Green Toys™ Tugboat

Embark on a cruise across the bathtub. Navigate the wading pool. Even splash around in the occasional mud puddle. There’s no end to the Good Green Fun™ young sailors can have with the Green Toys™ Tugboat. This colorful craft floats great, and has a wide spout to scoop and pour water. Made in the USA from 100% recycled plastic milk containers that save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, our trusty Tugboat is both good for the earth, and – most importantly – safe for the busy little folks who play there. No BPA, PVC, phthalates or external coatings. Packaged using only recycled and recyclable materials and printed with soy inks.

Green Toys™ Recycling Truck

Sort bottles, cans, and paper or just have a blast! Your eco-conscious little one will learn recycling basics while playing with this super cool recycling truck that has a movable recycling bed and open/shut rear door. The awesome eco-design has no metal axles.

Green Toys™ Sand Play Set

Build a castle. Dig for buried treasure. No matter how ambitious the project, the world’s most eco-groovy sand play set always leaves a light footprint. Like all Green Toys™ products, our Sand Play Set is made from advanced environmentally friendly materials, helping to reduce fossil fuel use and C02 emissions, all in the name of Good Green Fun™!

Green Toys™ Tool Set

No job is too big for the world’s most environmentally friendly tool kit! This awesome 15 piece set includes a tool box, phillips screwdriver, flat screwdriver, hammer, saw, wrench, pliers, 2 two-hole connectors, 2 nails, 2 bolts, and 2 nuts. The Green Toys™ Tool Kit turns work into Good Green Fun™!

Before Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox 360 existed, Kids, especially boys, were playing with construction toys. The most popular are The Erector Set (change the name to Meccano) that was first produced in 1913. The toy had a collection of screws, bolts, metal beams, nuts, gears, and electric motors. Other famous construction toys were Girder and Panel building sets of Kenner Products and were introduced in 1957. They were one of the first to advertise their product on television.

AFI’s Behind the Plastic: The Golden Age of Toy Biz/Marvel Toys Panel

True innovators in the world of action figures are few and far between. The team at Marvel Toys/Toy Biz has been bringing articulation to American action figures in their ground breaking lines: Marvel Legends, Spiderman Classics, Lord of the Rings, Legendary Comic Book Heroes and other Marvel movie lines. At Comic Con 08 I brought the people that poured their blood, sweat and tears into these toys and had them talk about what might have been and their future plans for these line. Among the stories we had a slide show of NEVER BEFORE SEEN PLANS for unproduced figures from their Marvel, LCBH and other lines.

I’ve been friends with most of the Toy Biz/Marvel toys guys for going on seven years.   Some of them I just see twice a year at Toy Fair and Comic Con, some of them are friends where we email, talk on the phone and see each other when in town..  In talking with them and seeing them in their post-”Toy Biz” lives … you can see that they are mourning the loss of this “family” they had at Toy Biz/Marvel Toys.   It’s a palpable thing.  They “lost” their dream job.  Sure, some of the are still making toys, but the team work, the collaboration, the family has split up.  And it’s had an effect on all of them.

Talking with Jesse, I had heard the things, that up until now, he hasn’t been able to say.   It was a decision by the Marvel board of directors to scuttle the toy making arm of the company, it was a business decision, and as much of a drag as it is, the way the world/indistry is now it’s maybe not such a bad decision from a stock holder point of view.

I didn’t put this panel together to rub it in anyone’s face the toys that we won’t get now.  I really did it to give my friends some closure.  Even though they saw it coming, the rug was pulled out from under them way too fast.

We loved this stuff, they loved this stuff.   These guys, Jesse, Damon, Eddie, Phil, Steve, Dave and several others… they aren’t marketing guys, or businessmen.. they were toy makers… and damn good ones.  And overseeing it all was Joanne.  She doesn’t get a lot of props or press like the other guys, but as they said at the panel, she was the heart and soul of Toy Biz and she had the vision to let these guys do amazing things. I wish she had made it to SDCC.  She deserved to see the fans, and hear the gasps.

These guys will do other amazing things, but it will be hard for them to do it all together again.  That was like catching lightning in a bottle.

When I was little, GeoSafari was the “it” toy for educational fun. And from what I remember, Educational Insights (the company that created the GeoSafari brand) was the first company to actually make a computer-esque learning game. Or at least the first ones to do it successfully. Now, there are all kinds of educational toys and brands out there to make sure your child is learning and having fun at the same time. However, that certainly wasn’t always the case.

Growing up, I owned a GeoSafari that had all of the different cards with maps on them. Of course, mine was straight out of the eighties with its bulky design that stood up so the card would continually fall off while I played it. Now, the GeoSafari devices have an easy-to-carry, laptop design with 63 two-sided cards and over 2,000 questions. I think mine had about 5 to 10 two-sided cards, in comparison. What amazes me more is that GeoSafari has created hundreds of other educational games, like a talking globe, a talking microscope and a fossil collection. You can find all of them at Arsa Toys, but I’m still partial to the original map or atlas GeoSafari game. It was educational, but my brother and I would still fight over it like kids do for the Nintendo controller now. Ahh … to be a kid of the eighties!

As the the global recession continues to take a toll on many family budgets, an increasing number of parents are looking to save money on excess expenses, such as toys. Until today, I had never heard of a toy library before, and I’m amazed by this fabulous and simple idea.

Just like traditional libraries, toy libraries lend items to members for a fixed amount of time. It’s not just a fun way to try out a toy, but it also helps parents and children learn to play together. Toy libraries are also provide valuable resources to children with special needs and disabilities, whose toys can be especially expensive but infinitely important in the development process of the child. Home school teachers also use toy libraries to access educational toys that are often found in a traditional classroom.

