The Top 5 Toys of Christmas 2011
A learning tablet, a ninja line from Lego, a game with a portal, a rocking Elmo and some angry birds: five toys that the 2011 lists and awards agree on.
November 3, 2026 · ZABI LLC
Christmas 2011 sits at an interesting hinge in the story of toys. A children's tablet was winning the industry's top award, a phone game was turning into a board game, and yet the Toys R Us list that autumn still held a disc-firing blaster and a radio-controlled flying fish. Toys were learning to live with screens without giving up the floor.
What follows is a look back at five that the lists, the retailers and the trade awards that season pointed towards. If your child was small in 2011, some of these will bring back a very specific cupboard. If you are a grandparent, they may explain a few things.
The five
Documented on: 2012 Toy of the Year awards (overall Toy of the Year); Toys R Us 2011 list; Business Insider
LeapPad Explorer
The LeapPad Explorer was LeapFrog's children's tablet, released in summer 2011. According to Wikipedia, it was the first LeapPad with a capacitive touch screen, and unlike a general-purpose tablet it ran only LeapFrog's own apps. It could also take photos and capture video.
It sat on the Toys R Us Fabulous 15 for 2011, and Business Insider named it the hard-to-find toy of the year. In February 2012 the Toy Industry Association gave it the overall Toy of the Year award, along with Educational Toy and Preschool Toy of the Year. Before buying one second-hand today, check that it powers up and charges, and ask whether the games the person wants are still available, since we could not confirm what is currently supported for this model.
Documented on: Toys R Us 2011 Fabulous 15
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
Skylanders was a new idea in October 2011, when Activision released the first game in North America. Players placed real figures on a reader called the Portal of Power, and a chip in each figure told the game which character was in play, storing its level and upgrades, so the figure kept its progress when taken to another player's copy of the game.
It was on the Toys R Us Fabulous 15 that autumn. It is a toy that behaves partly like a game and partly like a collection. The practical check is the console: confirm the platform the starter set is for, because the figures are only useful with the matching game.
Documented on: 2012 Toy of the Year awards (Activity Toy); Toys R Us 2011 list; Hamleys top ten
LEGO Ninjago
Ninjago was a Lego line built around a world of its own: ninjas with elemental powers, a teacher named Master Wu and an animated series that premiered in January 2011, according to Wikipedia. The toys launched in early 2011, and Wikipedia adds that the line was first planned as a three-year run and was extended beyond it.
On the lists, a Lightning Dragon Battle set was on the Toys R Us Fabulous 15, the Fire Temple was in the Hamleys top ten, and the Fire Temple won Activity Toy of the Year at the February 2012 awards. As with any Lego set, check the age on the box and the piece count; the bigger temple sets are projects for an afternoon, and not a quick present.
Documented on: Toys R Us 2011 Fabulous 15; Hamleys top ten (as Rock on Elmo)
Sesame Street Let's Rock Elmo
Elmo came back for 2011 as a band member. CNBC described the Hasbro Let's Rock Elmo as a doll that plays guitar, drums, tambourine or keyboard and shares its instruments with the child playing alongside. Hamleys put what appears to be the same idea, Rock on Elmo, in its top ten for Christmas 2011, with a microphone, drums and a tambourine.
Elmo has form in this department: the earlier craze is told in our piece on Tickle Me Elmo. For a gift, the check is the usual one for a noisy toy: find out whether it has a volume control, and decide whether the household can live with it. A rock star Elmo is a lot of music for one living room.
Documented on: 2012 Toy of the Year awards (Game of the Year; Property of the Year for Angry Birds)
Angry Birds: Knock on Wood
The phone game came first. Angry Birds was made by the Finnish company Rovio and released in 2009, with the premise that flightless birds defend their eggs from green pigs. By 2011 it had moved from the screen to the table, and Mattel released a board game, Angry Birds: Knock on Wood, in May 2011, according to Wikipedia.
At the Toy Industry Association awards in February 2012 the Mattel game won Game of the Year and Angry Birds itself won Property of the Year. It is the sort of toy that tells you a lot about the year: a screen game that families wanted to put on the kitchen table. If you are buying a game of this kind, check that the pieces are complete, because a physical version with missing parts is a short game.
What the year tells us
It was the year when screens and toys began to share a shelf, and some of the ideas, like figures that talk to a console, became their own category. For the year after, see the top toys of 2012; and for the decade before it, the 2000s.
Sources
Where the facts in this post come from. Rankings and lists belong to the people who published them; the selection and the stories are ours.
- Dancing robots, flying fish: here come the hot holiday toys, CNBC (Christina Cheddar Berk), 20 September 2011 — The Toys R Us Fabulous 15 for 2011, including LeapPad Explorer, Skylanders, Ninjago, Let's Rock Elmo
- Hamleys reveals top 10 toys for Christmas 2011, MadeForMums — Hamleys top ten: Rock on Elmo, LEGO Ninjago Fire Temple
- Top toy and game awards presented by toy industry, Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 13 February 2012 — 2012 Toy of the Year winners (ceremony 11 February 2012)
- The hardest-to-find toys each holiday season since 1983, Business Insider (via Yahoo Finance) — LeapPad Explorer as the 2011 pick
- LeapPad, Wikipedia — LeapPad Explorer release, touch screen, LeapFrog-only apps
- Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, Wikipedia — October 2011 release; Portal of Power and figure chips
- Lego Ninjago, Wikipedia — Concept, 2011 launch, series premiere, planned three-year run
- Angry Birds, Wikipedia — Rovio, 2009 launch, premise, Mattel board game in May 2011