Author: bdazzle

Candies come in numerous colors and varieties and have a long history.  The word candy began to be used in the late 13th Century, coming into English from the French “çucre candi.”  Candy is made by dissolving sugar in water or milk to form a syrup, which is then boiled until it reaches the desired concentration or starts to caramelize. The resulting type of candy depends on the ingredients and how long the mixture is boiled.  As the syrup is heated and boils, the water evaporates, the sugar concentration increases and the boiling point temperature rises.  A given temperature corresponds to a particular sugar concentration.  In general, higher temperatures and greater sugar concentrations result in hard, brittle candies, and lower temperatures result in softer candies.   The candy business underwent drastic changes in the 1830s when technological advances and the greatly increased supply of sugar reduced its cost and opened up the market.  Confectioners no longer supplied candy only to the wealthy, but to children, as well.  The village candy store became a favorite of children of the American working class.  Penny candies epitomized this transformation of candy, and candy became the first product on which children spent their own money.  For this reason, candy store owners often relied almost entirely on the business of children to stay in business.  Today the global sales of candy are about $60 billion.  Award winning Scramble Squares® 9-piece brain teaser puzzles are Easy To Play, But Hard To Solve!® for children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens of all ages.  Made in America Scramble Squares® puzzles teach patience, perseverance, fine motor skills and critical thinking skills and help maintain mental sharpness, while providing stimulating entertainment as either a solitaire game or a cooperative activity.  Each puzzle package includes a panel of fascinating facts on the subject of the puzzle, as well as a trivia question and hidden answer to the trivia question, all packaged in a unique and handy resealable clear vinyl pouch, which can be stored easily in a standard 3-ring binder.  Over 163 Scramble Squares® styles are available on nature, sports, history, culture, occupations, fantasy, science, technology, hobbies and activities.  Displays come complete with the amazing 5-Minute Challenge® in store free puzzle giveaway promotion, which enable sales to be sweet!

TWO SCRAMBLE SQUARES® PUZZLES HONORED AS DR. TOY’S BEST VACATION CHILDREN’S PRODUCTS AWARD WINNERS 2012

Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products Awards were developed by noted child development authority, Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D. (a.k.a. Dr. Toy), as a valued service to consumers who desire to purchase safe, affordable, educationally-oriented, and stimulating toys and play products for children for vacation time at home or on the road. In bestowing Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products Awards for 2012, Dr. Toy said, “Children learn best through play, and these Best Vacation Products encourage children to maximize their potential and make the most of Smart Play.  By making a renewed focus on summertime as a special time for choosing new products for children, parents improve their children’s development.  The winning vacation products are affordable, well designed, and reflect the wide-range of children’s interests,” Dr. Toy explained.  “These award winning Vacation Products were carefully chosen, using extensive criteria developed over many years, including safety, age-appropriateness, design, durability, lasting play value, cultural and ethnic diversity, good transition from home to school, educational value, learning skills, creativity, improvement in the understanding of the community and the world, good value for price, and, naturally, fun.”

REDONDO BEACH, CA… June 19, 2012… b. dazzle, inc. of Redondo Beach, California, has announced that two (2) of its Scramble Squares® 9-piece educational brain teaser puzzles for all ages have been honored by The Institute for Childhood Resources in San Francisco as “Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products for 2012.”  The two honored Scramble Squares® puzzles are “Ice Cream, You Scream” and “Sea Shells.”

Dr. Toy believes “parents need more help to get a head start locating new, diversified products that children will enjoy as they increase learning skills and expand creativity.” The products range from low to high tech for “hours of constructive, educational, and stimulating fun.”  Complete information about these and other products are included in the report, “Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Products for Summer 2012,” now available to parents, teachers and others interested in play and toys on Dr. Toy’s Guide at www.drtoy.com.

Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D., known as Dr. Toy, has been tracking trends in the toy business for more than 40 years.  She is the author of Dr. Toy’s Smart Play/Smart Toys, which provides tools to enhance the child’s “PQ” (Play Quotient) from baby to age 12 and has published in the USA and in many other countries 15 books, and hundreds of articles on toys and play.  She is the only Ph.D. in Child Development evaluating the best developmentally appropriate toys and children’s products, which she describes on her innovative on-line magazine Dr.Toy’s Guide, found at www.drtoy.com, which has links to many related useful sites and resources for parents, teachers, children, and toy enthusiasts.”  The site was the first on-line resource to evaluate toys and children’s products.  Dr. Toy reports that in the years that Dr. Toy’s Guide has been available, “thousands of visitors from around the world have accessed information daily.

Dr. Auerbach is Director of the Institute for Childhood Resources, founded in San Francisco in 1975, and is the only Ph.D. with extensive training, background and experience evaluating, writing and speaking about toys and children’s products.

Dr. Auerbach is trained in education, child psychology, child development and special education.  She is an educator, consultant, parent and grandparent.

The object of the Scramble Squares® puzzle game is to arrange the nine colorfully illustrated 4” x 4” square pieces into a 12” square so that the realistic graphics on the pieces’ edges match perfectly to form completed pictures in every direction.  They make inexpensive, but highly valued gifts for all ages.”  Adults and seniors love made in America Scramble Squares® puzzles as much as do children, teenagers and college students.  Although each Scramble Squares® puzzle has only nine 4″ x 4″ square pieces, award winning Scramble Squares® puzzles are Perhaps the World’s Most Challenging Puzzle®!  At under $10.00 each suggested retail, Scramble Squares® puzzles make inexpensive, but highly valued gifts for both men and women alike.  Over 135 styles of exquisite original art are available on nature, sports, history, culture, geography, science, technology, gourmet, occupations, fantasy, hobbies and activities, and more new styles are added throughout each year.  Scramble Squares® puzzles teach critical thinking skills, fine motor skills, patience, perseverance, and they help maintain mental agility in older persons, while providing stimulating entertainment as either a solitaire game or as a cooperative activity.  Each puzzle package includes a panel of fascinating facts on the subject of the puzzle, as well as a trivia question and hidden answer, all packaged in a unique and handy resealable heavy duty 101/2” long x 53/4” wide  x 3/8” deep vinyl travel pouch which can be collected and stored easily in a standard 3-ring binder. 

Founded by Kathleen Gavin in 1993, b. dazzle, inc. manufactures award-winning, made-in-America gifts, puzzles, games and activities at under $10 retail for the gift, educational, museum, souvenir and health care industries that are entertaining, informative and mind-stimulating for children, teens, adults and senior citizens, alike.

In 1994 b. dazzle, inc. introduced its high quality made-in-America, ecologically conscious consumer product, Scramble Squares® educational puzzles, featuring many vacation and souvenir topics, such as Dolphins, Whales, Alaska’s Denali National Park, the Rocky Mountain National Park in the United States, Serengeti National Wildlife Refuge in Africa (with the rhinoceros and African Elephant, Tropical Fish, Seahorses, American Native Flowers (created with the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Texas), Boating, Kites and “Temple in Paradise” (a Hindu Monastery on Kauai, the northernmost island of the Hawaiian Islands) in addition to the honored “Ice Cream, You Scream” and “Sea Shells” Scramble Squares® puzzles.

In accepting the Awards, b. dazzle, inc. President & CEO Kathleen (“Kathie”) Gavin said, b. dazzle, inc. was founded to create, produce and distribute fun gifts, educational activities and toys for all ages.  This Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Product Award for 2012 is especially gratifying because it appropriately links family vacations with our mission of providing  wholesome and educational family.  As such, we are especially grateful to have been recognized by this Award for succeeding in our mission.