The initial offering includes child sized eco yoga mats and storytelling plush pillows with nature themed characters.

In 2020 World Alive S.L., the creators of Aqua Dragons’, will be entering into a new territory with the launch of a new eco-lifestyle brand, Soul Mates.

Soul Mates mission is to help ameliorate the effects of inactivity and overuse of screens with yoga and mindfulness. The company aims to tap into the international wellness trend towards yoga and mindfulness by adapting the traditional practise into fun toys and playthings for kids aged three and above.

The initial offering includes child sized Eco yoga mats and storytelling plush pillows with nature themed characters; Sun, Moon, Cloud, Wave, and Earth. The yoga play-mats have animal and nature themed poses embossed on-top. The Soul Mates Mindfulness Storytelling Pillows see the characters tell a whimsical two minute story and include short mindfulness exercises. Kids simply squeeze the pillow to hear the story.

Amy Holden, founder, product innovator and developer of Soul Mates, said: “This project is the culmination of many years of study in perinatal psychology, child development, and mindfulness. I was motivated by my own motherhood, and my personal practise in yoga. I actively searched for, but was unable to find yoga and mindfulness products or simple at home programmes that were fun, easy and adapted to children, for my own kids. So, I felt compelled to develop a fun, flexible and easy program that does not require reading, videos, classes or teachers. Children can play whilst they get great benefits for their physical and mental health, not to mention that their parents and friends can join in to play too. Our goal was to create something to play that is fun and healthy for kids to play by themselves, with family or in a group that is caring for the environment too, and I believe we have successfully done that.”

All Soul Mates branded products are made ecologically, and include materials like organic plush, recycled fillers, 100% biodegradable bio-plastics and recycled packaging.

The launch will be supported by a communication campaign including influencers. This is a cross category brand spanning girls, sports, fitness, outdoor, games, plush and impulse, with more developments to come in 2021.

The full initial line of Soul Mates will be on show at Spielwarenmesse in Hall 10, stand H03.

World Alive is actively looking for distribution partners and would be happy to speak with interested parties. Please contact amy@world-alive.net for more information.

The year’s highlights are brought to life as kids are encouraged to get creative and bring their own best bits of the year to life using Lego bricks.

The birth of the royal baby has been voted as the highlight of 2019 by Britain’s kids, in a new poll conducted by the Lego Group. A selection of iconic moments have been brought to life using Lego bricks to showcase the highlights of 2019 through the eyes of a child.

The birth of Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in May topped the list, while 13-year-old Fin winning Junior Bake Off and the 50th anniversary of the moon landing also made a big impression on British kids over the past 12 months.

Sporting moments including England’s impressive run in the Rugby World Cup, and England reaching the Semi Finals of the Women’s World Cup over the summer, also scored highly, while animal-loving kids were delighted when a human-sized penguin fossil was discovered in New Zealand.

The top ten most memorable moments of 2019, as voted for by British children, are as follows:

1. The birth of the royal baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (May)
2. The 50th anniversary of humans landing on the moon (July)
3. England’s run in the Rugby World Cup (September – November)
4. England reaching the Semi Finals of the Women’s World Cup (June – July)
5. Fin announced as the winner of Junior Bake off (November)
6. Colin Thackery announced as the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2019 (June)
7. Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden scoring the first perfect score for the current series of Strictly Come Dancing (December)
8. Human-sized penguin fossil being discovered in New Zealand (August)
9. Little Mix winning the Favourite Global Star Award at Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards (March)
10. Dina Asher Smith winning the 200m final at the World Athletics Championships (October)

The money raised from sales of Smyths’ Oscar toy will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. 

Smyths Toys’ lovable new plush toy, Oscar, was created to raise money for charity – and 100% of the profits from all sales in the UK have been donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity to support the vital work of GOSH and make a real difference to seriously ill children who are treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Amit Aggarwal, director of corporate partnerships at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have Smyths Toys’ support this Christmas. This donation will make a real difference to seriously ill children from across the UK being treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital. We are extremely grateful to Smyths Toys and its customers for their generosity. If you’re still looking for that last-minute Christmas gift, don’t forget that every Oscar will help raise more money to support more patients and families.”

Sinead Byrne, joint head of marketing at Smyths Toys added: “We are delighted to support GOSH for our third year, and continue to admire the hard work of the staff and the great work they do.”

Oscar first appeared on screens in 2016, where he began his journey through the toy store. Oscar’s imagination made the toy store his theatre for 2019, with the new Smyths advert featuring a raft of iconic performers, from Barbie to Buzz and Woody. In the ad, Oscar and the toys present a new version of the song If I Were a Toy, showing us the magic of the toy store through the eyes of a child.

