Super Cool Toy contenders
Below you will find some of the toys we are considering for inclusion in the store. Not everything we add to the store gets listed here, because we may make the decision to buy before we have time to write up something here. And not everything we consider gets listed here for a variety of reasons for example we may decide against the item before we ever had a chance to write about it.
- ShapeScapeS - Sculpture in a box
by Staff - 2008-06-16
Created by Los Angeles sculptor Peter Mayor, this beautifully simple toy has been designed to stimulate innovative play and increase children's spatial skills and color awareness.
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- The Original Wooly Willy Magnetic Toy
by Staff - 2008-05-21
A piece of cardboard with a blister of plastic containing iron filings on top of a picture of a smiling bald guys face with another small blister of plastic that contains a plastic stick with a magnet in the tip — that's really all this is. But is that really all this is? No. The simplicity of this toy is one of the things that makes it so cool. The only thing you have is a picture, some hairy iron filings and a magnet to move them with, and what you are supposed to do is to convert the simple face into something more interesting. Even a fairly young child can add a bit of the hair to the head or chin to make it look different in only a few moments, and yet even a talented adult can spend a long time fine tuning and fiddling with the filings to position them just right in an attempt to achieve something a bit more interesting to them than the last time. There is no undo button, no way to make a backup copy or save your work before making a change. Whatever you are going to do you have to use the delicate motions of your own fingers and take into account the strange way the filings move depending on how close you are to them, or which directions you pull them.
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- Original Slinky
by Staff - 2008-05-20
Okay, I will admit we are going back and forth a bit on this one. On the one hand it seems almost silly to stock a toy that anyone can get anywhere very easily, but on the other hand can we really have a super cool toy store without a toy as super cool as a slinky? Not only are they super cool because they walk down stairs, or ramps, but also because of the soothing vibration, sound, and motion made when you slink them back and forth in your hands. We really can't decide, we almost ordered a bunch of the original metal slinky, Slinky Jr. and plastic Slinky of both sizes but then decided to hold off for a while and think about it.
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- ZipBins Collapsable Toy Storage Container/Playmats
by Staff - 2008-05-18
Imagine a container to keep toys in that unzips and folds out into a toy play mat, with the mat having one of various themes suitable for toys you might commonly need boxes for, like dinosaurs, farm animals, cars, wooden trains and their track pieces, Barbie® dolls, etc. This is the basic idea behind the ZipBin.
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- Wonderboard Make A Monster
by Staff - 2008-05-09
How fun does this look! A bunch of different eyes, tentacles, mouths, bodies, legs arms, horns, etc. for a variety of different monsters. All magnetic and a little magnetic board to build them on. We're looking forward to getting our hands on these and testing them.
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- Mixed-Up-Monsters
by Staff - 2008-05-09
This looks very interesting. You get a silly looking set of arms, legs, tails, heads and a body for a monster and then you can add on the body parts you want. Kind of like a monster version of Mr. Potato Head but magnetically attached rather than with a hole and prong.
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- Magic Pennies Magnet Kit
by - 2008-05-09
This magnet kit looks really likely to be super cool. Two big bar magnets are included along with some shiny new British pennies which are made of steel plated with copper so they are magnetically attractive. A book full of instructions on how you can use these tools, and maybe a few standard items around the house, to do such things as build a wide variety of geometric sculptures, make pennies spin, roll, wiggle, or float, and demonstrate a wide variety of magnetic principals.
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- Hat Stackers Party Magnetic Memory Game
by Staff - 2008-05-09
Imagine a good old standard memory game with cards that you can lay out, turn over, and match. Now make those cards much thicker so they are easy for small hands to pick up, make them magnetic and include a magnetically attractive game board, some special game pieces, and a set of rules and you have a potentially really cool game that kids can play with each other, or with adults. Match the hats and stack them on your characters hat and whoever has the highest hat stack wins.
