Toy Insider’s Chief Toy Officer Laurie Schacht joined FOX in Chicago to show off the smartest new toys for kids ahead of the new school year. For more on the items featured in this segment, check out the product notes below, and for the complete rundown of the best gifts of the season, be sure to check out The Toy Insider’s Spring and Summer Gift Guide.


TACTILE TURTLES MATH ACTIVITY SET

Inspired by the sea, the Tactile Turtles Math Activity Set helpskids master early math skills! This engaging math activity set provides a sensory experience as kids explore counting, sorting, patterning, and more. Each turtle is made from certified 100% post-consumer recycled plastic. The set also includes 10 double-sided Activity Cards and Activity Guide to introduce…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $24.99
  • Age:
  • 3+

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MATCH AND LEARN COOKIES

Little pastry chefs can pretend to make and bake 26 yummy-looking letter cookies. Press each colorful cookie into the tray to hear letter names, letter sounds, colors and flavors. Now you’re cooking! Take the cookies off the tray and serve the sweet treats to friends and family. Listen closely to hear which cookie to bake…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $24.99
  • Age:
  • 2+

MINI ABC POPS

Toddlers can learn uppercase letter recognition, vocabulary skills, and beginning sounds with these Mini ABC Pops which also help to enhance fine motor skills and color identification. This 52-piece set includes 26 matching, two-piece ice pops in a variety of colors. Each ice pop has an uppercase letter on the outside that kids can pop…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $21.99
  • Age:
  • 3+

MAXX ACTION 3-N-1 MAXX RECYCLER

This 18-inch recycling truck features flashing lights and realistic sounds. Kids can learn to recycle while they pretend to drive the truck, lift the bin, and dump the included pieces into the back.

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $39.99
  • Age:
  • 3+

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The Toy Insider participates in affiliate programs that may generate revenue for the site when a purchase is made through the links below.

LITTLE CHEF COOKING AND STEAM PLAYSET

Kids experience ultimate food-play as magic steam/mist rises while cooking! The little playset packs a lot of imaginative flavors with wooden and felt pieces for kids to cook up a storm like (wooden) slices of yellow pepper, onion, and tomato, as well as (felt) lettuce, prawns, mushrooms and carrots – yum! Simply use the included…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $29.99
  • Age:
  • 3+

CONSERVATION CREW TONIES

Meet the Conservation Crew, the special group of animal helpers tasked to save the Earth! With the help of Mother Nature's mystical powers, these unique friends adventure across the world to save wild places and the animals who live there. Kids can place Bobby the Sea Turtle or Nina the Red Panda on top of…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $19.99 EACH
  • Age:
  • 3+

BY THE BOOK

In this single-player game, kids will draw one of 40 challenge cards indicating which books they must use and how many of those books they must place horizontally. Then they will try to build a balanced bookshelf following that prompt.

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $24.99
  • Age:
  • 8+

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The Toy Insider participates in affiliate programs that may generate revenue for the site when a purchase is made through the links below.

LEGO IDEAS HOCUS POCUS

Capture the bewitching joy of a classic movie with this collectible LEGO Ideas Disney Hocus Pocus: The Sanderson Sisters’ Cottage set. The cottage can be opened in multiple ways for easy viewing of the interior details, including the museum gift shop, cauldron with a LEGO light brick to illuminate the fire underneath, Book of Spells…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $229.99
  • Age:
  • 18+

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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