packs and sizes. The blocks are designed to connect from all sides allowing for endless building options and creativity.
About: Topsy-Turvy Stacking Blocks are colorful cardboard nesting blocks that come with a unique twist. Each block is slightly slanted, which allows for an extra challenge when stacking, as children have to carefully position them so that they do not topple over.
What you need to know: Balancing Barnyard is a stacking game for toddlers (and preschoolers) with a twist. The idea is to balance as many animals as possible on top of the wobbly barn.
What you need to know: This play set comes with 7 squishy plastic forest animals and a tall plastic tree.
The idea is to insert the forest friends inside the holes of the tree and remove them. Think of it as a pegboard type toy for toddlers.
What you need to know: Little Action is a simple first game for kids 2.5 and up. It is designed to introduce the concept of structured play while encouraging many developmental skills, such as turn-taking, following directions, fine motor control and coordination, and spatial awareness, all while having fun and interacting with you.
What You need to know: (ad) The Babu Collection comes in 3 unique wooden block sets. There is the Babu Stacker, the Babu Rocker, and the Babu Rollers. Each set is designed to encourage open-ended play, creativity, decision making, problem-solving, and motor skills.
About: Monkey Around is a first board game for 2-year-olds. It focuses on following directions, interacting and bonding with you, and performing different fine motor and gross motor activities.
What you need to know: Twist and Turnables are an 8 piece wooden nuts and bolts block set that will challenge fine motor skills and encourage young children to use two hands together.
About: Bunny Bedtime is a first board game for 2-year-olds that is fun to play together with your child before bed. The goal of the game is to help the bunny prepare for bed by completing his nightly routine.
Suction Kupz are soft and flexible rubbery cups with suctions at the bottom. They are a fun, open-ended and versatile toy for toddlers that can be played with in a number of ways.
What are Click Blocks? Click blocks are wooden stacking blocks with plastic pegs at the top. They attach firmly so they won’t easily fall apart on their own. Click Blocks are recommended for 12 months and up. Some pieces are on the smaller side so supervision is required.
What is Acorn Soup? Acorn Soup is an awesome first game for 2-year olds.
How do you play? Choose a recipe card and add the ingredients shown to make different soups.
What you need to know: Feed-Me Bath Frog is a bath toy that can be turned into a floating shape sorter or attached to a smooth surface (with suction cups). It can also be used to practice aiming and throwing into a net inside the frog’s mouth. Ages 12 months and up.
What you need to know: This wooden puppy shape sorter comes with 5 different colored shapes, and a spinning nose that changes the shape of the mouth as you turn it. It is recommended for kids 12 months and up
What you need to know: This is a double-sided wooden puzzle by Hape Toys. Recommended for 18 months and up.
One side is a simple inset puzzle that kids can match by shape and color.
Preschool Toys
Bull’s Eye is an innovative and engaging new card game that works on reaction speed, visual processing, and attention.
What You Need To Know: This craft set comes with 6 sets of purse kits for your preschoolers to design. Each set includes a felt piece with pre-punched holes, a string, plastic needle and cute accessories.
The felt piece is designed to easily fold into a purse and comes with velcro already attached.
Create and personalize your very own bracelets.
What You Need to Know: I had a blast making these! No really. The age recommendations says 4+ but it can be a ton of fun for older kids (and even adults).
What you need to know: Pete the Cat I love My Buttons Game is a fun new board game for preschoolers from the Educational Insights line that involves squeezers. The goal of the game is to help Pete the Cat button all the buttons on his shirt before the other players.
Sequence For Kids is a fun and simple board game for preschoolers that involves decision making and strategy.
It comes with this board game (see below) with beautifully illustrated animal pictures and 4 free spaces in all the corners,
What You Need To Know: Beware Of The Mole is an interesting new board game for preschoolers that requires kids to follow directions, sustain attention, match colors, and make decisions.
It comes with 4 wooden stands known as baskets (see below) with slots,
About: Hi Ho Cherry-O is a classic board game for preschoolers that still super fun and relevant today.
It incorporates lots of skills that preschoolers need to learn with rules that are simple to follow.
What you need to know: The Missing Cupcakes Game is a super fun and interactive board game for preschoolers. It is a cooperative game, which means that kids try and win the game by playing together instead of against each other.
What you need to know: Pengoloo is a simple memory game for preschoolers. The penguins are adorable and super motivating and engaging for kids. The more kids are motivated to play, the more they will learn. So YeY for penguins!!!
What you need to know: Frida’s Fruit Fiesta is a simple Bingo board game for preschoolers that focuses on letter recognition and fine motor development. It is one of the games from the Educational Insights line that incorporates the use of tweezers. Tweezers are helpful for kids because they build muscles in the hands, specifically in the thumb, index, and middle fingers which are needed for holding and using a pencil and scissors.
