control the plane using a smartphone. Deluxe Roominate (Roominate) A wired construction kit designed specifically to get girls excited about engineering, this educational toy allows kids to construct everything—from lamps to windmills—and then wire their constructions with lights and motors to bring them to life.
ARTS OgoBild Bits + Animate (OgoSport) This 75-piece building kit allows kids to create characters and feature them in stop-motion animated movies using the included video software. Combines building, storytelling, and movie-making for endless creative fun. Vivitz (Jakks Pacific) Vivitz is a building toy that incorporates traditional arts and crafts. Young designers snap together the bendable, hexagon-shaped pieces to create colorful jewelry and bedroom accessories.
MATH
swer math questions in order to move around the board. Right answers are also rewarded with the opportunity to add baking soda to the “volcano” at the board’s center. The first person to make the volcano erupt wins. myPi (NumbersAlive!) myPi is a 3-D, educational plush figure that includes Pi’s decimal expansion printed around the rim and the geometric definition printed on the back. ■ Trending toys, seasonal play tips, safety information, and much more can be found on TIA’s year-round resource for parents and caregivers: www.ToyInfo.org.
M o r e B u z z w o r t h y Tr e n d s A recording of TIA’s Toy Trends Tea presentation from this year’s American International Toy Fair is now available at www.toyassociation.org/trends. The presentation includes an in-depth overview of each of this year’s hottest toy trends—and includes product demonstrations of some of the STEAM-related playthings mentioned here.
Math Explosion (The Young Scientists Club) The object of this family-friendly game is to correctly an-
MAY/JUNE 2014
THE TOY BOOK •
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