“AMERICAN REVOLUTION” SCRAMBLE SQUARES® PUZZLE HONORED AS AMONG “DR. TOY’S 10 BEST EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS” FOR 2008
REDONDO BEACH, CA… September 16, 2008… b. dazzle, inc. of Redondo Beach, California, has announced that its “American Revolution” Scramble Squares® 9-piece brain teaser puzzle has been honored by The Institute for Childhood Resources in San Francisco as among “Dr. Toy’s 10 BEST EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS” FOR 2008 and as one of “Dr. Toy’s 100 BEST CHILDREN’S PRODUCTS” FOR 2008.
The 17th Annual report of “Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products 2008” 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 also is available by sending a SASE #10 envelope to Dr. Toy.
“Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products” Awards Program 2008 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, stimulating toys and products for children.
Dr. Auerbach is the only Ph.D. evaluating toys and children’s products with extensive training, background and over 35 years of 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 a parent educator, consultant, parent and grandparent. “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 information.” The site was the first on-line resource to evaluate toys and children’s products.
Describing the American Revolution Scramble Squares® 9-Piece Puzzle in “Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products for 2008,” Dr. Auerbach writes, “These [Scramble Squares®] continue to be perfect gifts for all ages with plenty of value and learning. Selected is American Revolution for its educational value, but there are other new puzzles in the series, including Seahorses, American Desert Southwest Wildlife and Squirrels. There are more than 130 topics to choose from. These are all Scramble Squares® tessellation (i.e., mosaic) brain teaser puzzles and are Easy To Play, But Hard To Solve® for children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens. 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, birthdays, get well, graduation, travel and holidays. Scramble Squares® puzzles teach patience, perseverance, fine motor skills and critical thinking skills and help maintain mental agility in older persons, while providing stimulating entertainment as either a solitaire game or a cooperative activity. Scramble Squares® puzzles are highly rated by the Ableplay.org web site of the Lekotek National Center in Chicago, which ranks products that are beneficial to the learning disabled. Each puzzle package includes a panel of fascinating facts on the subject of the puzzle, as well as a trivia question and hidden trivia question answer, all packaged in a unique and handy resealable heavy duty 10-1/2” long x 5-3/4” wide x 3/8” deep clear vinyl travel pouch which can be collected and stored easily in a standard 3-ring binder. Over 130 styles of exquisite original art are available on nature, sports, history, geography, culture, occupations, fantasy, science, technology hobbies and activities, and many new styles are introduced every year.”
The report, “Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products for 2008, 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.” She adds, “Smart play products selected from 100 companies across the U.S.A., Canada and other countries provide children with exciting new learning tools to help them do better in school, and also provide more constructive activities after school.”
Dr. Auerbach believes “parents and grandparents need help to get a head start locating new, diversified products that children will enjoy while increasing skills, enhance instruction and expand creativity.” The products balanced among large and small companies, 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 your child is 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 the holidays ahead.”
“Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Products” were carefully chosen from among thousands that she has reviewed at toy fairs, catalogs, and through many other sources, and by using extensive criteria she has developed over many years. Among the criteria used 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.”
Dr. Toy’s annual report includes company customer service numbers, web site URL, age range, price, and full description of each product. The award-winning, on-line magazine, Dr. Toy’s Guide, features full color photos of each product, links to companies to learn more, interviews with and articles by Dr. Toy, plus hundreds of “Best Classic” and “Best Vacation” products. At this time over 4,000 products are included plus links direct to companies, toy stores online, toy history, parent resources and much more.
In addition to easy access on the Internet, a free copy of “Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products 2008” may be obtained by sending a self-addressed, stamped #10 business envelope (SASE) to “Dr. Toy,” 268 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA, 94104.
Dr. Toy is the author of Dr. Toy’s Smart Play/Smart Toys to provide tools to parents to enhance their child’s P.Q (Play Quotient). The book, published in China, Croatia, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Russia, Spain,
Taiwan, Turkey and Thailand will soon be available in other countries.
“We are very pleased, honored and extremely gratified that our newest Scramble Squares® puzzles have maintained the very high standards that Dr. Toy upholds as her criteria for the annual “DR. TOY’S 100 BEST PRODUCTS” awards and thrilled to be counted as among the “10 Best Educational Products for 2008,” says b. dazzle founder, puzzle designer, president & CEO, Kathie Gavin.
Founded in 1993, b. dazzle, inc. is a progressive market-driven company which manufacturers and distributes wholesale in the gift, souvenir, toy and educational products industries a wide range of beautiful, wholesome, entertaining and informative gifts of high quality and low cost for all ages of adults and children that can be selected by style to appeal to the personal interests of the recipient and can be enjoyed as family activities.
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.”