ASTRA Specialty Toy Showcase Part II

by Shellie Driscoll

Lori Cunningham and I attended the ASTRA Showcase in Anaheim last week to see fun toys perfectly suited for the specialty toy market.     Check out the post on ASTRA Specialty Toy Showcase Part I to see Lori’s top toy pics.   This post, Part II,  highlights my faves from the show.

Sqwishlanders

Sqwishland.com is an online playground for kids. In their booth, Sqwishland.com was showing these cute little animals that are kind of squishy (therefore Sqwishland) and kids can buy and trade them with their friends.  The characters (called Sqwishlanders) also come with a special code that they can enter into the Sqwishland.com website and take care of their Sqwishland characters.  Online they can also play online games and earn points.  The online website is very cute!  They sell Sqwishlanders in 6 pack tubes, 12 packs, a mystery capsule, party mix, DIY Sqwishland, and a bracelet where you can display all your Sqwishy’s.  Prices run from $4.95 for a set and up.

Nanoblocks

OhioArt and has a new product called Nanoblocks (www.world-of-toys.com or www.mynanoblock.com).  These are so cool!  They are kind of like Legos but different and they make really neat 3D animals.  They also have a castle, the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal.  The Eiffel Tower retails for $19.99 but prices vary for smaller and larger sets.

Bananagrams

One game that caught my eye was called Bananagrams.   Their booth looked like a fruit stand. 🙂  Basically it’s a scrabble type game where everyone gets a certain amount of tiles.  Then everyone comes up with as many words as they can using their tiles all at the same time by connecting them vertically or horizontally.  There are special words that you use during the game like “Peel”, “Split”, “Bananas”.  They also have two other games that are similar but with different rules:  Appletters, Pairs in Pears, and fruitominoes (like dominoes).  Prices range from $14.99 – $24.99.

Active People

There was a lot to see at the  Active People booth.   They have innovative skill and motion toys: Astrojax (I tried this and it is very tricky but fun!), Yo-Yo’s called Yo2, Xa Xa ( juggling balls – I can juggle 3 balls-they were impressed), Boing light balls (also juggling balls but they light up), paddleballs,  and Kiwido (basically a swinging toy with flag-like tails).  All of their products are classic toys but are taken to the next level in play.  Some very fun stuff.  Toys run from $5.99 and up.

Zip-Bins

Neat-OH International makes these great toy storage bins called Zip-Bins.  They are colourful stiff padded boxes that fold out into a playmat and hold toys such as Legos, blocks, Barbies and accessories, cars, trains, and much more.  These fun storage boxes have different designs on them like Star Wars, Legos, Barbie, unicorns, dinosaurs, farm, etc, sure to appeal to any kid.  With the play mat folding back into a box, it couldn’t be easier for your child to play with and store his/her favorite toys.  These boxes are really cute and practical.  Zip-Bins sell range from $9.99 for the mini box sets to $24.99 for the larger box sets.

If you haven’t already, be sure to catch the first post in this series, ASTRA Specialty Toy Showcase Part I.

Still looking for more fun ideas?  Be sure to check out our Top 5 Favorite Toys from the the New York Toy Fair, Part Iand Part II.  Great new products are showcased in these articles.

Of the 10 toys we showcased in Part I and Part II, which ones are your favorites?