Archive for August, 2010

The Ten Best Toys to Give to Charity

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
When donating gifts and large quantities of children’s toys to charity, do you find that you get stuck finding wholesale child toys in bulk that would satisfy kids of all ages and both genders? It sounds daunting, but it is possible to experience the joy of giving to children’s charities without the hassle.

When you purchase in bulk from a child toy wholesale distributer, there are countless different gifts and toys to choose from. Buying from a wholesaler enables your organization to give the largest amount of toys to those in need while keeping your costs minimal. However, if your charity, church or hospital needs some guidance, we believe these are the ten best toys to give to children for charity.

Animal Toys
Young or old, everyone loves animals. Children in need can enjoy plush animal toys and small animal figurines such as reptiles, dinosaurs and farm animals.

Balls and Bounce Balls
Those less fortunate often don’t have this timeless way to have fun for hours. Balls and bounce balls enable kids to play catch, baseball and other sports.

Games and Puzzles
Children universally enjoy jigsaw puzzles, mazes and card games. When bought in bulk and donated to charity, these educational children’s toys offer hours of fun that stimulate creativity and imagination.

Music Toys
Every child needs music in their life, not just those that have the financial capabilities to do so. Wholesale flutes, harmonicas and toy instruments are a low-cost way to bring this important educational tool to charities.

Putty and Slime
It may be gooey and icky to adults, but children love to play with slime and putty. Bring some fun into their lives with different colors and styles.

Stickers
There are thousands of different ways children can use stickers. They can personalize their belongings and trade them with each other. You can even give stickers to help children decorate their other toys to make them personal and unique, enabling them to feel special.

Stationary and Journals
Children’s toys don’t always have to be interactive. How many of you remember having a diary as a child? Recording memories and observations is important at any age so journals make a wonderful children’s gift to donate.

Classic Toys
Classic toys are universally loved by everyone and will never go out of style. This makes them great to buy in bulk and give to large charitable organizations and children’s charities. These include yo-yos, building blocks and board games.

Bracelets
Bracelets can be purchased wholesale in styles that suit both young boys and girls. For example, animal rubber bands bracelets are very popular amongst all children. This donation is a sentimental treat and each child you gift this to will remember fondly your organization every time he or she wears it.

Glow and Grow Toys
Watch kids eyes light up as they play with toys that glow or toys that grow when dropped in water. These interactive treats will amuse and delight again and again.

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Make learning about history fun in your museum

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
A museum is constantly visited by kids, large groups of children from schools, and field trips from summer camps. If you manage a museum or run museum tours have you ever found it difficult to keep the attention of your younger visitors? We can imagine it is difficult!

A great way to capture and keep the attention of young learners is to offer children’s learning tools and wholesale educational toys to compliment their day at the museum. When you buy children’s toys and educational tools from a wholesale distributer, you can find items that add value to your museum while still keeping things low cost. Your wholesale toy company for children will sell quality items at an excellent value when purchased in bulk. This ensures you always have an ample supply on hand at your museum for every child to enjoy.

Here are some ideas for different subjects your museum may cover.

History Museum
Bring history to life with educational toys for children such as western toys to make learning American history interactive and pirate toys to make discovering new land come alive. Military toys and Army men such as muskets and model aircraft carriers are great children’s toys to buy in bulk from your toy wholesale distributer. This makes educating children about tough subjects like military history and war and fun and safe environment.
Science Museum
There are many ways to make science fun! You can recreate the look and feel of other planets with stickers and slime for the children to keep.  You can have children make dioramas of other environments with animal figures and reptile toys. And, what better way to illustrate transformation than Growing butterfly toys that are low cost in bulk and can be reused? Science sounds fun!

Dinosaur Museum
Children love looking at and learning about dinosaurs. Fossils and reenactments make capturing young minds easy but giving children treats such as dinosaur figures and dinosaur dolls that make sounds will make coming to the museum an extra special treat.  Growing dinosaurs and special hatching dinosaur eggs turn bring your museum to life as the children interact with your educational toys.

Art Museum
One of the best ways to teach children about some of the greatest artists in history is to let them create it for themselves.  Remember, showing a young mid art is an amazing learning tool but teaching them how to create art will enable them to learn for a lifetime. While kids see art, offer paints, crayons and coloring books to spark their creative minds and show them they can be artists as well.  Crayons and stationary are easy toys to buy in bulk and keep on hand at your museum.

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Making the most of your carnival with toys and treats!