Why I love it: There is a decision-making element to this game that requires problem-solving. Players are required to make an educated guess about which piece to stack in order for it to less likely fall over. This would depend on the type of tower already standing at the time.
What you need to know: Where’s Mr. Wolf is a cooperative memory game that requires sustained attention and concentration to play. The goal is to help the animals reach their barns before the wolf gets them. To do this players take turns flipping over the tokens with pictures of animals on the back and inserting them into the matching barns.
What you need to know: Fish Feud is a highly entertaining game for kids (and adults too). Neither of you will want to stop playing.:)
Fish Feud comes with 1 large fish (with an open mouth),
What you need to know: Gumball Grab is a super fun game that incorporates a variety of developmental skills that preschoolers need to practice.
Goal of the game: Help Emmet the Elephant pack for a trip!
To Play: Take turns rolling the dice and packing articles of clothing into the suitcase that corresponds to the color you land on. Be careful! If you land on a mouse, it will dump out everything you packed.
School-Aged Toys
FarmBit is one of the new products from the OffBit brand. Check out the full review here.
Whether it’s time for a costume party or not, this craft set will inspire kids to play pretend as they design their very own masks.
Templaytes are beautiful wooden shapes designed to promote creativity and open-ended play for kids young and old.
The way you use them is up to you!
Kids will create designs, learn about geometry, discover symmetry, build visual spatial skills, and work on problem-solving as they play.
Also, look at this fancy packaging…
What You Need To Know: Acrobat is a super fun balance game for kids ages 5 and up, and can be played with up to 8 players.
It comes with 20 cardboard discs with 12 colorful spots on each disc,
What you need to know: Leaps and Ledges is a unique card game for kids that incorporates some luck and a bit of strategy. The idea is to move all of your 4 pawns to the top of the tower before your opponent by following the directions on the cards. Beware of some of the special cards though cause they can either set you back or help you along (depending on the action you need to perform).
What you need to know: Turasa is a Yoga inspired board game for kids.
The idea is to help Turasa, the turtle find his way back home from the ocean. You must disguise yourself as animals (yoga poses) to blend in while helping Turasa.
What else you need to know: There is only one movable piece in the game, the unity rock, which means that players have to work together to help Turasa return home.
What you need to know: Snail Sprint is AWESOME!
In more detail: Snail Sprint is a board game for ages 5-99+.
The goal of the game is to help the snails (on your chosen card) race to the podium to take first place.
Snail Sprint comes with a board game made up of 3 interlocking puzzle pieces, a podium, 6 snails (with magnets), 2 dice, 12 race cards, and the tin base (which is also the box of the game).
What you need to know: Dragon’s Breath is a unique board game with an exciting theme. It can be played with 2-4 players, is recommended for ages 5 and up, but can be modified for younger players.
What you need to know: Spot The Bot is an interesting game that fosters visual attention, perception, and quick reaction time. The idea is to match the robot on the dice to the one on the game board before your opponent.
What you need to know: Poppin Hoppies is guaranteed to keep kids engaged while having a ton of fun.
The game comes with a board, body part puzzle pieces to create 4 characters, and 7 spring-loaded hoppies that jump up a few seconds after you push them down.
What you need to know: Poppin Hoppies is guaranteed to keep kids engaged while having a ton of fun.
The game comes with a board, body part puzzle pieces to create 4 characters, and 7 spring-loaded hoppies that jump up a few seconds after you push them down.
What you need to know: Set tiles have 3 features: color, shape, and number. To make a set you need all 3 features on the tiles to either be ALL the same or ALL different.
What you need to know: Zingo is a popular bingo game by ThinkFun that comes in a variety of educational themes (telling time, counting, sight words, etc.).
What you need to know: Clack is a unique fast paced game that will encourage a quick reaction time and promote visual processing skills. It comes with 36 magnetic disc and 2 dice (one with shapes and one with colors). It is recommended for kids 5 and up.
What you need to know: Balance Beans is a 1 player logic game for ages 5 and up. It comes with a balance tray, 9 bean pieces (3 single beans, 3 double beans, and 3 triple beans), and 40 challenge cards ranging from easy to super hard. The goal of each challenge card is to figure out how to balance the beans on the seasaw.
What you need to know: Cubeez is a fast paced visual perceptual game.
To Play: Choose a challenge card and see who can replicate it the quickest using 3 cubes of the same color (not as easy as it sounds). The player who gets 6 cards first wins the game.
What you need to know: Sherlock is the greatest memory game ever!
To play:
1) Turn over 6 cards and place them around the main deck.
2) Take a few seconds to memorize the pictures on the cards and where they are positioned.
What is Kanoodle? Kanoodle is a a one player logic game that challenges spatial reasoning and requires patience, problem-solving and perseverance to solve. Yes, it’s also a lot of fun!:)