Colorado’s Sprig Toys wins award at international toy fair

Monday, February 15, 2010

Colorado’s Sprig Toys wins award at international toy fair

Denver Business Journal - by Mark Harden 
News Article

A product of Colorado’s Sprig Toys — “Captain Owen’s Dolphin Explorer Boat” — has been named “Specialty Toy of the Year” by the national Toy Industry Association.

Sprig founders Justin Discoe, Chris Clemmer and David Bowen accepted the award at a ceremony Saturday night in New York, where the association is holding the American International Toy Fair this week, a major trade show of toymakers.

Sprig, based in Fort Collins, makes paint- and battery-free toy vehicles and other playthings made from recycled wood and plastics. The toys’ lights and sounds come from kid-powered kinetic energy.

Other Sprig lines include the Eco-Trucks Dump Truck and the Dino Adventure Rig.

Last week, California’s Wham-O Inc., the maker of the Frisbee and the Hula Hoop, announced it had acquired Sprig. Sprig’s vehicles will now be sold under the new “Wham-O Jr.” brand. Sprig will continue its operations in Fort Collins under Wham-O’s wing as a toy-design shop.

Also in New York this week showing off their products are representatives of GeoPalz, a Boulder startup maker of pedometer-style activity trackers for children launched by the founders of Jibbitz, the decorative accessories for Crocs shoes. (DBJ report.)

And other Colorado toymakers are in New York as well, including representatives of Planet Ogie of Fort Collins and ImagiPLAY and Clementine Art, both of Boulder.

Zhu Zhu Pets, the popular line of fuzzy hamsters made by Cepia LLC, won several prizes at the New York fair, including Toy of the Year, Innovative Toy of the Year and Girl Toy of the Year.

Other winners, as reported by the trade journal Playthings:

• Game of the Year: University Games’ Sort It Out!

• Preschool Toy of the Year: A tie between Active People’s Bilibo and Playskool’s Tonka Chuck & Friend/Chuck My Talking Truck.

• Outdoor Toy of the Year: Radio Flyer’s My 1st Scooter.

• Infant Toy of the Year: Crayola’s Crayola Beginnings/Color Me A Song.

• Educational Toy of the Year: Lego’s Mindstorms NXT 2.0.

• Boy Toy of the Year: Spin Master’s Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Dragonoid.

• Electronic Entertainment Toy of the Year: Techno Source’s Rubik’s TouchCube.

• Activity Toy of the Year: Wild Planet’s Crayon Town.