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Putting together a carnival for children or church carnival is a fantastic and fun way to bring a community together. Not only is your church fostering physical activity and play, but also you are doing it in a way that shows carnivals can be healthy and safe. Because organizations that foster togetherness and community through special events and non profit projects are so important, check with your children’s toy wholesale distributor for nonprofit discounts and incentives.
When putting together your carnival for the community, do you find the most stressful part to organize is not necessarily the rides and games, but the carnival prizes and toys for children? Luckily, we can help. We’ve handpicked the best children’s carnival toys for your church or organization. These toys are simple and loved by everyone (young and old alike). They are also low cost at a great value when purchased in bulk from your children’s toy wholesale distributor.
Plush animal toys
Have you ever been to a carnival or children’s event where plush animal toys were not prizes? We didn’t think so. Every child wants the special treat of bringing home a plush animal toy for children from a carnival. Plush farm animals and
Theme Toys
Consider providing child toys for your carnival that are themed to match each ride and attraction. For example, you can give out pirate toys for children at every pirate attraction. If your carnival includes a dinosaur attraction or ride offer dinosaur figurines as the prize and turn a fun game into an equally educational learning tool.
Small tokens and stickers
Small tokens such as animal rubber bands, bounce balls, card games and stickers are easy to buy in bulk, low cost and can be given to children as treats for winning carnival games, or as part of a Goody Bag for participating in the festivities. These tokens are extremely low cost when purchased in bulk from your toy wholesale company and will be appreciated by every child in your community.
Glow Toys
What is a carnival without a lot of glitter, lights and glowing treats?! Glowing toys, toys that light up and children’s toys that are covered in glitter are the perfect accessories to your church carnival.  Glow sticks are always a popular choice as are glow in the dark dinosaurs that can also compliment your carnival theme.
Novelty Toys
Carnivals are all about letting kids express themselves and be silly. The children’s toys and fun carnival toys you give to the kids should let them have fun and be silly. Novelty toys let them do that! Silly putty, slime and water guns provide amusement for hours. Joke and gag gifts like disappearing ink and rattlesnake noisemakers.

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Role Playing Games – A Timeless Treat For Children

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Role playing games are timeless, safe and cross all generation gaps. They provide a fun environment for children to play with other children and parents to play with their kids. Children can act out their favorite stories, learn about history and use their imaginations with role-playing games and child toys. For these types of games, the larger the group the better! However, they can be played with as little as two people! As a parent, teacher or caregiver, all you need to do is provide enough child toys in bulk and novelty toys for children and leave the rest to their imaginations. The environment should be safe for play, but the rules should be minimal. Here are some gift ideas and educational tools to get you started.

Cops and Robbers
The classic good versus bad role-play is evident in the popularity of cops and robbers. You can find wholesale toys such as handcuffs, authority badges and toy guns for the “bad guy”.

The Wild West
Children love the outlaw! Whether they want to play the cowboy, the Indian, or the maiden, choose costumes such as ropes, horse figurines and Western clothing. For both the little cowgirl and young cowboy, good wholesalers also carry Wild West Kits in a variety of colors. If you want one toy to purchase in bulk, your wholesale toy distributer can provide deluxe Cowboy and Indian sets that carry everything needed in one package. These also make great children’s gifts!

Princesses
Getting to play a princess is every young girl’s dream. You can find magic wands for the Fairy Godmother, Tiaras for as many princesses as there are children, glitter, play makeup and jewelry for dress up, and other princess themed novelty toys in bulk. If this game is for a young girls party, stock up on lip gloss, princess jewelry and small princess accessory gifts to make every “princess” feel special.

Military and Army
Honor and duty are great lessons for every young child to learn in a safe environment. Army men figurines, toy aircraft carriers and battleships, and an Airforce flag are all the childrens toys you need to enable a creative game of war and victory.

Pirates
Magic ships, buried treasure and sailing the high seas! Who wouldn’t want to play this game! Low cost toys such as eye patches, hooks, and buried treasure spark the imagination and bring the magical world of pirates into reality. Pirate muskets and toy swords provide a safe battleground for the little captain to win.

Cooks and kitchens
Even though a child may be too young to cook in a real kitchen, interacting with kitchen toys is a great way to start learning. From plastic kitchen utensils, tea sets and plastic gifts that cover all food groups, wholesale gifts in bulk can provide enough tools for a small dinner gathering or even an entire play restaurant.