Toy libraries are popular in the United Kingdom and Australia, but are not often found in the United States and Canada. There is a US Toy Library Association, which offers a variety of resources, including a list of all toy library locations in the United States. If you’re interested in trying out a toy library in your home town, visit the link to learn more about the services the library provide and all membership fees.

If you don’t have a toy library in your town, talk to other parents in the community and see if you can’t set up an informal one through a playgroup, church or community center.

Lots of children are fascinated by the sky and outer space, and many parents want to encourage their healthy curiosity without investing in the Hubbell Telescope. As a kid, I had nifty glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling, but as my parents can attest, they were a pain to install and remove and didn’t have much educational value. Here are a few educational space and sky toys that don’t involve annoying stickers to scrape off the ceiling, no bits of sticky putty to get stuck in the pores of the walls.

Kids will love watching the planets (and Pluto) orbit around the glowing sun from their ceiling with this Solar System Mobile by Uncle Milton. This product does require some assembly and does not fit over traditional ceiling fans or lights. The device is battery operated (the first set is included) and features an automatic 15 minute shut off. This product comes with a educational CD/DVD and glow-in-the-dark star star stickers to complete the space effect.

The Moon In My Room by Uncle Milton is really a neat and educational toy. You simply mount the very realistic moon on your wall and watch as it illuminates through the 12 different phases of the moon. It comes with a remote control or which offers automatic and manual settings. It functions especially well as a fun and educational night light (it automatically shuts off after a half an hour).

This Rainbow In My Room projector by Uncle Milton is another great nighttime treat for kids. It projects a clear, beautiful rainbow across the room, acting as a great night light or decoration. Just like the Moon in My Room, it features an automatic shut off timer and runs on batteries. Plus it comes with a prism to learn how to make real rainbows.

It can be difficult to get kids to try new foods. As a child, my play food options were pretty much limited to a floppy rubber fried egg and a hollow plastic banana. Toddlers and young children really benefit from dramatic pretend play, such as playing kitchen or grocery store. Here are a few interesting (and rather exotic) food play sets designed to encourage healthy pretend play and food familiarization.

The Pretend and Play Multi-Cultural Food Set ($21.72 at Arsa Toys) is a great way to introduce children to a variety of foods. The 11-piece set includes familiar items like a hot dog and slice of pizza while introducing more exotic foods, like a croissant, flan, Spanish rice, egg roll, and salmon sushi.

Children can also learn how to “cut” food with the wood Cutting Food Box by Melissa & Doug ($14.49 at Arsa Toys). The kit contains a variety of meat, fruits, vegetables and bread that can be cut with the kid-safe plastic cleaver. The segments are held together with Velcro, which adds a fun crunching sound.

For children with more adventurous appetites, there’s the Sushi Slicing Box ($14.49 at Arsa Toys). The set includes shrimp, tuna and salmon roe, egg pieces, sushi rolls, condiments and chopsticks. Children can pretend to make their own sushi and chop it up with the included “cleaver”.

There’s even the Chinese-cuisine themed Good Fortune Food Playset ($8.70 at Arsa Toys) that comes complete with dim sum steamers, dim sum, chopsticks, lettuce leaves, a take-out box, tea and of course, a fortune cookie.

Children may not alwas want to taste these foods, but at least they can learn about other cultures and have a good time while doing so. Of course, there are many more food playsets out there so you can find the one that is most appropriate for the age and tastes of the child in your life.

What better way to let your kids sing to their own tune than with a musical toy?  Interactive and just plain fun, these colorful toy instruments will bring hours of fun to any music lover. 

The Kidz Kawasaki Rock It guitar lets you create your own music by recording and playing it back.  With 20 musical sounds, three instruments in one, and a professional headset, this toy guitar will keep any young star entertained (and entertaining) for hours.  $21.90

The Kidz Kawasaki 37 Key Keyboard, complete with a mic and stand, allows you to sing and play at the same time. Play around with 16 rhythms, 16 musical instrument sounds and four drum sounds.  For ages 5 and up.  $27.90 

These Rock Beat Rhythm Sticks (BEST SELLER at ArsaToys.com) will be an instant hit with any kid who enjoys creating beats.  All you have to do is turn them on and drum away!  With the push of a button, transition from the sound of a snare drum to a tom-tom to a crash cymbal.  You also have the option of playing a snappy rock tune that you can drum along to.  For an extra touch, the ends of the sticks light up with each beat.  For ages 3 and up.  Uses 4 AA batteries (included).  $14.50

Why not give the gift of knowledge to children in your family this Christmas?  This DK Children’s Encyclopedia will open children’s eyes to the world around them.  From DK’s critically acclaimed Eyewitness series, this fantastically rendered encyclopedia promotes learning by stimulating a child’s natural desire to explore. While most encyclopedias are software versions of traditional texts, Eyewitness Children’s Encyclopedia breaks the mold by presenting creative 3D landscapes which transport children to virtual worlds- from the rain forest to the inside of the Earth, from their backyard to deep space- in which every scene and object is linked to exploring a child’s natural curiosity of the “how” and “why” of their world.

The encyclopedia is extensively cross-referenced and you can leave “sticky notes” on screens as you go along so you can go back to favorite sections. Far more than a collection of information, the Eyewitness Children’s Encyclopedia is an absorbing interactive experience that teaches by letting children explore the world!

Ages: 7 to 12

Features:

• More than 6,000 screens and pop-ups
• More than 750,000 words of text
• 3,000 key word glossaries
• 50 interactive videos
• 200 animations
• 700 biographies
• 100 digital maps
• 2 hours of full audio
• 20 3-D environments to explore
• Topics: English, Science, Geography, History, Math, Art, Music

Buy now for $26.10 at ArsaToys.com.