Just because it’s a rainy day doesn’t mean kids can’t have lots of fun. Toy Insider’s Chief Toy Officer Laurie Schacht stopped by Show Me St. Louis to show off some of the best toys for fun on rainy afternoons. For more on the items featured in this segment, check out the product notes below, and for the complete rundown of the best toys of the spring and summer, be sure to check our complete Toy Insider Spring and Summer Gift Guide.


TABLETOP PINBALL (BUFFALO GAMES)

  • Full tilt pinball action!
  • Use your turn of 10 balls to try and get the high score in the action-packed tabletop pinball game. Land balls in scoring zones to accumulate points.
  • Play solo or go head-to-head in this game for all ages!
  • All the fun of a real pinball machine in your own home.
  • Ages: 8+
  • MSRP: $34.99
  • Available: Target

TINY PONG SOLO TABLE TENNIS GAME  (HASBRO)

  • The Tiny Pong Solo Table Tennis game brings exciting bouncing action into the palm of your hand!
  • Players launch the ball off the court and bounce it repeatedly on the court to rack up points.
  • They can move the court back and forth under the ball.
  • Keep it going, getting a point for every bounce. To increase the challenge, switch from “Beginner” mode to “Expert” mode.
  • The game responds with lights and sounds as players try to beat their highest score by getting as many bounces as they can!
  • How long can you keep it going?
  • The game includes TINY Pong court surface, handle, net, ball, and instructions.
  • The game requires 3 AAA batteries.
  • Ages: 8+
  • MSRP: $19.99
  • Available: most major retailers nationwide

PENCIL NOSE (FAT BRAIN TOYS)

  • Think you’ve got a nose for drawing? In this hilarious party game, players have to use their sniffers to try and sketch the prompt and then hope their teammates can correctly guess what they’re drawing.
  • On your turn, draw a card and slide it into the slot on top of the drawing board so only you can see it.
  • Then, with the special glasses and the “Pencil Nose” equipped, try to draw the object onto the clear screen of the board – USING ONLY YOUR NOSE! Can you draw a trout with your snout?
  • How about a rose with your nose? Whichever team gets the most correct guesses wins a point.
  • First team to win 7 points wins the game.
  • Includes erasable drawing board, 2 pairs of pencil nose glasses (green, orange), erasable marker, eraser, 90 object cards with 6 objects each, sand timer.
  • Ages: 8+
  • MSRP: $24.95
  • Available: fatbraintoys.com, Amazon, Walmart

KOZO (WINNING MOVES USA)

  • This 3 dimensional wooden stacking game first gained popularity in Asia. Players take turns adding a wooden polycube and balance cube to the structure.
  • Polycubes must stay in the confines of the structure and cannot overlap the center “chimney” area.
  • It takes a steady hand as balance is the key. Players score for each piece placed.
  • The game includes 12 Wooden Polycubes, 12 Wooden Scoring Tiles, 12 Small Wooden Balance Cubes, 1 Wooden Base, and illustrated instructions.
  • Ages: 8+
  • MSRP: $19.95
  • Available: winning-moves.com

ORANGUTWANG (PLAYMONSTER)

  • A fun, suspenseful game, Orangutwang  willl have kids jumping and laughing for more!
  • Just visually, Orangutwang is a super cool game with its two tall palm trees connected by a string, the colorful and quirky toucan lever, the bright playing pieces shaped like fruit or critters, and the giant, amused orangutan that hangs from the string!
  • To play the game, simply roll the die to find out which play piece you get to hang on the orangutan (banana, pineapple, gecko, fruit bat or coconut).
  • Be careful how you hang it…at some point it will be too much for the orangutan and he’ll leap and swing and go twaaaannng!
  • The player who makes the orangutan go flying and throw his fruit and friends technically loses the game, but do they really lose?
  • It’s fun and hilarious to see him go twang, so really all the players are winners!
  • Ages: 4+
  • MSRP: $19.99 – $24.99
  • Available: Amazon

what's in the box

WHAT’S IN THE BOX (BLIP TOYS)

  • The game, based on the viral YouTube sensation, has been translated to retail so now everyone can easily play this in their home.
  • The game includes a deck of score cards and 4 black blind bags (to hide items found throughout the house so other players can’t see what one another found to place inside).
  • There is a 10 second timer built into the box, so once someone’s hands go inside, they will have 10 second to feel and guess what it is.
  • Doors can be shut, so if there’s more than 2 players, everyone will have an opportunity to guess what they think is inside and write it down on the scorecard before the “challenger” reveals to everyone what’s inside the box.
  • Ages: 4+
  • MSRP: $21.99
  • Available: Amazon, Walmart, and Target

About the author

Bill Reese

Bill Reese

Bill Reese is Business Operations Manager at Adventure Media & Events, where he's worked since 2014. A former editor at Playbill and graduate of SUNY–Purchase, he spends most weekends rooting for the New York Red Bulls pro soccer team and making subway systems out of Brio trains with his little boy Jonah.

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