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Planning Gifts and Goodies for Children’s Parties

Monday, August 23rd, 2010
For party planners and even parents who have decided to take on the task, planning a party for children can be daunting.  What treats and bulk toys should you buy? How much should you get? Are they safe? Toys for childrens parties and large gatherings should be planned for and ordered well ahead of time. This guide will help you plan a successful party for children using themed toys, low cost toys and wholesale novelty toys for children.
Party Themes
Before you buy anything, you must decide on a theme. Are you planning a birthday party for a little girl? A princess theme is always a hit. Animal themes are good for both boys and girls’ parties as well. Role-playing themes are also great for both genders and can compliment the favorite characters of the children. If the guest of honor loves pirates, you can create a party using pirate toys for children, such as eye patches, pirate hats, and other pirate novelty toys.  A party theme will help narrow down the types of child toys to buy in bulk for games, treats and goody bags.

Party Games
Before you decide what games to include in your party, it is best to know whether the majority of the party will be indoors or outdoors.  If your party is outdoors, choose a variety of games for physical play such as bouncy balls, sporting bats, table tennis, jumping ropes and hacky sacs. For indoor parties it is best to keep childrens toys handy that are interactive but do not involve a lot of physical activity.  These can include puzzles, card games, music toys for children and light up toys.

Goody Bags
For a child, one of the best aspects of a party is getting to take home a bag of treats. These treats are small, full of simple toys and treats, and are low cost toys when bought in bulk. This is where knowing your theme will also come in handy. For example, lets say you are making goody bags for a Princess themed party. You can fill goody bags with toy tiaras, toy jewelry and magic wands. For a Tea party, you can find excellent role-play gifs for goody bags such as tea party sets and cookies. Animal figurines make excellent party favors, as do Wild West sets for your cowboy themed party and gag gifts for the little jokester.

Remember when planning a child’s party and deciding what toys and novelty childrens gifts to buy in bulk, start with a theme in mind and build from there. It is best to know the interests and favorite toys of the children as well.  The games you choose, the decorations to purchase, and the goody bags you fill with novelty children’s gifts should all be central to your party theme.  If you have your theme, the rest should be a piece of cake!

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Pediatric Waiting Rooms – Creating a Trusting Rapport With Younger Patients

Monday, August 23rd, 2010
For a child, a visit to the pediatrician or dentist can be a nerve-racking experience. Parents often find themselves with restless, rambunctious or upset kids while they wait to see the doctor. Creating and fostering a trusting and welcome environment in the waiting room of a doctors office is the first step in creating a trust and rapport with young patients.

Waiting room toys, doctors office toys, and reception area toys are designed to keep little ones entertained, comfortable and cheerful. This ensures a happy environment for patients and parents constituting happy costumers that yield a flourishing business and solid reputation.

When selecting waiting room toys and toys for patients, it is important to keep safety in mind. Your wholesale toy distributer should provide adequate safety information and be able to provide the source of each toy. A good wholesale company will hand select the children’s toys and provide proper age ranges to assist in the appropriate selection for the reception area.  It is also best to buy bulk children’s toys to confidently have a good supply on hand for treats the little patients can take home.

Providing a fun and safe environment in your waiting room and giving little patients treats to take home reflects more than just a good bed-side manner. It shows children and especially parents that you care about them and their wellbeing, which in turn creates trust between patient and doctor that is necessary in pediatric health and dental care.

The question is, what toys for toddlers and toys for children should be kept in the waiting room? The following is a good place to start:

Games and Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles and games like dominos are great waiting room toys because they provide interaction and keep those little patients busy.

Coloring books and crayons
Coloring books, markers and crayons are easy toys to buy in bulk from your wholesale toy distributer and provide a fun creative outlet for your patients.

Animal toys
Farm toys and animal toys are always fun for children to play make believe with and enable them to use their imaginations while they wait for their appointments.

Small toys and treats
Small toys, such as stickers, pony figurines, magic wands, princess toys for girls, action figures, and putty are an excellent value when bought in bulk. These low cost toys can be given to younger patients upon completion of their visit. This small gesture is a great incentive for children and solidifies the trust and compassion they will feel from their pediatrician.

The goal of a pediatrician or pediatric dentist is always the health of the patient. However, a child’s health and well-being is easier to attain in a trusting and compassionate environment where both child and parent feel comfortable with their environment and trusting in their doctor. With the use of child toys and toys for toddlers as well as treats the little ones can take home, the relationship between doctors and little patients will be one of trust and care.

