Playing Circus

Manhattan Toy, famous for such bestselling classics as the Whoozit and Groovy Girls, has just released a line of toys inspired by Cirque du Soleil. As you might expect, they are colorful, whimsical, bizarrely named and, in some cases, wired to bend with seemingly infinite flexibility.

At first glance, I wasn’t swept off my feet by the creativity of the designs. Many of the infant products seem to be siblings of the Whoozit line, just recolored. For toddlers and preschoolers, there is a nice pull toy (Ooble Monstwin) and a nifty balancing act (Ballencio), but we were surprised to see that these are rated for 3 years and up. Not to imply that a 3-year-old wouldn’t enjoy these, but most pull toys are designed for one-year-olds… So maybe this line will have an uphill battle. But I was intrigued enough to try a few of my favorites in the store. We’ll see what happens.

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