16 February 2015

New York – VTech (www.vtechkids.com), a world leader in age-appropriate and developmental stage-based electronic learning products for children, today announced the expansion of its award-winning, educational Baby, Infant and Preschool lines. In 2014, VTech's Infant and Preschool products received a dozen esteemed awards, such as the Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Awards and FamilyFun: T.O.Y. Awards, demonstrating the strength of the line and providing the inspiration for a successful portfolio for 2015. Additionally, VTech has continued the growth of its online Milestones resource, specifically created to help parents select toys based on the individual needs of children from birth to nine years old. Nearly 30 new products are on display at the 2015 North American International Toy Fair^®, rounding out VTech's extensive collection to more than 100 innovative learning products that enrich children's development.

"These new learning products were created to help meet each child's individual needs while our online Milestones resource was created to simplify the toy selection process for parents," said William To, President, VTech Electronics North America. "Milestones offers guidance from our educational experts, so parents seeking specific VTech products to assist their children in the development of new skills have all the information they need right at their fingertips."

The new Baby, Infant and Preschool lines feature bright colors, cute characters, flashing lights and fun sounds and songs while delivering the developmental benefits appropriate for each child's age and stage. The Sit-to-Stand Ultimate Alphabet Train™ is an engrossing grow-with-me toy packed with features that promote language development, build fine motor skills, support role-play fun and more. The adorable Spin & Learn Ball Tower™ will keep little hands busy as they drop balls into the tower, turn the knob and press buttons for learning fun. Little learners will be entertained and inspired as they build their vocabulary, learn about counting and explore their creativity with the Write & Learn Creative Center™, Count & Learn Alphabet Bus™ and Spinning Lights Learning Hippo™.

VTech's Expert Panel provides critical insight into the development of its learning products. These experts specialize not only in the critical subject areas that are important for instilling a lifetime love of learning such as reading, language arts, math and science, but the broader spectrum of childhood development.

Since each child grows at a different pace mentally, emotionally and physically, and has different needs as they grow through various life stages, insight from these developmental and education experts allows VTech to provide parents with guidelines and recommendations to help them make informed choices. VTech's Milestones resource is compiled of an expansive recommendation of toys that are appropriate for a child's particular age and stage and to accompany them as they continue to grow and reach new developmental milestones.

The expert-endorsed recommendations, available at www.vtechkids.com/milestones, were developed in collaboration with Dr. Lise Eliot, early brain development expert and member of VTech's Expert Panel. New introductions to the Milestones resource include the Chomp & Count Dino™, Roll & Surprise Animal Train™ and Lil' Critters Play & Dream Musical Piano™, a trio of products designed to focus on three key areas of development: language and cognitive development, physical and motor development and social and emotional development.

"VTech's Milestones is an invaluable resource that helps parents select appropriate toys based on their child's needs and track their child's progress as they develop and hone new skills," said Dr. Eliot. "These products serve as a springboard to learning and are highly recommended for parents during the most crucial time of development in a child's life."

VTech has worked closely with Dr. Eliot for five years to ensure that all Baby, Infant and Preschool products deliver against at least one, if not all, of the following categories that are essential for the development of young children: language and cognitive development, social and emotional development, and physical and motor development.

A selection of new introductions to the Baby, Infant and Preschool lines that exemplify the stage-based recommendations found in the Milestones resource include:

Baby

Lil' Critters Soothing Starlight Hippo™

Sweet dreams are ahead with the Lil' Critters Soothing Starlight Hippo by VTech. This adorable hippo projects a vibrant starry night sky onto the ceiling to the sounds of 60 peaceful tunes, seven nursery rhymes, 30 sounds and three sung lullabies. Colorful light effects enhance visual awareness, while the comforting sounds and songs help soothe babies to sleep. This helpful hippo also responds to your baby's cries with calming music. Sleep tight, little one! Ages birth and up, MSRP: US$24.99.

Lil' Critters Roll & Discover Ball™

It's a circus of fun with the Lil' Critters Roll & Discover Ball. Little ones can toss, shake, roll, and crawl after this bright ball to hear more than 50 cheerful melodies, phrases and sounds while strengthening their motor skills. Six playful animal characters and a variety of soft textures will capture children's attention and encourage exploration, and pressing the big star button introduces numbers and animals. This soft ball has loads of entertainment for active babies, all rolled up into one toy. Ages 6 months+, MSRP: US$14.99.

Lil' Critters Spin & Discover Ferris Wheel™

Spin the wheel of fun with the Lil' Critters Spin & Discover Ferris Wheel! This unique toy attracts baby's attention with its three cheerful animals, flashing stars, friendly voice and happy music. A suction cup conveniently holds the toy in place on high chairs and other surfaces while children spin the wheel to hear more than 40 fun sounds, phrases, cheerful melodies and songs, all while strengthening their motor skills. Five sing-along songs encourage first words, and cute animal buttons teach numbers, colors and animals. Babies will have lots of fun as they spin and learn. Ages 6 months+, MSRP: US$12.99.

