(First appeared in ToyBook, USA, Feb 2018 issue.)
CES 208 Article TOYBOOK Feb 2018 issue page 1CES 2018 Article TOYBOOK Feb 2018 issue pg 2
Trend Recap from CES 2018
CES 2018 Article TOYBOOK Feb 2018 issue pg 2
CES 2018 Article TOYBOOK Feb 2018 issue pg 2
NYC Toy Fair 2018 Sneak Peak
(Originally posted on DailyLounge.com, by Amelia Floyd.)
*Sponsored Content
Reyne Rice is back at the Toy Fair in NYC with this year’s hottest trends!
Lego adds fun to playing and taps into our imaginations! The LEGO brick is turning 60 this year and to celebrate, they have created five LEGO 60th Anniversary “What Will You Build?” sets, designed to inspire creativity and open-ended building. The boxes are colorful and filled with classic bricks, special elements and mini-figures. LEGO is a timeless, nostalgic toy that brings parents back to their childhood and connects them with their own kids. By focusing on Bigger Thinking, kids will build self-confidence with fun. No rules, just play, explore and discover. AND, in April, the Mini-figures celebrate their 40th anniversary~ Click here to learn more.
Kids can explore their dreams, while learning swimming skills with Fin Fun’s Mermaid Tails that let kids swim like real mermaids. The quality of these tails are spectacular, and Fin Fun offers a 60-day Tail Tip Guarantee. The patented monofins are inserted into the tail and the quick-release design, lets you remove the tail with just a tug and a kick of the feet. Mermaid tails are recommended for competent swimmers 6 years and older, and ONLY with adult supervision. Adults can wear them too! Coral Cloud is a NEW Limited Edition color and Mariana’s Tidal Wave is a consistent best seller. Click here to learn more.
Are you looking for a fun game that challenges your kids? Build OR Boom by Goliath Games encourages kids, ages 4 and up, to hone their STEM skills. Each child sees who can be the first to bring the blueprint cards to life. Kids work on their own platform, quickly but carefully, to match the blueprint. Be the first one to finish, then SMASH the boomer and demolish the other players’ building to win the round. Driven by kids’ imagination and parents will love that no batteries are required. Click here to learn more.
Smartgurlz is a line of Award winning, self-balancing robots and action dolls that teaches girls to code. As Seen on Shark Tank, just connect your smartphone or tablet to the E-Learning app and give your daughter STEM confidence and provide loads of fun. Watch your robot roll across the room, perform dance moves or play learning games. The app includes missions, books and a step-by-step tutorial on how to code! Click here to learn more.
Kids at Play Awards Ceremony – CES 2018
CES 2018, as a judge and awards presenter at the Kids at Play Awards Ceremony, in Las Vegas, Jan 2018 @ToyTrendExpert, @LIDTEvents. Review all of the award winning tech for kids products at www.KapiAwards.com.
2018 Kids at Play Innovation Award Winners
THE 2018 KAPI AWARD WINNERS ARE:
Selected each year, from hundreds of entries and new Tech products, designed for kids, ages birth to 14 years. The esteemed international judges review and debate the best of the best across multiple categories. This year’s winners include new-comers and veterans. See the list below and go to www.kapiawards.com for photos and more information, on each product.
- Best App (Younger Children) Sago Mini World, Sago Mini It took a small Canadian team of designers, many of them parents themselves, to create this safe, vibrant home for the very first tech users. The unique subscription model is commercial free, and packed with updated things to discover.
- Best App (Older Children) Messenger Kids, Facebook Many have tried but few have succeeded to fulfill a family’s desire to let their young children have access to messaging. After copious research and careful attention to privacy and permission, Facebook’s powerful Messenger Kids will open a much-needed line of communication between children and parents. We applaud this type of leadership.
- Best Peripheral Kidizoom Smartwatch DX2, VTech Our judges agreed: the Kidizoom 2017 smartwatch bests the competition in the kid’s wearable category. There’s no GPS for tracking, but the two cameras, color touch screen, motion/step counter and suite of games make this affordable peripheral an ideal first watch for any child. And it tells time.
- Best Content Distribution WOW in the World Podcast for Kids by Tinkercast on NPR “Where doe an astronaut poop?” NPR’s Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas have the answer to this, and many other important questions in this podcast specifically designed to delight kids (and their parents).
- Best AR/VR Application Merge Cube, Merge VR VR and AR apps and toys were easy to find this year. Tools like Apple’s AR kit have created an endless stream of exciting new kids’ products. Merge VR rises to the top by giving children a concrete prop that they can hold in their hands. We’ve seen kids lining up to try it out.
- Best Maker Product Circuit Cubes, Tenka Labs Simplistic fun that turns a consumer into a creator right out of the box. Unlike the other maker kits that were released this year, Circuit Cubes is designed to play well with other brands of toys, from stuffed animals to Tinker Toys to LEGOs.
- Most Creative Beasts of Balance, Sensible Object Jurors loved this clever balancing act (literally) between physical, stackable building parts and AR. Warning — this game can get addicting.
- Award for Innovation Lenovo Star Wars Jedi Challenge, Lenovo OK, let’s admit it. We all want to have our own lightsaber. Lenovo has created a combination headset, app, beacon and light saber that comes close to pulling you right into your own battle.
- Best Physical/Digital Merger LEGO Boost, LEGO Build one of five variations of a robot (or concoct your own) with this LEGOs kit, program it using a simple block-oriented language, and then enjoy your play session with your new interactive creation. This clever leveraging of the LEGO brand offers kids a seamless way to code, build and play.
- Best Thing that Flies Aura Drone with Glove Controller, KD Group We love it when a toy makes feel like you have magical powers. This drone comes with a glove that turns your hand into a motion controller. There are even haptic features so you can feel the power.
