Dubit Research , the specialists in youth media have studied the popularity of those toys which are based on the online virtual worlds, and as well as looking at Mind Candy’s Moshi Monsters and Disney’s Club Penguin, they studied Poptropica, Webkinz and Build-a-Bearville.

The study involved 500 children, and a staggering 55% of them were found to own a toy from at least one of the online games. Disney’s Club Penguin proved to be the most popular, with 32% of the kids owning a branded toy from this online world. Club Penguin first launched in 2005 and now has 150m members that are registered globally, and has also spawned a range of video games and books.

Each of the toys sold are connected to their virtual world courtesy of a code they are packaged with which allows different items to be unlocked in the respective virtual world.

Moshi Monsters, whose plush toys and Mini Moshling Treehouse are expected to be among the most popular toys for Christmas this year, was a close second. The study showed that even before Christmas a quarter of UK children already own a Moshi Monster or a Moshling (a Moshi pet). Since launching in 2008 Moshi Monsters has gone on to accumulate 50m registered users, with one in three British children believed to be a member. Even with the publishing industry struggling The Moshi Magazine, launched in February, has accumulated the largest circulation of any UK children’s magazine.

As a comparison with toys related to kid’s TV shows, the research shows that just as many children own Club Penguin toys as they do toys based on Dr Who. Furthermore, Moshi Monster toys are more popular (25%) than toys based on the cartoon Ben 10 (20%), and only marginally less than popular than Spongebob Square Pants (29 per cent).*

Interestingly, toys from virtual worlds are gender-neutral, with equal popularity across boys and girls.

73 per cent of the children questioned had played at least one of these online games, with half having played Club Penguin and 47 per cent stating that they’d played Moshi Monsters.

Dubit’s head of research, Peter Robinson, commented: “Children are spending more time playing in virtual worlds and now those worlds are becoming part of their offline playtime.

“Today’s kids are platform agnostic and don’t care where their favourite stories and characters come from. It used to be the case that books or TV shows launched characters and toys, but now online entertainment is proving just as important.”

*Research into children’s TV shows was carried out in October for Toy News.

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Educational Learning Limited new games offer family fun with bite

Basildon in Essex is the home of the new company named Educational Learning Limited, who are taking great pleasure in launching two card games that are both educational and exciting. The names of these games are ‘Wildcat’ and ‘Dinohistoria’.

These games are both fun and entertaining as are also educational as they help with literacy, numeracy, memory recall, colour recognition, as well as helping to develop interpersonal and social skills. Wildcat also supports those key skills of exploring and observing, while Dinohistoria also shows a geological timescale.

These games are great fun for both children and adults to play, and whatever the age the players will find them both entertaining and interesting. The Anglia Ruskin University has evaluated Wildcat by getting children to play it and the excellent feedback states that it has the potential of underpinning the school curriculum and will work well in primary schools where it was tested.

They then evaluated Dinohistoria whose feedback is just as good, they said that although it was a different game in the way that it played and the information it gave, it still gave similar benefits to Wildcat. Top Toys have also evaluated them and given them a ‘recommended’ award. They stated that both girls and boys enjoyed the games, particularly when it came to comparing facts.

Family and friends will ‘roar’ with success, learning details about animals, past and present as well as have fun while playing these entertaining educational games.

Wildcat (4 suits) has 3 levels of play, using actual licensed photographs and has facts about the cats from around the world.

Dinohistoria (5 suits) has 56 vivid illustrations licensed by the Picture Library of the Natural History Museum, London, (including over 30 dinosaurs, many of them familiar) covering the period from 4.6 billion years to 10,000 years ago, with details about them too.

Additional games can be played from Age 5+, Pairs, Snap, King of the Jungle, The Big Cat game and Roar of the Dinosaurs, as listed on the company’s website, www.educationallearning.co.uk , whilst the actual games are for Ages 7+.

Adults enjoy the games too and play them with children which will also enhance enjoyment and learning.

Jeffrey Goodwin Director says  “All of my life I have enjoyed playing and designing games which always had a competitive and/or educational value.  In 2006 after major heart surgery I decided to bring out games to a high quality specification with the following benefits: Fun and entertaining; High quality pictures; No-one knocked out of games; Good educational value which the whole family would enjoy. I formed Educational learning Limited and have further games in pipeline, including board games and those to help with languages.”