Lil' Critters Moosical Beads™

Cuddle and learn with the Lil' Critters Moosical Beads. Press the light-up buttons or spin the square bead to hear playful phrases and three sing-along songs that teach shapes, colors, numbers and letters. His plush body features different fabric textures to develop tactile awareness, and the easy-to-grasp ring strengthens motor skills. Little ones will have a moosical good time. Ages Birth+, MSRP: US$12.99.

Infant

Sit-to-Stand Ultimate Alphabet Train™

Hop aboard the Sit-to-Stand Ultimate Alphabet Train and play ten activities while learning letters, numbers, colors and more. The train helps build motor skills with six manipulative features including a storybook, clock, gears and 13 double-sided letter blocks that little ones can plug into the side of the train to learn letters and build their vocabulary. The train also recognizes the blocks when they're dropped down the chute. For role-play fun, pick up the walkie-talkie and press the number buttons to pretend to talk to animal friends. The Ultimate Alphabet Train is designed to grow with children and can be used for floor play or as a ride on and transforms into a walker. When little conductors get older, the caboose converts into a wagon they can fill with toys and pull along to develop gross motor skills. Take a ride on the learning express with this ultimate alphabet train! Ages 12-36 months, MSRP: US$49.99.

Spin & Learn Ball Tower™

There's a lot to explore with the Spin & Learn Ball Tower. Colored balls spin, slide and take a ride to teach children about numbers and colors. Drop the balls into the top of the tower and listen as it counts or says their color. Kids can then turn the knob to spin the balls and watch them spiral down the track. This interactive ball tower attracts and keeps children's attention with more than 100 songs, melodies, sounds and phrases. Plus, four light-up buttons teach little learners insects, colors and numbers with six manipulative play features enhance fine motor skills. Ages 9-36 months, MSRP: US$29.99.

Preschool

Write & Learn Creative Center™

Inspire creativity and learning fun with the Write & Learn Creative Center. This interactive board teaches kids how to write letters and draw objects step-by-step. Animated demonstrations help preschoolers follow along to learn proper stroke order for upper and lower case letters. It even teaches them how to write their name one letter at a time, stroke by stroke. Drawing activities teach little artists how to progress from lines to simple shapes and how to draw more than 40 different objects. With more than 70 cheerful melodies and sounds, stamps and stencils, learning to write and draw is tons of fun! Ages 3 to 6, MSRP: US$24.99.

Count & Learn Alphabet Bus™

The interactive Count & Learn Alphabet Bus will take children on a fun learning adventure. Kids can place each of 36 blocks into the school bus and hear it respond with letters, phonics, numbers and colors. Parents can even personalize this friendly bus to recognize their child's age and the first letter of their name. Fun games keep little learners entertained as they learn about letters, counting, everyday words and more. They'll also enjoy a musical journey with more than 20 melodies, and the motion sensor triggers more than 40 fun sounds and melodies as the bus is pushed along. The learning on the bus goes on and on! Ages 2 to 5, MSRP: US$19.99 each.

Spinning Lights Learning Hippo™

Have a blast with the Spinning Lights Learning Hippo! This first vocabulary builder uses moving lights with each of six fun activities for language development. Kids can spin the lights around the alphabet circle to learn about letters, phonics, objects, animals and more. Preschoolers will learn their ABCs as they sing and watch the lights move along to the Alphabet Song. In music mode, they can move the rolling ball to add five fun sound effects to 26 cheerful melodies. This happy hippo and his adorable bird friend also teach kids to count to ten and features a fun quiz game. Take a spin with this learning hippo for tons of fun! Ages 1½ to 4, MSRP: US$19.99.

About VTech

VTech is a world leader in age-appropriate and developmental stage-based electronic learning products for children. As a pioneer in the learning toy category, VTech develops high-quality, innovative educational products that enrich children's development and make learning fun. With a rich, almost 35 year history, VTech has not only established itself as a learning authority but also consistently remains at the forefront of innovation with award-winning products such as the InnoTab^® 3S Wi-Fi Learning Tablet, one of the first children's learning-based tablets with Wi-Fi, MobiGo^®, V.Reader^® and V.Smile^®. The Learning Lodge™, VTech's comprehensive app store, features a robust library of more than 800 educational and entertaining games, e-Books, music and videos with engaging age-appropriate content across the widest variety of curricula, with content expanding to offer even more titles. The company also has a broad range of award-winning infant and preschool products available in 24 different languages worldwide, with more than 100 new products introduced every year. In order to further strengthen VTech's position as a learning authority, the company's Expert Panel, with esteemed experts in reading, language arts, science, math, and child development, consult on new product introductions and Learning Lodge content.

VTech Electronics North America, LLC is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. VTech Electronics Limited is headquartered in Hong Kong with distribution globally. VTech is the largest supplier of ELPs from infancy to preschool in the US and Western Europe.

For more information on VTech's additional product lines, visit www.VTechKids.com, www.facebook.com/VTechtoys on Facebook or follow @VTechToys on Twitter.