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- Magnetic Firehouse Flipbook
by Staff - 2008-05-09
Spiral bound book of special magnetically attractive cardboard sheets that include four scenes on which the included magnetic cut-outs can be placed in order to create thousands of scenes. This has great potential. The basic idea is great because it lets kids have some tools for play without dictating exactly what the play must be. There are a variety of sets with a wide range of themes.
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- Arrowcopter
by Staff - 2008-05-07
(updated 2008-05-07)
Back in the late 60s or early 70s one of the coolest flying toys since the balsa wood glider was released. An inexpensive space age toy that was shot by rubber band power into the air and spun like a helicopter all the way down to the ground. It was, and still is, called the Arrowcopter and it is just as cool today as it ever was.
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- Zorp Sabers
by Staff - 2008-05-06
The Zorp saber is the same mylar balloon used in the archer set, and thus also the same as the glider, but in this case instead of flying around, the silver "blade" is fixed into a hilt thus producing a bright shiny saber to duel with. The item is two handles and 4 blades so you can duel with a friend even if you only buy one. The safety of the super light blade is key here of course. There is a great freedom in fighting with what is in essence a ballon that is harmless. We look forward to testing these.
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- Zorp Rocket
by Staff - 2008-05-06
This is the original Zorp product. Before the archer, or glider, or saber, there was this rocket. The idea here is that the thin mylar isn't filled like a balloon but rather is left empty and you blow into a tube filling the rocket with air and then releasing it just as the pressure has built, thus propelling it far and fast. The science makes a lot of sense, the rocket weighs almost nothing, with a significant portion of the almost no weight being a tiny foam weight in the tip. Thus when the pressure from a childs lungs expelled fills and pressurizes the rocket, the amount of force in ratio to the weight of the item is very high. Thus the rocket zips out and flies fast and far. It looks like it could be very cool.
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- Zorp Glider
by Staff - 2008-05-06
Basically this is the arrow from the Zorp archer but as a stand alone product. Supposedly they fly very well and are fun to watch soaring along safely and shiny and cool looking. If these little balloon javelins are half as fun as they seem like they might be then not only will we carry them in the store, but it would make the archer set pretty much a shoe in as well.
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- Zorp Archer
by Staff - 2008-05-06
Just think about the possibilities. A bow and arrow set that has arrows so light that you can shoot them at your little sister in the house! And mom won't mind!! These mylar balloon type arrows with a bow that accommodates them looks really fun. We really hope they are as good as they look.
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- Tyrannosaurus Woodkit
by Staff - 2008-05-01
(updated 2008-05-01)
This appears to be a couple of thin sheets of wood die cut into a strange variety of shapes of just the right specifications to allow them to be hooked together in a slot A goes into slot B sort of fashion so as to create a three dimensional model of a Tyrannosaurus. There are a lot of different dinosaur wood kits to choose from and the kits also come in other varieties such as a couple of insects, and a few vehicles. If they are well constructed these could be very cool toys. It will be interesting to see how easy they are to assemble, what the quality of the wood is, how stable the assembled model is, and what can be done with them afterwards.
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- Kidz Workshop EZ Build Locomotive
by Staff - 2008-05-01
Pre-cut pieces of wood, screws, and a screwdriver together in a kit allowing you to build a wooden toy train. The kits come in other varieties such as a car, and bi-plane. This is the kind of item that if done right could be super cool, because you basically get three things for your money. 1. A building project for a parent and young child to work on together or optionally an older child alone. 2. A cool wooden item that can be used for a painting project (paint not included). 3. When all building and painting is done you are still left with a cool wooden toy to play with and/or display.
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- Automoblox - Wooden toy car
by Jeff Huber - 2008-04-26
The Automoblox line consists of a variety of different designs of toy cars made with wooden body pieces held together by plastic connectors that allow the different cars to swap pieces with each other. The cars have different colors associated with them and different shapes on the connectors
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