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The spooky limited edition haunted house designs are available across all 2L bottles of Fizzy Vimto, No Added Sugar and Cherry Vimto. These party sized bottles are great for sharing, so Vimto has designed a special range of creepy cocktail recipes that will add some seriously mixed up fun to your fancy dress frolics.

Here’s our yummy Halloween themed Vimto thirst quenchers to keep your little ghouls, goblins and guests entertained!

The limited edition Halloween bottles are available in all major supermarkets from early October, so start practising your creepy Vimto Halloween cocktails.

Vimto’s Creepy Cocktail Recipes

Vimto

Eyeball Surprise

A supernaturally simple concoction that every stylish spectre will be drinking this Halloween.

Use an ice cream scoop to make two ‘eyeballs’ of ice cream and press jelly sweets into each one to create the pupils.  Place them in the bottom of a tall chilled goblet and recite a witches incantation. Fill the glass two thirds full of devilishly delicious fizzy Vimto and watch the fiendish foam froth over the top of the glass.

No Added Sugar Vimto

Spooky Strawberry Heart

This is a great drink to serve to a scare to your guests. Swirl some No Added Sugar Vimto in with some cranberry juice and pour into individual glasses. Keep up the fear factor with a ‘Bleeding Heart’ made out of a bbq stick speared strawberry. Simply dunk the ‘heart’ into the glass and serve chilled.

Cherry Vimto/ NAS Cherry Vimto

Blood Curdling Brew

The perfect cauldron concoction for witches and wizards everywhere!

Put the flesh of one chopped melon along with 10 crushed red seedless grapes into your cauldron (or glass if cauldron not available) and blend until they form a ghoulishly bloody pulp! Strain into a glass and top up with fiendishly fruity fizzy Cherry Vimto to create your brew.

Witches tip – Half-fill an ice cube tray with water, add a halved grape to each section and press a raisin into the centre and then freeze to create eyeball ice cubes!

Spooky Ideas for some frightful Halloween fun with Vimto!

Halloween is a boo-tiful excuse to have a spooky party your kids will love, and you don’t need to live in Transylvania to pull it off! All you need is some imagination and you can host a great party without blowing the bank. At Vimto we love a scary party and have concocted some tips and recipes to that your little ghouls or goblins will never forget!

Make Some Invitations

Making these at home is a fun activity you can do with your kids and helps save pennies for food games. Print off pictures of bats, ghosts and pumpkins and trace the silhouettes onto coloured paper. You can decorate these with glitter or paint them in spooky colours.

Get your party invitations out 1-2 weeks before the party. To avoid any confusion, clearly state instructions about themes, costumes, and when the party ends.

Get Decorating!

Follow these simple decorating tips and get the best haunted house on the block.

• Decorate the main party room with artificial spider webs, or let the real ones build up all year long.

• Replace your normal light bulbs with colored ones. You can usually find orange bulbs in the home centres but you’ll almost surely find them in the party stores as Halloween approaches.

• Drape the traditional black and orange crêpe paper from the ceilings and door frames and hang up some fake spiders and bats for added effect.

• Cover the tables with black shower curtains or pick up some Halloween tablecloths while you’re out getting the light bulbs. Don’t forget to sprinkle the tables with Halloween party confetti.

• Carve a big jack-o-lantern as a centerpiece. Black flowers (real or artificial) look great in black cat vases. (Make sure that every jack-o-lantern is carved with adult supervision!!).

Halloween Party Games

Who forgets bobbing for apples or eating doughnuts off a string? These classic Halloween games are great fun for kids and adults can get in touch with their childhood and get involved too.

Bobbing for apples

One of the most iconic Halloween games, this one is also really easy to do. Just get a basin and fill it with water, if you’re a Vimto fan then you can also mix in a bit of cordial to make it taste yummy (just make sure that everyone knows to keep their eyes closed while bobbing), throw in some apples and get two players in a competition to get the most apples. For a scary twist add some plastic spiders, eyeballs and fingers!

Doughnuts on a String

Tie a length of rope between two trees. With kids standing under the rope, tie pieces of ribbon to the doughnuts (one per player) and then to the rope so the treats hang slightly above mouth level. Have players start on the count of three. Instruct each to eat an entire doughnut — no hands allowed — without letting it fall off the ribbon. The first to finish wins.