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The Top Five Toys for the Classroom

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

If you are a teacher, you know that the more interactive and social you can be with students the better they learn and use their imaginations. Simple and effective toys and tools are a fun and easy way to incorporate interactivity within your classroom.  With even the smallest budget, you can buy wholesale learning gifts, cheap educational toys and bulk childrens toys to use with your lesson plans and play time during school.  When buying childrens toys and educational toys for the classroom there are a few things every teacher should keep in mind. First, it is important to buy in large quantities to insure every student gets equal use of these stimulating learning tools. Also, when you are making lesson plans and purchasing wholesale toys for the school year, buy a wide variety of toys to cover different subjects such as music, history and science as well as gifts and incentives for good grades and behavior. The following are the top five educational child toys to turn any classroom into a winner.

Games and Puzzles
Puzzles and games for teachers are a great learning tool to use in any classroom. They are also good to give children for use during recess and breaks.  You can stock the classroom with bounce balls and other outdoor children’s toys for breaks or use puzzles and board games for kids during quieter hours. Games and puzzle toys provide the fun students need but continue to stimulate their creative minds.

Role-playing toys
Whether it is cops and robbers or the Wild West, toys that enable role-playing will continually spark the imaginations and creativity of students. Role-playing offers a safe environment for kids to act out stories and even learn about history.  Instead of just reading out of a history book, use costumes and tools, such as Western themes to enable the students to act out American history.

Stickers
Whether it is the gold star on a math test or a Smiley Face sticker for a notebook, stickers are a great tool for incentives and jobs-well-done.  For children, stickers are a great mark of achievement so it is best to buy a variety of stickers in bulk. Keep different sticker designs and sizes on hand for papers, to mark calendars and decorate nametags.

Reptiles, Dinosaurs and Sea life
Animal toys are consistently best sellers and can compliment your lesson plans extremely well.  When teaching about dinosaurs, you can use a variety of dinosaur figurines to have students create dioramas. Instead of showing pictures of ant farms and tide pools, use these simple tools, such as sticky frogs and plastic ants in bulk quantities and let students build a classroom version of the environments.

Music Toys
Musical toys are a fantastic way to incorporate music into your learning program without spending a lot of instruments.  You can buy wholesale toys in bulk, such as plastic flutes and quality harmonicas that your entire classroom can use for play or music composition education.

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How to predict what toys will become popular

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

It happens all the time.

From Tickle Me Elmo to Animal Rubber Bands, one toy blows up in popularity and eclipses the entire market place. These trends are often unexpected but with a lot of research and using the following tips to spot toy trends that help your research instincts, you can better spot which children’s will become popular to assist the ever changing toy retail business.

Research before you buy

You know what they say, don’t expect to ace the test if you don’t do your homework. Pay attention to the economy, as during economic downturns budget friendly toys and cheap toys online will trend higher than their more expensive counterparts. Read articles from experts in the industry. Ask your wholesale toy company. Find out what competitors are purchasing from their wholesalers and what your wholesaler is stocking up on.

Note trends in other industries

What is popular in every industry will be popular in the child’s toy industry. For example, everywhere you look, from commercials to magazines, companies are advertising natural and organic clothing, food and household items. It is no shock to see that natural is a very big trend because it has crossed into almost every industry. As expected, natural toys have become a very popular wholesale toy item.

Check what is popular in other countries

Pokemon was a big hit in other countries well before it became the new “It” item in America. To better understand toy trends, keep an eye out for what is becoming trendy in countries such as China, where a large amount of toys originate. In fact, the right wholesaler will visit these countries often enough to gain knowledge and perspective in the marketplace.

Follow the seasons

Water guns, toys for the outdoors and inflatable pool toys will always be popular during the summer and similarly, back-to-school learning toys will gain momentum in the fall. Party toys will have a large demand around holiday season and glow toys and toys that light up will trend during Halloween. Your online wholesale distributer will stock items based on seasons as well so check often to see what new season child toys are in stock.

Know the entertainment industry

Pay very close attention to new movies that are coming into theatres with the promise of being a “blockbuster”. For example, if the big movie of the summer is going to be a movie about Pirates, it is safe to assume the pirate theme and pirate toys will increase in popularity. If dinosaurs were the hot ticket of the year, the trend will naturally trickle down to dinosaur toys in the marketplace for bulk toys.
Trying to predict what toys will become popular can seem like a giant puzzle with no solution. However, if you take the time to research the industry and continuously follow up with your wholesale toy distributer you will better know new toy trends and popular toys to carry in your online retail business, classroom and office.

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Going back to the basics – Why simple toys are a better investment.

