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New York Toy Fair was this past week at the Jacob Javits Center in (you guessed it!) New York City. Host to the worlds largest gathering of toys and games, organized by the Toy Industry Association, hundreds of toy manufacturers and game publishers gather to show off their recent and upcoming products to retailers, buyers, and the press. The New York Toy Fair is filled with nearly every toy, game, form of electronic entertainment, and outdoor play thing you can imagine. With roughly 100,000 products and 7,000 new toy debuts (not to mention 30,000 “play professionals” from more then 100 countries) NY Toy Fair is a wonderland for your inner child.
With all these toys, we wondered what was new for this year. Some things, like the very popular monsters, zombies, mustaches, and duct tape crafts are still holding strong, with plenty of new dolls, kits, toys, and you name it coming out this year in every shape and size. You name, it, it can be found with a mustache.
Expanding this year are apps and virtual worlds of every kind. Every toy, every game, every-everything has a virtual aspect to it. Have a teddy bear? Here’s an app to go with it. New robot? App. Learning Portuguese? There’s an app to go with that. There are even toothbrushes with apps- I’m not kidding you. I’m waiting on an app for apps. An app organizer, perhaps? Because I’m app-ed out, app-arently.
Also trending this year are interactive talking toys (dolls or bears or robots that talk back to you, do as you request, and sometimes sing and tell stories), unicorns (nearly every major manufacturer has at least one, as a doll’s “pet” or as it’s own stand alone product), and anything retro. Some toys, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, are back with a new look- some, like the Fisher Price dial up rotary phone, looks the way it did the first time it came out decades ago- right up to it’s packaging.
Got a crafty kid? There is every kind of weaving kit you can imagine, and from every brand big or small. Weaving rugs, potholders, bracelets, scarves- really anything and everything. This is building on the success of the Rainbow Loom, one of the TOTY’s toy of the year award winners for 2014. If you have not heard of this toy yet- where have you been? There are plenty to choose from- take the kids and choose your poison. Want to take it up a notch? The variety of jewelry making kits is as wide as the Sochi Olympics building difficulties. From things that you could actually get your mother to enjoy wearing to the standard sting of colored wood and glitter, you can find something to suit your little designer. Bead/peg kits are also going to be all the rage this year, with not only jewelry kits but craft kits, stained glass makers, 3D pictures, and more- all made with beads, pegs, or “dots”.
STEAM learning is hot this year- one for the teachers, homeschoolers, and every parent who does more then park thier kid in front of an iPhone or TV all day. I’m thrilled about this one. STEAM encourages fun and learning through science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Some people prefer to leave out the “A” for art and call this STEM, but without art, part of your brain (and soul) dies, and it’s been proven that kids who are exposed to art do better in school and in later life- so why leave it out? Tons of learning available in easy kits with directions for mom and dad to get down and have fun with the kids in nearly every subject. Enjoy this trend while it lasts with this many choices.
Everything poops. Really. You can make clay poop, your bear poop, there are pooping apps, and even dolls that poop- or have pets that do. We even saw unicorns that poop rainbows. Take that, flying pigs. Gross? Yes, for sure. But funny- just ask any kid (or man). Blind packs- once mainly used by LEGO, where you got a mini-fig for about $4 but didn’t know which one was inside, now we noticed about half the booths we visited had their own version. Trash Packs, Playmobile, Reeves Horses- you name it, there is a blind pack for it. Cats, cats, and more cats- from Grumpy Cat, to Lil Bub, and more- every cat that has ever been on the internet has a stuffed cat (or line) this year. They join the ranks of “Boo, the World’s Cutest Dog” in the cute and fluffy hall of fame. Go internet!
One last trend I want to touch on is kids “Go Pro” type cameras. Most of these have a digital or downloadable aspect, many with 360 views. Some fly up in the air, some mount to helmets, hats, or waistbands, one was even a watch. One thing that was annoying? Almost NONE were waterproof or water resistant- even the watch- and didn’t even have water-proof cases you could buy separately. Only very few had that option. And any parent will tell you, it’s going to get wet. Dropped in the pool, the lake, the toilet- and that watch is going right into the sink. Hopefully that will be addressed (on all counts) before they come to market- and a big HOORAY for the brands that thought about that beforehand.
Now- lets get down to playtime!
My girls are older, so they don’t care about toys. However, I know both of them would squeee over the lil bub stuffed animal! It is so cute and of course even I would love to have a grumpy cat one! I LOVE grumpy cat!
with 13 grandchildren,those would be loved ,,nice selections