Pin the face on the Pumpkin

Any child who has played Pin the Tail on the Donkey will pick up this game quickly. Cut out eyes, noses, and mouths from black construction paper. Stick a reusable adhesive, such as Blu Tack, on the back of each cut out, and give a set of cut outs to each player. Place a large pumpkin on a low table or a bench. With blindfolded players starting four feet away (little kids may stand closer), instruct them to walk toward the pumpkin and create a jack-o’-lantern face (without peeking). After each turn, take a picture of the player with the finished pumpkin.

A Mummy’s version of Pass the Parcel

Before the party, tape a small, lightweight prize to the end of a roll of toilet tissue. Wrap up the prize in the toilet tissue and continue taping prizes and wrapping them until the roll is completely wrapped. Ask players to sit in a circle. Each person gets to wrap the end of the toilet tissue around a body part (an arm, forehead, waist, ankle and so on) until she finds a prize. She then tears the paper and passes the roll to the next player. Play continues until all the prizes have been unrolled.

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Many have wondered if playing video games influences the development of children’s brains. Wondering if there was brain development related to the shocking brutality that many of the games possess and now a study may prove many of those correct.

Researchers from Indiana University through using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) mapped out the parts of the brain that are stimulated when children play video games. One group played a violent game while another group played a game that was as equally exciting but non-violet. The adolescents played for 30 minutes after which the doctors collected the MRI information.

Those playing the non-violent game had activity in the frontal area of the brain. This being the area associated with inhibition, self-control and concentration. Those that played the violent game had no activity in the frontal area of the brain but the game activated their amygdale. This is a part of the brain associated with emotional arousal, mainly anger.

These results are disturbing for many reasons. This part of the brain is the least cerebral and the most animal-like. It is where the most basic of instincts reside for example instincts that deal with survival, feeding and procreation. Of course this part of the brain has its importance. If you are starving your amygdale pushes you to find food. If you are being chased this part of the brain tells you to protect yourself the fight or flight mode – run for your life or stay and fight for it.

But what is worrisome is the amygdale has no capacity for logic, objective decision making or reason and cannot express tolerance, love or understanding. Now how will you feel knowing your child along with millions of others are over stimulating this area of the brain for hours and hours on end. Is it concerning, it should be.

Why, well other research has shown repetitive thoughts and repetitive actions reinforce whatever thoughts or actions you are practicing thus raising the percentages that you will repeat that same action or thought in the future.

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To find out more about LEGO Universe take a look at this video:

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But it’s not just in books, novellas and screens. The murder mystery found itself in game format sixty years ago when a musician from Birmingham named Anthony E. Pratt was inspired and worked to create “Cluedo”, the atypical whodunnit board game. Iconic characters like Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlett and Professor Plum now rank among the greatest villains in history, having taken part in millions of murders re-enacted in family homes over previous decades.

To celebrate the board game’s 60th anniversary, Barry Forshaw from the Crime Writer’s Association recounts the evolution of the murder mystery and gives some great tips on how to write your own.

Hasbro have recently released a new version called Cluedo, Discover the Secrets. There are few new rules and some of the characters’ names have changed.

For instance, Colonel Mustard has become Jack Mustard, “once the most sought after celebrity football player . . . now a sports pundit”.

Professor Plum is Victor Plum “a self-made video-game design billionaire that (sic) moved out of the dingy basement into a life of luxury”.

The lead pipe has become a baseball bat, the revolver is a pistol and a dumb-bell, trophy axe and poison have been added to the murder weapons. The basically bland appearance of the board of the original game is now lavishly illustrated but purists may be put out that the action no longer takes place in an Inspector Poirot-era mansion but a home straight out of Footballers’ Wives. Gone are the ballroom, the library, the billiard room and the conservatory. In come a theatre, spa, guesthouse and observatory.

For more information visit www.hasbro.co.uk

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Child Kitchen Role Play

However, this is not always possible (too dangerous) or practical (time/mess considerations). It is therefore important to help children understand adult behaviour and activities in a safe, age-appropriate way and role-play is one of the most powerful ways of achieving this. Role-play toys provide a wonderful opportunity for children to model their carer’s behaviour with props that are appropriate for children (safe, smaller, lighter, and sometimes with exaggerated or simplified features) of various ages and abilities.

