Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Toy Fair 2012 in New York, it was great. I was able to talk with the various companies and find out what’s new this summer, I also had a chance to explore all of the new educational options from some of my favorite companies like Haba, Elenco (the makers of snap circuits), and others.

There were tons of characters walking around the Toy Fair;

From adorably larger than life Ugly Dolls …

to giant Care Bears.

There were quite a few impressive LEGO displays centered around their new Avenger, and DC Comics play sets coming out this year.

There were quite a few new hybred toys designed to work in conjunction with an Apple i-device. One of the best and most well exicuted was an AR (augmented reality) game MushABellies from Jay @ Play. I was blown away by this. When you buy a MushABelly you then get corresponding cards which allow you to play games and manipulate your character in your own environment via an IPad. This concept is not new and it was all over the Toy Fair but Jay @ Play really gets it right.

I’ll have more for you later in the week about some of the great new toys coming this summer that were on display at Toy Fair 2012