It seems every time I google “toys” there’s a new story about price slashing in the toy retail market. All good, but it doesn’t mean that all “r
educed” or “discounted” toys are worth your money or your child’s time. So for the next few weeks, as we approach the holidays we are going to highlight toys that are great to play with AND easy on the budget! Today’s list features Five Great Toys for under $15.
We’re totally in when
there’s a new sand art kit. So even though we are pretty “toy-ed” out by this time of year–when these kits arrived, we were game. We thought the geometric patterns were fun to explore as well as the more typical scenes. Our testers agreed!! Read our full review.
Retailers are starting to announce rollbacks– all good news for consumers. Given that there is no run away toy of the season to drive traffic– they need to really attract toy buyers based on the best price.
If you have a Thomas & Friends fan at home, chances are they will love the new jumbo floor puzzles from Briarpatch. Working on a puzzle with your preschooler is a great way to build their problem solving skills and ability to stick with a task. Click here to read our complete review. 
On the one hand, this foosball table demonstrates how active Barbie can be. Look, she can block and kick that little ball down the field. She’s playing what has been a male dominated game. That’s something. Yet, it just seems really wrong that these Barbies are armless – as if underscoring their lack of control in determining their own fate. With a flick of a wrist, you can now send an entire line of Barbies upside down (hope they’re wearing proper underwear). For $25,000 I wonder if the toy comes with a hair stylist to do touch ups when the round is over! Exclusively at FAO. (Thanks to our one of our testing families for sending this to me!)
Probably not a necessity unless you have a child into serious homeland security role playing – but we enjoyed the demo of Wild Planet’s Spy Gear Spy Handcuffs. Click here to watch the video demo.
Mythbuster Game from ZimZala Games
I watched the Jon Stewart rally last weekend with my son Matthew. We both loved that they included the guys from Mythbusters (Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage) to warm up the crowd. The experiments with waves and sound were fun and in keeping with the spirit of their show. Finding games (especially non-electronic games) that will be of interest to your teenager seems to get harder and harder each year. That’s why I was particularly thrilled when we saw that ZimZala Games was introducing a Mythbusters Game. It’s fun–full of wonderfully geeky/science trivia and the opportunity to have catapult Buster is just very pleasing – no matter how old you are. Jacobe Chrisman, Founder of ZimZala Games, gave us a preview of how the game works.
A whole new bunch of toys arrived from Sassy just in time for our holiday list! I love this activity ball–lots of aspects for babies to explore. Not only is this the perfect kind of floor toy to enjoy with your baby and toddler–it’s under $10- which just goes to show that you don’t have to spend a fortune on great toys. Read our full review.
Wanna know why you’re kids are going to want a Kinect for the holidays? Read James article jamesgames.com
