Category News Feed

Outdoor or indoor, traditional or technological – our wheeled toys category covers them all.

WINNER

Anki Overdrive

By: Anki

Age: 7-14 years old

RRP:£149.99

Anki Overdrive is the next generation of battle-racing with state of the art modular tracks, high-end car designs and new innovation in game play.  Players can build their own battle race courses within seconds and pit their real life robotic super cars against their friends or step up against enemy AI commanders in the game’s campaign mode.

More information at: www.anki.com/en-gb

Available from: Harrods, Argos, Selfridges

What the testers said “This will definitely be taken out time and again, they are so excited playing with it and the fact it has different play modes means they keep going back to it. They love the fact they control the cars through the phone.”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Blue Trike

By: BigJigs Toys

Age: 18 months+

RRP: £44.99

Youngsters will love whizzing along on this brightly coloured, wooden trike.  Sturdy, comfortable and easy to steer, mini movers will get plenty of exercise ad have lots of fun whilst they explore indoors and outdoors on their new favourite ride-on.

More information at: www.bigjigstoys.co.uk

Available from: Amazon, BigJigs Toys

What the testers said “The children loved this toy! They have all really enjoyed playing with it, and arguments ensue every time it is out (which proves how great it is!). Sturdy and built to last!”

Our testers love to test electronic toys and each year they get more involved and do many more things. The children expect a lot when testing for this category so let’s see who impressed them this year….

WINNER

Pebli Town

By: Mookie Toys

Age: 3-6 years

RRP: £60.00

Introducing Pebli Town, the innovative fun and educational toy which uses physical and virtual play. Pebli Town is a connected preschool toy which uses traditional play pieces and a physical play board to interact with a tablet.  Pebli Town comes with four exciting interactive game modes; Story teller, Game player, Story creator and Video room.

More information at: www.toysalive.com/pebli

Available from: Early Learning Centre, Amazon, Selfridges

What the testers said “This toy opens up a whole plethora of interactive gaming fun for children. Phoebe (my daughter) played with it for 2 hours straight when it first arrived. It could also be used as an excellent literacy teaching extension. As an ex-English teacher, I immediately saw how beneficial something like this could be to further expand story telling modules in literacy. Phoebe thoroughly enjoys playing Pebli Town and we can’t wait until the other boards are released! “

HIGHLY COMMENDED

 Digigo

By: VTech Electronics

Age: 3-6 years

RRP: £69.99

DigiGo is the pocket-sized, hand-held smart device that kids have been waiting for! Featuring a 4.3 inch touch screen, 2MP rotatable camera for taking photos and videos, 4Gb of (expandable) memory and built-in rechargeable battery. Wi-Fi capability allows children to stay in touch safely with their smartphone owning friends and family, using the included Kid Connect app. Send texts, photos, voice messages, play games and more.

More information at: www.vtech.co.uk

Available at: Amazon, JD Williams, Debenhams

What the testers said “I am impressed with how durable the Digigo is and it looks like it should be fairly easy to set up properly once the firmware is available on the website to do so. I think it is something my daughter will pick up occasionally but will certainly go back to.”

We begin our awards ceremony with the category for Educational Toys, always a hotly contested category with lots of fabulous entries.  As ever, there can only be one Winner and one Highly Commended, here are the toys the esters voted the best.

WINNER

LeapReader

By: LeapFrog

Age: 4-8 years

RRP: 32.50

LeapReader is a revolutionary new stylus that brings reading, writing and learning to life, combining easy to use technology with the tradition of print based learning. With every touch of the stylus on the pages of the LeapReader compatible book or activity set, words and pictures will spring to life.

More information at: www.leapfrog.com

Available from: Toys R Us, Smyths, The Entertainer

What the testers said “Phoebe has returned to LeapReader several times and has enjoyed exploring the different things it does. I think as long as they keep releasing books for it, it will provide years of enjoyment. “

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Project MC2 Dolls with Experiments

By: MGA Entertainment

Age: 5 years+

RRP: £24.99

Project MC2 offers a ‘geek chic’ lifestyle approach for tween girls through smart and savvy science play.   Aspirational and effortlessly cool, the range focuses on four main characters – each with a different personality, interests and sense of style.

