Heroine Katniss sports a bow and arrow, and does plenty of damage with her accuracy in the UK release of the blockbuster Hunger Games today. Since opening in the US kids (of all ages) have been signing up for lessons at Archery clubs, that's far too faddy for us, just pick up the finest toy bow/arrow kit around in the shape of the fine Z-Curve launcher and have yourself some grin inducing fun. A couple of round-nosed projectiles that easily reach 80 feet and a sucker dart that'll pretty much latch on to any flat surface (foreheads not included), we ...
We are, according to the Guardian, running low on Helium and one scientist in particular is putting the blame squarely on the party balloon industry and, that'll now include our favourite flyers the Air Swimmers. Pressure on stocks aren't likely to let up anytime soon from our end, we're eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Bass and Whale version of these surreal R/C's - Air Swimmers are the only brand that'll not have you trying to cancel your credit card transaction. Here's an Angry Bird version too (pictured) selling only in the US righ now, looking forward to a video ...
ARCHOS have shown their hand in the Tablet market for kids this morning wading in with this, the Child Pad. It joins the MEEP and Kurio although it could well steal a lead as it is launching at the end of March, the others have a TBC date and late September. In the looks department all seems perfectly acceptable, it 'll run on the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software has 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM - And it'll be just £99. Kids friendly features include access to the Kids App Store powered by AppsLib which is filtered down to ...
Yup, the licensing wagon rolls out once more for the Angry Birds mob and this time we're treated to a quadruplet of the crew, red bird, yellow bird, king piggy and white bird as USB flash drives. They're each able to carry around 4GB of your precious data and we think hat wanting to fling them into a structure of Jenga bricks or LEGO will be overwhelming, so buy one (or more) and get on with it. £14.99 a piece from FIREBOX
When Mattel took on the board game last year it was met with shrieks of delight from bird lobbing fans, within just a couple of months version two was amongst us, we eagerly await the next installment. From iPod docks, PC speakers, noise producing plushes and a raft of other beak based accessories nothing new or very exciting to see here, it is with unbridled enthuisiasm that we bring you Angry Birds, The Outdoor Action game from Tactic. From May and for about £25 you get the main game, that's a playmat, blocks, pair of Angry Birds, a pig and ...
Lets face it, until just now you'd never realised how much you wanted a solar powered waving minature figure of Her Maj, did you? Pick yours from either pink or blue or buy both - Head THIS way for your purchase and to pick up some interesting facts about this great lady, our favourite is that she has opened 15 bridges in the UK!
We're unlikely to see the veritable amount of tat that surrounded the Royal wedding last year, we're hoping that celebratory and commemorative kit will all attempt to be as classy as this chess set (over optimistic perhaps). Each piece is handpainted, it truly is a glorious piece of kit that's certain to find favour with those who refer to parts of their abodes with terms such as East and West wing. It'll set you back almost £300 HERE for those interested parties.
We've been treated to a fair few Scalextric licences over the years, James bond ones were pretty good, Toy Story didn;t float our slot-car racing boat, this pair of beauties has us grinning from ear to ear. Why we've had to wait for so long to get Star Wars and Scalexctric to tema up Darth only knows, and frankly we don;t give a Yoda because it's finally happening - Exactly when we're no sure. So, we have the Micro 1:64 scale Death Star Attack set with a Lord Vader Tie Fighter battling a Luke Skywalker X-Wing, the spaceships have working ...
Over the years she’s had plenty of professions, doctor, teacher, princess and pop star and now she’s lending her hand to the art of ink, yup, here she is Tattooing Barbie. Apparently there is some “outrage” in the States, she has pink hair and a tattoo, oh my! Who are these overtly wholesome folk who can’t see that this is a) a doll b) sign of the times c) rather good? – Check out the outrage this way
Pull-back and release vehicles are a firm favourite in our office, pick them up for a quick fix race across the desk or floor and, content with that, resume work. Putting a spin (sorry) on this is the new TARDIS toy from BLUW, pull-back and release to send the Doctors machine spinning forwards before halting and spinning off in another direction until the mechanism is spent. We like, we like very much at £5.99 get you dizzy desktop toy over HERE
They’re a very visual lot those playthings aren’t they, but we thought we’d try out a media platform where toys weren’t getting an airing. We approached the UK’s leading parent and kid focused radio station to ask for a Toyology slot. The lovely people at Fun Kids radio said we could have tuesdays at 6:45pm and we said YEEEEEEEES. There are over 300,000 people across the UK tuning in every month on their DAB radios and also online and it infally confirms our status bestowed upon us by a few individuals of having “faces for radio” – FOr you 80′s kids check out this link to the Donna Summer classic tune that’s ben in our heads since securing our place on-air.
If you like the idea of being cultured but aren’t much of a reader we may just have found the perfect solution…
They’re called Spineless Classics, but basically they’re a book without the book part. The text from some of the greatest stories ever told in picture format ready to hang on your wall.
Naturally our favourites are Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan but there are some grown up type versions too.
And because each of the stories varies in length, so does the size of each poster. Forget flicking through a book to see how many pages you have to go, now you’ll be measuring in centimetres. Alice measures in 50cm x 70cm and Peter Pan is in the bantumweight division at 70cm x 100cm.
