What’s hot and what’s not in 2010: Toy Trends Expert Sherry Younger Artemenko’s take on Toy Fair.

Guru’s Note: Many moons ago, when my “executive” job in toyland consisted of cobbling together lines for Strawberry Shortcake (“Have a berry, berry good day!”) and the Care Bears (“Dream on, little starshine”), I looked forward to ferociously tackling the annual new products frenzy that is the International Toy Fair. These days, since my feet may never recover from CES, I leave it up to the pros. In this case, that’s my genius of a guest blogger, Toy Trends’ expert and Speech Language Pathologist, Sherry Younger Artemenko, M.A., C.C.C., who reports to us from New York’s 2010 International Toy Fair.

Sherry says: Wow! That’s how I describe the incredible experience of walking through the Jacob Javits Center, filled with inventive, imaginative, and creative people sharing this year’s new products for kids. I was privileged to go to a Blogger’s Breakfast at Hasbro Toys yesterday, as their executives introduced their newest pets, ponies, transformers and Play-doh creation stations to name a few. I will devote a whole blog to that later.

Today, I went to the Toy Fair and saw some great new products for kids that encourage language development through exploration and creative play. First let me share some of the trends that I see in 2010:

* “Green toys” or organic lines. I visited Haba toys today and they introduced Cotti toys which are made from organic fabrics, including a little friend with a removable cushion that can be heated or cooled depending on what a child’s boo boo requires for relief. Organico Blocks by HaPe are lightweight and made from bamboo.
* Toys with a new online connection that links the offline play with an online experience. Hasbro has introduced a new online experience for Littlest Pet Shop. Check out their website with your Pet Shop fans
* Games where the players can determine the length of play before beginning by shortening the board’s path such as Cranium’s new game, or choosing one of three different durations for your game of Monopoly before beginning to play.
* Updated graphics on classics to be more relevant to today’s child. Hasbro’s Candyland board includes baked goods along with the traditional candy and has added such hip characters at the “Duke of Swirl!”
* Toys and games to encourage both genders to play with what has been traditionally linked to just boys or girls. Edushape introduced “Chubby Edublocks” in bright colors, including pink, to attract the girls, while International Playthings offers a series of “Wild Science” including a line for girls so they can participate in a perfume lab or make fancy soaps.
* Games designed for friends or siblings of varied ages to play together. I Can Do That Games introduced several clever, engaging games that would be fun for the whole family including “What’s In the Cat’s Hat” and “Konexi.”

Guru’s Note: For more from “Kid Guru” Sherry Younger Artemenko, visit her PlayonWords blog.

Meet Skout, the Social Networking Community for Kids’ Products.

Much of my world seems to be busily working on kids’ products, divining and designing everything from eco-adorable clothes to online games, websites, books, photography and more. So I was excited to discover a social network designed specifically for these uber-creative folks –designers, makers, vendors and others involved in children’s clothing and accessories.

Based in New Zealand, Skout Trade Fair is an online community that aims to help those in the children’s products industry find each other and connect. The founders have built in some admirable features which are likely to keep everybody honorable, supportive and industry-focused: membership on the site is by invitation only, and only members can view its content. Participants can also lose their membership for engaging in unethical practices. (Yay!) Once granted membership, though, participants can jump right in and join business forums, connect with other members, list events, upload photos of their work, join groups and contribute to blogs.

Guru’s Note: I was quickly admitted to the membership — but they did put me through my paces by asking a couple of on-point questions.

And good news on the technology front: Skout is built using the uber-customizable Ning platform — which is swiftly emerging as one of the most useful social networking tools available.

Thanks, as always, to springwise.