More information at: www.projectmc2.com

Available from: Argos, Very

What the testers said “I think this is something she will play with a lot, and she has played with it and repeated the experiment several times.”

The votes are in, the toys have been thoroughly tested and the awards are ready to be announced…You can follow each announcement this morning on Twitter too @rainbowawards

Or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rainbowawards

Our testers are of course, the children themselves and forms are returned by their adults on their behalf.  For each toy we ensure the adult writes down what the child’s reaction is and what they say.  Some of the great comments of this year include:

“On initial opening and setting up they were very curious about the toy and both played together for about an hour but have continued to return to it day after day. I think it will certainly provide a long term level of enjoyment.”

“From the moment it arrived my son has not left it alone! He’s been determined to master the art of riding it and has spent every possible moment practicing on it. ”

“My son had the toy out on a daily basis. He uses them to spell out the new words he learns at school and loves finding the right letter. My partner is an Explorer Scout leader (young people age 14-18) and they loved the game too.”

“It’s well aimed at children 5+ who love anything toilet related. It’s a hit here!”

The comments are lovely to read and the awards are then chosen by adding up the scores our mini-testers have given.  So without further ado, let’s see who has won in the Rainbow Toy Awards for 2015!

It’s nearly time, the forms are all back from the testers, the toys have been played with, cuddled, made and remade, batteries have been bought, secrets have been whispered, items have been painted, chocolate has set and been eaten…… It’s a tough life being a toy tester!

On Friday 30th October, starting at 10am, all will be revealed.  Toys as tested by the children themselves!

Check the Rainbow Toy Awards 2015 before you make your Christmas shopping list!

The Bubl Bag is a unique innovation in protective packaging. The plastic bag has an inflatable inner core which envelopes the goods to be protected and holds them securely and safely in place. The user simply inflates the bag using the tube supplied and a one-way valve traps the air. To deflate the bag the user simply inserts the tube again to break the seal.

BUBL Bags are designed to replace cardboard boxes, padded envelopes and bubble wrap by providing better protection at a lower cost. The bags are also easy to store as they take up very little space and can be reused a number of times.
Ross Woodburn, director of BUBL Bags, said: “If you need to send anything that is fragile or easily damaged through the post BUBL Bags offer the ultimate solution in protective packaging. The unique inflatable core means that the goods are held firmly in place during transit. It also means that a number of small items can be placed in the small bag and they will not touch each other.”
He added: “The bags will accommodate any shape of object from a shoe to a piece of jewellery as the inflatable core forms around the item. The number of sectors which could use the BUBL Bag are almost limitless from ecommerce and manufacturing to mobile phones and antiques.
BUBL Bags are available to order on-line and come in a variety of sizes from 20cm x 20cm up to 500cm x 600cm. For prices and ordering please visit www.bublbag.co.uk or email enquiries@bublbag.co.uk

Hurry, hurry – the deadline is just one month away to find out the winners of the seventh annual Rainbow Toy Awards for Excellence.

September 30^th 2015 will be the final date for entries to the prestigious awards, which will be hosted, live online on October 30th 2015 at www.rainbowawards.co.uk

Once the awards are announced on the site, the Rainbow Awards top toys list is then featured by all the important trade titles in toys, gifts and preschool.  Plus of course, all the toy testers then feature the award winners on their blogs, gaining hundreds of links to the winning toys and the associated retail sites.

Peter Dawson of The Rainbow Awards, commented “Our ultimate aim of course, is to help companies drive sales.  By using the trade press and our testers, having them post links directly to the page on the retail website where you can buy the toy is extremely valuable for product sales and SEO too.  When the awards are announced winner’s websites can see literally hundreds of inbound links appear, which is a fantastic and valuable upsurge for them.”

There is just one month left to enter the awards so for more information on how to enter into go to www.rainbowawards.co.uk

You can also email info@rainbowawards.co.uk to be sent an entry form in Word if required.  The cost of £125 per award entry has been held the same since the awards began.