ToyTrend 2025 - Healthy Heroes
Little heroes, big mission: staying fit for life through play
by Stefanie Jäger & Felix Baumeister, Spielwarenmesse eG
The vitamins in the little bags of apple slices face tough competition from the fries in children’s fast food meals. When playing Ludo, parents let their children win instead of helping them to learn how to lose gracefully. And when it’s thought kids might benefit from some active downtime, they're quickly handed an iPad – at least they can then control Nintendo’s Mario as he plays basketball. The Roman poet Juvenal already knew that for sound minds we need sound bodies. A harmonious, healthy body lays the foundations for mental strength and a sense of well-being. It’s important we share this insight with our children. The Healthy Heroes ToyTrend 2025 combines movement, mindfulness and healthy eating in a unique way, creating a holistic play experience that strengthens children’s bodies and minds. Through toys and play, the trend aims to impart to our children key skills and capabilities, such as self-confidence, resilience and healthy habits. The toys encourage physical activity while also fostering mental health and social interaction. The focus lies on supporting children through play and giving them the tools they need to stay strong, balanced and healthy.
For our over-scheduled and overstimulated children, it can really be challenging to find moments of peace. What if they had the help of a lovely little goat? Daisy, the yoga-goat from Just Play gets kids excited about yoga and relaxation techniques. In addition to modelling yoga poses, Daisy also plays calming music during workouts and guides kids through breathing exercises that support meditation. Making child’s play of relaxation – and best of all: parents can join in too!
The Build N' Balance Advanced Set, an innovative balancing system from Gonge, turns any space into an exciting and inviting obstacle course that furthers children’s motor skills through play. The various elements in the set can be combined in numerous ways to ensure new challenges every time – there are no limits to what can be created here! By providing opportunities for balancing, jumping and climbing, the set helps improve children’s coordination, balance and dexterity while also boosting their self-confidence.
Healthy and mindful eating is very important to many of us. But how can we get even our very young kids excited about fresh vegetables? By reaching for the winner of the German Toy Award 2024: Meine erste Farm (English: My First Farm) from Kosmos! With this lovingly designed set, German TV presenter Judith Rakers introduces children to the theme of gardening and gives them interesting insights in a playful and highly entertaining way. Günter the mole shares important information on plant growth and chickens offer anecdotes and fun games, while shared activities such as crafts and cooking delicious, gourmet recipes complete the play experience.
Children can find it very challenging to understand and express their emotions. This is exactly where the game Emotio from Atomo Games comes in, helping children to recognise, accept and talk about various feelings in a playful way. With this very sensitively designed game, they learn that every emotion has its place and it is perfectly fine to express what they’re feeling. But Emotio goes even further: the appealing characters also encourage children to think about things like equality and stereotypes. In addition to taking children on a journey through the world of emotions, this important tool helps tackle prejudice and promote acceptance. The game teaches children to better understand themselves and others.
About the author
Stefanie Jäger is Senior Marketing & Content Manager at Spielwarenmesse eG. She seeks out the hottest trends for the toy industry together with the international TrendCommittee and then works with the project managers to present them in special areas. The trends for 2025 include Healthy Heroes and Anime & Friends. For the Toy Business Forum, she has been at the forefront of trends with the movers and shakers in the toy industry, retailing and marketing for the past 15 years and more.
Healthy Heroes at the toy fair
With the ‘Healthy Heroes’ trend, children learn in a playful way what it means to live a healthy life. From active games and relaxation exercises to nutritional inspiration: Our trend helps children to strengthen their health and have lots of fun at the same time.
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