b. dazzle’s new “Planets” Scramble Squares® brain teaser puzzle, one of four Scramble Squares® puzzle winners in Dr. Toy’s “Smart Play/Smart Toys Awards 2006, is truly a universal gift that is Easy To Play, But Hard To Solve!® for children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens of all ages.
FOUR Scramble Squares® PUZZLES NAMED TO DR. TOY’S “SMART PLAY/SMART TOYS AWARD” FOR 2006 BY THE INSTITUTE FOR CHILDHOOD RESOURCES
REDONDO BEACH, CA… April18, 2006… b. dazzle, inc. of Redondo Beach, California, has announced that four of its newest Scramble Squares® 9-piece brain teaser puzzles have been honored by The Institute for Childhood Resources in San Francisco as “Dr. Toy’s Smart Play/Smart Toys, the Best Smart Products for Baby to Older Children for 2006.” The four Scramble Squares® puzzles receiving this prestigious award are “Alaska,” “Alligators,” “Planets and “Pirates.” The second report of winning toys for “Dr. Toy’s Smart Play/Smart Toys 2006,” based on the newly released book, is now available to parents, teachers and others on Dr. Toy’s Guide, on the Internet’s World Wide Web. The free report is available by requesting a copy by sending a SASE #10 envelope to
Dr. Toy or by logging onto www.drtoy.com.
“Dr. Toy’s Smart Play/Smart Toys Product Awards Program 2006,” 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 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, “The smart play products selected from varied companies across the U.S., Canada and from other countries will provide children with exciting new learning tools that will help them not only to do better in school, but will also provide constructive activities to do after school.” The winning products include innovative toys, games, books, videos, audiotapes, software/CD’s, crafts and other children’s products.
Dr. Auerbach believes “parents 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 Smart Products” encourage children to maximize their potentials and make the most of “Smart Play.”
“By making a renewed focus on selecting summer as an ideal time for choosing new products for children,” adds Dr. Toy, “parents improve their children’s development.” “This is a perfect time,” she says, “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 learning process.”
Dr. Toy’s Smart Play/Smart Toys” award winning products were carefully chosen from among hundreds 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.
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 100 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 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.
b. dazzle provides a free 24″ x 36″ full color “WIN A FREE PUZZLE” promotional poster to any store offering its customers the Scramble Squares® “5–MINUTE CHALLENGE.® ” Retailers can give a free Scramble Squares® puzzle to any customer who accepts the challenge and successfully solves the nine piece
Scramble Squares® demonstration puzzle within five minutes. b. dazzle promptly replaces the stores’ puzzles awarded to consumers at no cost to the merchants. b. dazzle’s permanent wood counter, floor and slat wall displays each feature a demonstration puzzle on an interactive playing surface with an electronic timer to time consumers on the 5–MINUTE CHALLENGE.®
b. dazzle also offers a free, very compact, corrugated counter spinner display, including the timer and poster, with the purchase of any 72 Scramble Squares® puzzles in any quantity per style.
” We are very honored and proud 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 “Smart play Smart Toys 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.”