Looking for the best toys for your kids to kick off the new school year?  Toy Insider Mom Laurie Schacht stopped by Global News’ The Morning Show to talk about the hottest new toys of the semester. For more on the products featured in this segment, check out the notes below, and for more on the hottest new toys of the season be sure to view our Spring and Summer Toy Guide.


LEGO City Bus Station (LEGO)

  • Join the other passengers for a quick and easy ride on the LEGO® City Bus. This cool model features opening front and side doors, a bike rack on the front, seats for minifigure riders, luggage storage space and room for a wheelchair inside, as well as a bus stop with a bike stand, trash can, waiting area and ramp, plus a newsstand with newspapers, fruit and drinks for sale. Includes 6 minifigures and a dog figure.
  • Includes 6 minifigures: 2 bus passengers, bus driver, newsstand worker, newsstand visitor and a wheelchair passenger, plus a dog figure.
  • Features a city bus with opening side and front doors, bike rack for 2 bikes on the back, and space inside for 4 minifigures including a wheelchair passenger.
  • Also includes a bus stop with waiting area, bike stand, trash can and ramp for a wheelchair, plus a newsstand with an open shelf and space inside for a minifigure, as well as a buildable streetlight.
  • Visit the newsstand to buy a paper and cold drink.
  • Park your bike in the bike stand while you wait for the bus to arrive at the bus stop.
  • Push the wheelchair up the ramp to enter the bus.
  • Accessory elements include a briefcase, fruit, 2 drink elements, 3 newspaper tiles and a buildable wheelchair.
  • Age: 5+
  • Canada: $59.99
  • Available: Toys “R” Us, Target, Walmart

Shopkins Season 8 (Moose Toys)

  • Shopkins series 8 is all about world travel! Shopkins are ready to travel all over the world and are starting their world tour in Europe by taking over France, Italy and Britain!
  • The next stop of the World Vacation is Asia.
  • Age: 4+
  • CAD MSRP: $3.99 – $29.99
  • Available: Toys “R” Us, Target, Walmart

Roblox Single Figures (Jazwares)

  • Roblox is the largest social platform for play that allows kids to imagine, create, and play together in immersive 3D worlds. Over 22 million user-generated online games have been produced on the Roblox platform with over 48 million players visiting Roblox every month to create adventures, play games, roleplay, and learn with friends in a family-friendly environment. Roblox is accessible on all modern smartphones, tablets, desktops, Xbox One, Oculus Rift, and other popular VR platforms.
  • Figures are available in mystery packs, single packs, two-figure game packs, and six-figure Champions of Roblox pack.
  • Age: 6+
  • MSRP: $5.99-$29.99
  • Available: Target, Toys R Us

SOFT’N SLO SQUISHIES (ORB)

  • Soft’n Slo Squishies Sweet Shop features favorite high-end bakery products, including slices of cake, cinnamon buns, ice cream cones, and super squishy s’mores. This is the tactile toy of the year – they are slow rising, ultra soft, and completely collectable!
  • Age: 8+
  • MSRP: $4.99 – $19.99
  • Available: Chapters/Indigo, ToysR Us, Walmart

Gemmies Sparkle Loom (Tech 4 Kids)

  • Everyone wants to have that special “gem” in their wardrobe.
  • The Gemmies Sparkle Loom is a new craft activity that allows the user to construct 3D objects and wearables out of TPR bands and Crystals on a Loom.
  • With an endless amount of possibilities, creating vibrant and unique accessories to wear and creations to showcase has never been so fun.
  • Ages: 6+
  • MSRP: $19.99
  • Available: Target

Operation: Escape (YULU)

  • Escape room growth has been explosive – escape rooms have been popping up at an exponential rate in virtually every state in the country. Operation: Escape from YULU Toys is a new interactive game that taps into the escape room trend by combining skill, strategy and teamwork to search, solve and escape the room before time runs out!
  • The objective: work together and complete three tasks in order to set the captured player free of the master belt before time runs out. First, choose a player to be captured. Place and lock the belt on the player and set the timer on the belt using the rotating dials. The game includes a series of three challenges, a Skill Challenge, Strategy Challenge and Luck Challenge.
  • Remember to work quickly! If all tasks are not solved within the time frame on the belt, the player wearing the belt stays captured and everyone loses.
  • Each Operation: Escape game comes with one master unit belt, three challenges, three keys and a set of cards.
  • Age: 6+
  • CA MSRP: $35.00
  • Available: Toys R Us and Mastermind Toys

 

Magic Hat (Thames & Kosmos)

  • Enter the world of magic and sorcery! With the magic hat and rabbit puppet, as well as more than 40 other magic props, kids as young as six years old can learn and perform 35 magic tricks. The manual teaches most of the tricks in three easy steps accompanied by color illustrations, first clearly explaining which magic props are needed, then how the trick is prepared, and finally how it is performed. With some practice, it becomes easy to stage a magic show filled with fun and successful tricks that will amaze your audience.
  • Pull a rabbit from a seemingly empty hat. Make a ball disappear from a magic cup, reappear again, and change color. Make cards grow and shrink. Make a coin disappear and reappear with a magic coin box. Use X-ray vision to magically see symbols through a solid, opaque surface.
  • Make your magic wand float, bend, and grow. Magically change the color of a ring, duplicate the ring, and make it pass through the wand. Little foam rabbits appear, disappear, multiply, and move around as if by magic.
  • Astound your audience with rope tricks in which knots untie themselves and dice tricks where dice change location and color inside a magic tunnel. Conjure up money as if out of thin air. Make rabbit cards appear and disappear. Learn simple card tricks with special cards.
  • Ages: 6+
  • MSRP: $43.50
  • Available: Amazon

Super Wubble Brite (NSI International)

  • When you kick, bounce or throw a Wubble, it wobbles like a bubble – it doesn’t stay perfectly round. It really looks like a bubble!
  • It doesn’t hurt to get hit with a Wubble. The squooshy material literally molds around you, like it’s giving you a big hug.
  • Super Wubble is designed to be four times stronger and more tear-resistant than the original. For maximum strength and durability, the company recommends not inflating more than 36 inches across (24-30 is best)
  • Age: 6+
  • MSRP: $24.99
  • Available: Target, Toys “R” Us

NEON Flash (Yvolution)

  • This kids scooter gives a quiet ride and with flare. Glide in lights with the cool LED deck and motion-powered wheels.
  • The neon under glow is reflected onto the deck from the dynamic ultra-bright LED wheels which light up as soon as they take off.
  • This strong and durable scooter with a lightweight aluminum frame is perfect for quick and easy transportation.
  • Ages: 5+
  • MSRP: $129.99
  • Available: Toys “R” Us, Target, Amazon

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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