While walking the aisles of this years Toy Fair, I came across hundreds of spectacular games for all ages. Here are some of my favorite new games for preschoolers that are coming out later this year!

CANDY LAND: SWEET CELEBRATION GAME

(Ages 4 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 09)

In celebrating their 60^th birthday, Hasbro put a whole new twist on Candy Land. Kids now will build their path to the Kings castle. There are two new destinations in Candy Land – Captain Kidd Cone’s Ship, the SS Neapolitan, and the Chunky Chocolate Mountains. The first to reach the celebration with your treats and you will become the guest of honor at the party! HASBRO GAMES

CURIOUS GEORGE BEACH DISCOVERY GAME

(Ages 3 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $12.99/Available January 09 exclusively at Target and Target.com)

Kids are going on a scavenger hunt with Curious George. Kids flip a card to reveal their challenge. Then they have to search for sea creatures and colorful treasures hidden below five secret beach locations. But, if the game spinner lands on a wave, you shake the box and the treasures will slide and hide in new locations. I CAN DO THAT! GAMES

FANCY NANCY TEA PARTY GAME

(Ages 3 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $14.99/Available Summer 09)

The object of this game is to collect Colorforms pieces to create a tea party scene with Fancy Nancy. There are skills such as color matching and decision making that is necessary to achieve this goal. UNIVERSITY GAMES

GIRAFFALAFF LIMBO

(Ages 4 & up/Approximate Retail Price: $29.99/Available: Fall 09)

Do you remember Chicken Limbo? This is an updated, more modern version of “How low can you go?” There are six different types of limbo styles you have to perform. The child that can go the lowest wins! HASBRO GAMES

DR SEUSS SUPER STRETCHY ABCs

(Ages 3 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $16.99/Available: Fall 09)

This game gets kids to S-T-R-E-T-C-H in all different directions while learning their ABCs and 123s. You have your Dr Seuss Oversized mat, and kids spin the Thing 1 and Thing 2 Toy-nado to find out their letter to body part challenge. You collect tiles as you complete challenges, and the child with the most tiles wins! I CAN DO THAT GAMES

RUMMIKUB KIDS’ EDITION (RUMMIKUB FOR KIDS)

(Ages 5 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $14.99 /Available: Summer 09)

This is the first time there’s been an edition of Rummikub for younger children. This will help kids develop number and colors and fosters reasoning’s. The key to this game is that it’s designed with shapes that help children self correct their moves. PRESSMAN GAMES

SCATTERPILLAR SCRAMBLE GAME

(Ages 4 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 09)

This game looks really easy, and then you play. All you have to do is place the colored marbles in the Scatterpillar’s hands. But this Scatterpillar dances and wiggles, and makes it an adventure. HASBRO GAMES

UNO MOO! PRE-SCHOOL GAME

(Ages 4 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 09)

UNO Moo! Has the fun of UNO but is designed for preschoolers, featuring a simplified UNO game play and 28 farm animal figures. The object of the game is to be the first to get rid of all your barnyard animals by matching colors and figures to get your animals in the barn. When you get down to one figure – you must yell “UNO Moo”! The first player to successfully move all of their barnyard animals into the barn wins! MATTEL GAMES

Don’t forget to check out my list of Time to Play’s favorite games for Family Game Night!

Play Categories: Gadgets, Opinions, Summary, products

Mr. Potato Head hosts Family Game Night

It’s no secret that we love games here at The Play Forum. In fact, we just launched a new area on our parent site, TimeToPlaymag.com, dedicated to playing games. You can check it out now by clicking here. Go ahead, I’ll wait while you have a look.

Pretty sweet, right?

My favorite games are the ones that come on shiny discs and fit in the tray of my game console, which is why I was excited last week at Toy Fair to see Hasbro and EA’s new Family Game Night for Xbox Live. Hasbro Family Game Night, on Xbox LIVE Arcade, gives families and friends a new way to connect and play classic board games on their TVs. Games include Scrabble, Connect Four, Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle, Sorry and Sorry Sliders. Xbox Live users will be able to play with family members around the globe so Family Game Nights don’t have to end when one of the kids heads off to college.

Look for Hasbro-EA’s Family Game Night on Xbox Live Arcade next month (March 2009).

Play Categories: Video Games

I recently walked the rows of Toy Fair in New York, where I saw thousands of new toys from hundreds of companies. There will be no shortage of “cool toys” this year, but toy companies are aware of the economy and are offering a larger selection of great toys for under $20.

