Chicago – VTech (www.vtechkids.com), a world leader in age-appropriate and developmental stage-based electronic learning products for children, today announced seven products were honored by the prestigious National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA). New additions to the award-winning Go! Go! Smart Wheels® range and Go! Go! Smart Animals™ line are Silver winners while five products, including four from VTech’s acclaimed InnoTab® range, received Honors recognition. The full list of winners is available on www.NAPPAawards.com as well as the Cozi app, a top organizational tool for busy families.
The Go! Go! Smart Wheels Ultimate Amazement Park Playset™ and Go! Go! Smart Animals Zoo Explorers Playset™ each received a NAPPA Silver Award. The recipients of NAPPA Honors awards include the Smart Shots Sports Center™; InnoTab® 3S Plus, a fourth-generation children’s learning tablet with Wi-Fi; and InnoTab Learning Cartridges Go! Go! Smart Wheels Busy Day in Alphabet Town, Learn to Write with Cody & Cora and I SPY® Adventure.
“We are honored to receive recognition from the esteemed National Parenting Publications Awards,” said William To, President, VTech Electronics North America. “We constantly strive to deliver age-appropriate and engaging content that parents trust and kids love, and these awards solidify our status as the learning fun authority. We are thrilled that multiple products from three of our product lines received the prestigious NAPPA seal.”
“VTech’s toys tested extremely well with our panel of judges – our experts, parents and kid testers,” said Julie Kertes, NAPPA general manager. “The feedback we received consisted of high praise for these excellent products, which demonstrate the brand’s depth in educational toys and quality entertainment.”
VTech’s award-winning products include:
InnoTab® 3S Plus: (www.vtechkids.com/innotabrange): InnoTab 3S Plus lets kids learn, create and connect using a kid-safe Wi-Fi connection to the Internet. Now children can search VTech and parent-approved websites as well as communicate in real time with Premium VTech Kid Connect™ on their very own kids’ tablet. Exchange text and voice messages, photos, drawings and fun stickers with smart phones using the exclusive app available for free on the App StoreSM and Google Play™. In addition to the Rechargeable Power Pack and 16 included apps, children will have access to more than 650 additional cartridges, software and apps that can be downloaded from VTech’s Learning Lodge®. The Wish List Maker lets children explore games, e-Books, videos, music and more, and send their favorites right to mom or dad’s e-mail. Movie Maker allows kids to become their own director, using their photos to create amazing movies. Unleash children’s creative sides with Art Studio and watch them color, draw, paint and decorate with special stickers. Age-appropriate content includes a recommended age and grade range to meet each child’s unique needs. The expert-supported curriculum includes reading, math, social studies, handwriting, science, problem solving, geography and much more. Use the tilt sensor to interact with games, use the D-pad controller to choose directions and talk into the microphone to add to the fun. Children will love taking photos using the 180° rotating camera with over 55 special effects and using the video recorder to make movies. They can even import and listen to their own MP3s with the music player. (Ages 3-9 years, MSRP: US$79.99)
InnoTab® Learning Cartridge Go! Go! Smart Wheels® Busy Day in Alphabet Town (www.vtechkids.com/downloads): Explore Alphabet Town with Casey, Paul, Frank and Cyrus in the Go! Go! Smart Wheels Busy Day in Alphabet Town game for InnoTab Learning Tablets. Read about their adventure in the e-Book or join the residents of Alphabet Town as they build roads, rescue kittens and more in fun learning games. This InnoTab software title features nine creative activities and learning games that teach letters, numbers and more. (Ages 2-5 years, MSRP: US$24.99)
InnoTab® Learning Cartridge Learn to Write with Cody & Cora (www.vtechkids.com/downloads): Go on learning adventures with Cody the Smart Cub® and Cora the Smart Cub® in Learn to Write with Cody & Cora for InnoTab Learning Tablets. Kids can read the e-Book about an adventure Cody and Cora take while writing and spelling words or learn and develop handwriting skills in a progressive manner with 11 activities and games. (Ages 3-6 years, MSRP: US$24.99)
InnoTab® Learning Cartridge I SPY® Adventure (www.vtechkids.com/downloads): I spy a fun-filled problem-solving adventure in this title for VTech’s InnoTab Learning Tablets! Kids can practice early reading skills as they read and solve I SPY riddles and play games to unlock 50 levels of play – each more challenging than the next. Find, match and sort a variety of photo-realistic objects across four action-packed thinking games that build logic, vocabulary and visual discrimination skills. Kids will encounter exciting surprises, power-ups and more! (Ages 4-7 years, MSRP: US$24.99)
