*notcot in playful , 11:20

Toy Fair: Toys to Travel With!- 02.16.12

toy0.jpg This post is presented by HomeAway. Discover the world’s largest selection of vacation home rentals with HomeAway.com. Let’s stay together.

While i’ve seldom had the traditional “family vacation” as a kid ~ talking to NOTlabs director, Shawn, i found out that he knows HomeAway well! Apparently his mom’s been booking everything from houses in the Rockies, French Quarter in New Orleans, and Utah Ski trips on the site ~ and they often associate family vacations with insane jigsaw puzzles and toys… so when HomeAway asked us to share some awesomeness around family travel… adventures at the NY International Toy Fair seemed like a perfect fit! There were SO many random toys in every genre you can imagine, so to narrow it down, here’s a selection of our favorites that are perfect to keep kids (both actually young and young at heart) occupied in the car/plane en route or curled up by the fireplace/dining table when just hanging out! Ready to see some crazy puzzles, fun magnetic building toys, turtles, mazes, paper animals, electronic experiments and more? To the next page!

toy1.jpg FatBrain Toys ~ even more fun in person… so much color, products feel great in hand… and TURTLES! Reptangles! That you can use to play with building crazy structures!

toy2.jpg Also other simple, pretty yet fun toys!

toy13.jpg One of the “OMG we need these!” toys we encountered ~ these KnuckleStrutz constructor sets are amazing, and about to come in NANOs. The way the various pieces can connect to twist, lock together, function like joints and more make for fascinating possibilities and structures that can literally morph in your hands!

toy14.jpg You can see a peek at some of the various types of pieces in the corner!

toy4.jpg The EPIC Perplexus ball of a maze has been torturing me on my desk the last month ~ they are fun and mind bogglingly addictive as you try to gently roll it around to get through the various numbered spots on the mazes… (also: love that its the PerpLEXUS!)

toy5.jpg … incredible to get to see one of their BIG big ones in action at the show!

toy6.jpg For the animal lovers who like mini projects, these Duarte Paper Art animal sculptures are easy to pop out, fold, and glue together… the results are quite pretty!

toy7.jpg MAGNETS!!! So many variations of the little spherical magnets have been popping up over the years, and NanoDots have certainly taken it further than most… from little dots to big dots to competitions to make the ultimate chess set out of little magnets that you can then use on their magnetic mat…

toy8.jpg … they even have this incredible MFV CARD (Magnetic Field Viewer Card!). Deceptively simple, yet a fascinating way to expose the magnetic fields in your creations… and also easily split the magnets apart (it’s not always easy with your fingers when you will nearly smoosh your whole creation!)

toy9.jpg TEGU! On more magnetic fun (which could be added on to those above even!) Our friends at Tegu were there showing off their magnetic wooden blocks, now with WHEELS!

toy10.jpg Little Bits is an awesome starter electronics kit that snaps together with magnets. There is something magical about the way these click together and create interactive fun!

toy12.jpg On other “must have” toys (ok, maybe i already ordered some from amazon to arrive by the time i get home) Hog Wild’s animal POPPERS are so fun. Load up a high density foam ball… aim. squeeze (the belly) and POP… they launch further than you’d expect!

toy11.jpg … these cute cutouts served as great target practice in their booth!

toy3.jpg And on more old school toys… this dissection of YoYoFactory’s super yoyos was impressive too!

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1 Notes

I have such fond memories of family road trips & vacations — my sisters and i would sing songs, play games and listen to music together. Good times!!!!

----- ErnestoElGato 16.02.12 11:46


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