July 12, 2016 Dana

New toys at Magic Beans: Magna-Tiles, Keva Connect, Floof & more

Summer is birthday party season! The highest birthrates are during July, August, and September, so even though school may be out, your kid will be attending lots of classmates’ parties. (And, your kid might even have a special birthday of their own coming up soon, too.)

So it’s a good idea to know what new toys are arriving during this sunny season: after all, you don’t want to be the one who gets your child’s bestie a LEGO set that she already has, right? These surefire kid-pleasers will bring big smiles when the wrapping paper comes off, and have plenty of creative play value to boot.

Play Visions Floof Bucket, $19.99
It’s not this kind of Floof or this kind of Floof: it’s another kind of Floof entirely! Think Sands Alive, just floofier. Floof is a marshmallow-light modeling compound that’s super-fun to squish, moosh, and mold. Because it’s snowy-white, I’m thinking Floof would be the perfect gift for a Frozen fan who wants to build snowmen all year round!

(And since we can’t resist: here’s some more of that other kind of Floof.)

Blue Orange Games Kaboom, $24.99
While most of the time we prefer to curb our children’s destructive impulses, knocking down stacks of blocks is harmless fun that everyone can enjoy. The game of Kaboom is all about the smashy-smashy: one player is the “Master Builder,” racing against time to build as many wooden towers as possible. Everyone else gets to be a Saboteur, loading up mini catapults to knock those towers down!

Kid O Jumbo Glow-in-the-Dark Magnatab, $34.99
This limited edition version of the well-loved Magnatab toy is designed for nighttime fun: both the board and the stylus glow! Like the original Free Play Magnatab, this toy lets kids create pictures and patterns using a magnetic stylus that draws enclosed metal beads to the surface with a very satisfying clack. To erase, just run your finger over the beads! It’s sort of like an Etch-A-Sketch, with a cool added tactile factor.

Fat Brain Toys Pop ‘emz, $19.99
Fat Brain has had a great run of toys involving suction cups, and this new variation is designed to appeal to little artists: Pop ‘emz are designed to nest side by side on any non-porous surface to create cool pixel-style art. They come in 6 bright colors, and are fun in a huge variety of places: stick ‘em to the bathroom mirror, the front door, the fridge, the kitchen table, your iPad, and more! They’re also an awesome travel toy, since they’ll stick nicely to the window of a car or even an airplane. We loved them at Toy Fair!

Keva Connect Starter Set, $24.99
Keva Planks are a longtime favorite of ours, and this new set takes Planks to another dimension: the easy-to-use plastic connectors lock the planks in place, letting kids build up and out in a whole new way! The connectors are designed to be usable by smaller children, knocking the age range down to 3 years.

Magna-Tiles Expansion Sets:

Magna-Tiles Rectangle Expansion Set – 8 Pieces, $24.99
Magna-Tiles Polygon Expansion Set – 8 Pieces, $19.99
Magna-Tiles Cars Expansion Set – 2 Pack, $14.99

These playsets make terrific gifts for a kid who already has a stash of Magna-Tiles, which are a perennial favorite that we’ve praised again and again and again in this blog. New shapes bring new possibilities: the Cars Expansion set encourages little builders to put their creations on wheels!

If none of these new toys seem to be quite what you’re looking for, never fear: our Toy Whizzes are here to make sure you’re never stumped on the perfect gift for every kid. Just tell us how old they are, and we’ll introduce you to dozens of favorites that we know children love. And we’ll wrap them for free, too!