Marketplace 2006

Specialty toys of all stripes will be on display at this year's ASTRA Marketplace, May 7-10, in Atlanta. The following are just a few of the manufacturers and their corresponding products scheduled to exhibit at the event.

Created with kids in mind, Sudoku 5x5, from ThinkFun, Alexandria, Va., combines the use of color with numbers to create age-appropriate challenges for kids 8 and up that offer greater visual interest and more variety than the traditional Sudoku game.

This magnetic, travel-ready version of Sudoku also uses fewer pieces and involves a shorter play time than a typical 9x9 game board. With more than 40 challenges ranging from beginner to expert, Sudoku 5x5 has a suggested retail of $9.99.

Portland, Ore.-based Bazoongi Kids expands its slumber bag and playhouse lines for spring with several new designs.

For its Kids Slumber Bags line, Bazoongi shows off five new designs: Pirate, adorned with desert islands, pirate ships, buried treasure, sharks and other elements; Dinosaurs, which includes prints of a variety of dinosaurs set against a pre-historic background; Trains and Planes, featuring repeating rows of vehicles such as airplanes, big trucks and trains; the quilt-inspired Flowerland, with alternating patterns of flowers and gingham-style squares laid out in a checkerboard pattern; and the military-inspired Camo-Forest Green camouflage slumber bag. All of the new Slumber Bags begin shipping mid-April.

Designed for kids ages 3 and up, each sleepover bag has a 100 percent cotton outer shell and is packaged in a reusable, vinyl backpack, which makes it easy for young travelers to carry. Each bag is machine washable and dryable, with colorfast fabrics, making them easy to care for and maintain.

New to the company's Kids Cottages line are two new play structures.

The Sheriff's Cottage features Old West-style swinging doors leading into a jailhouse interior. One window features bars for the “prisoners” to look out while the other window completes a wanted poster when kids pop their heads out for a view. The back of the cottage features a hidden “escape hatch” so that no young outlaw can be contained for long.

Bazoongi's new Garden House Cottage features flower gardens and springtime visuals. Two exterior walls are lined with large, colorful flowers, which are easily removed from their Velcro moorings and re-arranged according to the design fancies of young landscape architects. Additionally, the cottage features a wide front door and a wall that folds down to create a garden shed look.

Bazoongi Kids' play structures are easily assembled and feature UV- and water-resistant fabric. The padded floor detaches for quick clean-ups from spills. Each Kids Cottage is packaged in a reusable, clear vinyl carrybag.

Beads continue to abound at Bead Bazaar, Rockville, Md., in 2006, led by the company's impulse-priced Fun Bead Tubes.

Perfect for party favors or just having fun, each Fun Bead Tube (SRP $1.99) includes a charm and enough beads and string for one necklace. Available in a variety of styles, the re-usable tubes, with tops that match the charms on the jewelry, can be used to store the necklace.

The company's Piccolo Bead Kit (SRP $7.99) is a reusable carrying kit that stores wooden beads, cotton strings and charms. The kits come in four styles: Froggy, Bloom, Butterfly Garden and Sugar & Spice. Using the string and beads, and by personalizing each accessory, kids can create their own unique jewelry.

The Fun Frames Bead Kit (SRP $9.99) is multi-functional: use the beads to create accessories and use the frame to spotlight and hang pictures. The kit contains wooden beads, charms, string and instructions in a ready-to-hang frame.

My Gardening Kit (SRP $29.99) includes all the essential tools a child needs to create a garden or to help a parent in the backyard. The set comes with five flowerpots, watering can, gardening gloves, spade, shovel and rake, all sized for small hands.

Separately, Bead Bazaar's Kid Journeys educational toy brand adds a horse-themed Puzzle & A Book set (SRP $12.99) that includes a hand-crafted wooden puzzle, keepsake magnet and story about horses.

Elenco, Wheeling, Ill., announces the addition of the Snap Circuits RC Rover to its product line. Using the colorful Snap Circuits parts that come with this kit, kids can create their own radio-controlled version of the rovers currently crawling around Mars. There is no soldering required as all the parts snap together. Once completed, kids can navigate their surroundings with the Snap Circuit Remote.

Brand New World, Highpoint, N.C., grows its Dramatic DressUps role-play line with the Fantasy Costume Collection, an assortment of durable, easy-to-clean costumes in classic prince and princess themes. Included in the assortment are seven designs: Knight, King, Queen, Wizard, Prince, Princess and Dragon. For ages 3 to 6, each costume comes with a curriculum of activities and a play script.

Ruckus (SRP $9.99) will be the operative word for Funstreet Inc., Northfield, Ill., at its first appearance at ASTRA's Marketplace.

A quick-play family card game for 2 to 4 players ages 7 and up, Ruckus' charm, according to its creators, stems from the “strange and playful” icons (Monkey in a Bottle, Fish Man, Pig in the Attic, etc.) that players must match up in order to form sets.

Each player is dealt seven cards and must immediately place all sets of two or more matching cards from their hands face up on the table. As soon as sets hit the table, they're worth points, but can be stolen by any player with a matching card in their hand. Stolen sets remain on the table, changing position frequently as steal after steal occurs in quick succession. Any pause in the action signals the dealer to add an additional card to each player's hand, triggering a new flurry of sets and steals. As soon as any player rids her hand of cards, the game is over. Players score their hands by totaling the number of cards in their sets and subtracting a point for each card that was still in their hand when the round ended. Each hand lasts three to four minutes.

Inspired when his 5-year-old son mastered the map of the U.S. and wanted another geographic puzzle to conquer, GeoToys founder Bob Galinsky teamed with partner Karina Cutler-Lake, an art professor, to create the GeoPuzzle (SRP $14.99), a 55-piece puzzle with pieces shaped like the countries of Europe. The Neenah, Wis.-based company plans to offer additional GeoPuzzles of Asia, Africa and South America this year.

The colorful, kid-friendly LearningCents Bank helps families empower children to be smart consumers, good savers and financial contributors to the wider world, according to Atlanta-based manufacturer, LearningCents.

The bank's patented design has three large compartments—spend, save and give—so kids can organize money and gift cards in one place while learning to make wise money choices. The bank is translucent so kids can watch their stash grow. Hinged lids enable kids to reach their money when it's time to withdraw it.

The LearningCents Bank (SRP $21.99) comes packaged with a dry-erase pen for counting and keeping track of money on the bank's three dry-erase lids, as well as alphabet stickers so that kids can personalize the bank with their name. It also comes with a brochure aimed at parents with tips on establishing and allocating an allowance and ideas to optimize the LearningCents Bank's teaching potential.

The Original Flying Turtle, the 1970s vintage ride-on toy, keeps rolling courtesy of Mason Corp., Brentwood, Tenn.

As it did more than 25 years ago, the Flying Turtle speeds across any hard, smooth surface by a twisting and turning motion. The American-made toy, for ages 3 and up, is produced from high-quality materials such as steel handlebars and a polyethylene seat, Mason says, and comes completely assembled.

Toysmith, Auburn, Wash., re-introduces Strombecker's 1930's classic wooden balancing toy, Bill Ding, The Original Balancing Clowns.

The colorful, solid wood clowns can perform over 1,000 balancing stunts while enhancing kids' hand-eye coordination and challenging their imaginations. Each set comes with nine clowns, each 4½-inches tall.