Chicago – VTech‘s award-winning age and stage-based toys for early childhood development consistently earn top praise from consumers and experts for helping children meet developmental milestones. Today the company announces the expansion of its Baby, Infant and Preschool lines with new introductions designed to encourage growth and enrich children’s play experiences, bringing the extensive, growing collection to include more than 100 innovative learning products. New educator-approved products available now include the Sit-to-Stand Ultimate Alphabet Train™, an engrossing ride-on toy that grows with a child and teaches letters, colors, numbers and more; the Lil’ Critters Soothing Starlight Hippo™, a plush critter that lulls babies to sleep with calming music and enhances visual awareness with a projection feature and the Write & Learn Creative Center™, an interactive tool for preschoolers that inspires creativity while boosting learning and drawing skills. Additionally, VTech has continued the growth of its online Milestones resource, specifically created to help parents select toys based on the individual needs of children from birth to nine years old.
“We are constantly striving to develop toys that reinforce our position as an industry leader of early childhood learning products and these new innovations embody that commitment,” said William To, President of VTech Electronics North America. “Our Baby, Infant and Preschool lines further enhance the first-rate, educational products that parents can trust and consumers have come to expect from VTech when choosing toys for every stage of development.”
VTech’s Expert Panel provides critical insight into the development of its learning products. These experts specialize not only in the critical subject areas that are important for instilling a lifetime love of learning such as reading, language arts, math and science, but the broader spectrum of childhood development.
Since 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’s Milestones resource is compiled of an expansive recommendation of toys that are appropriate for a child’s particular age and stage and to accompany them as they continue to grow and reach new developmental milestones. The expert-endorsed recommendations were developed in collaboration with Dr. Lise Eliot, early brain development expert and member of VTech’s Expert Panel.
“VTech’s products assist children during the crucial years of infancy and preschool, when they are developing new motor, cognitive, language and social skills,” said Dr. Lise Eliot, Early Brain Development Expert and VTech Expert Panel Member. “These toys provide multi-sensory experiences to truly engage children and cultivate a love of learning at a very young age while delivering the developmental benefits appropriate for each child’s age and stage.”
VTech has worked closely with Dr. Eliot for five years to ensure that all Baby, Infant and Preschool products deliver against at least one, if not all, of the following categories that are essential for the development of young children: language and cognitive development, social and emotional development, and physical and motor development.
Highlights of the Baby, Infant and Preschool lines include:
- Lil’ Critters Soothing Starlight Hippo™: This adorable hippo projects a vibrant starry night sky onto the ceiling in four different colors to the sounds of peaceful tunes, seven nursery rhymes, nature sounds and lullabies. Colorful light effects enhance visual awareness, while the comforting sounds and songs help soothe babies to sleep. Ages birth and up, MSRP: US$24.99.
Lil’ Critters Roll & Discover Ball™: Little ones can toss, shake, roll and crawl after this bright ball to hear more than 50 cheerful melodies, phrases and sounds while strengthening their motor skills. Playful animal characters and a variety of soft textures will capture children’s attention and encourage exploration, and pressing the big star button introduces numbers and animals. Ages 6 months+, MSRP: US$14.99.
Sit-to-Stand Ultimate Alphabet Train™: Designed to grow with children, this learning train can be used for floor play or as a ride on and transforms into a walker. When little conductors get older, the caboose converts into a wagon they can fill with toys and pull along to develop gross motor skills. Kids can play activities while learning letters, numbers, colors and more; build motor skills with manipulative features; and build vocabulary with double-sided letter blocks. Ages 12-36 months, MSRP: US$49.99.
- Drop & Go Dump Truck™: Drop a colorful rock into the top of this cute toy dump truck, and watch it tumble into the bucket. The interactive truck can be pushed or pulled, teaches tools, colors and numbers, plays melodies and has a hinged bucket to unload the rocks and help develop motor skills. Ages 6-36 months, MSRP: US$14.99.
Spin & Learn Ball Tower™: Colored balls spin, slide and take a ride to teach children about numbers and colors. This interactive ball tower features more than 100 songs, melodies, sounds and phrases. Light-up buttons teach little learners insects, colors and numbers with manipulative play features that enhance fine motor skills. Ages 9-36 months, MSRP: US$29.99.
Write & Learn Creative Center™: This interactive board teaches kids how to write letters and draw objects step-by-step. Animated demonstrations help preschoolers follow along to learn proper stroke order for upper and lower case letters. It also features cheerful melodies and sounds, stamps and stencils. Ages 3-6, MSRP: US$24.99.
- Count & Learn Alphabet Bus™: Kids can place each of 36 blocks into the school bus and hear it respond with letters, phonics, numbers and colors. Parents can personalize this friendly bus to recognize their child’s age and the first letter of their name. Fun games keep little learners entertained as they learn about letters, counting, everyday words and more. Ages 2 to 5, MSRP: US$19.99.
- Spinning Lights Learning Hippo™: This first vocabulary builder uses moving lights with each of six fun activities for language development. Kids can spin the lights around the alphabet circle to learn about letters, phonics, objects, animals and more. Preschoolers will learn their ABCs as they sing and watch the lights move along to the Alphabet Song. Ages 1 ½ to 5, MSRP: US$19.99.
For more information, 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, VTech’s first children’s tablet with Android™ learning content, Kidizoom® Smartwatch, the first smartwatch for kids with a built-in camera, 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 25 different languages worldwide, with more than 100 new products introduced every year. VTech was awarded a prestigious 2015 Toy of The Year (TOTY) Award for its Go! Go! Smart Animals® Zoo Explorers Playset™. 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 Limited is headquartered in Hong Kong with distribution globally.
For more information on VTech’s additional product lines, visit www.VTechKids.com, www.facebook.com/VTechtoys on Facebook or follow @VTechToys on Twitter.
