With the 2009 holiday season beginning, parents everywhere will be searching for the
best toys to purchase for their children.
As you are getting ready to read over your child's 10 page wish list and start to compare products for the best bang for your buck,
there are a few things you should consider. First of all relax.
It isn't rocket science granted there are so many lists out there today and graded in so many ways it could seem like you're
studying for a physics final but there are a few things you should consider:
- There is no such thing as ONE hot toy meant for every child.
You should keep in mind that toys should be age appropriate for your child. Children go through various stages of development at different ages
and their toys need to stimulate and develop these stages to help them grow into the next stage.
- Quality and Value does not necessarily mean Quality = Value.
You owe it to your child to have a long-lasting, dependable cache of toys and if needed, a secure connection to obtain replacement parts.
But you shouldn't have to hemorrhage your wallet to obtain these kinds of toys. There are many toys out there that are high quality and
very affordable.
- Availability of hot products.
The last thing you need is to run around looking for products and attacking your fellow man during the holiday season Santa frowns upon it.
You should be able to be kept abreast of where you can find the hottest toys at all stores in your area and when new shipments will be sent out
instead of playing "Needle in a Haystack."
MEGA Brands has released its
Top 10 Toy List for 2009 comprising of toys that span across all age groups and have a plethora of child benefits.
Some of these toys are ranked the highest on children's
wish lists, have had favorable newspaper reports and are
MEGA Brands' most popular
online sellers. Their growth has also led to expansion with new products based on current popular franchises like
Halo with their
Halo Wars line
of
construction toys. Much like its competitors, MEGA is now on the lookout for more licensed franchises to turn into successful construction toy
lines. With MEGA being the talk-of-the-town at the 2009 Dallas Toyfair, it comes as no surprise that huge retailers like
Wal-Mart and
Target are
among some of
MEGA's best clientele with their portfolio getting larger each year.
Yo Gabba Gabba - Boombox
MEGA's partnership with established licensed material has allowed it to create popular toddler
building systems that further entice young children to engage and play. But it's not just simply
blocks, some of these play sets have so many functions they'll keep your children amused for
hours. The Yo Gabba Gabba Boombox is one of these clever toys and is Number 10 on
MEGA's list. The 23 piece play set is meant for children ages 3+ who are fans of the show,
is a buildable dance floor for little construction toy blocks and figurines like the Yo Gabba Gabba
characters (which includes Brobee and Foofa characters). Also with the simple press of a button,
the boombox plays one of 4 hit songs from the show. With the special "dancing feature" for the
figurines and the many different special dance-club pieces inside, kids can reenact scenes or
create their own with authentic sounds from the T.V. show.
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In The Night Garden - Musical Gazebo
Another extremely popular license that is targeted more towards children of ages 2 to 4, In The Night Garden is an award winning BBC production. MEGA's In the Night Garden building play sets include the famous Musical Gazebo straight from the show. The Gazebo is prominent at the end of each show where it signals that it's bedtime for the characters. It plays distinct music that the actual play set plays as well to help engage children to learn how to play with the blocks and recreate scenes from In The Night Garden episodes. The set comes with 3 figurines of the main characters of the show, Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka. An excellent toy for first time builders.
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Fill N'Dump Wagon
The award-winning Fill N'Dump Wagon is a consistent best-seller from MEGA's Maxi System of oversized building blocks for young children. The Fill N'Dump Wagon is meant for young children in the toddler age range of 3+ and offers many different play opportunities from a single item. Its main feature is its easy-tip bucket that can hold many maxi blocks with easy access simply by tipping the bucket towards the back like a dump truck. It's easy to grip handle is also pronged to allow for more building opportunities and its big, sturdy wheels ensure easy movement. It even comes with 25 maxi blocks to start your toddler off with learning how to build, stimulate creativity in their young minds and polish fine motor skills.
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MagNext 360 Case
MEGA's MagNext is an exciting construction toy line for the 6+ crowd that utilizes magnets in order to create strong builds in less time. Gone are the restrictions of right-angled blocks - the truly amazing aspect of MagNext are special magnets that allow connecting pieces to form almost any shape. The MagNext 360 Case play set is one of the most popular due to its special pieces and stand that allows two children to build at the same time to promote teamwork while creating a connecting magnetic masterpiece. The unique design of the case also allows builders to make pieces hover in the air, twirl around and create builds going up or down. The MagNext 360 Case promises hours of fun while children play and learn about one of our planet's simplest and fun toys magnets. When finished, all MagNext pieces can be placed inside the case for convenient storage. Parents worried about the potential health issues surrounding MagNext should feel confident that MEGA has made its pieces to exceed world quality standards and developed a state-of-the-art ingestion safety gauge to ensure each piece is designed to be totally safe for your children to use.
