Welcome To Toy Fair

As always, there will be dozens of new toymakers at the American International Toy Fair next month. The first-time exhibitors presented here are just a tiny taste of what's in store for retailers who make it to New York for the show.

Sprig Toys, Fort Collins, Colo., makes its debut this year with a line of environmentally-friendly, kid-powered electronic vehicles.

Each toy in the Sprig Adventure Series features interchangeable, LED-lit figurine characters with light-up headlamps and vehicles that engage children with audio adventures told in a “story book voice.” Designed for preschoolers, all vehicle and character bodies are molded using Sprigwood, a durable, child-safe bio composite material made from recycled wood and plastic.

The core item in the Sprig Adventure Series is the Discover Rig (pictured), the largest of the line's battery-free vehicles. It harnesses a child's push-action play to fuel its light and sound features, and comes with a removable handle for stand-up push toy play.

The Discover Rig is complemented by the Sidekick series of small, pump-action powered vehicles, which includes a Rally Racer car and Baja Scout dune buggy. Each comes with individual “adventure guides” figurines that plug into a vehicle's seat, triggering the storytelling feature.

Britain's Russimco comes to America this year with Ecotronics, a line of no-batteries-required electronic toys and kid-friendly gadgets powered by hand-cranked dynamos.

The range includes a toy rocket that boasts all the lights and sounds of a traditional electronic toy but without the waste and expense of alkaline batteries, plus wind-up radios in different designs to suit boys and girls, and a unisex flashlight. Full details of the range are being kept under wraps until Toy Fair.

Southern Fox, Sarasota, Fla., brings to Toy Fair a new Junior Edition of its game ReFraze. As in the 12 previous versions of the game, the Junior edition (pictured) challenges players to be the first to guess the names of songs, TV shows and movies from “ReFrazes” (ex: “The kitty in the cap” is a “ReFraze” of “The Cat in the Hat”). As an added bonus, there are 30 blank, reusable ReFraze cards so kids can create and put into play their own ReFrazed phrases.

Think-a-lot Toys, Boulder, Colo., introduces Think-ets, a storytelling and memory game that contains tiny treasures from all over the world.

Think-ets couldn't be more simple: each set includes an assortment of 15 collectible miniature trinkets, sold in a travel-friendly carrying pouch, that can be used to create games or stories based around its random pieces. Using the tiny pieces, children, adults and families can play memory games such as “What's Missing?” or “What's Moved?” or use the trinkets as the building blocks of a story of their own creation.