Today I’m looking at the top 10 toys for Fall 2020. How official is this top 10 list? Not the least little bit! It’s all just meant to be fun and informative. Come along for the ride if you’d like to see what’s hot right now in the world of Toys and to get a few good ideas of items that are fun (and frequently educational) that you might want to get for your kids.
First up on the list is an item that definitely meets both the fun and educational criteria. It’s the OSMO Genius Starter Kit, and it’s a great way to get your kids learning without them even realizing it.
The way these OSMO kits work is by talking to your existing tablet (you’ll need either an iPad or a Fire tablet of your own) and showing games, stories, and more on the screen depending on how your child interacts with the various gaming pieces.
This particular set comes with 5 special gaming apps. These include a math based learning game called Numbers, a shapes game called Tangram, a spelling game called Words, a science (specifically physics) game called Newton, and a creative art game called Masterpiece.
Children ages 6-10+ use the game pieces and your tablet to play these fun and educational games, giving themselves a helpful boost in their early education.
Number two on the list is another toy by OSMO. It’s the OSMO Coding Starter Kit, and, much like the OSMO Genius Starter Kit, it uses your existing iPad or Fire tablet to create an exciting world of educational adventure for kids.
The main difference with this kit is that it’s designed to teach your 5-10 year old child the core principles of coding—the modern super power, as well as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) skills such as musical creativity.
Games in this bundle include Coding Awbie (a strawberry munching monster that kids program to find and consume as many strawberries as possible), Coding Jam (a musical adventure for creatively gifted kids), and Coding Duo (a way for kids to put their more advanced coding skills into practice).
Although this set is a brand new offering from OSMO this year (and is coming soon to Best Buy), I have no doubt that it will quickly prove itself worthy of its place on this top 10 toys for Fall list.
The first of two LEGO sets I have for you today is the LEGO Super Mario: Adventures with Mario Starter Course. Based on Nintendo’s popular Super Mario gaming series, this 231 piece set allows kids to collect virtual coins as they go on an adventure with a very animated Mario.
In fact, Mario has built-in LCD screens that allow him to show a variety of emotions, and there’s even a speaker so kids can hear Mario themed sound effects.
Suitable for kids ages 6 and up, this fun and interactive set allows kids to enjoy themselves while expressing their own creativity bringing Super Mario to life. It’s LEGO on another level!
Another LEGO item that looks really fun is the LEGO BOOST Star Wars: Droid Commander. This 1177 piece Star Wars themed LEGO set allows you to build and control iconic Star Wars droids.
Not only do kids (or adults) get to build droids like R2-D2, a Gonk Droid, and a Mouse Droid, but they can also control their movements, sounds, and more via Bluetooth technology that controls built-in servo motors via a dedicated smart phone app.
There are 40 fun missions that kids can go on with their droids once they’re built, and it’s all designed to be interactive and educational as well. Kids will learn STEM concepts like coding and problem solving as they play with their favourite Star Wars droids.
The only thing better than a super fun LEGO set is one that’s also educational!
The next item on my top 10 toys for Fall list is Cards Against Humanity: Canadian Edition Card Game. I’ve played this game myself (original edition) and found it absolutely hilarious. It’s basically a card game designed to bring about dark humour. The minimum number of players to play the game is 4, but you can have more.
Basically one player takes their turn drawing and reading a black card that forms the first part of a potentially innocuous statement or sentence. Then each other player consults their existing hand of white cards and submits one of them to finish the sentence.
If I recall correctly (it’s been a while since I played), this part is done anonymously and everyone votes on the best (favourite, funniest, or most horrifying) sentence. The person who created the best sentence wins that hand.
It’s a whole lot of fun, but it is recommended for users ages 17+ due to its black humour.
One of the brand new toys on the top 10 list—and one that’s completely unknown to me, is the Shifu Plugo Count Augmented Reality Arithmetic Kit.
Having read up on it a bit, I see that it’s a kit designed to draw kids into the wonderful world of mathematics via a combination of funky building blocks and a special digital app (the Plugo App) that challenges them with math problems suitable to their age range (anywhere from 4-12) and learning level (which is customizable in the settings to the appropriate curriculum for your child).
