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Little Pim Unveils New Discovery Sets

Little Pim, the foreign language learning program for kids ages 6 months to 6 years, has introduced a special-edition product line now available exclusively at Toys “R” Us stores nationwide. The new Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, and English Discovery Sets each include three DVDs and a Little Pim plush panda toy, which help to make learning a new language fun for kids.

Between birth and the age of 6, the human brain is pre-wired for language learning, and Little Pim helps families take advantage of this brief window by making language learning easy, fun, and effective. Their Entertainment Immersion Method provides total immersion in the language. The method engages a child’s love of play watching real kids and animation. Little Pim’s proven repetition technique helps children retain new vocabulary. The program is designed by Julia Pimsleur Levine, daughter of Dr. Paul Pimsleur, creator of the Pimsleur Method, a language learning program for adults.

Little Pim is available in 11 languages, including Spanish, French, Chinese, and Italian on videos, music, books, flash cards, gift sets, and more.

Disney Infinity Launches New Custom Toy Boxes

Disney Infinity fans can continue their adventures in the revolutionary Toy Box mode with five brand new custom Toy Boxes that are available now for download free of charge on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U.

The five free Toy Boxes available now for download are:

Cave of Wonders Race – Race through the Cave of Wonders and Aladdin’s Agrabah Castle. Compete against Cars characters or other players.
Super Sidescroll – Trigger the side scrolling camera to start, then jump and bash through a classic game level.
ESPN Speedway – Rev those engines and race friends around the stadium loop, brake for a pit stop, and celebrate with a victory lap.
Hot Lava – Rope bridges are the only thing between players and flowing lava in this treacherous Toy Box.
Wrestling Arena – Want to become the Disney Infinity combat champ? Battle friends in two tricked out wrestling rings.

COMMENTARY: Kids Getting Older Younger—Or Younger Older?

Everyone always talks about how kids are getting older younger. Kids as young as 8 years old are swapping their Barbie dolls and Transformers for iPods and tablets—but this isn’t the case for everyone. There are big kids everywhere, and toys have a funny little habit of bringing an adult’s inner-child giggling wildly to the surface.

Nostalgia is a huge trend in toys today—classic properties such as The Smurfs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Pac-Man have resurfaced and are engaging a whole new generation. Traditional toys, such as Hasbro’s Easy Bake Oven, Kahootz’s Spirograph, and POOF-Slinky’s Slinky, all still appeal to young kids the same way they did decades ago. However, adults and older kids will find just as much fun in new products primarily targeted toward youngsters, too.

This weekend, I was loomed. A family friend’s daughter, Karli, had her wrist covered in the colorful rubber bracelets that are a product of Rainbow Loom, from Choon’s Designs. A huge craze among kids, I was enamored by the bracelets and begged her to teach me how to make one. She did, and of course, hers came out better. I’ve been staring at it on my wrist every day since she made it for me, and I was extremely tempted to purchase my own loom when I went into a Michael’s craft store and saw the enormous display (but I thought to myself: “You’re 23 years old, Marissa! Taking home product samples is one thing, but you cannot justify BUYING a toy!”).

Hexbug Launches #theycanclimb Coloring Contest

Hexbug has launched the Hexbug Nano V2 #theycanclimb coloring contest, giving Hexbug fans a chance to flex their creative muscles.

Hexbug hired an eccentric, internationally-renowned artist (and Hexbug enthusiast) to create eight colorful drawings crawling with the gravity-defying Nano V2 bugs. The artist received a last-minute, once in a lifetime opportunity to climb Mount Everest’s Khumbu Icefall that left him unable to color in his original black and white outlines. Now Hexbug is asking for the fans help to color in these drawings.

To enter the contest, fans can choose an outline, color it, and send it in to the Hexbug review team. The contest will run through through 11:59:59 p.m. CST on September 22.

Every entrant will receive a $5 promo code for their next purchase on Hexbug.com, and every week, some of the best submissions will be featured at Nanov2.com. Entrants will be judged in two separate categories: ages 6 and under, and ages 7 to 12. At the end of the contest, first, second, and third place winners in each category will be announced and awarded prizes.

Toys “R” Us Launches Jewelry and Accessory Crafts by Victoria Justice

Toys “R” Us has introduced exclusive do-it-yourself fashion accessories and crafts designed by actress and musician Victoria Justice. The new line, Totally Me! by Victoria Justice is intended for tweens ages 8 and up.

The line features 16 items. Totally Me! by Victoria Justice customizable jewelry kits, craft kits, and the Victoria’s Closet Fashion Sketchbook kit are currently available online at toysrus.com/victoriajustice, and will appear in Toys “R” Us Stores nationwide in the coming weeks.

Nintendo Announces Special-Edition Legend of Zelda Wii U Bundle, 2DS Portable

At a GameStop managers show in Las Vegas, Nintendo announced its holiday slate as well as a price drop of $50 for the Wii U Deluxe Set that will go into effect on September 20. On the same day, the company will also launch a limited-edition Wii U bundle featuring The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.

The limited-edition Wii U bundle includes a black deluxe Wii U console, a controller adorned with gold lettering and symbols from the game, and download code for a digital version of Hyrule Historia, a book detailing the history of The Legend of Zelda franchise. The digital version of the game itself will also be available September 20, while the packaged version arrives on October 4.

