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Where Play is Work and Work is Play: Highlights from the 2019 International Toy Fair

By Molly Millette - March 8

A trade-only convention and the largest toy fair in the Western Hemisphere, Toy Fair is an exclusive five-day long gathering of over 30,000 attendees to view the 150,000 products filling 447,000 square ft of space in the New York City's Javits Center.
Celebrating Barbie's sixtieth birthday this year, Mattel hung a banner with a quote from Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler: "My whole philosophy of Barbie was that, through the doll, the little girl could be anything that she wanted to be." With continued releases of dolls that represent a more inclusive variety of appearances, abilities, and careers, Mattel is stepping closer to reaching Handler's mission.
Recognizing the self limiting "Dream Gap" many young girls endure, Mattel is working to help girls imagine their options and possibilities with Barbie dolls that are news anchors, firefighters, astronauts, farmers, pilots, athletes, engineers, and even politicians.
A manufacturer of plush toy resembling cells, microbes, and viruses, GIANTmicrobes' stuffed toys can introduce science to children at an early age. Used in homes and classrooms, across universities and health agencies, GIANTmicrobes relies on humor to help customers approach serious topics and start conversations.
A hit in high school sex-ed classes, around college campuses, and adorning doctor's offices across the country, GIANTmicrobes is selling a different kind of sex toy. Their Tainted Love collection seeks to help people broach conversations and learn about sexually transmitted infections.
While a noticeable shift away from screens in young children's toys reflects recommended screen time limits, Pai Technology embraces screens. Turning screen time into a play time, PaiBotz combine construction, creativity, and coding to teach children as young a four years-old the basics of coding robotics.
PaiBotz include 150 physical building blocks and thirty augmented reality puzzles that teach coding basics. With premade designs and the opportunity for children to create their own, PaiBotz respond to instructions that children code through the free app to make their bots move, drum, dance, make sounds, and light up.
Born from parents' vision to build PVC marshmallow guns as birthday party favors, Marshmallow Fun Company grew to include multiple gun styles and prints, upheld a marshmallow-only policy by discontinuing their foam pellets, and even expanded into marshmallow archery. Now sold by major retailers, those parents were definitely on to something—not to mention it was the only Toy Fair booth with a line of people waiting to try out its product.
For when real dirt just isn't an option, try PlayVisions's Play Dirt.
Available in August, LEGO Hidden Side sets combine physical construction with augmented reality—what LEGO calls "fluidplay." Assemble the kit, pull up the kit's app, and point a smartphone or tablet camera to see the hidden creatures lurking in the set. The situation then flows into a video game as players are challenged to eliminate the augmented reality monsters.
The outside of Lego's top-secret booth featured several "monsters," built by children and blow up by LEGO to be six feet-tall.
Previously only included in their toy-of-the-month club subscription boxes, Steve Spangler Science's Energy Stick teaches children about conductive energy and electricity in a safe, fun, and approachable way.
Steve Spangler Science's String Slime was the only slime I encountered at the fair that was compostable, devoid of harsh chemicals, and didn't leave residue on my hands. Simply pour the bottled "slime" into the safe-to-touch activator solution for a stringy effect, or first squeeze it into a mold for a spongy, slimey shape of your own creation.
With a booth full of massive, motorized creations, K'nex demonstrated the incredible capabilities of their building kits and pieces that encourage "STEAMagination inspired play."
Working together as a family of products resembling cute monsters, Densters are fort building tools co-designed by London-based creative studio Kidesign and the children who attended their design workshops. While each Denster has its own purpose, both children and adults use them for everything from phone holders to bookmarks to home organization.
Also from Kidesign, the Kickstarter Design Objects Inspired by Animals card set was created with the idea of introducing children to biomimicry concepts. The one card set provides three games with creative missions to match objects to animals and design new inventions.
Gone are the days of messy dyes and wax crayons, or at least according to the folks at The Eggmazing Egg Decorator. Simply insert the egg, push a button, place the marker on the egg, and let the machine do the rest.
Artie 3000 is Educational Insights's programmable robot that combines art and coding. Users learn to input simple code and Artie's app tells the robot via Bluetooth where and how to draw.
Trade show booths often have more influence on buyers and consumers than their companies realize. With so many generic booths filling the Javits Center, small, considered details—like this floor made of actual puzzle pieces from Eurographics puzzle makers—make a significant impact.
In partnership with digital sculpting tool Zbrush, Makerbot made a Toy Fair appearance to market the opportunities their 3D printers allow—from creating parts for living hinges to printing detailed models of digitally developed characters—to toy designers and inventors.
A digital take on the Rubik's Cube, Super Impulse's Rubik's Tilt device must be tilted for users to solve the puzzle. While the classic cube could be seen as limited, the Tilt offers hints, lets you play against a timer, and measures your achievements.
While many analog toys decide to turn digital, Pac-Man is doing just the opposite with their board game from Buffalo Games.
