2010’s Best Toys for Kids

[in no particular order]

1 The Sing-A-Ma-Jigs.  These collectible bizarre-looking plush toys can carry a tune, each one with a signature octave, so when you get them going all at once, the result is a fine symphony you’ve never heard before.

On her talkshow, Ellen DeGeneres gives away Sing-a-Ma-Jigs to her audience, and lets them press their new toy simultaneously, just to see how 300 Sing-a-Ma-Jigs sound like when harmonized. [see, I mean ,hear below at 2:50]

2 Ben10 Ultimate Alien Disc Ultimatrix.  Why not?  After all, why should Ben be the only kid who gets to wear the cool ultimatrix and transform into villain-busting aliens?

3 Fisher Price iXL Learning System.  Inarguably the best educational toy for toddlers this year, the iXL Learning System is the iPad for kids.  Has nifty applications for reading, math, games, art, and even music. Touchscreen too, and has expandable memory for more software.

4  MONOPOLY Revolution.  Purists might not like the idea of Monopoly's new circular boardgame, and the fact that fake credit cards have replaced the regular good 'ol cold cash, but the updated Monopoly Revolution is still worth checking out.  Don't worry, the classic version is still available.

5 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle.  The best of both worlds collide.  Our favorite Lego bricks and our favorite boy wizard, Harry Potter make for an exciting construction gameplay and creative storytelling for hours on end.  (Comes with the usual cast of HP, plus two Dementors to make things more interesting.)

6 Stinky the Garbage Truck.  It’s the garbage truck who sings, dances, and cracks jokes.  And readily gobbles whole cars too and spits them out.

7 Dance Star Mickey (from Fisher Price).  The faultlessly lovable Mickey dances and sings his way into your heart.


8 Rip Rider 360.  The must-have bike for kids.  Rip Rider is the three-wheeler literally with a twist, letting riders spin 360 degrees as they coast the road at high speeds.



9 Ferrari F1 electric ride-on.  Ferrari F1, the kiddie version.  But this one’s backed up by real Ferrari engineers, so you know your kid’s in good hands.


10 XBOX Kinect (see previous post on Kinect).  Goodbye joysticks and game controllers.  With the revolutionary Kinect for Xbox, you are the controller and you get to be inside the game yourself.

11 Kung Zhu Battle Hamsters.  Contrary to popular belief, hamsters don’t always have to be the designated class pet, cute and fragile.  The Kung Zhu Battle Hamsters have smart microchip technology in them.  Strap on their battle gear and train them into assiduous fighters for their special battle arena.

12.Buzz Lightyear Jet Pack.  It’s Buzz Lightyear, for goodness sake!  You can’t go wrong with Buzz.

Transformers | This Used to Be My Childhood Toy #3

And we got a live one with photos, before the New Year ends.  

From Mark [thank you...]:

More than meets the eye.

"Legos and G.I. Joes!

"Knowing is half the Battle!"

I actually loved all the toys that I could build anything with; Lincoln Logs, etc. But Legos were the ultimate.

Also a Casio SK-1 (Sampling Keyboard)! Pang-weirdo lang. Haha!"


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Mark did mention something too about The Transformers being his favorite, which explains the photo he sent along.  As for me, the only Transformers I can recognize are Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee and Starscream.  And Megatron, who was radically unrecognizable in the films.  I'd like to hazard asking Mark about the Transformers he's holding, but that's already asking too much.



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Happy New Year, Everyone! 

* * * 
update: The Transformers Mark's holding: Ultra Magnus First Appearance:"The Transformers: The Movie" and Slag First Appearance: "S.O.S Dinobots".  I asked.

Oh No, it's a Green Frisbee!

Camouflage

Bad purchase.  Me and Edge haven't really tried it out, but I have a feeling that green was a bad color choice for a Frisbee.  It'll just hopelessly blend with the foliage (like it did with our fridge [see photo]--yes, we have an avocado green fridge).  And then it'll be hard to catch.  Unless the whole point of a green Frisbee is to make the game more interesting..

Edge says we can always get ourselves a beach, for better contrast, but darn I've always wanted to throw a Frisbee at the Sunken Garden, not at the beach.

I hope Toy Kingdom allows exchanges on the grounds of resemblance with vegetation.  I hope SM is open tomorrow.  I should have picked the red one.  And to think I'm not even a Ben Ten fan.

It's just 59 Pesos (barely $2), so let it go, Edge assuages me.  Sure.  Like it's that easy.

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The flying disc's inventor, Walter Frederick Morrison, was born on January 23, 1920 in Utah.

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Brilliant toy, on the other hand: Glow-in-the-dark Frisbees.

The Lost Matchbox | This Used to Be My Childhood Toy # 2

From another of my good friend M., who's been going under a different name--at least in the social networks--for the longest time since I can remember. 

The only toy I remember is a matchbox car which I really like. 


Mommy and Papang gave it to me when I was about 4 years old. It is white in color, and I still remember that it is a replica of a box-type Toyota car back in the 80's.  You know how Matchbox toys are back in the days when quality matters--they really last.  It's body is pure metal.  If someone throws it to you, you'd sure get a bruise where the car would hit you. The only plastic in that toy are the wheels.  In short, Mommy and Papang picked the toy because they know that it would last years.


I lost that toy when I was in Grade III. My family moves a lot; probably that Matchbox toy I have was lost--I just don't know when--when we moved.


I guess I am fixated to that toy car because we aren't rich and all I wanted at that time is to be rich. Having a car is a status symbol. Unfortunately, along with the lost toy car, I guess I've missed on a couple of lucks because until now, at 29 years old, I still don't have a car.