At £29.99 here they’re are sadly a somewhat pricier alternative to a book and we must say we’re disappointed that they don’t turn up framed and ready to hang, you really are just buying a fancy poster, but as a one-off treat we really do like.
The tablet war is well and truly underway in grown-up gadgetland, the boffins at the two high tech kids toys corporations have busied themselves of late creating one for the under 6s (although aimed a the 4-9 Year old group) -a “who-will-win” is about to ensue. Leapfrog as first to market with their LeapPad have stolen some ground from the VTech crew, selling out in the UK already. The InnoTab has less on-board memory but they’re both expandable via SD cards and screen sizes are the same, VTech’s feels a bit more sturdy. We suppose it’ll come down to the availabilty of app’s in the end, both promising lots pre-Xmas. Neither has WiFi (no doubt for V2) and each are priced around the £80 mark…I feel a head-to-head test coming on? Anyone interested let us know and we’ll do just that! For now, we’re mighty delighted that our iPad loving kids now have a screen of their own to stickify!
A regular part of the school run these days, Micro-Scooters are everywhere. Whatever the weather kids (and grown-ups too) are taking to their two/three wheeled ride to conquer the commute, and using it as a general get-about gadget too. In these precipitous times, mums lugging juniors scooter home after drop-off, or those having to carry one on the train, will find an unsightly mark or two about their attire picked up from the dirt on the wheels. No point slinging your sleek scooter into a bin bag, that’s just plain wrong, Micro-Scooters have come up with a fashionable solution. Cary cover bags will keep themuck away from your clothing, car seats and elsewhere indoors – Choose from the Maxi Micro (black with neon orange stra), Maxi Carry Cover V2 (Purple Dot with black strap) and a Mini Micro Carry Cover (striking green and bright orange strap) – £19.95 for yours HERE
A HUGE hit in its native Japan the Takara Tomy GX Buggy is available, at long last, here in the UK, it’ll not be hanging about for long, top twenty prediction right here for 2011 – Here’s why. This RC may be palm sized at just 10cm but do not let these diminutive dimensions deceive you. Being such a lighweight (42 grams) means this car can get up to 22KMH (over 770kmh scale speeds) and this means, if you give it just a little bit of air it’ll give back some stunning aerial displays. Set yourself up a ramp as soon as yours arrives, get some speed up, and marvel as it leaps into the air, and, better still, with the self-righting roll wing surrounding it, will be back on it’s feet (wheels) in an instant and you’re off again. That’s not it either, it uses 2.4Ghz technology and not infra-red, so you can race up to ten at any time. Decent tyres, good grip, works well on carpet, better on wood floor, is fine outdoors, decent rear-suspension and rapid reaction front-end steering. Powered by a seperate charging unit taking 4 x AA’s, the car, after 20 minutes has enough juice for 7 minutes of full throttle action (up to ten if you ease up a bit). Everything here is positive, the price tag , of around £40 is toppish end for an RC car but ride punches right on it’s price tag. Check out the trick Tutorial HERE and dither not over your BUY button any longer. Without further ado we’d like to hand over a coveted Toyology GOLD to this fine RC.
We’ve been championing this new toy genre since early in the year, and may well have mentioned a few “coming soon” products over the past months. First to market though are the apptoyz brand with their incredible appBlaster, it sets a new standard in Augmented Reality gaming and makes any walk much more fun (check out the video, its there to your right). They’ve more games to come that are compatible with the blaster and have teased us about the imminent arrival of appCopter and appRacer. Both feature an RC module that’llplug into your iOS device 3.5mm socket and, together with the downloadable app turn your handset into a fully functional remote controland utilise the accelerometer to enable tilt control. About the best £20 quid you can spend.
Potentially the £50 plus price tag success story of the year is here in the form of these FIJIT friends. Described as an all-singing/dancing/dancing/chatting techy toy the soft squishy outer shell does make its actions rather “lifelike”. Jam packed with electronic wizardry the FIJITS will dance to whatever music they hear, perform their own songs, joke, chat and more besides. On top of this they’ll also react to voice commands, although beware of a few frustrations amongst the 30 voice commands. FIJITS have over 150 phrases inside to entertain you,and, when you’ve had enough of your hyperactive pal just say goodnight, it’ll glow like a nightlight and then nod off herself. Clever stuff, even at £54.99 we’re gpoing out on a limb having only spent a few minutes with one in NY earlier this year and reckon it’s a biggie for this year.
As well as audio cues, your Fijit Friend also responds to touch by bouncing, wiggling and giggling. Just give it a squish. Even its face and eyes light up. And when it’s time for bed, say goodnight and your Fijit Friend will glow like a nightlight as she nods off to slee
Cabaret show Moulin Rouge have teamed up with Mattel to bring this collector edition Barbie doll. Now, we can’t decide if it’s a bit too Ooh-la-la!, We’re no prudes, we think it looks rather fantastique and are certain that Ken will approve. The online description makes for interesting reading – “Moulin Rouge Barbie doll is ready to kick up her heels in this risqué red and white outfit, inspired by authentic costumes from the Moulin Rouge! Her frou-frou dress features rows of ruffles, paired with white ruffled panties, nude tights, a red garter and pumps! Her hair is pulled back and piled high, accented with a red feather for a final touch that’s très fantastique”! – Now, we’ve learnt a new term already this week in “Frou-Frou” and made our first ever pre-order of a doll!
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