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Probuilder Carbon Series Battle Ship
The Probuilder Carbon Series is a construction toy play set meant for true building enthusiasts. The sets are meant for children 7 and up who enjoy building realistic models of real-life vehicles and displaying them much like modern model builders. With over 700 pieces, orange window pieces that contrast brilliantly with the dark color scheme and brushed aluminum detailing pieces, these sets are not simple building toys but authentic reproduction construction models. With downloadable playbooks from the MEGA Brands site, kids can follow the step-by-step instructions on how to build these awesome replicas or craft their own imaginative models.
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Ni-Hao Kai-Lan - Buildable Room
Ni-Hao Kai-Lan is currently huge with the 3+ crowd, and this 48-piece play set is MEGA's most popular in the 3-6 year old range. It allows toddlers to build, customize, decorate and play in Kai-Lan's bedroom with Kai-Lan, Tolee (A Koala) and Hoho (a Monkey). The product allows a toddler's imagination to grow and develop fine motor skills, building and manipulating blocks, and offers opportunities to role-play and create stories which are vital to aiding in the development of your child's self-confidence and overall sense of self.
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Play N'Go Table
An original accessory for MEGA's world famous Maxi blocks and Lil' Vehicles meant for the 1 to 3 year old range, the Play N'Go Table is simply an obvious choice. It stands on 4 sturdy plastic legs, gives the child a base to build on and a small grooved road for their Lil' Vehicles to drive on. It is also a storage place for other Maxi blocks and can fold up to be stored out of the way or easily transported. The Play N'Go Table has 22 pieces in total the table and parts, 10 Maxi blocks, a Lil' Figurine and a Lil' Vehicles car to push along the road, and a fun sticker sheet to decorate the builds.
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Streetz - City Pursuit
At 221 pieces any fan of fast cars and racing will love the Streetz City Pursuit playset. Meant for more of the 6+ boys crowd, City Pursuit is not only completely customizable but comes with a lot of bells and whistles. It has a breakaway billboard and multiple ramps for near limitless racing action and stunt possibilities. Its speed booster allows for independent fast movement of the vehicles included. Speaking of which, the included dual police wagon/helicopter combination vehicles that comes with the set are truly unique. Not only do both possess light-up special F/X, but also the helicopter can actually able to control the wagon's forward momentum when in proximity of each other. An original toy that lets children "build the city, rule the road."
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Halo Wars - Aerial Ambush play set
As mentioned earlier, MEGA's license of Microsoft's Halo Wars franchise has allowed them to enter the 8+ boys construction toy market like never before. The Aerial Ambush play set is their most popular to date by combining two popular opposing vehicles, The UNSC Hawk and the Covenant Banshee, with 4 buildable mini action figures a favorite of collectors of the franchise - from both sides of the war. With a massive 376-piece box set, children can build the replica vehicles or customize their own. Complete with moving pieces such as VTOL engines, cockpit and guns, these construction toys have quickly become favorites of fans of the video game franchise and construction toy lovers alike.
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Battle Strikers Tournament Set
With Battle Strikers at the top of nearly every toy list and an ongoing multi-nation demonstration tour, it's no wonder why this 6+ boys product is #1 on MEGA's Top 10. An original toy concept by MEGA, Battle Strikers takes battling top action to the next level using their revolutionary magnetic toy technology. Gone is the string and say hello to a motorized top launcher that spins each battle top called "Striker" - up to 6000 rpm. A magnetic controller that fits on your index and middle finger controls each Striker so the action never stops until one Striker knocks the other out of the Battle Arena. Each of these Strikers can also be taken apart and customized with other Striker parts to make each one original to its user.
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One major advantage to seeking out these toys and other
MEGA Brands' products is that they are easier to find than other competitors. On the
megabrands.com website is a state-of-the-art search tool that will look for a toy's availability in all stores in your area in real-time. You can also purchase some of these items directly through
MEGA's site. In addition, being partnered with
Intertek and
Play Safe Worldwide has raised their level of quality to equal or exceed the industry standard in each of the age groups they design for.
These levels of convenience and quality are only two of the many aspects of customer satisfaction
MEGA has been implementing to aid in parents' approval of
MEGA's products and company as well as their children.