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Obviously, we can't post a pic of him and his lost Matchbox.  (We're going to need a live one in the succeeding posts.)  But thanks all the same, M!  May you have a real life-sized car this coming year.

Kinect for Xbox 360

Kinect for Xbox 360: Such a Big Leap  

Not just your average jump shot.

Just when we thought they've made big leaps in making game controllers and joysticks as ergonomic as possible, now come something even more revolutionary.  The human body--via our signature gestures, face, and voice--as the ultimate controller.

That's what Kinect(very nice-sounding and appropriate name, better than it's initial Project Natal moniker) is all about.  As such, the ad campaign for the Xbox's peripheral is "You are the controller."

You kick--the RGB camera senses your movement--and your game avatar kicks on screen simultaneously as well.  Don't you just wish there was Kinect in the days of Street Fighters?  With Kinect, you'll be needing lots of space to kick around though, and thrash about and gesticulate for optimal gaming experience.  

Another catch is this: Yes, Kinect for Xbox 360 requires lots of space, but stray too far from the camera's peripheral vision (for instance, when you get too carried away with the fight sequences), and you'll be told to step back into the frame.  Bummer, huh?

Understandably, Kinect is just version 1.0, and there's certainly much to be improved on of course.  

At its standalone price of $149 though ($299 when bundled with Xbox 360 4G), it's a good buy.  Heck, we've been dreaming of this a long time ago, and now it's here.

More thorough Kinect review?

Who Knew Pop Up Books Can Be Like This?

It's never just a pop up book, at least not to paper engineer Robert Sabuda.  

Robert Sabuda's Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks

We've all seen a pop-up book before, and chances are you pull a tab and something interesting pops up.  Simple.  

In the pop up books of Robert Sabuda however (along with his colleague Matthew Reinhart), you open the page and many events happen all at once.  The page literally bursts open and becomes alive, whether it's Alice chased by a flurry of playing cards in Wonderland, or a dinosaur with dangerous mouth and claws.  (Sure, the books in Harry Potter's world are more alive, but for now, we have Robert Sabuda to wow us.)

That's to say Sabuda's target audience isn't babies and toddlers (although who's stopping them from getting awed by this lovely cacophony on paper?)  If for a toddler, your regular plain old pop up book is already eye candy, think about the neurological and aesthetic implications Sabuda's technological marvels can do to a grown up person.  All that pivots and tabs and rich colorful illustrations and the threshold of paper exceeded.  Absolute genius.

(Note: You never buy a used pop up book.  Some of the pages will refuse to, well... pop.)

Anyway, people wage war with each other, invent missiles, etc.  And then there are those who take it upon themselves to engineer a piece of paper, and everyone comes out of it a winner.

This Used to Be My Playground | Madonna

Jada's DIY Paper Dolls | This Used to Be My Childhood Toy #1

(to the tune of Madonna's This Used to be My Playground.  Kidding)

Thankfully, my good friend Jada can be easily wheedled inspired at a moment's notice to talk about her favorite childhood toy. ;)

"Hmmm.. I was into paper dolls then. I love those paper dolls that you can

buy at your suking sari-sari store. I have a special love for those dolls with black stand :)

But in cases where i ran out of money to buy such--my scissors, used paper and crayons always saved my day. I could always create my home-made paper dolls. Aww, i miss those already."

So true.  Back then, it's us and our creativity and imagination.  Now those online paper dolls by Zwinky are doing the imagining for us.

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Image above, sent by Jada.  We would have preferred a pic of Jada herself with the said paper dolls of her childhood, but that was years ago and you know paper.

Thanks much anyway, Jada!

Hot Wheels on the Run

Oh, look, ninety-nine Pesos die-cast cars at Toy Kingdom.

Corvette and Firebird Hot Wheels

The thing with those miniature cars, there's too many of them to choose from, and for someone as indecisive as me, the collection's just overwhelming, especially if I'm buying only two.

So I spent a good one hour in the toy store, picking this and putting down that, and so on and so forth.  I was even torn between the brands Matchbox and Hot Wheels (which is essentially under one big brand: Mattel, makers of Barbie).

Matchbox has the dune buggy and the tractor and the teal blue pickup truck.  There's even an ice cream van and safari car, and if it only were me, I'd go for those kinds of vehicles--totally pragmatic, eccentric, and unpopular--which is great.

But these Matchbox cars (in photo) (yes, they're Hot Wheels, but Matchbox

is the more generic term, right?) are for my two godsons, and I suspect and hope they're the achiever type.  Which is why they're getting a Corvette and a Firebird.  (I'm a cheapskate when it comes to gift-giving, I know.  But, hey, when I was their age, I certainly didn't mind getting a Matchbox.)  Personally, I'm no good driving a car--a life-sized one.  I got lousy nerves on the highway, says my sister.  One blow of the horn from the car tailgating me and I crash the damn thing.

Meanwhile, Hot Wheels' got color-shifting cars now.  You soak them in warm or cold water and they change color accordingly. 

Perfect for criminals on the run. :)

Tell Us About Your Favorite Childhood Toy!

We want to know What's your Favorite Kiddie Toy & Why.

 Whether it's a Smurfs stuffed toy or a Leonardo action figure from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or a plain old yo-yo or jumping rope--as long as it's your favorite toy, who are we to question?

And it doesn't even have to be from your childhood; it could be something recent--say, the Kinect Xbox (sure, techie toys are allowed).  

But of course, we prefer nostalgia, so if your childhood toy is still around and you can get a picture of the two of you reunited, all the better.

Be a guest blogger here.  Contact details are at the footer of this blog.  Hope to hear from you soon.

The Little Colonel Says Hi.

"I'm missing a horse, thank you very much."