2008 Great Toy Awards from Talking Tots plus Exclusive Discounts

Talking Tots, the UK’s fastest-growing toddler activity group, today announced the winners of the 2008 Great Toy Awards, and launched a website packed with tips on choosing gifts for children, together with exclusive discounts from some of the UK’s finest toy companies.

British parents spend £1.4 billion each year on ‘educational’ toys, but the early years experts at Talking Tots believe many of these toys offer no significant developmental benefit to children. The Great Toy Awards are designed to recognise toys that offer real educational value for children, and are selected by a team of experts including paediatric speech and language experts, educational psychologists, teachers – and toddlers!

Hoping for some toys from the Great Toy Awards

“We considered more than 3,000 toys for inclusion in the guide, and many of the most popular items are no more educational than the box they come in,” says Tracey Park, co-founder of Talking Tots. “We launched the Great Toy Awards to recognise toys that are designed to really work with children’s early development, and that combine educational value with fun and great value for money.”

Parents can discover the 2008 Great Toy Award winning toys at the Great Toy Guide website, where they can purchase all the winning toys, and access exclusive discounts and special offers on a range of brilliant toys from companies including Manhattan Baby, JellyCat, Le Van Toy, Plan Toys and many more.

Talking Tots is also offering one family the chance to win a stocking stuffed with £250 of Great Toys including a Leapfrog “Tag” system – one of the most exciting new toys of 2008.

The 2008 Talking Tots Great Toy Awards winners are:

Great Communication Toy: Bamba’s First Comforts, £29.99, Baby Sign Factory
Great Motor Skills Toy: Hammering Set, £9.99, Absorbent Minds
Great Imaginative Toy: Dragonstone Castle, £13.99, Lula Sapphire
Great Role Play Toy: Tea Time Tray Set, £23.95, Tickety-Boo
Great Early Learning Toy: Cookie Shapes, £13.40, Learning Resources

Full details of all winning toys and runners up are available on the Great Toy Guide website at www.greattoyguide.com

LeapFrog Tag – A ‘Must Have’ Toy for this Christmas

This Christmas, the Practical Parenting Gold Award winning new LeapFrog Tag Reading System, will take learning to read to a whole new level. Combining the enjoyment of reading with an interactive learning experience through fun games and activities, Tag has already been tipped by Woolworths and Argos as one of the top new toys for Christmas.  [See Agros Top Christmas Toys and Woolworths Top Christmas Toys]

LeapFrog Tag

The Tag Reading System consists of an electronic reader which, when used with the range of exciting LeapFrog book titles, makes story time come to life. With every touch Tag’s built-in camera reads words and pages aloud, with characters and pictures making noises to enhance the reading experience. The groundbreaking Tag technology helps children learn to read, develop their vocabulary and learn how to spell, through games and activities within the books.

The Tag system works by “reading” by identifying dotted media. A small, sophisticated infrared camera works as an imaging system to recognize letters, words, and symbols when written on special dot-patterned paper. Using an optical pattern system and digital processing techniques the Tag reader can determine its precise location within the dot media. This enables a child to jump around within a book, or back and forth between different books in a seamless way.

There are more than nine titles in the LeapFrog Tag range, from classics such as Paddington Bear and Dr Seuss, to contemporary characters like Ariel from Disney Princesses and Po from Kung Fu Panda.

The current full list is:

Disney Pixar Cars
Disney Princess
Kung Fu Panda
Go Diego Go
SpongeBob Square Pants
Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends
Olivia
Paddington Bear
Dr Seuss The Cat in the Hat

Exciting titles due to launch in 2009 include Dora the Explorer, Scooby Doo and the eagerly anticipated Madagascar 2. Tag stores up to five titles and is small enough for learning on the go.

A unique benefit of Tag is that it connects to a brand new online Learning Path*: a dedicated website where kids can unlock fun rewards and activities and parents can follow their child’s learning progress.
Tag is suitable for 4-8 years old. RRP £39.99 which includes the title Ozzie & Mack

The new technology means that children are no longer confined to repetitive books. With Tag, reading becomes a joy and a game! Children are now able to get a sense of independence as they can to read by themselves or with their parent. For more information visit www.leapfrog.com/tag

Get this Year’s Top Toys at Boots

The Toy Retailers Association recently listed their Dream Toys list for Christmas 2008, which reported here.

Boots are stocking 5 of these products which can be ordered online.

Gr8 Girls Cup Cake Maker – £30

Girls will have hours of fun cooking and decorating delicious cup cakes with Gr8 Girls Cup Cake Maker.
£30.00

Click here to buy.

FurReal Friends Biscuit My Lovin’ Pup – £150

FurReal Friends Biscuit My Lovin’ Pup is a fully interactive life-size golden retriever and a perfect friend for dog-loving kids.

Click here to buy.

High School Musical Dance Mat – £25

Dance and groove with this High School Musical Dance Mat!

Click here to buy.

My Life – £50

My Life lets you have fun by making a virtual life that can be shared with your friends.

Click here to buy.

Clone Wars Helmet – £30

This Clone Wars Helmet features voice amplifier and plays signature phrases.

Click here to buy.

At the time of writing, you can also get 600 extra advantage points when you spend £60 at Boots!
Click here to visit the Boots online store or click on the banner below for one of their latest online offer.

A New Zealand Christmas Top Toys 2008 List

Toyworld, one of Australasia’s largest toy retailers,  has published its Annual Top 20 Hot Toys for Christmas 2008, based on trends in its New Zealand stores.

The Toyworld Annual Top 20 Hot Toys for Christmas 2008 are listed below in alphabetical order.

1 Bakugan Range – action-figure warriors which tuck into spheres and pop open when they’re rolled onto a game card, where they gather points — and the devotion of collectibles-obsessed children – there are 100 to collect in total.

2 BABY born® – A life like doll that can drink, wet her nappy, eat and use her potty, cry and squeak and be bathed.

3 Beedos Super Studio

4 Ben 10 Alien Force + Ben 10 Scooter & Skateboard – action figures from the Ben 10 TV series.

5 Bikes – Hollywood & Tracker with Easy Push Handle

6 Fisher Price Waterproof Digital Camera

7 Hannah Montana Range – a range of toys, apparel and games from the Disney TV show.

8 High School Musical Dance Mat

9 iTeddy – comes with an inbuilt interactive media player on which kids can watch cartoons, play music and play games!

10 Leapfrog TAG Reading System – an innovative, interactive reading product that brings books to life, as words talk, pictures sing and stories live out loud.

11 Littlest Pet Shop Tail Waggin’ Fitness Club

12 Mushabellies

13 NERF N-Strike Vulcan – a fully automatic dart gun.

14 Playskool Dance Cam – A camera console which plugs into the TV set and the camera projects a child onto the TV screen so they can see themselves dance along to kid-friendly tunes.

15 Playworld Waterslide

16 Star Wars Clone Wars Ultimate Lightsaber

17 Star Wars Clone Wars LEGO Imperial Drop Ship

18 Sylvanian Families Willow Hall – toy house

19 Tech Deck Range – a range of miniature skateboards and skateparks

20 Trampoline and Safety Net

Visit their store at www.toyworld.co.nz