Posts for 'Toys' Category

OTTAWA - With a digital MP3 player for infants, an updated take on paint-by-numbers and a doll that connects children to other children in need via the Internet on the list, the Canadian Toy Testing Council's top toys for 2009 are a mix of old-school playthings and new-school technology.

"A lot of these are multifunctional toys this year," said Leigh Poirier, the council's executive director. "It's a little more involved, even though the toys are fairly simplistic."The council unveiled its 10 Children's Choice award winners and other top toys in Ottawa on Friday.

The SweetPea3 MP3 digital music player, a Canadian-designed toy for children from infants to age six, was chosen as the battery-operated toy of the year. The handheld player plays music from a speaker and has no headphone jack to damage little ears.

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After Last Year's Recalls, Spin Master and Mega Brands Try Again With New Look Pixos, a toy marketed by Spin Master Ltd. of Toronto, lets children arrange small beads into designs, then add water to make them stick together permanently.The toy is similar to Aqua Dots, a product recalled last November after several children swallowed beads and slipped into temporary comas. In fact,

Pixos is a new version of the same toy, marketed under a different name. More than 20 million toys were recalled last year because of problems ranging from toxic lead paint to magnets that were lethal when swallowed.

The toy industry has since spent an estimated $200 million to enhance safety procedures. Congress overhauled the Consumer Product Safety Commission, increasing its budget by almost a third.But what couldn't be repaired were the reputations of the tainted brands. That left toy makers with a difficult choice: abandon the products and start new lines from scratch, or relaunch the toys with new names.

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Super slim. Goes anywhere. Features wireless sharing, video playback and built-in FM tuner. Holds up to 2,000 songs or 25,000 pictures or 25 hours of video.
 
Manufacturer: Microsoft

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If you’re an avid biker and would like to introduce your progeny to the wonderful world of biking at a young age, why not do it with the Lil’ Kawasaki? This All Terrain Vehicle uses push-button operation for easy stop-and-go traveling, while integrated footrests make it safe and comfortable to ride around in your garden. There is even a storage compartment up front for them to store their treasures, while a cup holder works great for storing a pint of Guinness milk. This $80 Kawasaki bike has a top speed of 2mph (hooray).

This is cool, I’ve just got back from a 2 week vacation to find a parcel from gadget shop Red 5 containing the exceedingly cool cult money box, the Money Monster.

My ten year old daughter has taken something of a shine to him and wrote this totally independent review:

This cool new money box aka the Money monster is fun and funny with moving eye and ears plus the eye flashes in various different colors such as: blue, red and purple. He says many different phrases and songs for instance: "OI, YOU, FEED ME MONEY!" , "Money, money, money, in my tummy, la la la la la!" ,"BUUUUUURP!" and loads

Want to be funky?

Here are the newest funkeys gadgets.

UBFunkeys look like highly collectable designer art toys, but these are not only collectable, they’re connectable. The UBFunkeys can be connected to a computer where they can explore Funkeytown, the virtual world where UBFunkeys live and play.

Receiving a kid involved in knowledge at an untimely age is a first-class thing; after all, he/she is going to be immersed in it for their entire life. You might as well give them a bit of a headstart, and I don’t mean getting them a cell phone at age 6. I’m thinking more along the lines of the Marvel branded Ani-Movie Stop Motion Movie Maker– it shows your child how to make the most basic of movies and helps them develop some creativity (and patience!)
While you, the full grown adult with some sort of education, might be able to make a stop motion movie by yourself on your uber powerful computer, a 8 year old kid might not have those skills just yet. That’s where this thing comes in, as it has 4 interchangeable Marvel backgrounds and another 4 Marvel characters (Spiderman, Hulk, Green Goblin, and Dr. Doom), which are hinged for easy posing. This allows your kid to easily arrange his set, and, frame by frame, piece together his movie. Once the masterpiece has been finished, you can play it back on your TV using the paltry on-board memory or put your movie onto a SD card and then put it on your computer, video player or a DVD in order to preserve it forever.

Do you love to play piano? With this new gadget you can play piano not only with your hands but even with your feet. The keyboard has almost two full octaves of piano keys and is 6 feet wide. The World’s Largest Piano Mat even lets you record and listens to your songs.The Piano Mat is made of plastic for easy cleaning. The price for this gadget is $39.95.

There is at the present a machine that exhibits the newest game scores on a retro-looking stadium scoreboard spank accurate in front of you. You no longer need to have an Internet Explorer/Firefox window open at all times, waiting for MLB.com’s website to upload those scores. No sir, the Liveboard from Vroop does all that for you, giving you one of the quickest and most efficient methods when it comes to pitch-by-pitch updates. How is this possible, you ask? Was it done via a little sprinkling of fairy dust? Find out further after the jump.
Scores are displayed courtesy of a Bluetooth connection between the Liveboard and your computer. Whenever you want to view scores on the Liveboard, just boot up your computer and load the Liveboard manager application (takes approximately 1 minute to download) in order to sync the scores. LED lights on the Liveboard will then display the corresponding score, inning, balls/strikes, base occupancy, and even the batter’s jersey number in real time.

 Odd to notice how wood is building an manifestation in electronics. It appears as though people are increasing sick and tired of those cold exteriors that do not express any sense of quality or warmness. Designer Roland Kaufmann have notion up of a perception known as the Jano bicycle. This two-wheeler will be made out of wood, and has a dual purpose, being able to be used for everyday commute between home and office as well as making for a sturdy off-road bike.
Wood is used since the designer believes it is much lighter than other standard bikes, and with a stiffness up to 10 times more than fibreglass and nearly half a dozen times stiffer than a kevlar/epoxy composite, who am I to argue? Just keep this far away from termite mounds.