Meanwhile, the company’s Nintendo 2DS, a portable gaming system that plays Nintendo 3DS and DS games, albeit in 2-D, launches on October 12. Nintendo’s slate for both the Wii U and 3DS in the coming months includes third-party titles such as Scribblenauts Unmasked-A DC Comics Adventure from Warner Bros. Interactive and Skylanders Swap Force from Activision.

LeapFrog Transforms Mom and Dad’s iDevice into Learning Fun

LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. is offering two new innovative learning solutions that encourage learning as kids play, and turns parents’ Apple mobile devices into the ultimate learning tools. With the Learn to Write with Mr. Pencil Stylus and Writing App, children are encouraged to practice handwriting as they explore the town of Doodleburg with Mr. Pencil and friends. The Creativity Camera Protective Case and App encourages children to express their creativity through activities and gameplay designed to inspire little photographers.

Children Practice Writing Skills with Mr. Pencil
The Learn to Write with Mr. Pencil Stylus and Writing App is based on LeapFrog’s popular Mr. Pencil character and teaches introductory writing skills on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. The included app features interactive games and activities that encourage kids to practice writing letters, numbers, and drawing shapes by providing instant accuracy feedback using the Mr. Pencil stylus. As kids play through the game in the LeapFrog town of Doodleberg, they will unlock more than 85 different learning activities. Additionally, they will practice letter shapes, letter sounds, numbers,0 and counting.

Children Express Their Creativity Though Photography
The new Creativity Camera Protective Case and App, developed in collaboration with the award-winning global design firm Ideo’s Toy Lab, introduces kids to photography and encourages them to create and express their creativity. The Creativity Camera encourages children to embark on a photography adventure and explore their imagination through a tool that wraps around their parents’ iPhone or iPod touch, making it the ultimate camera.

The included app brings together physical and digital experiences to offer enhanced game play that lets kids pretend to be a real photographer, and go on game missions to practice their letters, colors, and vocabulary. The Creativity Camera features six modes: Camera, Gallery, Creativity Center, Silly Faces, Photo Missions, and PeekABug Catch. Through these modes children can take and edit photos to make silly pictures, go on photo missions to create special albums, and even play an augmented reality game.

Learn to Write with Mr. Pencil Stylus and Writing App, for kids ages 3 to 6, works with iPhone 4, 4s, and 5; iPod touch 4 and 5; and iPad 1, 2, 3 and Mini. The Creativity Camera Protective Case and App, for kids ages 3 to 6, works with iPhone 4, 4s, and 5 and iPod touch 4G. Both are currently available online and at major retail locations in the U.S., the UK, and Canada, and will be available in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Middle East this fall.

Saban Brands Announces New Episodes of Power Rangers Megaforce and Digimon Fusion

Saban Brands and Nickelodeon have announced that Saban’s Power Rangers Megaforce will return with all-new episodes on September 7 at 1 p.m. (EST/PST), followed by the season premiere of the all-new Digimon Fusion at 1:30 p.m. (EST/PST) on Nickelodeon. The back-to-back episodes team up to create a power hour packed with action, excitement, humor and entertainment.

digimon The return of new episodes of Power Rangers Megaforce continues the celebration of the franchise’s 20th Anniversary, with August 28 marking 20 years since the original series, Saban’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, first aired on television in 1993. Power Rangers Megaforce picks up when a shadow-stealing monster attacks, and the Megaforce Rangers must teach Robo Knight the power of teamwork in order to defeat him.

This past Wednesday, when the Power Rangers turned 20, Saban Brands celebrated by releasing Power Rangers Dubstep 2.0 with the Power Rangers Lost Galaxy Rangers video on MyVortexx.

Digimon Fusion marks the sixth installment of the Digimon franchise, which Saban Brands re-acquired last year. The all-new Digimon Fusion series follows Mikey, a human boy, who is transported into the digital realm and must team up with his new Digimon, or Digital Monster, friends before their world is deleted once and for all. New fusion powers allow Digimon to combine and fuse their abilities to create endless battle possibilities. Unleashing countless Digimon combinations, Digimon Fusion takes today’s tech-savvy kids inside an adventure-packed digital world, where the heroes’ courage is matched only by the fusion of their teamwork, loyalty and humor.

The Wizard of Oz Celebrates 75 Years with New Toys

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros. is launching a comprehensive campaign that includes toys and games from top licensees. Among them is McDonald’s, which will feature limited-edition The Wizard of Oz toys in Happy Meals at more than 14,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada from September 20 to October 10.

The Happy Meal program features six adorable stylized figures based on popular characters in the film. Kids can receive Dorothy, Scarecrow, Wicked Witch of the West, Tin Man, Glinda the Good Witch, or Cowardly Lion. In addition, each figure comes with a Yellow Brick Road base to stand on, and all the bases can connect to recreate The Wizard of Oz friends walking down the Yellow Brick Road.

Toy and game partners supporting the milestone anniversary include Jazwares, Mattel, and Adora Dolls, the latter of which will be introducing special-edition Wizard of Oz Toddlers. Meanwhile, commemorative collections of toys are expected to be part of “The Wizard of Oz’ 75th Anniversary Celebration,” scheduled to debut on QVC on September 26 at 9 p.m.

Delta Children Introduces Sofia the First Collection

Delta Children‘s new collections allow kids to fill their bedrooms and playrooms with their favorite characters, including Sofia the First. The new Sofia the First collection features two toddler bed options, a desk chair, and six-bin and nine-bin toy organizers. The collection also features an unholstered chair featuring the princess for reading or relaxing.