Playing for Pennies: The Top Five Recession-Proof Picks from the Toy of the Year Winners

Last night, throngs of toy industry insiders gathered for the tenth annual TOTY (Toy of the Year) Awards—the Oscars of the toy world. The gala, which is hosted by the Toy Industry Association (TIA), recognizes the best in toys—but some of these award-nabbing playthings aren’t exactly wallet-friendly in these lean economic times. That’s exactly why I’m making this separate list for all of us budget-conscience toy lovers who are practically gripping onto our last few bucks. As such, these are my top five choices in TOTY-winning toys that’ll nonetheless spare your checking account from overdraft charges:

#1: Zhu Zhu Pets by Cepia—I’m not just choosing this product because it swept the TOTY Awards as overall Toy of the Year, Girl Toy of the Year, and Innovative Toy of the Year. Aside from these accolades, the faux hamster also happens to be pretty cool: Once you pet the hamster’s back and set it down, it the scurries around from room to room, uttering one of more than 40 sound effects. And here’s the best part: Zhu Zhu pets never poop, stink, or die. And with a retail price of $10, even us tightwads have to admit that Zhu Zhu won’t gnaw holes through our wallets.

#2: Sort It Out! By University Games—The miser’s dream has come true with this bargain basement-priced Game of the Year selection. Sort It Out! began in Australia, then swept across the globe as party planners discovered what a fantastic ice-breaker they had on their hands. Two to four plays sort out (hence the name) challenges such as whether a cat’s brain weighs more than an elephant’s or kangaroo’s brain. Family and friends guffaw along the way—all for the low retail price of $18.99.

#3: Crayola Beginnings Color Me a Song—The notoriously affordable Crayola is back with another fab product for cheapskate parents: This product grabbed top honors in the Infant Toy of the Year category. Not only does the product develop children’s fine motor skills, but it allows toddlers to create original music with their scribbles. The faster the child scribbles, the faster the corresponding tune becomes. Yet as downright marvelous as that sounds, the real music to our ears is this: Even the Scroogiest spendthrift may be able to part with the mere $19.99 that this product costs. PS: Another Crayola product, Crayon Town by Wild Planet Entertainment, claimed TOTY’s Activity Toy of the Year. With a clearance-level price of $15.99, it’s affordable enough to garner high honors on our list.

#4: Bakugan by Cartoon Network—As TOTY’s Property of the Year winner, Bakugan Battle Brawlers have boys (and tomboys) everywhere taking part in the action-figure craze. Bakugan is a two-player strategy game (based on the Cartoon Network’s television series) involves warriors (aka Battle Brawlers)that are tucked into spheres but then pop open they’re rolled onto a Gate card. Moms and pops come out as the real battle victors when they reach the cash register: the figurines are sold for as little as $2.

#5: Bilibo by Active People shares its top spot for Preschool Toy of the Year with the slightly more pricey Tonka Chuck & Friends’ Talking Truck (34.99). While both are fairly pocketbook-friendly, I’ve gotta hand the top prize to Bilibo, which jump-starts children’s imagination. Kids are encouraged to use pieces to create their own playthings: spinning tops, boats, tiddlywinks, and sand shovels, to name a few. It also features a rock-bottom price: $19.99.

For the full list of 2010 TOTY winners, swing by this web address:

http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&SECTION=Home&CONTENTID=12185)

What a Difference a Decade Makes: Dora the Explorer Turns 10

Oh, to be 10 again—with one big toe resting squarely in childhood and all of its ignorant bliss, and the other big toe inching toward adolescent and adult realities. At Toy Fair 2010, Dora the Explorer—Nickelodeon’s courageous cartoon character who first marched her way into children’s hearts in 2000—celebrates that middle passage. That’s right: Dora Marquez, the young Latina girl who sets out on a spankin’ new adventure in each episode, all while teaching her followers a little Spanish along the way, has officially hit the tween years. And Fisher Price is marking their gutsy girl’s birthday with the release of her namesake doll—We Did It! Dora. Kids can boogie along with Dora as she jams to the beat of her signature song, “We did it!” The doll includes four modes of play: Teach-Me (where Dora guides kids the “We Did It!” Dance); the “We Did It!” Dance; Freeze Dance; and the Say It Two Ways bilingual dance game.

After dancing the night away, Dora even has a casa to return to: the Dora All Seasons Dollhouse comes complete with magic windows that show fall, winter, spring, and summer. On a summer day, for instance, sun streams through the windows and birds chirp. And here’s the cool part that makes the dollhouse quintessentially Dora: Girls can press the speech button to hear phrases (in both English and Spanish) that correspond to the different seasons and times of day. And as it turns out, Dora is sharing her big birthday with a bevy of do-gooding girlfriends: Dora’s Explorer Girls Rock for Change Fashion Dolls have linked arms to organize Puerto Verde’s Music Arts Festival to benefit the coral reefs—or so the storyline goes. Each Explorer Girl—Dora, Kata, Alana, Emma, and Naiya—comes with a charm and a code that girls can share with their friends. When the code is entered online, girls can personalize their profile page, chat with their gal pals, and exchange virtual gifts.

