Search Results for: toys r us

People of Play Announce the Winners of the 18th Annual Young Inventor Challenge

Catastrophe of Hairballs, Hike the Spike, and Blanket Kingdom were among the top place finishers at People of Play’s 18th Annual Young Inventor Challenge (YIC) held in 2023 on November 4th at the Chicago Toy & Game Fair. The YIC is a yearly competition where students between the ages of 6 and 18 have the opportunity to create an original play product and pitch it to professional toy and game inventors for a chance to win big prizes. Past winners have seen their entries licensed, manufactured, and sold in both specialty toy stores and in major retailers including Target and Amazon. Leading up to the Young Inventor Challenge in November, regional events are hosted at independent toy stores, day camps, and summer school programs to inspire and engage kids to create toys and games to be judged in the annual competition.

Bluey Takes Over Bunnings with a ‘For Real Life’ Hammerbarn Transformation

A new collaboration between two Australian icons has officially launched, as home and lifestyle retailer Bunnings reveals their Bluey Hammerbarn transformation – Wackadoo! Bluey, the globally recognized animated TV series and homegrown favorite, will take over the exterior signage of six Bunnings stores around Australia and one store in New Zealand with a Hammerbarn rebrand this month – inspired by the popular Bluey ‘Hammerbarn’ episode from Season 2 of Bluey.

All in the Family: The Valenta Family

How did your family first enter the toy industry? – It all started back in the early 90s. As a child, we spent our summers in Japan going to school and visiting relatives. One year, our uncle gave us a toy set called Pythagoras, which provided hours and hours of entertainment through open-ended play for my siblings and me. They were opaque magnetic building tiles invented by a math teacher in Japan. They consisted of 5 shapes and would always click together. My parents would watch us play with these for hours – cooperatively with no fighting – and a light bulb clicked in my parents’ head with the realization that they needed to bring Magna-Tiles to kids in the US to enjoy. My parents, Rudy and Noriko Valenta, decided to change careers and become entrepreneurs in the toy industry at that moment.

Elenco Taps ChizSix Marketing & Media as Social Media Dynamo for Award-Winning Line, Snap Circuits!

Elenco, a premier provider of STEM toys at the intersection of electronics, education, and recreation has plugged into a new era of innovation by partnering with ChizSix Marketing & Media as their Agency of Record for social media. This partnership between ChizSix Marketing & Media and Elenco is set to electrify the digital space with the ingenious Snap Circuits, an award-winning STEAM toy lineup that sparks the curiosity of budding engineers, scientists, and innovators. Elenoc’s Snap Circuits brand has been the preferred STEAM toy since 1972, making it a staple in the toy industry for over two decades. Endorsed by K-12 educators worldwide, Snap Circuits is not only a favorite in schools, libraries, after-school, and homeschool programs but also cherished as a versatile at-home STEAM toy, with many current leaders in science and technology crediting their foundational engineering knowledge to childhood experiences with the brand.

The Toy Association Announces 2024 Toy Trends

From spooky, sustainable, and anime-inspired playthings, to holistic toys that give young minds and bodies a boost, The Toy Association has unveiled the top trends expected to drive consumer spending on toys, games, and youth entertainment products in 2024. The announcement was made during The Toy Association’s annual Toy Trends Briefing, a virtual press conference that gave retailers and media a first look at the latest developments in toys and play.

Hasbro Celebrates Transformers 40th Anniversary with Products, Entertainment and More

Hasbro, a leading toy and game company, announced its plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the beloved Transformers franchise. Transformers made its worldwide debut in 1984 with its revolutionary robot-to-vehicle action figures, bolstered by a comic book series and an action-packed animated series, The Transformers. The launch was a massive hit, and it introduced characters like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, and others who became fan favorites and the ultimate heroes and villains of Cybertron. Today, hundreds of robots continue to join the franchise and illustrate the brand’s core ability to change and adapt to new environments while offering a variety of ways to play for a new generation of fans.

Toikido Signs Sophie Ellis-Bextor as Voice of Upcoming PeaKeeBoo Animated Series

Renowned creative studio, Toikido, is delighted to be working with award-winning singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor on a 2D animated series based on its exciting new pre-school IP, PeaKeeBoo. Sophie, who is best known for hits like ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’, ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’, and ‘Take Me Home’, will provide her voice as a narrator on the animated series, which is being developed in collaboration with acclaimed global entertainment company, Moonbug Entertainment.

Godzilla Teams Up with Santa Cruz Skateboards for Epic 70th Anniversary Collection

Toho International has announced that Godzilla and Santa Cruz Skateboards are teaming up for an epic collection featuring bold, graphic skate deck designs that will be released just in time to celebrate the King of the Monsters’ 70-year reign this November. Santa Cruz is known for taking the extra step in its pop culture collaborations, and their Godzilla line is no exception. The limited-edition line will include eight skateboard deck designs, including a monster-sized deck (11’’ x 32’’) that is the largest skate deck Santa Cruz has ever made, complete with a unique shape resembling Godzilla’s skin texture. For this collaboration, Santa Cruz tapped some of their favorite Artists to reimagine the classic graphics of Corey O’Brien, Tom Knox, Rob Roskopp, and Natas Kaupas, based on the original artwork by Jim Phillips, in a variety of iconic styles inspired by iterations of Godzilla through the years, from Shin Godzilla to Mechagodzilla, and more.

New Toy Company Wyncor Launches, Helmed by Helena Perheentupa

Wyncor, a new global toy company established with a mission to create and deliver innovative and creative toys for its own intellectual properties and premium brands, with products that are tied closely to their content’s DNA, has officially launched. Former Mattel executive Helena Perheentupa serves as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. At its core, Wyncor’s mission is to offer speed and flexibility to retailers and partners, best-in-class product development for alignment with partners’ IP content, and premium quality and innovative products to consumers. Wyncor works closely with partners’ creative teams to ensure that products are a natural extension of their content, offering a rich, immersive, and fun experience for their fans. Wyncor is owned by Jstar Capital.