Now more than ever, toy manufacturers are making and marketing traditionally gender-targeted products for both girls and boys. There have always been toys that are gender neutral, such as characters and games. However, there are also toys that all kinds want to play with, such as action figures for girls and cooking sets. Our Toy Insider Mom Laurie Schacht talks to Business News Network in Cananda about these trends in the toy world. Watch the video above or check out our list below of our favorite toys following this trend:
Series 1 Courage Lunch Box Complete Set (IAmElemental)
- The toy market’s sole producer of collectible action figures designed specifically for girls.
- The company envisions girls as the creators of a play experience in which they are the active agents in a story of their own design, inviting them to develop their character by playing with the “Elements of Power.”
- Series 1 of the 4-inch articulated figures includes Bravery, Energy, Honesty, Industry, Enthusiasm, Persistence, and Fear.
- Offers kids a different choice of play with healthy female action figures that pose, stand, and sit.
- Get the complete Series 1/Elements of Courage in a special carrying case.
- Case includes: All 7 action figures, shields, and interchangeable accessories, an interactive workbook, 7 drawstring carrying bags, a bracelet.
- If you give a girl a different toy, she will tell a different story.
- Ages:
- MSRP: $65.00
Masterchef Junior Cooking Essentials Set (Wicked Cool Toys)
- Recreate all the fun of Masterchef Junior the TV series at home!
- Designed to empower kids of all cooking levels to improve culinary skills while encouraging them to have fun in the kitchen.
- Set comes with an apron, cutting board, mixing bowl, measuring cups, measuring spoons, spatula, spoons, tongs, and recipe cards.
- Other products in the line include a Burger Cooking Set, Pizza Cooking Set, Baking Kitchen Set, and Breakfast Cooking set.
- Ages: 6+
- Available exclusively at Wal-Mart stores in November.
- Qixels is the newest boy activity that inspires them to use their imaginations with cubes that fuse together with a blast of water.
- Kids can create 8-bit worlds of monsters, warriors, ninjas, and more.
- Gets kids away from the screen.
- Ages: 5+
- MSRP: $9.99-$19.99
LEGO Elves The Elves’ Treetop Hideaway (LEGO)
- Enter the magical world of LEGO Elves with Emily Jones. When wandering in her grandmother’s garden, she suddenly finds herself transported through a magic portal to a Treetop Hideaway in a while new universe.
- Explore the surroundings with Emily as she realizes that she’s no longer in the human world and meets Azari Firedancer and Farran Leafshade, the Fire and Earth Elves.
- Make Farran climb down the magic ladder and show her around his extraordinary home. Cook carrot soup over the fire for them to eat while Emily explains that she needs to get back home, and the Elves promise to help her. Send some food up to the treehouse in the magic bucket lift for Farran’s panther cub Enki before they all meet up with the Water and Wind Elves – Emily will need their help too!
- Includes 3 mini-doll figures and accessories.
- Ages: 8-12
- MSRP: $49.99
Caillou School Bus Shape Sorter (Imports Dragon)
- The School Bus Shape Sorter is the perfect family-friendly, fun and educational toy to get preschoolers excited for back to school.
- Kids love playing with with iconic yellow school buses.
- Interactive design lets your child sort shapes into corresponding holes.
- Encourages gross motor development, hand-eye coordination, and shape/color identification.
- Simulates imagination and creativity.
- Comes with 4 unique sorting shapes, one figure, and the bus.
- Ages: 1+
- MSRP: $19.99
Kids First Amusement Park Engineer (Thames & Kosmos)
- Engineering for pre-schoolers.
- A storybook manual guides children on an educational and fun engineering adventure. Read the story of two kids as their build simple models of the amusement park rides they encounter on their family trip to the fair. Along their journey, the kids build, fix, and enjoy various amusement park rides.
- As kids follow the story, they can build and experiment with models of the 20 structures and machines in the story.
- Large, colorful plastic building pieces make it easy for small hands to put the models together. Kids build a Ferris wheel, carousel, pirate ship pendulum, bumper car, free-fall tower, and log flume ride, and experiment with flat tracks, slopes, humps, bends, and even the varying weights of cars of a roller coaster.
- The 101-piece set helps develop fine motor skills, science and math skills, visual-spatial skills, and reasoning and concept development skills.
- Ages: 3+
- MSRP: $64.99
Monopoly Here and Now U.S. Edition Game (Hasbro)
- In partnership with Buzzfeed, Hasbro asked Monopoly fans around the world to vote for their favorite U.S. cities.
- The top 22 U.S. cities have been chosen and are featured as the latest property spaces up for grabs in the 2015 Monopoly Here and Now U.S. Edition Game!
- Choose an iconic landmark token and race around the board, visiting as many cities as possible and collect passport stamps as you go.
- Fund your adventures with cash collected from visitor fees when other players land on your locations. The first player to fill their passport to the top wins.
- Ages: 8+
- MSRP: $19.99
Guy Gear Awesome FX Hair Chalks (Alex Toys)
- Guys can show their true colors!
- Add streaks, color a Mohawk, or match you school colors.
- Washable color is bright and vivid.
- Includes 6 Hair Chalk Pens and a Style Book to teach guys how to create awesome hair styles.
- Ages: 6+
- MSRP: $12.99
