What's Trending in Toyland? The Star Wars Force, Toys that Talk Back -- Say Hello Barbie, Play all Day with Elmo, and Sing Along with Elsa from Disney Frozen -- Cooking Up Fun with the Girl Scouts, and Toys that Come to Life

NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Toy Insider™ unwrapped its 10^th annual holiday gift guide today, including expert picks for the hottest toys and kids' tech items of the 2015 season broken out into three lists: the Hot 20, Top Tech 12 and, new for 2015, STEM 10.  With lots of options for boys and girls of all ages, these 42 items are expected to top kids' wish lists and be hard to find or sold out by Christmas.

Click to Tweet: Check out the hottest toys for 2015! See what made @TheToyInsider's #TIHot20 #TITech12 & #TIStem10 lists: bit.ly/tiguide15

"This year's hottest toys are not only going to 'wow' kids this holiday season, but also keep them engaged in hours of imaginary, mind-stimulating and creative play well into 2016," says Laurie Schacht, "Toy Insider Mom" and publisher of The Toy Insider.  "This year, we also created a STEM 10 list in response to requests from parents who are looking for great playthings to reinforce important science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills."

The Toy Insider's Hot 20
0-2 years
Bright Beats Smart Touch Play Space (Fisher-Price)
Go! Go! Smart Wheels Ultimate RC Speedway (VTech)
Play All Day Elmo (Playskool)
TOMY Toddler Toys Jumbo Jamboree (TOMY)

3-5 years
Disney Frozen Sing-a-long Elsa (Jakks Pacific)
Doc McStuffins Pet Vet Checkup Center (Just Play)
Furreal Friends Starlily, My Magical Unicorn (Hasbro)
Giant Leonardo Playset (Playmates Toys)
Imaginext Ultra T-Rex (Fisher-Price)
Minions Interactive Action Figures (Thinkway Toys)

6-8 years
Disney Descendants Signature Outfit Doll Assortment (Hasbro)
Little Live Pets Clever Keet (Moose Toys)
Shopkins Scoops Ice Cream Truck (Moose Toys)
Skylanders SuperChargers (Activision)
Star Wars Bladebuilders Jedi Master Lightsaber (Hasbro)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Battle Action Millennium Falcon (Hasbro)

9+
Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition (Disney Interactive)
Girl Scouts Cookie Oven (Wicked Cool Toys)
LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
LEGO Elves: The Elves' Treetop Hideaway (The LEGO Group)

The Toy Insider's Top Tech 12
Anki Overdrive Starter Kit (Anki)
Crayola Easy Animation Studio (Crayola)
Hello Barbie (Mattel)
Kidizoom Smartwatch DX (VTech)
Kurio Smart Windows Tablet (KD Interactive)
LeapPad Platinum with Imagicard (LeapFrog)
Meccano Meccanoid G15 (Spin Master)
MiPosaur (WowWee)
New Nintendo 3DS XL (Nintendo)
Sky Rover Voice Command (Auldey Toys)
Sky Viper HD Video Drone V950 (Skyrocket Toys)
VEX Robotics Robotic Arm (HEXBUG)

The Toy Insider's STEM 10
3D Maker (Tech 4 Kids)
Craft-struction Box (Goldieblox)
Design & Drill BrightWorks (Educational Insights)
Disney Imagicademy Mickey's Rocket Builder (KIDdesigns)
Kids First Aircraft Engineer (Thames & Kosmos)
MaKey MaKey Classic (JoyLabz)
Mighty Makers: Fun on the Ferris Wheel (K'NEX)
Remote Control Machines: Animals (Thames & Kosmos)
Super Copter (Laser Pegs)
VEX Robotics Hexcalator Ball Machine (HEXBUG)

For high-resolution product photography and broadcast-quality B-roll footage of The Toy Insider Hot 20, Top Tech 12 and STEM 10, as well as detailed product fact sheets and 2015 toy trends, click here. 

The Toy Insider full holiday gift guide will appear in the November issue of Woman's Day magazine, on newsstands in mid-October, and online at TheToyInsider.com.  Filled with more than 240 toys and gifts made by 110 different manufacturers, this year's guide is the biggest ever.  Parents and gift givers can easily search by child age (broken out into 0-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9+) and interest with the added assistance of a skills development key. 

The Toy Insider team of experts reviews toys 365 days a year.  When evaluating toys, the team considers play value, originality, skill building, product integrity and, of course, fun factor.

About The Toy Insider
The Toy Insider, the go-to source for toy and children's product information, publishes a holiday gift guide by age category annually in Woman's Day magazine, and is a trusted resource for parents both online and through social media all year long.  Its content is produced by an editorial team with more than 30 years of experience covering the children's products industry.  The Toy Insider is published by Adventure Publishing Group, publisher of leading trade publications The Toy Book, The Toy Report, The Licensing Book and Total Licensing Report.  For more information, visit TheToyInsider.com and keep up with The Toy Insider news on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

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SOURCE The Toy Insider