58 SECTOR GUIDE PRE-SCHOOL GOLDEN BEAR
Bananas in Pyjamas is a key focus for Golden Bear. The Banana’s Fun House Play-set is a two-storey house, which folds out to reveal numerous play features, including an opening door and musical staircase. B1 and B2 figures are also included. The firm also has plush toys in a number of different sizes and with different features. These include Day & Night Banana Buddy in both B1 and B2; children can lay them down and put them to sleep to hear them snore, and lift them up when it’s awake time. The Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom line-up is also due to expand with new play-sets, including the Magical Toadstool Play-set. It opens up to reveal two different play-sets in one, or the Magical Elf Tree Play-set, a three-story elf factory which includes four figures: Princess Holly, Ben Elf, Nanny Plum and Wise Old Elf. The range will be supported by TV advertising and PR activity. Moving on, and Chloe’s
Closet is another new addition to the portfolio. Products include Dress-up Chloe, a Singing Chloe Ragdoll,
01952 608308 TOMY 020 8722 7300
Chloe dressed as a princess and the character’s toy, Lovely Carrot. For role- play, there are three figurine sets, plus Chloe’s Magical Dress-up Closet, a play-set which includes Chloe, three outfits with a Scene Card that relates to each and the Magical Closet itself. Golden Bear also has strong lines
for Poppy Cat, Mike the Knight and Peppa Pig, among others.
VTECH
At the beginning of 2012, VTech entered the pre-school vehicle market with VTech Switch & Go Dinos, which became the eighth top selling selling item in the category (source: NPD February 2012). The range consists of seven cars which transform into dinosaurs – as the dinos get bigger, the amount of stages to change increases, along with the features. The dinos change reactions when in their different forms with characters on screen and related sound effects, while the push buttons also activate facts reinforced by a flash card. VTech will be introducing the InnoTab 2 in summer. Available in pink or blue, it will come with a 1.3 megapixel camera with a rotating self portrait lens. Other new features will include a built-in microphone and video recording. The firm is also launching new
software for Storio, InnoTab and Mobigo. Also coming from
VTech this year is Gadget the Robot, which features body and facial movements with an LCD screen to recognise 30 learning tokens. The robot sings and teaches letters, numbers, objects and
MAY 2012
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music, while encouraging visualisation skills and coordination. Following its success with the Toot-
Toot Drives Garage, VTech is introducing a number of new vehicles. These include a cement mixer, tractor and helicopter which each feature three songs, as well as phrases and sound effects. New pink vehicles are also set to extend the appeal of the range to girls. Finally, three new Toot-Toot Drivers play-sets, which interact with all the vehicles in the range, will be introduced. These are the Traffic Tracks (12+ months), the Fire Station (one to five year-olds) and the Car Carrier (one to five year-olds).
Tomy’s key 2012 line, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, includes interactive play-sets and vehicles, plush, feature plush, bath toys and chunky figures of all six characters. The figures, play-set and vehicles are
all part of the Character Play System – place any figure on a ‘Smartspot’ and it will automatically recognise the character, play a sound or phrase related to it and, in some instances, provide a movement. Following the launch of the Chuggington die-cast and interactive play-sets in 2010, 2012 sees the addition of new characters from the show with themed vehicles, track expansions and track-focused play-sets. Hero items include the Action Chugger Carry Case, and the two second half TV promoted lines, the Portable Double Decker Roundhouse and the Ice Cave Set. The Chuggington Wooden Range, meanwhile, combines traditional wooden train play with key innovation from Tomy’s train play team. Products to watch include the Double Decker Roundhouse and Over & Under Starter Set. The Play to Learn line, meanwhile,
welcomes the Load n Go Racing Car – which aims to help with cognitive and motor development – plus Activity Auto (arriving in September) which comes with ignition key, steering wheel, horn, opening car door and a wind up window, with a shape sorter on the front.
Aquadoodle continues with both Large and Mini Mats, featuring a mixture of licensed and non-licensed products. The Classic Aquadoodle, Rainbow Aquadoodle and Animal Magic Sounds Aquadoodle remain popular; children use special pens, stampers and brushes filled with water for children to doodle on the mats, then as the water dries, the pictures disappear ready for the mat to be used again.
Licensed Aquadoodle large mats launching later in the year include Raa Raa, Disney Princess and Winnie the Pooh, with each mat coming with a character stamper. Refreshed styles of Mini Mats have also
arrived for 2012, along with new reduced price points. New Playtime Mini Mats sit alongside licences such as Peppa Pig, with Disney Princess and Chuggington launching later in the year. Moving on, and Tomy continues to expand its Britains Big Farm pre-school portfolio with the introduction of two new sets and trailers. The Land Rover and Horse Trailer sees Britains introducing new equestrian items, while the farmyard expands with the arrival of the Land Rover Defender complete with lights, sounds, removable cab and tailgate detail. Also launching in the spring is the Land Rover with General Purpose Trailer set.
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