Month: August 2023

Pulse-pounding Hot Wheels rollercoasters and a life-size Barbie Beach House are just a few of the attractions underway at Mattel Adventure Park, which will become Arizona’s first fully themed indoor/outdoor amusement park upon opening in 2024.  Set to open just south of State Farm Stadium in Glendale at VAI Resort, Mattel Adventure Park will welcome guests 365 days a year, serving as a year-round Arizona entertainment destination showcasing the full spectrum of the iconic toymaker’s expansive portfolio of brands. The uniquely designed, massive, 9-acre park combines inspiration from Mattel, Epic Resort Destinations, and other industry-leading partners in amusements and entertainment. Substantially indoors, the park’s attractions load and unload inside a fully air-conditioned space, making the park a comfortable, family-friendly destination at any time of year. 

The simplicity of playing with an open-ended German wooden toy continues to be a timeless classic that never loses its luster or appeal for children and parents alike. Toymaker goki brings its exquisite line of lovingly designed playthings for babies and kinder (German for children) stateside. KinderPlayroom.com stocks over four dozen goki toys with must-have items like Touch Ring Elastic Bear or Moose Balancing Game. These European crafted toys are affordable and adorable plus they offer eco-friendly screen-free play season after season. With more than 50 products on the KinderPlayroom.com site, goki designers are spotlighting four goki baby and four hand-picked toys that fall in either the goki evolution or goki nature (for toddlers/preschoolers) lines. These beautifully crafted toys make the perfect Welcome Home, Happy Birthday or a surprise from Grandma gift! The European wood used for the products comes from sustainable forestry and is fashioned using water-based paints. The handsome goki nature line gets by without any colors at all. Here, the hue is achieved using thermal treatment.

Pandora’s Box has been opened, and Greece’s most notorious monsters have escaped in Horrified: Greek Monsters, Ravensburger’s newest addition to its popular Horrified franchise. Players who respond to a call from the Gods will encounter a new mechanic known as Lairs, the freed monster’s hidden hide-outs that players need to locate to defeat them. Horrified: Greek Monsters will be available for pre-order on Amazon and Target on September 5 and go on sale nationwide on October 1. “After tackling our favorite cryptids in Horrified: American Monsters, we wanted to gamify some of the most iconic monsters in the world, so of course we found inspiration in Greek myths,” said Mike Mulvihill, Game Development Manager at Ravensburger North America. “Horrified: Greek Monsters is filled with surprises for first-time and long-time Horrified players from bold and vibrant art direction to the new Lairs mechanic.”

The Toy Association has unveiled its “Back to School STEAM Toy Shopping List,” which includes 25 officially accredited STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) toys that will enrich kids’ learning during the academic year. Families can now shop the list of toys (below), choosing from a variety of hands-on building sets as well as activities that gamify mathematical concepts and invite kids to explore outer space, natural sciences, and much more. Each featured product has passed a rigorous evaluation process to earn an official “STEAM Stamp of Approval,” and meets the strict criteria established in The Toy Association’s STEAM Toy Assessment Framework, developed in partnership with The Good Play Guide. The toys were first tested by children under professional observation, before being evaluated by The Good Play Guide, which uses a scientifically proven toy evaluation method backed by Dr. Amanda Gummer, who has a PhD in neuropsychology and more than 20 years of experience working with kids and families.