- Emerging Pioneer Vikas Gupta, Wonder Workshop Vikas Gupta had a perfectly lovely life as the Head of Consumer Payments at Google, but his vision of creating playmate robots that would teach kids how to code was his passion. With Dot and Dash, a robotic duo, and the new Cue, that has emotional intelligence and personality, he’s taught countless kids about the joys of coding.
Honorable Mentions go to Elfkin for creating a personal robot that includes a voice-activated messaging system that’s safe for young children and Dynepic for iOkids, a woman, and veteran owned company, creating an aggregated safe entertainment environment for kids.
Reyne Rice, Judge & Presenter at CES 2018: Kids at Play Innovations (KAPI) Awards: January 10th, 2018. Las Vegas, Nevada
ABOUT: Sponsored by https://livingindigitaltimes.com/ and http://childrenstech.com/about
What are the KAPi Awards? The 9th Annual KAPi (Kids at Play Interactive) Awards celebrates excellence in children’s media, presenting awards to some of the most deserving people and products in the kids’ tech industry. The KAPi prize identifies children’s technology products that raise the bar for innovation and excellence during the past 12 months.
Who selects the winners? Our panel of distinguished judges, representing all facets of the kids’ media business, engage in a series of conversations via phone and email to determine what the characteristics of good kids’ digital play should be and which nominated products are most deserving. http://kapiawards.com/faq-2/
Additional inquiries should be sent to:
Tonda Bunge Sellers, Producer
KAPi Awards
tonda@livingindigitaltimes.com
512-626-3334
Canadian Hot Holiday Toys Tour 2017 – Saskatoon
First snowfall of my holiday season, here in beautiful Saskatoon! Shared the joys of holiday gift-giving with Jeremy, on the CTV Morning News, and with Jeff on the CTV News at Noon. Happy and joyous Holiday Cheer!
Black Friday Toys 2017
Originally posted on dailylounge.com
Reyne Rice has this season’s gift ideas just in time for Black Friday & Cyber Monday!
Kids love construction sets and younger kids can have fun practicing real world activities or using their imagination to create an entirely new world. The LEGO DUPLO Family House is designed for a child’s smaller hands to develop motor skills, and introduce children as young as 1 1/2 to LEGO building, with bricks that are twice the size of a classic brick. With endless playing possibilities and loads of elements and colors to spark their imagination, they learn to stack, build, and role-play as they act out everyday life. Visit shop.lego.com to learn more!
Playing games is a great way to bond as a family over the holidays. Catch the Fox by Goliath Games was named toy of the year in France, bringing laughter and fun to the family when uh oh – the Fox is in the hen house. This greedy fox is snapping up the chickens and stuffing them into his pockets. But when there are too many chickens, his pants will fall down, sending the chickens scurrying so it keeps everyone guessing. Be the first to return 5 chickens to your coop to win! Click here to learn more.
This is the Merge Cube, an award-winning 3D Augmented Reality toy that you use with your smartphone or tablet. This cube allows kids to hold digital, holographic objects in the palm of their hand! Many kids are hands-on learners, and this is enhancing the learning experience in a fun way that they will remember! Just download free or paid apps to activate and play with 3D games, characters and learning tools, like a skull, a rotating labyrinth, a chomping piranha, and so much more…all for less than $15! Click here to learn more!
Getting kids outdoors is always a plus. Kids will get hours of enjoyment out of these Passback Sports footballs. It is a one-of-a-kind training tool that is thrown like a regulation ball but engineered to hit a surface and come spiraling back. Aim the flat side of the ball to any wall surface and be amazed as it boomerangs back to the person who threw it. It’s like having a perfect practice partner when no one is around! It comes in three sizes: Pee Wee, Junior and an official Full size. Click here to learn more!
Bologna Toy Fair 2017 Opening Event
Originally posted on LicensingMagazine.com
Discover the latest Digital Trends in Toys and their impact on the kids toys & licensing business : one hour presentation, on the Opening Morning of the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair, from 10AM to 11AM, on Monday, April 3rd, in Bologna.
Since the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair is held in conjunction with the Bologna Digital Media Event and the Bologna Book Fair, the event wants to include two of the key fair focuses in one presentation, kids licensing and kids digital media.
The presentation aims to discover the new technologies and innovative products that are leading development of Digital Media Trends in Toys; see visual examples of the products that define this new connected play digital toybox; dive into research results of the latest Kids & Digital Study by Kidz Global to gain an understanding of this new market segment and kids preferences, attitudes and usage of digital tools and devices and see how trend-setting manufacturer Spin Master has tapped into this digital marketplace, instilling new technologies and progressive play options, for an innovative wave of interactive play experiences.
Reyne Rice, Global Trend Hunter and ToyTrends CEO, will start off the session with a visual cavalcade of digital toy trends and the products that define this space, showcasing global manufacturers across multiple categories of digital play. Reyne Rice is a toy industry trend expert/analyst, consultant, and media spokesperson, with 30 years experience marketing, researching and analyzing the toy industry, children’s technology, entertainment & licensing, and the youth market. Reyne has developed products and solutions for the media, consumers, trade associations, retailers, manufacturers, licensors and entertainment studios. Her career experience includes working as a marketing consultant, trend expert and strategic consultant for international toy trade associations, Mattel, NPD Research Group, Ogilvy & Mather, and other companies. As an international trade journalist for more than a decade, Reyne has articles published in over 60 countries, spanning the USA, Europe and Asia. She is a frequent Keynote speaker at USA and International conferences. Since 2003, Reyne has owned her own consultancy, ToyTrends.