Germ fanfare: new OLogy toy line from AMNH wins Dr. Toy awards

It's not often that one earns bragging rights for spreading germs, but AMNH has done just that--by taking two top toy awards for fun kits in which children make glycerine-soap models of bacteria and viruses to learn about good microbes (think digestive agents) and harmful ones (salmonella and the common cold). The Germ Soap Kit is among 15 items in the brand-new OLogy line of educational toys, launched by the Museum in November as a complement to OLogy's award-winning interactive website for children.

Dr. Toy, one of the world's leading experts on children's products and an authority in the toy industry, named the OLogy Germ Soap Kit one of the "Top 10 Educational Toys of the Year" and counted it among the "Top 100 Best Children's Products for 2008." Each year, the Dr. Toy Awards recognize the best toys and children's products on the market based on affordability, design, and how well they capture children's interests to serve developmental and educational needs. Past winners have run the gamut from board games, dolls, and construction toys to computer programs, DVDs, and electronic puzzles, from such trusted manufacturers as Tonka, Fisher-Price, Scholastic, Hasbro, and many others.

To create OLogy's new toy line, the Museum's National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology, which oversees the OLogy website, teamed with a toy manufacturer and Museum scientists to develop toys that would engage and educate children while reflecting the Museum's scientific work. For example, OLogy offers dramatic wall art depicting fossils of Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Deinonychus, while the real things can be found on display in the Museum's famous fossil halls, which showcase specimens from the largest vertebrate fossil collection in the world. Likewise, the OLogy Stargazer kit allows budding astronomers to follow in the footsteps of the cutting-edge research on view at AMNH's Rose Center for Earth and Space, complete with binoculars, a map of the constellations, and other tools for studying the night sky.

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Even the award-winning OLogy Germ Soap Kit, which comes in "helpful" and "harmful" versions, underscores the Museum's preeminent scientific work. In April 2007, the Museum's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation brought together microbiologists and conservation practitioners from around the world for a symposium on the very subject of harmful versus helpful germs. Titled Small Matters: Microbes and Their Role in Conservation, the symposium turned a spotlight on those countless unseen organisms that are beneficial in sustaining human life and explored how conservation practices take them into account. Who knew that a simple, fun soap-making kit could pack such a relevant educational punch?

To learn more about OLogy--and see the full line of clever, learning-friendly OLogy toys and products for children-visit amnh.org/ology, or visit the AMNH Museum Shops.