There is a place for all types of toys, but in contrast to highly prescriptive products (those with rules or instructions), toys that act as props for a child’s own game help develop creativity and imagination. Toys that encourage role-play also develop communication and social skills if playing with friends or siblings. Children have to follow rules a lot so, when possible, it is wonderful for them to be able to create their own play. Even more benefit is gained if children are playing together or with an adult. Parents can learn a great deal about their child by getting down to their level and allowing their child to dictate the game.

It seems that parenting has become a real minefield. The more we understand, the more pressure there is to ‘do the right thing’ for your children. Food and health is an area of particular stress for parents today. The well-documented rise in child-hood obesity has been linked to a number of factors including sedentary lifestyles and fast food. On the other hand, anorexia is also a growing problem and seems to be affecting children at younger and younger ages. It is a minefield for parents trying to help their children grow into healthy teenagers and adults.

Children will copy their carer’s approach to cooking. Role-play with toy food, play kitchens and utensils will facilitate discussion about food and increase children’s understanding of the importance of a balanced diet. Even very young children can pretend to cut with play knives and prepare pieces of play food. By doing this they can explore their food and develop a healthy, balanced attitude towards nutrition.

The same is true of most adult activities. Children’s development is driven by the fact that young children always want to seem more grown up than they are. By enabling them to feel grown up by modelling everyday adult behaviours (cleaning, laundry, shopping, DIY, looking after the children etc) parents are validating their children and bonding with them. Role-play toys that encourage these activities are incredibly valuable and should not be overlooked in favour of the latest high-tech toys. Many of the life skills that children need to develop in order to live successfully as an independent adult are not taught at school so as well as bonding with their children, increasing imagination and communication skills, parents who facilitate role play are helping them to learn skills that will benefit them in later life.

Five Top Tips to encourage positive Role-Play

1. Make it relevant to an activity that you’re doing or have done recently.

2. Help your child if he/she is stuck for ideas at the start but then stand back and let them direct the play. Be willing to take directions about the role-play without trying to change them or suggest your own ideas.

3. Be enthusiastic about your child’s ideas and praise them for their imagination.

4. Ask open-ended questions to encourage the progression of play – (e.g. ‘what shall we do with this baking tray?’ rather than ‘shall I put the baking tray in the oven?’).

5. Be creative with equipment – a saucepan doesn’t have to only be used as a saucepan, it can be a helmet or a drum or anything else that a child wants it to be.

All items featured in this piece, plus many more suitable for role-play, are available at www.whywoodworks.co.uk.

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The first National Family Week will run from May 25-31st to celebrate family life. With a bank holiday marking the first day of National Family Week, there’s no better time to spend the day outdoors together.

Flying a kite is great fun and provides a no (or low cost) day out for the whole family.

Pom-Bear’s top tips for flying your kite:

1.     Check that your kite is put together correctly, or it may not fly

2.     Stand with your back to the wind

3.     Hold your kite up by the bridle point and let the line out. If there is sufficient wind, your kite will go right up. Let the kite fly away from you a little, then pull in on the line as the kite points up so it will climb. Repeat this until your kite gains sufficient height to find a good steady wind

4.     If there is a light wind, ask a family member to help by taking the kite downwind and holding it up until you signal to let go

5.     If the kite sinks tail first, there might not be enough wind. If it comes down headfirst or spins, there might be too much wind. Adding tails to your kite helps it remain stable in stronger winds and looks great!

Pom-Bear Kite Prize

This year Pom-Bear is learning how to fly a kite and we have 10 Pom-Bear kite sets worth over £10 to giveaway. Each set contains a Pom-Bear pocket kite plus a multipack of Pom-Bear teddy shaped potato snacks for your kids to enjoy as part of a balanced diet.  To enter all you need to do is sign up to our newsletter (see right-hand side) and you will be automatically entered into our free draw. All entries must be completed by 31 May 2009.

Visit www.pom-bear.co.uk for information about kite flying, and for your children to join the Pom-Bear club and play fun games. Pom-Bear is also giving away special edition kites every hour from May 18 – August 18 – see promotional packs for details.

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