Monday, August 23rd, 2010
From iPads to smart phones, talking robots to the latest gadgets. It would seem like the best toys to carry in your online toy store, classroom, church or offices are those that offer the latest in technological and scientific advancements. Toys can now walk, talk, light up and surf the Web like never before. However as with many things in life and business, going back to the basics may be better for you and better for children.  Studies have shown that simple toys, and retro child toys are better for children. These include rubber balls, simple building blocks, cheap plush toys and animal toys.

In an article by Science Daily, Temple University psychologist, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, noted this conclusion was based on the principle that children are creative problem solvers and like to discover new ways of doing things. Simple novelty toys, such as yo-yos and harmonicas provide this chance at discovery, while more technological toys and complex toys for children provide no opportunity for this priceless phase of childhood learning.  In short, the more advanced toys do everything for the child and therefore provide no chance to learn or imagine new ideas for amusement and creativity.

Though psychology of childhood learning plays an important role in determining a good toy versus a bad toy, it should also be noted that the phenomenon and universal love of classic toys, retro toys and simplistic novelty toys are due to the very definition that these toys transcend trends and withstand the test of time, giving testament to their purpose and power. The ancient Greeks had yo-yos, the Babylonians played board games, and kites were flown over 3,000 years ago. These low cost toys have had no need to evolve past their basic structure and function because of the need they fulfill at a basic level. This need is fulfilled regardless of age and background making these small toys a better investment for everyone.

Children’s toys, first and foremost, should be platforms for a child to play, not the primary centerpiece. They should be props and supporting actors used as a catalyst for a child’s imagination and creativity. Advanced toys are fun to look at and watch, but they hinder this imagination because a child will have no need for it.  A good toy will spark imagination, enable brain growth, have countless ways for use, and encourage social interaction.

When making the decision about what children’s toys to buy from your wholesale toy distributer, consider what type of provider of children’s toys you would like to be or become.  Do you want to carry the latest in technology or use your toy store, church and classroom as a place to foster learning and growth? While it is always important to keep up-to-date on the latest and greatest trends, your business will thrive on the backs of these classic toys that will never go out of style.

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Tips for building a successful online toy store

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

1. Your website is everything
If you don’t have the tools or skills necessary to build your Website, there are thousands of resources available for your online store to sell toys.  The investment you give to building your online retail Web site for the best toys will make or break your business. You can research design firms and Web site hosting services for a variety of packages and pricing options. However, you must make sure to design the shopping experience for optimal ease of use for your customer.

2. Build your audience
Without traffic to your Web site, your business will fail.  It is best to look at traffic and audience from a numbers game. The more people you have looking, the more prospective customers for novelty toys you will yield. Out of those prospective customers, your marketing and quality toy products will convert a percentage into a paying customer. There are thousands of free tools you can use to increase your Web traffic but here are some important ones to get you started

• Submit your site to all major search engines.
• Make important words on your Web site both internal and external links as well as Backlinks.
- Internal links are those that link to another page on your Web site.
- External links are links that send customers to another Web site.
- Backlinks are links that are strategically placed on other niche sites to attract visitors to your Web site.
• Install sharing tools to provide easy sharing of products with your visitors such as the “Add This” free tool.
• Take time every day to add your Web site and its various product pages to bookmarking Web sites and online directories.

3. Customer Service is key
Satisfying a customer is the key to getting repeat business.  It should be common sense that a happy costumer will use your online retail business again. Always be available to answer questions, fulfill your orders on time and efficiently, and provide an easy ordering experience for your products. If you subscribe to the adage, a customer is always right, and are willing to go above and beyond to satisfy them, your business will thrive.

4. Be an expert on toys and your wholesale toy company
Ideally, you should know every detail of the products you sell. When selecting from your trusted wholesale company, gather information for each selection. Know the size, weight, materials and origin. You should also educate yourself on the answers of any possible questions that may come up from your customers. For example, a customer may want to know exactly where the product originates from and how it was made. The right toy wholesale company selects wholesale toys with quality and safety in mind and will also be able to answer questions you may have.

5. Marketing
Internet marketing does not have to be expensive. There are free resources you can use to market your online toy store and services. Social Media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs can assist your marketing efforts and even help with customer service. If you have a budget to spend on marketing, purchase a small amount of keywords for pay-per-click campaigns and advertising on other Web sites. Furthermore, you should use marketing tools to assist with your acquisition of repeat customers.  Ask for your customers’ email to sign up for communications and build your database to send out newsletters and promotional offers for cheap toys online.

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