Pure energy

For much of the country, the upcoming winter doldrums will see kids stuck indoors searching for the perfect playthings to pass the time, and more often than not, this means video games. But it doesn't have to be this way! Specialty toy retailers are committed to providing challenging fun outside of a video game environment and increasingly, manufacturers are catching on.

Kids these days have lots to choose from in the “active indoor” category—unique, exciting toys and games that can capture their attention and harness their restless energy in ways that build both skills and confidence, develop strength and coordination and, above all, keep them entertained.

“The category, I think, is growing now,” says Tim Caton, Speed Stacks marketing manager for Play Along Toys, a division of Malibu, Calif.-based Jakks Pacific. “We're hearing from moms more and more that they want their kids off the couch, they don't want them in front of video games as often.”

And while parents may like that toys like these get kids moving, Caton says sport stacking, in particular, appeals to kids themselves for another reason: “They don't have to be coordinated when they start out. It doesn't matter if they're athletic, if they're overweight. This is an active thing that they can do and be just as good as the other kids, as long as they practice and build their skill and ability.”

Although it primarily sells Speed Stacks through mass retailers at the moment, Play Along hopes to make major inroads at specialty in 2007, Caton tells Playthings.

“What's cool about this category is [an active indoor toy] gives kids a challenging, hand-eye activity that really requires some thought, and requires building skills and confidence—but kids are literally off the couch, they're standing up, they're doing something, they're active,” he adds. “It's great for those hyperactive kids with energy to burn.”

Joan Machlis, owner of the Wind Up Here toy shop in Olympia, Wash., agrees. “I think it's great, the whole encouraging kids to get active and off the couch,” she says. “Any gross motor [development] of any kind is so important.” Machlis stocks a variety of active products for all ages, including her top sellers: Lunastix juggling sticks and diablos, Chinese-style, off-string yo-yos. “We sell dozens and maybe hundreds of those,” she says.

In addition, Wind Up Here offers FunSlides carpet skates from Simtec, Irwin, Pa.; Hacky Sack-style footbags from various makers; juggling books and sets from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Klutz and London-based Usborne; “a fair amount” of dart products; the Maze Balancing Board and other items from WePlay (distributed in the U.S. by Integrated Global Solutions, Westfield, Mass.); Shadow Magic from Uncle Milton, Westlake Village, Calif.; and a selection of traditional yo-yos for her customers' different ability levels. “That's an area that in my opinion is just starting to come back,” Machlis says of yo-yoing. “It's such a great sport. It's not hard to learn and it's such a good age range.”

Machlis also recommends the Zorp Archer from San-Leandro, Calif.-based Bill and Bud; the KikaFlik from KikaFlik Inc., Isle of Palms, S.C.; and Scoot 'n' Shoot Soccer, a new carpet-based, battery-operated indoor soccer ball and goal set from Diggin, Emeryville, Calif.

At Where'd You Get That!?, a specialty toy and gift shop in Williamstown, Mass., visitors will find a large section of action toys that encompasses indoor skill toys and games as well as sports toys and outdoor activity items; the category overall is perennially popular and sells “very well,” according to owner Michele Gietz.

“When we are talking to our customers finding out who they are buying for, if it's a very active child, that will be the section that we'll bring them to,” Gietz says. “We kind of separate them out from other kinds of toys, because it is a category unto itself, and it fits the profile for some kids who just can't sit down.”

Gietz stocks both Scoot 'n' Shoot Soccer from Diggin and the Air Soccer Puck from Schylling, Rowley, Mass., as well as the TopShots line of tabletop games (Hang Ten, Black Hole, Croquet, Football and Hockey) from Kid Galaxy, Manchester, N.H. “[TopShots] are great—they cost under $10 and they're very simple to set up. They're going to be a great stocking stuffer, too,” Gietz says.

“I also like things for the younger ones,” she adds, recommending from International Playthings, Parsippany, N.J., both a beanbag tossing game for ages 3 and up called Leaping Frogs and a no-mess twist on a classic, the Egg & Spoon Race Game. “That's always good for indoor,” Gietz says.

The Egg & Spoon Race Game is also a hit at Discovery Depot in Cookeville, Tenn., says owner Sherrie Cannon. “We set it up and if we have three or four kids in the store at a time, we'll stop what we're doing and say, 'Okay, it's egg-and-spoon-race time!'”

Cannon's selection of active items includes the beanbag Jungle Toss from Northvale, N.J.-based Alex for both preschoolers and older kids. Cannon also recommends products like Dodge Discs from San Francisco's Wild Planet, balance boards and footbags. “We take a beach pail and just put them out on the table and the kids will play all day with the Hacky Sacks, from trying to kick them to trying to throw them in the buckets, to doing a ring toss. [And] they juggle with them.”

The Discovery Depot makes a point of keeping activity items like these out on the floor, Cannon says. “We have at least five or six out each day to play with and {the selection} does rotate. If you come in on Monday there's no guarantee that on Tuesday the same thing is going to be here. We may change every day!”

At A Planet's Wild in Muscatine, Iowa, owner Jeff Boldt also relies on in-person demos and making items available for kids to play with, plus television demos on screens throughout the store. He displays his stock of active and skill-based toys for kids to use indoors—such as the Skipper, an ankle jump rope from Just Jump It, Chico, Calif.—in a section of his store near the door, along with outdoor-oriented items like the Flip 'n' Flyer, a yo-yo and flying disc combination from Stellar Toys, Huntington Beach, Calif., and the Surefire Compound Bow from Monkey Business Sports, Portland, Ore.

“'Energy releasers,' I like to call them, where kids can get up and expend a bit of energy, and yet it's in a controlled setting, they're not just running amuck!” Boldt says.

Boldt also recommends the Leaping Frogs game to his customers: “I've got one out here in my store, and every time people come in, [it] gets played with. This has probably been my biggest seller. It really is such a fun game; adults have fun with it too!”

At Be Beep–A Toy Shop in Severna Park and Annapolis, Md., owner Jeff Franklin also stocks a variety of active products, including juggling and balance toys for multiple ages.

“I think that the skill toys—like yo-yos and juggling sticks and balls—are excellent for kids, because one of the things kids don't get a chance to do is master a skill that takes perseverance. And these things are enough fun that it motivates kids to stay with it for as long as it takes to accomplish,” Franklin says. “I particularly like the juggling sticks. It's a juggling toy that kids can master at a reasonably young age and do a lot of different things with, so they find it pretty satisfying.”

Visitors to Be Beep will also find the Team Walker from WePlay and the Wobble Deck interactive balance board from Diggin. “[Wobble Deck has] sold well, and I think it's actually a very good toy,” Franklin says, “because another thing kids don't get enough of is toys that help their gross motor skills. There's a 50 percent decrease over the last decade in how much kids play outside—and of their indoor time, a lot of it is passively spent in front of a screen. So if you can get these kids up and active, I think it's a great thing.”