Every year after I attend Toy Fair NY people ask me what
are the trends for this year. Here is my take on the trends for 2019. After the summary I will provide some
examples.
1.
Sequins! Sequins Everywhere – Every company
making plush is featuring flappable sequins and even Crayola has a sequins craft set.
2.
Collectibles continue to rule – Toy companies
love this idea – why sell one of something when you can sell 24 or more of
them. Oh and kids love this stuff.
3.
STEM ideas continue to be incorporated into many
toys and many toys that really have no stem value are being labeled stem.
4.
Dolls – I saw fewer dolls on display this
year. I think there may be a conscious effort to reduce emphasis on dolls for
girls. But I still love the dolls….
Check out the Amazon links at the end for some "trendy" Easter basket ideas.
Sequins
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Ty product line display with sequins. |
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Ty had a series of fashion shows featuring their sequins product line and
they always drew a crowd.
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I was surprised to see that almost every company
featuring plush had some items loaded with sequins. This isn't the kind that unravels easily creating a big mess. This is durably constructed "flappable" sequins. At first I didn’t take pictures because I wasn’t
interested in them but finally I realized I had to because this would be such a
big thing this year. Personally, I like
the idea of a plush toy that can be thrown in the wash or put in a small
child’s mouth. But guess what? Older kids like plush too and they are very
attracted to the sequins. The biggest
purveyor of sequins is TY. Yes, the
maker of the Beanie Babies. Well they
aren’t just about that anymore. The
sequins items included headwear, footwear, backpacks and more. In fact, Ty had overflow crowds at their
fashion shows with kids all decked out in this stuff. Here is a display picture and a fashion show
picture at the TY booth.
Collectibles
Kids love collectibles and so do toy companies. Toy Fair
had lots of collectible lines on display.
Some of my favorite collectibles are made by Moose.
Whether or not the kids in your life collected Pikmi Pops
they are sure to hear about and want the new Pikmi Pops DoughMi. These smelly, yummy looking doughnut shapes
open and out pops a cute, soft, dough like plush toy. The come in three sizes plus a surprise pack
that has an additional surprise in the doughnut hole. This sure looked like Grandma gift stuff to
me. Girls and boys will both be
interested in the new Pikmi Pop DoughMis.
Lots more on collectibles in posts to come later.
Lots more on collectibles in posts to come later.
Stem
Toys
I totally support the concept of toys with STEM learning. In case you didn’t know , I have a Master’s
degree in Chemical Engineering. Toy companies love this idea too. They will label anything they can by any
stretch of the imagination as STEM. For infants – it has numbers – it is a stem
toy. There some really excellent STEM
toys in the mix but you can’t just go by the label. Thames & Kosmos, known for chemistry sets
have some fantastic sets including ones featuring modern science topics such as
robotics and solar energy.
Learning Resources Beaker Creatures line will be lots of fun while learning a little chemistry. The live demos at Toy Fair were a big hit.
Learning Resources Beaker Creatures line will be lots of fun while learning a little chemistry. The live demos at Toy Fair were a big hit.
This Space Circuits set from
Educational Insights is a great way to teach a child electricity
concepts. It reminds me of the circuit
my electrical engineer husband made on a piece of wood with our kids – back in
the pre-stem dark ages.
Dolls
It just seems like less dolls this year – still plenty
but not what is the big featured items.
I still love them at will write about them in a future post.
I will be writing more throughout the year about all
these topics so subscribe to the blog now.
What kinds of toys are you interested in? Leave a comment.
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