One of my highlights of the show was seeing approximately 15 minutes of footage from the new Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen. The stars from the first movie are back, and the action and character development appear better than the first movie. AND, there’s one Transformer, toy coming out later this year that is unlike anything seen before, called Devastator.

This year also celebrates Barbie’s 50^th anniversary, and there are great dolls to celebrate all year. There is some great candy and baking toys from Girl Gourmet, you will have to search to find the new Bakugan traps, and remember these words: Battle Strikers.

Play Categories: Industry News

It’s been a busy few days for us here at TimetoPlayMag.com…

We spent Valentines Day with our favorite girl, Barbie, at the Barbie Fashion Show at Fashion Week in New York City. This year (March 9) marks Barbies 50th birthday, and some of the worlds top designers, including Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, and Vera Wang, did a spectacular job creating 50 different Barbie-inspired outfits to help celebrate.

Check back next week to see The Toy Guy’s interview with the man behind the brand, Barbie GM & Senior VP Richard Dickson.

Sunday through Wednesday, we headed over to The Javits Center in West Manhattan for the 106th Annual American International Toy Fair. We walked through the 350,000+ square foot building lined with over 100,000 products to find the best new toys to bring to you! The Toy Guy showed off some of his favorites from our make-shift studio in the Mattel showroom high above the Toy Fair main floor (Part 1 & Part 2).

Coming up on Friday, The Toy Guy will appear on Live with Regis and Kelly to show off more of his favorite products from Toy Fair!

Last year after visiting Toy Fair, Chris brought his favorite products, as well as some slime for Kelly and her husband Mark Consuelos! This appearance led to Chris winning a prestigious Relly Award, and taking another slime shower, this time with Kelly and Nick Lachey! Be sure to tune into Live this Friday, and check out The Toy Guy blog on Regis and Kelly’s site!

Play Categories: Summary

I used to think I was creative and resourceful…and then my daughter started preschool. I’ve since learned that a last-minute approach to class gifts will never do. (These are the gifts that your child gives to every member of his or her class or homeroom.) Being successful at this task in our hectic times is not about competing with moms who may have more time and creativity than I do; it’s about me not looking ridiculous and embarrassing my kid in the process. It’s the adult version of peer pressure – and we moms willingly inflict it on each other.

Following are some tips for keeping these gift-giving occasions from getting the best of you in more ways than one.

Time is off the essence. Sure those homemade lollipops tied to hand-painted doily tags seemed like a great idea…that is until you timed the assembly at a whopping 5 minutes each. Five minutes each times 20 gifts to assemble equals bad news…every time. Unless you’re a glutton for punishment, pick a gift or craft that you’ll be able to undertake without an overwhelming sense of dread and that can be realistically accomplished within your time and budget parameters. And while it’s easier said than done, try not to leave the shopping and assembly until the very last minute. The only thing worse than an all-night college study session is pulling an all night glue gun session on a work night.

Get their hands dirty. Don’t forget that the gift is meant to be from your child, so try to include him or her in coming up with the idea and creating it. It gives him or her a sense of ownership and pride, but you’ll also be glad for the extra set of hands. Once kids know how much work goes into the gifts they make – they’ll be more appreciative of the gifts they receive.

Thinking outside the candy box. I am that mom who tosses out many of the candy trinkets my daughter brings home from school. In my defense, I kept the notes for her yearbook which will last a lot longer than the unbearable sugar high we would have endured. There are lots of great time- and cost-saving ideas that can bring a smile to a child’s face. Bubbles never cease to amaze any child under the age 5. Crazy Straws make any drink a whole lot “funner,” and don’t underestimate the power of fresh fruit. Yep, I said it – fresh fruit, like one of the awe-inspiring baskets from Edible Arrangements (www.ediblearrangements.com). These can be a little bit expensive, but if you divide the cost by 20 kids and realize what you pay per kid, it might be worth it, especially since you only have to buy one gift for the entire class.

My go-to resource. Did you know that there are experts whose job it is to come up with some of the most entertaining craft projects for you and your kids? These magical people work at Family Fun magazine and generously bestow their creativity and wisdom on us every season. Click the link to see some of their great Valentine’s ideas – and be sure to bookmark the Special Features page for great year-round gifting ideas for the class:

FamilyFun.com – Valentine’s Day Crafts & Gift Ideas

Play Categories: Advice, Experiences, gifts

I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce everyone out there to the greatest toy that never was, Señor Sandwich.  Senoir Sandwich was the brain child of the fictitious toy genius Ira Gobler, owner of the legendary toy company Gobler Toys. This brilliant animated short story was created by fellow toy inventors Steve Fink and Steve Casino. Please enjoy!

