Special Interest Groups’ Category

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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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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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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