With a White one near guaranteed across the UK the onset of the annual snowfall in this country has led to one major benefit – better snow based gadgetry. Best of the bunch is this new arrival from our old favourites at Wham-O, the Arctic Force Snowball Blaster, enough in the name to have many on the opposition cower for cover, the ones who do not are in for a surprise. Load the blaster with snow and it’ll create three perfect projectiles, pull back on the bands and release yours up to 80 feet, a distance only Olympians could acheive unaided. So impressed are we that a Toyology Gold has been allocated to this supreme snow machine. £24.99 HERE
Hunger Games has legions taking up Archery
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 ...
Helium shortage is no laughing matter
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 steps in to Kids Tablet market
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 ...
Angry Birds getting Flash
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
Angry Birds evolution continues, moves outdoors…
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 ...
Jubilee must-have
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!
keeping one amused
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.
Star Wars slot sets – At last
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 ...
On October 21, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Deal of the Day, Get Involved, Outdoor Escapades, by peter jenkinson
On September 26, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Electronics, Family fun, Get Involved, Girls Allowed, Interviews, Music, Outdoor Escapades, Pit Stop, Playground Crazes, Pocket Money, Puzzles, Retro Road, Tales from Toytown, by peter jenkinson
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.
On September 15, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Outdoor Escapades, Uncategorized, by peter jenkinson
Looking to make an impact in the blaster space is the new Max Force range from Jakks, all new, brightly coloured, slightly cartoon-esque style projectile delivery systems. It’s a tough place to be right now, NERF just launched their impressive Vortex range and some people might have been put off this product category altogether earlier this year after a hands-on with Xploderx gel ball blasters. What Jakks are bringing is something quite new, the projectile is a paper based product that, needs some soaking before loading and then, upon impact makes a satisfying splatter. They’ve four in the range, the top end Shadowhawk (pictured with two highly qualified PR professionals), the handy Maximiser and, for us, the best of the lot, the Blowgun (below). This latter item reminded us of our school antics where the plastic outertube of a BIC pen would be used to launch small pieces of paper, this toy is a simple must purchase for kids of all ages, childish fun in the extreme. A pop-up sight, multi chamber for quick repeat fire and a set of specs for safety. Office warfare just went to the next level, we’re investing in more, RRP’ed at £12.99.. – A Toyology Gold is well deserved.
You know those people at school fetes at the like who offer up their services to do the kiddies face painting? They act all nonchalant, like anyone could do it, like they haven’t been perfecting that tiger face for weeks on end in the run up to the big day. Well, we have discovered their secret…
Snazaroo Face Painting Sticks and iPhone App are your one stop shop to face decorating perfection.
Use the iPhone app for practice sessions to perfect your brush strokes, blending and glitter application etc (much better than using a real child as the iPhone will not complain, wriggle or annoy) and then, when you are akin to Van Gogh, you’ll be ready to use the sticks to achieve the real thing.
The app is a pretty good practice tool, and even allows you upload to social networking sites to share your masterpieces, with different brush sizes and shapes available, it’s like ‘Paint’ for your phone. Fun even if you’re not planning do any actual face painting we’d say.
The app is a freebie (our favourite kind) and you can get your sticks of joy for under a fiver here
On July 25, 2011, In Adults in mind, Outdoor Escapades, by peter jenkinson
After running a UK wide competition to name the Olympic football Adidas have gone for Albert. A good old-fashioned name, also happens to be cockney rhyming for Ball (Albert Hall) and synonymous with Albert Bridge, Albert Dock, Albert Memorial and of course, Albert Square EAstenders and Manchester City centre). They’ve not offered us a butchers (hook) at the design as yet, we’re keen on the camouflage ball, reviewed here earlier this year, now that’d make for interesting TV.
On July 18, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Girls Allowed, Outdoor Escapades, Pit Stop, by peter jenkinson
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
On July 15, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Electronics, Family fun, Get Involved, Girls Allowed, Outdoor Escapades, Pit Stop, RC's and Robots, by peter jenkinson
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 met the folk from Red Toolbox last week, tempted over to their wares by the aroma of old school skills, their range of carpentry sets being fashioned into various creations. Designed to be made by dads and their kids together the kits, beginner,intermediate and advanced contain tools designed to suit the grip of all ages, step-by-step construction instructions and the wood you’ll need. You can of course just invest in one of their many fine toolkits and buy your own Beechword. The Red Toolbox range also includes a workbench for tackling tougher projects, a tool belt for looking the part and all come with a sense of satisfaction when you’ve finished. We wish them well in their endeavours to get us all working wood, WHSmith stock some of the range in the UK, all we ask in return for this plug is they’ll consider MC Hammer to do any large scale ad campaign in the future.
On June 30, 2011, In Adults in mind, Get Involved, Outdoor Escapades, RC's and Robots, Telly Time, by peter jenkinson
One of Britain’s most promising London 2012 Olympic hopefuls has been transformed into a giant action figure to become a real-life Power Ranger toy. Aaron Cook, 20, the current British Taekwondo Champion and a strong contendor for a gold at London 2012 is the only person outside of the TV show to wear the iconic red suit and the first ever honourary member of the Power Rangers. Tomorrow you can see him exhibited in a giant 3 metre by 1.5 metre toy box at Westfield shopping centre. The Olympic hopeful Cook said “I was mad about Power Rangers as a kid so my parents took me to a local Taekwondo club in Dorchester where I fell in love with the sport. The rest, as they say, is history. I’m hoping that by joining the Power Rangers I’ll help to inspire British children to follow in my footsteps, which will hopefully include a medal at the London 2012 Olympics.”
On June 28, 2011, In Boys Toys, Electronics, Family fun, Figures and Dolls, Film Fun, Outdoor Escapades, Pit Stop, Playground Crazes, Uncategorized, by peter jenkinson
The penchant for hosting “Xmas in July” events started a while back, it is a great way to allow publications to get a sneak preview of all that’s on offer for the Yule ahead. Everyone wants to be first to get their lists out however and now July has snuck itself into June, Tesco showed us their top ten toys at the beginning of June, today it’s Hamleys turn. Thankfully this list has been much better thought through and not so yawn inducing and certainly only the merest whiff of “We’d better make sure we shift this lot, lets stick it in a top ten” – In fact, we’d probably concur with over half of it, but can’t admit how much over a half as we’ve decided to make our own list this year. Yes folks, we’re going to put the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons host a live online Xmas in December event, watch this space. For earlybird buyers though, here’s the Hamleys Top Ten for the coming Christasm as revealed earlier today.
