Webkinz Jr. and Webkinz Signature Line
© 2009 Ganz
April flowers bring plush toys and blooming virtual worlds -- at least when it comes to the popular Webkinz line. From Ganz, the Canadian plush toy manufacturer that has been dominating the plush toy market lately, comes a collection of rabbit-sized plush toys, now in your local toy store, and virtually at www.webkinzjr.com. Like the Guinea-pig-sized regular Webkinz, each animal will come with a sealed tag, containing a password that unlocks 12 months of access to your own corner of virtual real estate -- a simple model that many parents see as a win-win situation, especially considering the cost is about half of typical video game. If this happens to be your 23rd Webkinz, you can unlock slightly more exclusive virtual decorations, trinkets or swag not available to the poor souls who only have 22. New to the Junior online version; a simplified menu, with no reading and games that better match a three- to six-year-old's abilities. In order to further agitate the serious collectors (such as the 12,871 people who were trading Webkinz on eBay this morning) Ganz announced a Webkinz Signature line, starting with a hand-airbrushed Panda, for a cost that is three times a regular Webkinz. The code will get you into a specially gilded corner of the Webkinz world. Consider yourself warned. See the CTR videos from Toy Fair, here: VIDEO 1: Webkinz Jr. Overview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXK7y8rehDs) and VIDEO 2: Webinz Signature Line (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU8IZB-S86w).
$1530, Windows, Mac OSX, Internet Site, Smart Toy
Teaches: logic, matching, classification