Anne Kidgell, Hayley Holland and Paula Haddy join Ravensburger in the ninth consecutive year of growth for the company.

Ravensburger has made three new appointments, boosting both the sales and marketing teams.

Anne Kidgell joins the sales team as national account manager. She re-joins the toy industry following 11 years spent in the confectionery industry, including seven years at Kinnerton and a role with industry giant, Ferrero, where she managed a portfolio of high street accounts. Prior to this, Anne spent nine years in the sales team at Mattel. Anne will report to head of sales, Derek Scott.

“We’re delighted to have Anne on board at Ravensburger,” said Derek, “This is our ninth consecutive year of growth and Anne’s experience will be invaluable as we continue to build on that momentum through 2020.”

Reinforcing the marketing team, Hayley Holland joins Ravensburger as marketing and product development assistant, while Paula Haddy takes on the role of customer services advisor. Both new additions to the team will report to head of department, Katy Fletcher.

Gibsons also gifted Christmas hampers filled with its Little Gibsons pre-school range to children’s charities based around the UK.

Staff at Gibsons have provided gifts to local children in support of the company’s charity partner Jigsaw4U, and it has gifted £10,000 of jigsaw puzzles to the Royal Marsden and Mind, the mental health charity.

Ellie Seagrave, volunteer & community fundraising assistant at The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity said: “We’d like say a huge thank you to everyone at Gibsons for their kind donation. We give each of our patients gifts on Christmas day and this is only possible thanks to the support of businesses like yours. Our patients will be grateful to know you’re thinking of them at this special time of year.”

Gibsons also gifted Christmas hampers filled with its Little Gibsons pre-school range to several children’s charities based around the UK, including Happy Days and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.

“We are always on the lookout for ways that we can enhance the lives of those in our community. Our team really enjoy going out to buy something directly benefitting local children and we are delighted this year to offer our support again to The Royal Marsden and for the first time Mind,” states Gibsons managing director, Kate Gibson. “Puzzles are great for keeping the mind occupied. They can also be an extremely therapeutic and relaxing pastime which is beneficial for those suffering mental or physical health problems.”

According to Mind, approximately one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year and in England, one in six people report experiencing a common mental health problem in any given week.

You can find out more about Gibsons community support here.

The new partnership will see the release of kids cooking and baking sets under the Nadiya brand, due to launch in autumn/winter 2020.

Since winning the sixth series of The Great British Bake Off, Nadiya Hussain has gone on to release bestselling books, star in multiple TV shows and is currently making her way around the UK as part of her ‘Finding My Voice’ tour.

A new partnership with Wilton Bradley will see the release of kids cooking and baking sets under the Nadiya brand, due to come to market for autumn/winter 2020. Featuring a host of colourful baking and cooking utensils for kids, each set comes with easy to follow recipe cards created by Nadiya from her bestselling ‘Bake me a story’ cookbook.

Working closely with Wilton Bradley, the GBBO winner has been closely involved in all stages of product development from concept creation to final designs. Nadiya said: “I love to cook with my family, and I am a true believer in involving children in cooking from a young age; teaching them a valuable skill whilst enjoying some family time together. I am proud of what we have created with these sets and am excited to think that they may encourage more children start their cookery journey.”

Nadiya will also be working with Wilton Bradley to promote the new range to her fans, including posting videos on social media to her followers. The videos will feature Nadiya showing children how to make the most out of the kits.

As part of the launch, Nadiya will also be visiting London Toy Fair 2020 to visit the Wilton Bradley stand and showcase the new range.

The new range is due to hit the market in 2020. 

Diamant Toys is launching its Keypsees line – a new range that comes with plenty of surprises for kids to unbox. Diamant Toys is a global manufacturer of hobby and creative products for children, with its own in-house product development and R&D. It offers worldwide distribution to more than 40 countries.

Though the company is renowned for its arts and crafts product ranges, this new line signals an additional direction for Diamant Toys and is due to hit the market in 2020.

The range includes furry pets, featuring animals like unicorns and owls, which have their own colourful houses to live in. Each box contains a pet and nine surprises. By using the magnet found in the attic, kids can reveal the pet and all the surprise encased in the box. Surprise accessories could be a comb, a bow, a food dish or a bone, depending on the animal discovered with the magic magnet. One of the surprises is a key, which kids will need to open the box for their new pet to live in. There are over 15 different pets in the series.

Diamant Toys has further developed the line to include a Mermaid series, complete with glittery accessories, special effects, an aquarium and a fish bowl. There is also a racing car edition.

It will be showing the new range at Nuremberg toy fair from 29th January till 2nd February in hall 12, stand A-10/B-05.