I had a chance to attend The Toy Insider’s Holiday of Play 2015 in the beautiful Hearst Tower on October 16th. We were treated to a gourmet lunch, breathtaking views of NYC and an opportunity to check out the hottest toys of 2015! Our host, Laurie Schacht is the mom and toy expert behind Toy Insider and she was on hand to give us a run down of the absolute hottest, must have toys of the season!
Toy Insider has tested and collected the very best toys in a number of categories:
The Toy Insider Hot 20 is a collection of the most wanted toys this Holiday Season. Here’s what kids asking for this year:
- Skylanders Superchargers
- Shopkins Scoops Ice Cream Truck
- Little Live Pets Clever Keet
- Disney Descendants Signature Outfit Doll Assortment
- Minions Interactive Action Figures
- Imaginext Ultra T-rex
- TMNT Giant Leonardo Playset
- Furreal Friends Starlily, My Magical Unicorn
- Doc Mcstuffins Pet Vet Checkup Center
- Disney Frozen Sing-a-long Elsa
- Tomy Toddler Toys Jumbo Jamboree
- Play All Day Elmo
- Go! Go! Smart Wheels Ultimate Rc Speedway
- Bright Beats Smart Touch Play Space
Toy Insider’s STEM 10 category is a collection of the very best STEM learning toys available this year. On the list?
- Educational Insights Design and Drill Brightworks
- Disney Imagicademy Mickey’s Rocket Builder
- Kid’s First Aircraft Engineer by Thames & Cosmos
- Laser Pegs Super Copter
- Tech 4 Kids 3D Creation Maker
- GoldieBlox Craft-struction Box
- Makey Makey Classic Invention Kit
- K’Nex Mighty Makers Fun on the Ferris Wheel Building Set
- Thames & Cosmos Remote Control Machines: Animals
- Hexbux Hexcalator Ball Machine
The final category of the day was the Toy Insider Top Tech 12, a collection of the hottest tech toys for kids:
- Kidizoom Smartwatch Dx
- Leappad Platinum With Imagicard
- Anki Overdrive Starter Kit
- Crayola Easy Animation Studio
- Hello Barbie
- Miposaur
- Sky Rover Voice Command
- Vex Robotics Robotic Arm
- Kurio Smart Windows Tablet
- Meccano Meccanoid G15
- New Nintendo 3ds Xl
- Sky Viper Hd Video Drone V950
After we got the run down of Toy Insider’s Top Picks, we had ample time to mingle with some of our favorite brands, check out the new and exciting toys hitting the shelves in time for the holidays!
The Crayola Crayon Carver is one of my favorites because my kids love to personalize everything. The crayon carver makes it simple to add designs and words to your crayons and it keeps the mess contained, so we’re all fans of it!
Hasbro’s Pie Face is actually one of our favorite family games lately. Spin the spinner turn the knob the appropriate amount of times. The hope is that you won’t be the one with a pile of whip cream on your face! This is lots of fun to play with the kids and it gives you an excuse to eat whip cream, so that’s a win win in my book!
The Kidizoom Action Cam is great for kids who are always on the go and love to show off their latest achivements. From riding bikes, skateboards and snowboards to documenting trail hikes and nature walks, the Kidizoom action cam will bring a new level of excitement to kids activities!
The VEX IQ Robotics Construction Set is the gift of gifts for kids who love science, building and robotics. This little robot has some seriously impressive qualities. With pieces that snap together this bot is appropriate for kids as young as 8, but is versatile enough to captivate even seasoned robotics fans.
The Lionel Crayola train brings a love of trains to smaller hands, with a chunky kid-friendly design and fun features like loading Crayola boxes into the train and customizing the caboose on their own, kids will love this Lionel set!
Thames & Cosmos introduced us to some really fantastic toys! The Remote Control Machines: Animals made it to the top STEM toy list, but we’re also loving their Remote Control Machines: Space Explorer. Geared towards a slightly older age group (8+), kids can create ten different space exploration machines with each set!
I also loved these Hip Fit Backpack Hangers. With so many different option to choose from there was a design for every little girl! Honestly, I’d probably hang one of these from my purse as well!
Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better day! We had a delicious lunch, got to hang out with some of our favorite bloggers and make new friends, all while enjoying the beautiful blue skies and NYC views and checking filling up our own Christmas lists! Stay tunes for my Holiday Gift Guide, which will include in depth reviews of my favorite toys and some great giveaway for you!
I am willing to bet cold hard cash that if I printed this off my son would use it as his Christmas list. He has already mentioned several of the toys you have listed to me already. It must be awesome to get the inside scoop on all the toy action. The event looked like it was a lot of fun!
The toys this year are so cool and diverse! I love that there are more toys that are using STEM. Great way for kids to get the foundation without feeling like they are learning. I cannot wait to get that pie face game for my kids!
I love the toys this year! I have been searching for a STEM toy for my son for Christmas, and I see several toys on your list that I am going to have to check out!
The holiday toys for 2015 look like so much fun to play with! There are several on my son’s wishlist including the Star Wars Bladebuilders Jedi Master Lightsaber and LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack. This looks like a really wonderful event. I love that you got to see the toys in action before making the purchase!
I would love to attend Toy Insider’s Holiday of Play. I am more into STEM this year, now that I have elementary aged children. I see Hexbug on there, we love those. I need to add the ball machine to their Christmas list.
I wish I’d had this list of toys a few weeks ago. My son’s birthday is Friday. I could’ve easily shopped for both his 3rd birthday and Christmas from all these great gift ideas.
These are really cool toys! I’m sure kids are all excited to receive presents for Christmas. I personally prefer giving them physical toys like these rather than an iPad or video games to play with.
Both of my boys are train nerds and so is their father, so the Lionel one would be perfect for them. I didn’t even know that existed, so we will be looking out for that. Also the Pie in the face is hilarious. I really, really want that one.
I really like the the crayon maker. Especially since it is mess free. I feel like my kids have too much technology as it is so Im trying to find them something that will expand their imaginations.