When it comes to anniversary parties, Dora has plenty of company this year: Disney Princesses Aladdin and Jasmine have also sashayed across the decade marker; the 1980s icon Rainbow Brite has been delighting girls for 25 years; and Strawberry Shortcake—the doll I snuggled up to every night when I was just a girl—has been serving up her sweetness for 30 years. And if you’re feeling even half as elderly as I’m feeling right now (especially when you realize that Empire Strikes Back turns 30 this year), let's not even get started on board-game birthdays: Clue is 60 years old; Monopoly is 75; and Bingo—much like the grandmotherly zealots who wouldn't dare miss a round of the game in their senior citizen centers—is 105 years old. Suddenly, at a mere 10 years old, Dora seems like such a babe.

Virtually Anywhere: Using Toys to Stay Connected

Though I once shot an Evilina glare at anyone who dared to substitute a Tweet or a Blackberry message for some old-fashioned face time, I confess: I’ve reluctantly joined the ranks of addicts who crave 24-7 connectivity. Our children, however, will never have to make such a transition: They were born into a world that prefers to beep in touch. Rather than loathing the drawbacks of their Facebook existence or yearning for the cyber-free days of yore, we might as well use their social media fixation to turn them into better human beings—or, if that’s a tad grandiose, at least to entertain them.

That’s exactly what Mattel’s forthcoming Puppy Tweets will do for your kid—and, in this case, for the zillions of dog-loving adults. In Fall 2010, the high-tech toy will allow your favorite canine companion to publicize its everyday activities on Twitter. Just attach a sound and motion sensor to Rover’s collar and connect its USB receiver to your computer, and woila, your pet can keep you updated on his latest roamings with pre-recorded Tweets such as “I’ve finally caught that tail I’ve been chasing and…OOUUUCH!” If you and your kid are poochless—or simply perturbed at the idea that some people adore their pets just a hair too much—instead check out the iCarly Chat ’n’ Play Set from Playmates Toys. With this electronic set, fans of the iCarly TV series can stay connected to the cast of iCarly via 4.5” collectible figures that activate the sounds of the play set via sensor recognition. The figures actually speak out 150 sound bytes from the show, bringing the small screen to life—and keeping your girl endlessly fascinated. If your kids’ eyes glaze over at the mention of chattering figurines, sign ’em up for Nanovor Online Battle Game (http://www.nanovor.com/), from Smith & Tinker. In this digital monster battle game, children can create teams, battle and trade with their cyber-friends, and collect over 100 Nanovor—all while using the (free!) downloadable application (PS: There’s green goo involved). Then finally, the mighty Crayola takes its place in the cyber craze with Lights, Camera, Color. Inside specially marked boxes of Crayola Crayons, your kid will snoop out a code that gives him or her instant access to Crayola’s site. From there, choose any photo on your computer, and in a snap, the site will strip that photo of its color. Throw in some decoration and a few captions, and just like that, you’ve got a customized page in your own coloring book. You’ve also got yourself one web-savvy kid—like it, love it, loathe it or not.

Aerobics for the Brain: Toys That Exercise Your Child’s Imagination

All the recent chatter about America’s childhood obesity pandemic has shifted our gaze away from another potential sloth: Our children’s brainpower may be seeping away as they passively take in oodles of media. Without consistent, vigorous exercise, the brain indeed atrophies as quickly as your waist measurement seems to climb once you hit 30.

If you want to kick-start you kids’ imagination, you’ve come to the right place. This August, keep one eyeball peeled for My Take Along Theater from Playmobil. Using figures and variable scenes, children can dream up an endless number of storylines that ignite their creativity for hours. The set even comes with a touch of theatrical authenticity—a sound box of pre-recorded music, sounds, and children’s laughter. Bonus: Moms will love that the self-enclosed carry box stashes away all of the figurines and makes portability a snap. If stagecraft isn’t quite your cup of tea, then swing by for a visit with the crown prince of creativity—Crayola. From the Spira-Chalk Blaster (which lets kids create eye-popping spiral designs using sidewalk chalk) to the 3-D Disney Fairies (which lets kids draw and color characters like Tinkerbell), Crayola has mastered the art of all things imaginative. They even offer a Sidewalk Chalk Maker where children can whip up their own customized hues using six jars of colored chalk powder. When it comes to bolstering your child’s fine motor skills—as it turns out, our children’s dexterity development is just as exercise-starved as their brains are—few products trump Perplexus (PlaSmart), a maze game in which players must maneuver a marble around challenging barriers inside a transparent sphere. To add some fitness training to your children’s mystery-solving and navigational skills, introduce them to Treasure of the Lost Pyramid (Basic Concepts), a 3-D pop-up game during which teammates compete to discover what’s hidden in each of the four Pharaoh’s Tombs. Then at Toy Fair 2010, Hasbro unveils its brain-titillating Scrabble Flash Cubes—for a twist on the classic game, players can slide, move, and shuffle electronic cubed letter tiles in a race to create new words in 60 seconds flat. And not list of brain-teasing toys would be complete with a mention of Creationary—a LEGO game in which each player can builds an object while playmates guess what he or she is creating. Not only does this game stretch your memory to the max, but it brings together family and friends for at least 30 minutes of bonding.

Fit or fat? When it comes to keeping those neurotransmitters popping in your child’s brain, what goes for the gluteus maximus also holds true for the cerebellum: You either move it or you lose it.