Play Categories: products

LEGO has had a lot of success with it’s Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Batman video games, however, these games have received a fair amount of criticism for being movie games with cute LEGO characters but little LEGO building game-play. LEGO should be able to put those complaints to rest this summer with the release of LEGO Battles for the Nintendo DS.

LEGO Battles will forego the movie tie-in and instead rely on the famous LEGO playset worlds and characters that the company is most known for. Players will build their own LEGO bases and teams using pieces of the LEGO Castle, LEGO Pirates, and LEGO Space themes. They will battle other teams in over 70 different levels, mixing and matching units to create the ultimate customized LEGO squad. In other words, we will see LEGO knights battling aliens alongside ninjas and pirates. Sounds pretty cool to me.

Look for LEGO Battles from LEGO and Warner Bros. Interactive in stores this summer.

Play Categories: Video Games

I grew up in a middle class Long Island, New York neighborhood. We weren’t poor and we weren’t rich. My parents were hard working people who watched their P’s and Q’s.  My two sisters and I got what we needed and for the most part were content. That is until the 4th grade.

It wasn’t uncommon to find me playing army or riding my bike. It was 1985 and I was discovering the “cool” toys.  It was at this time that I fell in love with the Tranformers. I was obsessed with the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime.  I wanted him so badly I could taste it.  He was awesome. He transformed from a massive mack truck into a powerfully posturing robot commander. Perfect in every way, except  the price tag – a whopping thirty bucks. By today’s standards thirty bucks is cheap but in 1985 it was an outrageous expense for a ten year old.

For weeks I tried to convince my mother that I  just didn’t want the toy for its own merit, but rather it was important to my social standing at the Lakeside elementary school. This didn’t seem to budge her one bit. Thirty bucks was just to steep for the family budget.

After weeks of relentless annoyance my parents called me into the living room for a “talk”. I was sure my father was on the rampage due to my constant nagging to my mother. In the past the “talk” meant I was in real deep trouble. Prior “talks” resulted in groundings,  suspended television rights and  the occasional nightmare chore, such as raking leaves or pulling weeds. I was certain I was in for it. My parents asked me to take a seat and I was nervous. I  tried to act cool.

“Whats up?” I asked with my laid back fourth grader posture. Without my father uttering a word my mother leaned in and put a deal on the table.

“Pass your science exam with a ninety percent or higher and you can get that transformer you want,” she said.

My father just sat there looking like a mafia reinforcer. I looked at her and said, “DEAL.” I was so excited that it didn’t dawn on me that I would need to study. I really wanted Optimus, but I didn’t  know how to study. I always slide by on what i retained in the class room, and my sub par grades reflected it.

Not letting pride get in the way of my new toys I confessed to my mother that I wasn’t really studying when I claimed I’d been in the past and wasn’t sure how to really go about it. She didn’t seem surprised. My mother, being the thoughtful person, agreed to help me. We wasted no time. She showed me how to set up flash cards and sent me to work.

I first tried to get by with a quick read through, convincing myself that that would suffice. When my mother heard the television turn on she quickly asked me if I was done. I replied, “yup,” and began looking for the “Thundercats”. In a soft and friendly voice she asked if she could quiz me. I smoothly made it known that I had it wrapped up and that I appreciated the assistance but didn’t need it. That offer didn’t stand with her and I found myself sitting at the kitchen table across from her going over the flash cards. After three questions and three wrong answers I was sentenced back to the living room to study some more.

Throughout the course of the evening she must have tested me a dozen times before I actually got them all right.  After a  perfect score she sent me to bed.

The next day I woke early she tested me again. I didn’t do so well so I hit the cards again and we repeated the process. When I arrived at school I was too nervous to speak. I kept to myself and flipped through the cards over and over. When the exam began I found it to be incredibly simple. After I finished I laid back and envisioned myself battling the Decepticons with my new Optimus Prime.

The following day the results where in and to my astonishment I received a “100%” on my test.   I was shocked. My average grade had always been in the high 60′s to low 70′s. I was excited that after school I ran straight home rather than play tag on the playground. I ran into the house and without delay showed my mother my 100%.  I begged my mother to run out to the store right away. That didn’t happen. It took about a week before I got Optimus. Until this day that Optimus Prime is the greatest toy I ever owned. I was so proud that I’d earned him.

Play Categories: Experiences

Pizza, singing robots and games! Sounds like fun to us. If you are planning a trip to Chuck E. Cheese’s make sure to stop by their printable coupon page for great deals including 40 free tokens when you buy 60.

You can get details on this deal plus more by clicking here.

Play Categories: Uncategorized