I’m packing in appointments for 4 full days of exciting discoveries as we will be covering the New York Toy Fair 2017 at the Jacob Javits Center with over 400,000 square feet of exhibit space looking for the best new toys, games and books to build language skills through fantastically fun play!

I’m already seeing some wonderful games to get the mind (and body) engaged in fun educational play. Here are some games and toys that are on my list to see and play:

Cha-Cha Chihuahua The Game of Dancing Doggies by Gamewright. I am always looking for cute preschool games to get our little ones ready for school, following directions, learning concepts and new vocabulary. Jump, jive, and wag your tail! Draw cards to get these peppy perritos to join your doggy dance-a-thon. Paw away another player’s pups with some fetching food, but watch out for “siesta” cards that will send your dog-tired dancers straight to the Nap Shack! End the party with the most Chihuahuas on your dance floor and you’re the cha-cha-champ!  4 and up.

Yookidoo’s Whale Submarine for 2-6 year olds. We all know that tub time is a great opportunity for learning through fun play as kids squirt, dump, pour, soak, float, tip and fill. Creative play around the theme of the submarine diver and whale, encourages storytelling and water ALWAYS adds to the  fun and language learning. I’ve had many successful speech therapy sessions at a little client’s kitchen sink, playing with bath toys.  Yookidoo is known for its super fun tub toys that encourage exploration and pretend play. The submarine can stick to the tub bottom, drawing water through the diver shower head for aiming streaming water at the whale, or a friend in the tub! Be innovative and give a tub toy for a baby gift. They’ll grow into it and older siblings will love you for it.

Think n’ Sync The Great Minds Think Alike Game by Gamewright for the 12 and up crowd. 3… 2… 1… Sync! Meld your minds in this hilarious party game of quick connections. Pick a partner and then, at the same time, shout out an answer to the chosen category. Can you both name a movie princess? An ice cream flavor? How about something orange? Your answers may be great, but they only score if they’re identical! So think quickly, think cleverly, but most importantly- Think n’ Sync! This game gets kids thinking in categories AND trying to match the minds of their partners.

Looking forward to meeting some new Little Friends at HABA USA and their pets and accessories. HABA’s soft light-weight dolls are precious cargo for little ones as they tote them around as  pretend play companions. They know how to cook, sleep, read, play and eat which are all scenarios for building language learning!

Rory’s Story Cubes Fantasia for 8 and up. I’ve awarded many sets of Rory’s Story Cubes over the years and played with them with countless kids in speech therapy to elicit creative stories based on themed images on dice from Batman to Scooby-Doo. Conjure up fantastic fairytales with these new Rory’s Story Cubes. Contained within this set are nine iconic cubes that will help you tell tales of magical feats, mythical beasts and medieval feasts. With 54 images and millions of combinations, your stories will be infinitely enchanted!