I was never much of a math enthusiast myself, but perhaps with a toy like this when I was little, I might have become more interested and engaged in the subject. With five games, 26 pieces, and more than 250 levels to tackle, this set is meant to engage kids in fun ways that will improve their arithmetic and logical reasoning skills, as well as help to enhance their comprehension of the subject. And it looks pretty cool too!
Another offering from the same creative group as the Plugo Count AR Arithmetic Kit is the Shifu Orboot Augmented Reality Globe. This particular toy looks really cool to me as I have always been interested in travel and seeing/learning about the world. I suspect that kids will feel the same way about this globe as it gives them the opportunity to learn all sorts of cool things about the world and its cultures and many wonders.
For example, there are over 400 different educational highlights spanning six educational categories: Maps, Cultures, Cuisines, Inventions, Animals, and Monuments. Kids use the Orboot App on your smart device to scan icons on the globe that then come to life with amazing educational content in augmented reality.
Ideal for kids ages 4-12, the Orboot AR Globe and its app provide hours of hands-on learning fun through a variety of cool games, like a fun scavenger hunt that sends them on an around the world adventure in search of various clues. Challenging and engaging, this cool kit is sure to give your child a wealth of useful knowledge and a great appreciation of the wide world around them.
Another item you might be interested in is the 3Doodler Start Essential Pen Set. This creative toy is great for budding future artists as it teaches them creativity and spatial understanding. What it is is a pen that writes in plastic which hardens almost instantly after being released from the end of the pen.
You load the 3Doodler with one of the included plastic rods (2 mixed-colour packs of plastic rods are included in the set), then the pen heats up, melts the plastic, and lets you release just the amount you wish by pressing a release button and moving the pen about to create your own 3-D art.
I actually tested one of these kits a few years back myself, but unfortunately I didn’t like it very much. I hope and expect that the current version is greatly improved over that early model, and I’m also not much of an artist. Those with patience and an aptitude for art, however, might find themselves really loving it and creating all kinds of cool 3-dimensional art.
Fans of the Fast & Furious movie franchise are sure to love item number 9 on my top 10 toys for Fall list today. It’s the Anki OVERDRIVE Fast & Furious Edition racing car set, and it looks absolutely wild!
I have never tested this particular set myself, but I certainly would like to! It works with your existing iOS or Android based smart device to control Dom’s super fast Ice Charger and Hobbs’ awesome MXT as they race and face all kinds of interesting challenges. For example, there’s a special Power Zone track piece capable of producing a crazy blast to disable your racing opponents.
The magnetically connected track offers 8 different configurations that you put together yourself, and the “self-aware” robotic cars actually learn and develop/unlock new driving skills as you race and play. Suitable for kids ages 8 and up and children at heart in their 40s.
Finally, there’s the Sphero Mini, which is a big personal favourite of mine. Available in a variety of different colours, the Sphero Mini is one of the smallest smart robots around. At just the size of a ping pong ball, this toy packs in a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a rechargeable battery with enough energy for approximately one hour of playing time, and even LED lights that are capable of glowing in millions of different colours.
The Sphero Mini is compatible with both Android and iOS smart devices, and the Sphero Mini App provides cool (as in both fun and educational) games and other activities for users to enjoy. These include video games (the ball serves as your controller) and the ability to control the ball and make it roll anywhere. Amazingly, you can even control this ball with your own facial expressions.
Included with the ball are 3 tiny traffic cones that you can use to set up a mini obstacle course to navigate through. There are also 6 mini bowling pins for playing a super small game of bowling, and the Sphero Mini is compatible with the Sphero Edu App for learning the basics of coding and related STEM principles. As small as this toy is, it certainly packs a mighty big punch when it comes to offering value!
And that’s the top 10 toys for Fall 2020—at least according to me. I hope you saw something here that you liked, but even if you didn’t, there are lots more Toys available over at Best Buy Canada. Check out a few today!