Go! Go! Smart Wheels® Ultimate Amazement Park Playset™ (www.vtechkids.com/gogosmartwheels): Race through three AMAZING features in the Go! Go! Smart Wheels Ultimate Amazement Park Playset! Place the race car at the top of the tower, pull the flag and watch as it races through the 360 degree loop, spiral or ramp. Drive the included SmartPoint™ race car over the eight SmartPoint locations to hear fun music and sounds. The Ultimate Amazement Park can be connected to other Go! Go! Smart Wheels or Go! Go! Smart Animals playsets (sold separately) to encourage creative play. It’s playtime with miles of learning fun! (Ages 1-5 years, MSRP: US$59.99)
Go! Go! Smart Animals™ Zoo Explorers Playset™ (www.vtechkids.com/gogozoo): Playtime goes wild with learning at the Go! Go! Smart Animals Zoo Explorers Playset! Go on a tour of the zoo with the SmartPoint™ rhino as he responds to the zoo’s seven SmartPoint locations with different phrases, music and fun sounds. Children can strengthen their motor skills with eight manipulative features including a turning gate, spinning water tank and sliding elevator. The colorful tracks can be reconfigured or connected to other Go! Go! Smart Animals or Go! Go! Smart Wheels playsets (each sold separately) to encourage children’s creativity. The zoo also features an electronic entrance that teaches animal names, animal traits, letters, colors and plays music. (Ages 1-5 years, MSRP: US$39.99)
Smart Shots Sports Center™ (www.vtechkids.com/smartshots): Parents can cheer on their little sports stars with the Smart Shots Sports Center. The electronic sports center features a soccer goal and basketball hoop for a fun 2-in-1 experience. Kick the soccer ball into the net to hear fun sounds or toss the basketball into the hoop and the magic sensor will count the number of baskets scored, up to ten. Three buttons introduce shapes, numbers, opposites, sing-along songs and more. Turn the gears or flip the page to hear fun phrases and sounds. The sports center also features a light-up screen that plays a variety of fun animations and shows numbers, shapes and letters to reinforce learning. (Ages 12-36 months, MSRP: US$39.99)
VTech works closely with a panel of children’s learning specialists on the development of its infant and preschool learning products. Each one of the Expert Panel members specializes in developmental or educational fields for children from birth through nine years of age. VTech and the Expert Panel collaborate to ensure their products and content deliver the best learning experience possible for every child at every stage of development. To learn more about VTech’s Expert Panel, go to www.vtechkids.com/parenting.
Each child grows at a different pace mentally, emotionally and physically, and has different needs as they grow through various life stages. Insight from these developmental and education experts allows VTech to provide parents with guidelines and recommendations to help them make informed choices. VTech delivers an expansive selection of toys that are appropriate for their child’s particular age and stage and to accompany them as they continue to grow and reach new developmental milestones. These recommendations have been compiled into a Milestones resource, which can be found at www.vtechkids.com/milestones.
For more information about the complete VTech product range, please visit www.vtechkids.com.
About VTech
VTech is a world leader in age-appropriate and developmental stage-based electronic learning products for children. As a pioneer in the learning toy category, VTech develops high-quality, innovative educational products that enrich children’s development and make learning fun. With a rich, almost 35 year history, VTech has not only established itself as a learning authority but also consistently remains at the forefront of innovation with multiple award-winning products such as the InnoTab® MAX, its first children’s learning tablet with Android™ learning content, Kidizoom® Smartwatch, the first smartwatch for kids, InnoTab® 3S, MobiGo®, V.Reader® and V.Smile®. The Learning Lodge®, VTech’s comprehensive app store, features a robust library of more than 800 educational and entertaining games, e-Books, music and videos with engaging age-appropriate content across the widest variety of curricula, with content expanding to offer even more titles. The company also has a broad range of award-winning infant and preschool products available in 24 different languages worldwide, with more than 100 new products introduced every year. In order to further strengthen VTech’s position as a learning authority, the company’s Expert Panel, with esteemed experts in reading, language arts, science, math and child development, consult on new product introductions and Learning Lodge content.
VTech Electronics North America, LLC is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. VTech Electronics Ltd. is headquartered in Hong Kong with distribution globally. VTech is the global leader in electronic learning products from infancy to preschool.
For more information on VTech’s additional product lines, visit www.VTechKids.com, www.facebook.com/VTechtoys on Facebook or follow @VTechToys on Twitter.
About the National Parenting Publications Awards
The National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) is one of the longest running and most respected awards programs in the country, and is considered the “go-to” source for quality products for families. NAPPA enlists a team of expert judges, parents and kid testers to evaluate hundreds of submissions and determine the most entertaining, appealing, safe, educational, age-appropriate and enduring products of the year.
