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The life-size T-Rex sculpture by K’NEX is officially the “World’s Largest K’NEX Sculpture” according to the Guinness World Records.
The U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., is home to this life-size creation. The K’NEX sculpture is replicated to represent the recast of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton featured in the center’s summer exhibit.
This life size T-Rex is named K’Rex and is displayed in the lobby of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center’s gift shop. Consisting of 160,000 K’NEX pieces, K’Rex measures in 12.46 feet high, 33.76 feet long, and 5.93 feet wide. It weighs 10 pounds.
This post was originally written by Cynthia Ghazali and published by ToyBook.com. For more news, visit www.toybook.com, follow The Toy Book on Twitter, and like The Toy Book on Facebook. The Toy Book is a bimonthly trade magazine covering the toy industry, published by Adventure Publishing Group.
K’nex has introduced its first line of officially licensed building sets inspired by Angry Birds, the No. 1 paid app of all time. The new products combine the K’nex building system with characters from Angry Birds, bringing them from the smartphone to the construction aisle for the first time. Toys include the Angry Birds Intro Assortment Building Sets, the Angry Birds Hammin’ Around Building Set, and the Angry Birds Mission May’Ham Building Set.
This post was originally written by Loren Moreno and published by ToyBook.com. For more news, visit www.toybook.com, follow The Toy Book on Twitter, and like The Toy Book on Facebook. The Toy Book is a bimonthly trade magazine covering the toy industry, published by Adventure Publishing Group.
K’NEX Brands, the only U.S. construction toy company focused on Building Worlds Kids Love, will participate in the Philadelphia Eagles Flight Night, an evening of family friendly fun hosted by the Philadelphia Eagles, to benefit the Eagles Youth Partnership. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, August 26. In addition to watching the entire Eagles team practice, there are loads of games, prizes, and surprises, including the K’NEX tent for fun and games. The K’NEX tent will showcase the K’NEX Angry Birds line of building sets and will feature building stations where children can build, play, and launch their favorite characters from the popular app through goal posts.
The K’NEX tent will be part of the free kids’ area in the Interactive Zone. At the event, kids will have an opportunity to win signed Eagles items in the Super Bowl Grab Bag Game, check out collectible Eagles memorabilia at the Wives Yard Sale, see SWOOP and the Eagles cheerleaders, and participate in random prize giveaways such as the “Off Our Backs” instant player jersey giveaway, and witness an actual team practice on the field complete with an awesome laser show finale.
Tickets are still available for Eagles Flight Night at Lincoln Financial Field. Log on to: http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/community/eagles-youth-partnership/flight-night.html for event and ticket information.
This post was originally written by Sierra McCleary-Harris and published by ToyBook.com. For more news, visit www.toybook.com, follow The Toy Book on Twitter, and like The Toy Book on Facebook. The Toy Book is a bimonthly trade magazine covering the toy industry, published by Adventure Publishing Group.
Mario fans across the nation will be on the lookout for a golden ticket. K’Nex, the construction toy company, has announced its new officially licensed Mario Kart Wii building sets with a tie-in contest.
The contest, which ends today (hurry!), allows fans to register online to receive a free Mario or Luigi K’Nex figure. A total of 300 figures will be distributed on each day of the promotion.
Five of the 10,000 figures will include a Mario figure plus a “Golden Ticket” that entitles the winner to a special prize package. The package includes a Wii console, the entire K’Nex Mario Kart Wii product line, and a trip to tour the K’Nex headquarters in Hatfield, Penn.
The K’Nex Mario Kart Wii building sets allows fans to build tracks with accessories and obstacles for their favorite Mario Kart Wii characters. For more information, complete rules, and to enter the sweepstakes, click here. There’s no purchase necessary to participate in the contest.
Photo Credit: grettajohns.blogspot.com
Roary the Racing Car is zooming onto store shelves in the U.S. next month. Following the U.S. broadcast launch of the television series on Sprout, the new Roary line will hit Toys “R” Us stores and Toysrus.com in March.
As the U.S. master toy licensee for the brand, Bandai will offer a full line of Roary toys, including die-cast, push-along Racing Stars, Talking Turbo Vehicles, Roary R/C, Silver Hatch Racetrack play sets, and more. The die-cast vehicles, Talking Turbo Vehicles, and Roary R/C will be packaged with a special episode of Roary the Racing Car on DVD.
Following the Bandai toy launch, K’nex will release sets that will allow kids to recreate their favorite Roary characters and scenes.
The first Roary DVD, Roary The Racing Car, from Lionsgate Home Entertainment, will launch at mass retailers in June. The series was created by Chapman Entertainment and is represented by Hit Entertainment in North America.
For kids in seventh grade or higher, K’NEX releases the Patriot Bike Building Set and the Pirate Bike Building Set, officially licensed by Orange County Choppers. Builders can customize their own choppers, just like the boys on OCC. The collectible, 1:6 scale bikes feature stylized, chrome-colored parts.
For more Fall Toy Preview coverage, pick up The Toy Book‘s September/October issue!
K’NEX Brands recently launched the K’NEXpert search, asking children to create a creative and original model using K’NEX parts. A winner from each age group (5-6, 7-8, and 9-12) will receive a $10,000 savings bond for college. The three winners will also receive a trip to the K’NEX headquarters, near Philadelphia, Pa., for the K’NEXpert Awards Ceremony, and $250 worth of K’NEX building sets.
Seven finalists will receive a $1,000 savings bond, $250 of K’NEX building sets, and their own photo gallery page on knex.com. All semi-finalists and finalists will receive discounts on online purchases for a year, K’NEX gear and a K’NEX birthday gift.
The contest will run from now through September 10 with winners announced in October. Children can enter by printing out the entry form from the K’NEX website and mailing it in. Submissions must include a photo of the creation and a one-minute video or one-page summary describing how the child came up with the idea, how long the design took to build, and how many K’NEX pieces were used. The K’NEXpert Search is open to U.S. and Canadian residents, and there is no purchase necessary.
Child’s Play Communications has announced a dinner event planned to precede the annual BlogHer Convention held in New York City August 6-7. “Dinner’s On Us” will be held August 5 and is planned to be a more intimate gathering to allow 100 leading mom bloggers and 10 sponsors the opportunity to network. The event will also feature the first Bloganthropy awards, which will recognizes bloggers who have used social media to support good causes.
The dinner will be Child’s Play Communications’ fourth event for mom bloggers. Sponsors to date include Nickelodeon, Toyota, Cuisinart, Giddy Up, K’NEX, Baby Boom, Hershey’s/Kraft, Backyard Safari Outfitters/Zillionz, and The California Strawberry Commission. For additional information, visit http://www.childsplaypr.com/DinnersOnUs/.
K’NEX Brands and Nintendo have announced a new licensing partnership to create a line of building toys based on Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii. The line will include character-based toys (Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, and Bowser), as well as vehicles and obstacles from the game.
The building sets, designed for children ages 6 and up, will be available at all major retailers in 2011.
