For Immediate Release
Contact: Gayle Glickman/Jeremy Ahto
Healy Communications, Inc.
312/440-3900; gglickman@healyco.com

Chicago – September 21, 2004 – Holiday shoppers looking for innovative, high-quality toys that will capture children’s imaginations and help them develop skills long after the holidays are over should consider four Tremendous Toys That Deserve the Spotlight this holiday season:  Magna-Tiles®, the Perfume Science Experiment Kit, Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game™, and Get-Up™ The Wearable Sound-FX Fantasy Toy. 

All four come from award-winning companies that are gaining prominence in the industry, but do not enjoy large marketing budgets.  Therefore, their popularity is largely driven by word-of-mouth from thrilled parents and educators.  These products can be found at specialty toy stores and other retailers, and can also be purchased online.  

Magna-Tiles (from Valtech) are magnetic building tiles that offer children the ability to construct infinite numbers of two- and three-dimensional shapes and figures.  Magna-Tiles inspire imagination and nurture important developmental skills as children build simple structures, or form figures as advanced as elephants, spaceships, flowers, goldfish, and even a mini Eiffel Tower.  www.magnatiles.com (Ages three and up)

Perfume Science Experiment Kit (from Thames & Kosmos) invites aspiring young perfumers on a fragrant journey through the science, history and art of making perfumes, giving them an opportunity to experiment with countless fragrance combinations on their way to becoming a master perfumer.  www.thamesandkosmos.com  (Ages 10 and up) New for 2004

With Get-Up ™ The Wearable Sound-FX Fantasy Toy (from the Right Brain™ division of big BOING Toys™), kids don’t just pretend to be a dinosaur, horse or fairy; they Get Up and become one!  Kids easily slip on these high-quality wearable toys – heads, feet, wings and anklets – to enter an imagination-powered world of full-body fantasy play where their movements activate realistic and magical sound effects. www.bigboing.com  (Ages three to eight) New for 2004

In Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game (from DoubleStar), kids use critical thinking and strategy to race their favorite aliens across the universe on two game boards, surviving mystery planets, a black hole and a parallel universe along the way.  The game, which combines outer-space fantasy with engaging, real science, features unique alien character game pieces and teaches fascinating lessons (not trivia) on how the universe works. www.cogno.com  (Ages seven and up) New for 2004

“These four products are great examples of the kinds of special gifts parents and others are looking for when they shop in specialty toy stores,” said Kathleen McHugh, executive director of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA), the world’s largest association of independently owned specialty toy retailers.  “Many of today’s hottest toys and games got their start in specialty toy stores, which carry only unique, high-play-level products.” 

Get-Ups from Right Brain allow kids to enter a new realm of imagination and self-directed play.  These wearable playthings – the Roaring Dinosaur, Clippity Clop Horse or Fancy Fairy – have special action-triggered sound effects.  How kids move determines what sounds they make.  For example, with the Roaring Dinosaur, as kids throw back their dinosaur head it ROARS!  When they walk, their dinosaur slip-ons BOOM when they hit the ground.  When they stop and listen, they will SNORT AND SNARL.

Every Right Brain toy is designed to meet the company’s developmental guidelines, which have been co-created with Right Brain’s Educational Advisory Panel.  This collection of early childhood education and development experts evaluate each offering to ensure that Right Brain playthings engage children’s imagination and creativity, ultimately encouraging self-discovery and confidence.  Get-Ups have earned the Gold Award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio. 

Affordably priced at $24.99, the Roaring Dinosaur and Clippity Clop Horse are for kids aged three to six, while the Fancy Fairy is for kids aged four to eight.

Magna-Tiles by Valtech offer a 21^st-century slant on building blocks, which experts agree help children develop patterning, shape recognition and motor skills.  Magna-Tiles are lightweight, geometric tiles of varying shapes, sizes and colors.  The 1⁄4-inch edges of each tile are embedded with small ceramic magnets. 

Already a favorite toy in more than 7,000 preschools, Magna-Tiles offer children aged three and up endless building and learning possibilities.  Teachers report that children play with Magna-Tiles for longer periods of time than many other toys.  Magna-Tiles have earned seals of approval from Early Childhood News and Learning magazine, as well as other awards from Dr. Toy, Parents’ Choice and Parenting magazine.

Magna-Tiles 32-piece sets feature either opaque or clear tiles, and are priced at $49.50 and $51.50, respectively.  A 48-piece deluxe set featuring opaque tiles is priced at $64.50.

Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game by DoubleStar turns its players aged seven and up into space aliens who must collect various space gear to survive as they race across the universe. 

Along the way, they answer simple, but thought-provoking questions about how the universe works, touching on topics ranging from gravity and stars to space travel and the speed of light.

Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game earned The National Parenting Center and the National Association for Gifted Children’s seals of approval, and has also been featured among Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products and the iParenting Media Awards.

Affordably priced at $29.95, this board game comes with eight unique alien game pieces, two game boards, Space Gear Cards, Chaos Cards featuring hundreds of thought-provoking science questions, and – for the curious – Cogno’s Book of Y, which explains the science behind every answer.  And stay tuned, because this holiday season DoubleStar will launch a new underwater version of the game called Cogno: Deep Worlds^™.

Kids aged 10 to 100 can now create their own personalized scent with the Perfume Science Experiment Kit from Thames & Kosmos, thereby understanding how master perfumers combine science and art to compose perfumes. 

Perfume Science teaches kids to appreciate perfume as “art for the nose” through more than 20 guided experiments, games and activities in its 48-page color learning guide.  The kit contains eight oils and an alcohol base finisher – enough to make dozens and dozens of perfumes.  Kids can also use their homemade perfumes to create a scented potpourri or a sweet-smelling sachet.  These high-quality perfume oils, safety tested and approved in the U.S. and Europe, are manufactured by a company that makes fragrances for top designer perfumes.

Priced at $54.95, Perfume Science is designed to give a special sophisticated allure to chemistry and biology – subjects often covered in boys’ toys but seldom in those for girls.

For more information about these Tremendous Toys That Deserve the Spotlight, or to request artwork or product samples, contact Gayle Glickman or Jeremy Ahto at Healy Communications, Inc. at 312/440-3900; gglickman@healyco.com.