It’s the most beautiful time of the year! Comedian Sera Devcich joins Emily Writes to share the joy and investigate the top 10 toys your ungrateful kids will want this Christmas. It’s November which means it’s officially time for your kids to start bugging you day in and day out about what they want from … Read more
A recording of a toy store Christmas marketing meeting has been leaked to Emily Writes. Despite the danger involved, she has chosen to release these tapes for the benefit of parents. The following will chill you to the bone. I knew it had to be released when it turned up on my front door wrapped … Read more
The Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak has just been released in toy stores worldwide. Alice Webb-Liddall got the chance to try one out. It’s a Tuesday, and a snowy owl flies above my head on the way to work. It poops on me. That’s extra good luck, I think to myself. I get to work, make … Read more
It’s like Christmas every fortnight, and an antidote to the great plastic pile-up, writes Kerryanne Nelson. Every day, once my daughter has gone to sleep, I pick up around 30 plastic toys strewn across my house and shovel them into a room where I can’t see them. Trips to the shops to get groceries or … Read more
The red, yellow, and black trikes are everywhere. But where did they come from and how did they get here? Madeleine Chapman investigates. Walk past any daycare centre or kindy in New Zealand and you’ll hear the sound of plastic wheels on concrete, or plastic wheels on decking. That’s the Triang A.T. Cycle, and if … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Jenny Etherington who, along with her partner Thomas Mortimer, founded Solvej (sool-vay) Swings – makers of sustainable and long-lasting swings for babies and toddlers. ONE: How did Solvej Swings start and what was … Read more
The Presidential Wall Game is an ugly celebration of Trumpian nationalism and has no place on NZ shelves, argues Emily Writes. Toyco is selling a board game that encourages children and their parents to build a wall – a wall that more than anything is a symbol of the xenophobia and hatred that is central to … Read more
TradeMe has just released its list of the Top 10 most-searched toys for 2018. Emily Writes tries to figure out what the hell they are. It’s true I’ve been looking on TradeMe for every iteration of “Cubby house” available to me with a “pick up Wellington” criteria. None are in my price range. And the … Read more
From blow-up water balloons to prefabricated buildings: Homegrown toy giant Zuru is flexing its manufacturing muscles in the direction of the housing shortage. Toy giant Zuru has launched a massive international push into the prefabricated building industry, a venture it says will “make everything else we do look small’. Zuru is the half-a-billion-dollar toy manufacturing … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Mark Stolten, the inventor of flexible, Lego-like brick toy Flexo. ONE: How did Flexo start and what was the inspiration behind it? While I waiting for a physio appointment for a torn … Read more
In part two of The Spinoff’s great recall list, we look at various items targeted towards parents and children, such as toys, strollers, cots, carriers, rattles, bottles, and kids pyjamas. Below is a selection of recalled items we think are most relevant to consumers (part one looked at a selection of common household items). Of … Read more
Hosted by Jake Millar and the multi-millionaire Mowbray siblings, New Zealand’s new, young entrepreneurial elite gathered at the famed Dotcom/Toy Mansion for a night of tuxedos, evening gowns, and abundant champagne. Jihee Junn reluctantly went along. The first thing you see are the lights in the sky – two white beams dancing in the pitch … Read more
Nick Mowbray, the entrepreneurial brains behind the brand that brought us Robo Fish, X-Shot and Bunch O Balloons, talks to Jihee Junn about YouTube, sustainability (or lack thereof) and the $27 million loss caused by the collapse of US retailer Toys ‘R’ Us. At last week’s Better by Design summit at Villa Maria Estate, Nick … Read more
As science, technology, engineering and maths become more integrated into our world, a corresponding emphasis is being placed on teaching our kids about these topics. Part of this has been a huge rise in educational toys over the past decade. Baz Macdonald investigates. For most of us, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) were not … Read more
When a Tokoroa mum queried McDonald’s gendered Happy Meal toys, the Facebook response was huge – and vitriolic. Depressing enough, but do kids really need different toys based on their gender? All signs point to no, says Thalia Kehoe Rowden. When Tokoroa mum Imogene Louise last went to McDonald’s, the server asked if the Happy … Read more