For those with limited space, Oribel's VertiPlay Wall Toys are a great choice. Attractive, fun, and functional, the reusable wall-sticks are made of high quality wood sourced from sustainable forests.
Celebrating the launch of their VertiPlay Marble Run—repositionable wall clings with gears and chutes that teach problem solving and imaginative building skills—Oribel stepped into the STEAM arena by building what may be the world's longest wall-mounted marble run for their Toy Fair booth.
Mindscope's motorized cars and elaborate, neon, glow-in-the-dark Twister Tracks were hard to miss.
Invented by a Japanese math teacher who wanted a better way to demonstrate geometry concepts, Magna-Tiles were introduced to the US in 1997. Still popular today, Magna-Tiles continue providing endless opportunities for imaginative building with frequently released new tile sets.
Recently added to the Magna-Tiles family, these glow-in-the-dark tiles can be "drawn on" by applying pressure—allowing for even more creativity and imagination when playing with the magnetic set.
Bearing a striking resemblance to the early 2000s Bratz dolls, YULU's #SNAPSTAR influencer dolls received high praise from the Toy Association this year. When posed in front of their green screens and photographed with the #SNAPSTAR app, by anyone five years of age and older, the dolls' hair, makeup, and backgrounds can be customized—just like a current-day Instagram star. Controversial? Yes. Surprising? No.
Designed and Made in Denmark, Plus-Plus is one shape with endless possibilities. With the multidimensional puzzle, users can follow accompanying instructions or implement their own designs to assemble 2D mosaics or 3D constructions.
Discovering TheCoolTool's Toy Fair booth made me feel like I was Charlie entering the Chocolate Factory. A dream come true, the Austrian company offers tiny tabletop wood and metalworking tools.
TheCoolTool's PLAYMAT kit provides pieces to assemble a drill press, lathe, jigsaw, and sander. Claiming no risk of injury, the woodworking kit is advertised as being safe for even pre-school age children.
Slide, stack, or connect MindWare's architect-designed Q-BA-MAZE interlocking cubes to form a marble run.
Configurations are unlimited when building Marble maze sculptures with Q-BA-MAZE's sets. Users can design animals, robots, towers, and more, with the sets' accompanying tubes, gears, and spiral spheres.
A French toy company specializing in wood and cardboard, Janod is hopping on the llama trend this Spring with the debut of their ride-on and shape sorting wooden llama, complete with a storage compartment.
Games by Bright of Sweden strives to create games that are inviting, inclusive, innovative, and well-designed. In Geometry Strategy, the conditions will always change, requiring players to constantly restrategize, while the end-goal remains the same.
With a minimalist appearance and a goal reminiscent of chess, Geometry Strategy differs from the classic game with its constantly changing conditions determined by a card deck and quirky pieces.
Inflatables continue to be a popular trend. In addition to pool floats and snow tubes, BigMouth Inc. now offers inflatable eight-foot-tall sprinklers.
Sport Design balls are in nearly every school gymnasium across the country and continue to appeal to the masses with both classic designs and updated, neon color schemes.
A classic elementary school activity, speed, or cup, stacking is actually considered a sport, even included in the US Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games. With a real-life competitive speed stacking child ready to demonstrate, Speed Stacks was front and center on the Toy Fair floor.
Fans of Gund and their cute plushies will be happy to know that the brand was here in full force, with a life-sized Philbin bear for visitors to snuggle up with right in the middle of the Toy Fair floor.
Getting on board with the flip sequins craze, a Ty representative told me, "These new sequins wearables—purses, slippers, backpacks—make children feel older, more responsible. Flipping the sequins to make their own designs helps them feel independent." Is this Ty's attempt to reach both children and tweens with one product line? Let's hope all those trendy sequins don't end up in our landfills and oceans too quickly now.
For every adult who didn't get a pony for Christmas growing up, Ponycycle is for you.

At first, it's peculiar to see adults, usually in corporate attire, modeling and demonstrating children's toys, playing. But at this (mostly) kid-free event, business is play and play is business. A trade-only convention and the largest toy fair in the Western Hemisphere, New York City's Toy Fair is an exclusive gathering of over 30,000 attendees to view the 150,000 products marketed by 1,000 exhibitors. Filling all 447,000 net square ft of space in the city's massive Javits Center, the Toy Fair attracts international brands, designers, and inventors hoping to get their products picked up by US retailers, distributors, importers, wholesalers, and sales representatives.

While major brands like Mattel, Melissa & Doug, Ty, HABA, LEGO, and the like, are the first brands visitors notice due to their enormous booths, it's incredible to see them alongside so many smaller brands, all with the same goal: to get their products noticed. In a sea full of thousands, it's hard to stand out. From drawing robots and augmented reality toys to tools for designers to new twists on classic ideas, the Toy Fair has a lot to offer. Check out the gallery to see our selection of 2019 toys and brands that caught our attention—a difficult feat in what felt like the world's largest toy store.

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Where Play is Work and Work is Play: Highlights from the 2019 International Toy Fair

By Molly Millette - March 8

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