One of the most interesting products that I saw at Toy Fair was Flipoutz, a collectible/tradeable/wearable/traceable medallion/jewelry thing. Obviously, I’m having a little difficulty coming up with a succinct name, so let me explain.

Flipoutz are 1 inch metal coins that are worn five-at-at-time in special rubber bracelets. So far, there are about 70 different coin designs with cute pictures and positive slogans aimed at tweens. But here’s the really interesting part… The coins are easily removed and are meant to be traded. Each has a unique serial number on the back. With that serial number, kids can go to the Flipoutz web site, register the coin, and then follow it as its traded around. This adds elements of social networking and exploration, and potentially allows kids to experience relationships between people from different places and backgrounds as the coins travel around.

Of course, this social networking aspect depends a lot on wide distribution. That’s still being worked on. The Flipoutz team is currently running a community design-a-coin contest and developing a treasure hunt game to emphasize the combination of physical trading and virtual networking.

Disclosure: I was so excited by the concept that I registered a few related internet domain names. Maybe a special Flipoutz blog is in the works.