Hot 97 radio in New York City stopped by the offices of Toy Insider and counted down the top 10 hottest toys of the holidays with Toy Insider Senior Editor Marissa DiBartolo. For more on the products featured in this segment, check out the notes below, and be sure to check out our complete holiday gift guide.
Laugh & Learn Crawl-Around Learning Center (Fisher-Price)
The ultimate learning toy for baby, combining both physical development and cognitive play.
- Includes Smart Stages content in three adjustable levels for play that grows with baby, and four stations to explore.
- Babies will learn body parts, opposites, colors, shapes, ABCs, and more.
- Parents can even leave a personalized message for baby to hear.
- Sensory play to explore with activities like a self-discovery mirror, jumbo rattle roller, and fishbowl clicker.
- Ages: 6 MOS+
- MSRP: $49.99
- Available: Amazon, Target, Toys “R” Us, Walmart
- With the new 3Doodler Start, kids can finally bring all of their wonderful and imaginative ideas to life in 3D.
- This 3D printing pen extrudes an eco-friendly plastic that cools and hardens rapidly, allowing kids to literally draw in the air.
- Specially designed to be clean and safe for kids, with no hot parts or messy resins or glues.
- Easy to use thanks to one speed, one temperature, and no software or technical knowledge required – just turn it on, insert a strand and start doodling in 3D.
- Ages: 8+
- MSRP: $49.99
- Available: Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble
- LUMI provides exciting drone action while taking some of the fuss out of flying an indoor quadcopter. LUMI can literally fly itself while kids play, direct and command it using the app.
- With a smartphone or tablet, kids can select one-touch stunts, follow-me mode, or simply take control and fly LUMI with ease, while obstacle avoidance technology helps LUMI avoid your walls and furniture.
- Various single and multi-player game modes include challenging the player to follow sequences of flashing lights while LUMI flies and dances in the air, reacting to your performance.
- Players can choreograph a series of flight moves and play them back to music selected from their music library and also save and share their programmed airshow with other LUMI users.
- Ages: 8+
- MSRP: $79.99
- Available: Toys “R” Us, Walmart
Go! Go! Smart Friends Enchanted Princess Palace (VTech)
- This epic palace expands to 4-feet long and has a variety of luxurious rooms including a ballroom, music room, kitchen, bedroom and observation tower.
- While exploring the palace with Princess Darla, place her on the five MagicPoint locations to experience her friendly personality, lights, and more.
- When Princess Darla sits at her MagicChat tea set table with a friend (additional characters sold separately), they will interact by chatting and singing with each other.
- The palace also has a clock with a movable hand and three light-up buttons that introduce words, colors, letters and numbers and play magical melodies and sing-along songs.
- Ages: 18 MOS+
- MSRP: $59.99
- Available: Amazon, Target, Toys “R” Us
- Get ready to be doubled over with laughter with this ridiculous mouthpiece challenge game!
- The Speak Out game brings friends and family together for laugh-out-loud fun as players try to say different phrases while wearing a mouthpiece that won’t let them shut their mouth.
- The laughter continues as players try to decipher what in the world their teammate is trying to say, and must correctly guess the phrase in order to earn the card.
- The team with the most cards at the end of the game wins.
- Ages: 16+
- MSRP: $19.99
- Available: Amazon, Target, Toys “R” Us
- Tighten your bond with your beloved Pikachu friend.
- Hug this feature plush Pikachu to make its ears move, cheeks light up, and activate cute sounds.
- Hot on the heels of Pokémon Go, now every kid can catch the coveted Pikachu!
- Super soft plush makes Pikachu extra huggable.
- Ages: 3+
- MSRP: $29.99
- Available: Amazon, Toys “R” Us, Walmart, Kmart
- With lifelike movements and realistic chimp sounds, Zoomer chimp is the closest kids can get to having their own chimp.
- Zoomer Chimp can follow you, stand up on his own, and recognize commands through his voice recognition technology.
- He loves to perform tricks – using voice commands like: “Stand,” “Sit,” “Go Bananas,” “Do a flip,” and more.
- Ages: 5+
- MSRP: $119.99
- Available: Walmart, Kmart, Toys “R” Us
Little Live Pets Snuggles My Dream Puppy (Moose Toys)
- New to the Little Live Pets line, Snuggles, My Dream Puppy moves and feels just like a real puppy.
- Kids can hold him and give him a hug. They won’t be able to resist his big brown expressive eyes. They can feed him with his bottle and he’ll fall asleep in their arms, dreaming about them!
- Snuggles even comes with an adoption certificate for kids to fill in and make him their own! He is the no mess pup who loves to be loved!
- With a pat of the head or a rub of the tummy, Snuggles will close his eyes and make adorable puppy sounds. Kids can even watch him breathe. Snuggles moves, feels and responds just like a real puppy!
- Ages: 5+
- MSRP: $54.99
- Available: Target, Toys “R” Us, Walmart
PJ Masks Headquarters Playset (Just Play)
- This play set stands more than 2 feet tall and has three character-themed levels filled with engaging kid-powered features.
- The adventure begins with the light and sound PJ Picture Player, where kids can choose their mission, and then recreate the action with the high-flying zip line, working elevator, hanging cat rings, trap doors, and pop-out hatches.
- The excitement continues as kids launch the included Cat Boy figure and Cat Car down the winding ramp “into the night to save the day,” just like in the Disney Jr. series.
- This super-powered play set brings all the show’s action to life with 360 degrees of play.
- Compatible with other PJ Masks 3-inch figures and vehicles, sold separately.
- Ages: 3+
- MSRP $69.99
- Available: Toys “R” Us
Hatchimals- Hatchimals are interactive magical creatures inside eggs.
- Who’s inside? It’s a surprise! Care for them and they will hatch themselves with your help!
- A magical experience for kids, you can watch your Hatchimal hatch as a family, and then sing “Hatchy birthday!”
- Once hatched, there’s more fun in store.
- Ages: 4+
- MSRP: $59.99
- Available: Walmart, Target, Toys “R” Us
Bloxels- Build your own video games with Bloxels!
- Create and animate play spaces, characters and objects because you are the artist, fame designer, storyteller, programmer, publisher, and player.
- The physical pieces in the Bloxels game set work with the free Bloxels Builder app to digitize your creations, put them on-screen and make them playable.
- Each block represents a different element of the video game, so kids can place blocks on the grid, scan the grid into the app, and watch their video game level take shape!
- Play levels created by other players online.
- MSRP: $49.99
- Ages: 8+
