2016 Toy Awards
The most innovative new products on the toy market are honoured at the Spielwarenmesse, the international toy fair in Nuremberg.
Every year over 75,000 toy innovations compete for the attention of the trade visitors at the Spielwarenmesse, the international toy fair in Nuremberg. Twelve of them especially stand out: they have been nominated for the Toy Award, a prize presented by the fair organiser, Spielwarenmesse-Gesellschaft. A jury of eleven educationalists, market researchers and trade representatives evaluates the products on the basis of their play enjoyment, originality, safety, workmanship & quality, understandability and potential for trade success.
This year, for example, there is the Globber 5 in 1 in the Baby & Infant category. While children can initially sit on a Globber like a tricycle, it then gradually transforms into a scooter. Because the Globber adapts to a child’s capabilities, the jury appraised it as an “investment in the future”. However, the jury was also won over by Musical Duck Race – water-spurting ducks for the bath tub – and a xylophone aimed at infants made by PlayMe Toys International.
On the market in autumn 2016
For children between the ages of three and five, the jury nominated the Revell Junior Kit as an introduction to model-making and the Quadrilla Space City ball track. One particular eye-catcher is the Toniebox, an audio device that was especially developed for small children – without a display, without buttons and without removable media. When it comes to toys for schoolchildren, do-it-yourself is very popular at the moment: in the case of 3D Magic 3D Maker, for example, young artists pour UV coloured gel into small moulds and allow it to harden in a 3D station. The Bunch O Balloons system, on the other hand, can fill and seal 100 “ready-to-throw” water bombs in less than 60 seconds. A traditional board game called “Raben schubsen” is also in the running.
Another game for the whole family is called “Huch! & friends Gum Gum Machine”. Who finds the most delicious ingredients for the perfect chewing gum? And who makes the fastest progress? In the end, the winner is the person with the best strategy – and the most luck. KosmoBits, on the other hand, helps teenagers to learn computer programming in a playful way. Ping Pong Anywhere Net makes playing table tennis fun – at any time and any place.
Receiving a Toy Award gives the winner an enormous advantage in the toy business. This year, for the first time, all the products taking part must be available on the market by September 2016.
Spielwarenmesse, the international toy fair in Nuremberg, from 27 January to 1 February 2016
