“TEACHERS” SQUARES® 9-PIECE PUZZLE RECEIVES DR. TOY’S “10 BEST EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS AWARD” FOR 2007 FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR CHILDHOOD RESOURCES
REDONDO BEACH, CA…October 16, 2007… b. dazzle, inc. of Redondo Beach, California,has announced that its Teachers Scramble Squares® 9-piece brain teaser puzzle has been honored by The Institute for Childhood Resources in San Francisco as a “Dr. Toy’s 10 Best Educational Products 2007 Award” winner and also as a winner of “Dr. Toy’s “100 Best Children’s Products 2007.”
The 16th Annual report of “Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products” awards announced today is now available to parents, teachers and others in the online magazine, Dr. Toy’s Guide, at http://www.drtoy.com. The free report is also available by requesting a copy by sending a SASE #10 envelope to Dr. Toy.
“Dr. Toy’s100 Best Children’s Products” Award Program 2007” was developed by noted child development authority Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D. (a.k.a. Dr. Toy), as a service to consumers who desire to purchase safe, affordable, educationally oriented and stimulating toys and other products for children.
“As a childhood specialist for over 35 years,” says Dr. Toy, Director of the Institute for Childhood Resources, founded in San Francisco in 1975, “I have
seen the continuous, essential need for more year-round resources for consumers to identify and choose the most appropriate, safe and engaging learning and developmental products for all children.”
Dr. Toy reports that in the years the innovative on-line magazine, Dr. Toy’s Guide, has been available, “thousands of visitors daily from around the world have accessed its information.” This web site was the first on-line to evaluate toys and children’s products. The report, “Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products for 2007,” is being released according to Dr. Toy to “encourage parents and teachers to focus on the value of play as essential to the learning process”
Exquisite, award winning Scramble Squares® brain teaser puzzles for ages 4 to 104 are at least as popular with adults, seniors, teenagers and college students as they are with children. Although each Scramble Squares® puzzle has only nine 4” x 4” pieces, Scramble Squares® puzzles are Perhaps the World’s Most Challenging Puzzle®! At under $10.00 retail, Scramble Squares® puzzles make inexpensive, but highly entertaining and valued gifts for both men and women alike… for Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, Halloween, birthdays, get well, graduation, travel and holidays. Scramble Squares® puzzles are Easy To Play, But Hard To Solve!® Over 120 exquisite styles of colorful original art are available on nature, sports, history, culture, geography, science, technology, occupations, fantasy, hobbies and activities, and more new styles are added every six months. Store displays come complete with the unique Scramble Squares® “5–MINUTE CHALLENGE®” in-store free puzzle giveaway promotion for consumers who solve a Scramble Squares® demonstration puzzle within five minutes!
Current Scramble Squares® puzzle topic categories include nature, sports, history, culture, geography, science, technology, occupations, fantasy, gourmet, hobbies and activities. New styles are added approximately every six months. The suggested retail price for a Scramble Squares® puzzle is $8.95 each.
Each Scramble Squares® 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 heavy duty 101/2″ long x 53/4″ wide x 3/8″ deep resealable vinyl travel pouch, which may be collected and stored easily in a standard 3-ring binder. The vinyl pouch is crystal clear, enabling the consumer to see the extraordinary beauty of the puzzles’ realistic original art, while achieving a very high amount of retail value per square foot of store space for the merchant.
Scramble Squares® teaches: o Critical Thinking/Problem Solving Skills
o Fine Motor Skills
o Patience
o Perseverance
o Statistical Probabilities
o Cooperative and Solitary Productivity
Scramble Squares® also helps maintain mental agility, sharpness and memory in seniors and adults, while providing hours of quiet and stimulating entertainment.
Dr. Auerbach believes “parents and grandparents need help to get a head start locating new diversified products that children will enjoy using while they increase learning skills, enhance instruction and expand creativity.” The honored products are from among large and small companies and range from low to high tech for “hours of constructive, educational and stimulating fun.” “Children learn best through play,” says Dr. Auerbach,” and these smart toys and products encourage children to maximize their potentials.
“Back-to-school is a good time to ‘take stock’ and do an inventory of what children are playing with, what is not used and what they need next in their
development,” adds Dr. Toy. “Our Guide offers excellent ideas for choosing new products for after school play and for the holidays ahead.”
“Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Products” were carefully chosen from among thousands that she reviewed at toy fairs, catalogs and through many other sources, and by using extensive criteria that she has developed over many years. Among the criteria are: 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.
“We are very honored and humbled to have again met Dr. Toy’s rigorous standards to be selected for this most prestigious award,” says b. dazzle founder, puzzle designer, president & CEO, Kathie Gavin. She adds, “Each year we strive to introduce products that are worthy of Dr. Toy’s thorough and careful scrutiny, and we consider Dr. Toy’s “100 Best Children’s Products Award” as our validation of our creative efforts and of our unwillingness to compromise our production standards or our commitment to the easy affordability of our products.”
b. dazzle, inc. is an official member of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition of the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Los Angeles: (800-711-2670; 310-846-4800). The purpose of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition is to fortify the lives of America’s young people with consensus ethical values called the “Six Pillars of Character.” These six key character values, which transcend divisions of race, creed, politics, gender and wealth, are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. Because our society places such a high value on material success, there is the tendency in human nature to pursue success by any means, whether fairly or unfairly, honestly or dishonestly. We strongly believe that with our success comes a duty for us to contribute to our society. We wish to do so by advancing the principles of good character and ethical behavior, not only by operating our business in accordance with ethical standards, but also by advancing and promoting the importance of ethical business practices and ethical behavior throughout our industry and our society at large. The “CHARACTER COUNTS!” Coalition has become the nation’s leading character education system, now reaching five million youngsters through a widespread partnership of schools and youth-serving organizations. Two United States’ Presidents, the Congress, most states and countless municipalities have endorsed the Coalition’s approach and declared the third week in October “National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week.”