Trends from Toyland: EyeClops BioniCam

One of my favorite toys last year was Jakks Pacific’s EyeClops, a magnifier that you can hook up to your tv and see anything really up close (your skin, the rug, anything that you can reach or bring to the EyeClops).  Seeing your skin that blown up is really, really interesting (and delightfully gross).  Everyone wanted to play with this product when we tested it.

This year the company is bringing out Eye Clops BioniCam that allows you to move around and capture images at 100x, 200x or 400x magnification.  You can record the images and  view them on the color LCD screen.  Best yet, you  can then take them back to your television or computer and look at the images on a larger screen.  When hooked up to the computer you can print or email your discoveries.  Fun for science projects! (Yes this is another USB opportunity!)  The suggested age range is 6 & up–but I think it will be most enjoyed by the 9 & up crowd.  Suggested retail is $79.99.

We look forward to testing this one!

Anniversaries in Toyland

The toys we played with as kids also help define which generation we belong to– they become cultural touchstones. (I knew I was getting a little bit older when the several pr folks told me about their own Cabbage Patch Dolls and My First Ponys.)You may be interested to know that some of  the toys many of us enjoyed as kids, are hitting significant milestones:Lego - 50 yearsCabbage Patch- 25 yearsMy Little Pony - 25 yearsHot Wheels- 40 yearsEasy-Bake Oven- 45 yearsScrabble - 60 yearsTrivial Pursuit- 25 yearsHard to imagine a time when there wasn’t Scrabble!

LEGO joins companies complying with new safety requirements

We’re delighted to announce that LEGO has sent in safety verification forms for the products that had been awarded Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Awards for 2008. They include:

Hogwarts Castle, Ultimate Lego Duplo Building Set, A World of LEGO Mosaics, Monster Dino, Tiny Turbos, Tiger Shark Attack, Aquabase Invasion, King’s Castle Siege and Fire Station.

The form asks that companies verify that their products are lead free (surface coated and embedded) and phthalates free.

So far the companies complying with our new Safety Requirements are a very exclusive club of three:

Edushape, Publication International and Lego.

For more information about our new protocol please visit our website, www.toyportfolio.com.

Edushape Verifies Lead Free Status

I’m happy to report that we just received verification forms from Edushape certifying that their products are lead free. The products that were submitted have won awards from us in the past: Wood-Like Soft Blocks, Kiddy Connects (last year’s Platinum Award winner), Mini Edublocks, Rollipop Stacker, and Caterpillar Race Game. We’re delighted that Edushape has filled out all the forms–especially since these are many of our favorite products for toddlers and preschoolers. Bravo!

Number of Companies Complying with New Safety Requirements: 2 (Publication International and Edushape)

Our new safety protocol is on our website at www.toyportfolio.com.

Toys on a Budget/ Great toys under $10

Every year we try to stress that you don’t need to spend a fortune to bring home a great toy.  Here’s the list of best toys under $10 (note: with the exception of the rattles and the mini automoblox these products were not tested for lead by our organization):

Amazing Baby Teether Mirror Rattle (Kids Preferred)
Bendy Beeper Rattle (Sassy)
Crayola Color Wonder Paper & Markers (Crayola)
Gertie Balls (Small World Toys)
Hats Off! (Gamewright)
Highway Riggz Trucks (Little Tikes)
Imaginetics (International Playthings)
Mini Automoblox (Automoblox)
Pin the Fairy on the Flower Game (eeBoo)
Puzzles (Lauri/Ravensburger)
Sassy Baby’s French Horn (Sassy)
Scratch Magic Sets (Scratch Art)
Works of Ahhh Animals (Balitono)

Dominoes with a Twist, literally

One of my favorite games to play with my grandma as a kid was dominoes. They came in a really neat leather blue case with a real buckle closure. Being old enough to open the case made me feel very grown up (at 5). it was our game–and unlike my other grandma, she would let me win. Probably why I loved playing dominoes. Being the youngest of three kids, I also liked playing dominoes because my brothers were not interested–so it became what we did, sans older, more competitive siblings. When our family home was hit by lightning (and destroyed)– one of the brighter moments was finding that blue case (untouched by the fire/water damage).

This is a long intro about why I really love the new Bendomino set from Blue Orange Games. How could you improve on a classic like dominoes? These dominoes are “bent” in the middle — making the game just a bit more challenging, but not so far off from the original to be disconcerting. When we played this game at a game testing day we discovered that perhaps my grandmother also made playing the game a bit easier by allowing the “blank” space to be a wild card. Other adults we played with disagreed. I haven’t found an answer to this “wild” domino question.

Bendominos comes in a sturdy red tin and for $15.95 this is nice toy that will be enjoyed for a long time. For other great games to share, visit our website.

Beatles Music in the Nursery

One of the late arrivals to our office this year turned out to be one of our favorites! Rich Frog has a new collection of musical toys called Mommy & Me ($18.95). Each animal pair plays a different Beatles tune (Yellow Submarine, Imagine (ok, so not technically a Beatles tune but you get the idea), And I Love Her and Here Comes the Sun). After spending weeks listening (and rejecting) the electronic noise that has become “baby music” on most mobiles and musical toys–these were such a treat. The music sounds like an old fashion music box. Very old fashion and well designed. For other top-rated infant toys visit our Platinum List.

Thanks for the calls/ No new Oppenheim Toy Portfolio for this year

We are getting lots of calls and emails from folks looking for our 2008 book. As we let people know on our website a few weeks ago, we have decided not to publish our book this year because of the lead safety issues. I have a feeling that a lot of the people calling in may not visit the website–so this may not be the best way to get the word out either. We’re hoping that the list on the website of Lead-Free* Platinum Award winning toys will be helpful this holiday season. In the meantime, please check out our Read It! Play It! series that focuses on fostering a love a reading with a great reading list for each age group and related (fun) activities that extend the book experience. The Read It! Play It! with Babies and Toddlers is now available in Spanish.

Are you listening? / Diggity Dog

One of our favorite games this year has to do with listening. Diggity Dog (International Playthings $19.99) asks players to listen to the number of times the big electronic dog barks - and then the player must move his game piece that many times. When you land on the space, your magnetized dog picks up a bone. If the color on the bone matches your dog, you keep the bone in your dog house. One of our parent testers loved that kids really had to concentrate and listen. The games involves simple counting and color concepts. The kids loved the sound effects! A good choice for kids 3 & up. For other award winning games visit www.toyportfolio.com.

Gender Free Toys: Do they exist?

Sometimes it feels that for some reason, some group of toy makers, somewhere have determined that girls can only play with pink toys. A new innovative toy is introduced and within one season, there’s always a new “pink” version. Even great classic toys like Monopoly and Twister are now pink-a-fied. Perhaps it’s my formative years in the 70s women’s movement, but why must it be pink? Several years ago when scientific studies indicated that playing with building blocks developed important visual perception skills that helped kids achieve higher math scores — toy makers responded with building kits for girls (a good thing)–pink and lavender (unfortunately), and the themes: build a mall, a stable or a cottage (even more upsetting).

I have nothing against pink. Ok, as a kid I did. Much to the dismay of my mother, I really preferred the Hot Wheels tracks that my brothers played with to the dream dollhouse she bought me (that stood without a homemaker for most of my childhood). I have since apologized for not really getting into the whole “doll” thing either. My worst playdate — being sent to a house where the effusively pink bedroom was chockful of huggables and dolls — both sisters were very excited to play dolls. I never went back. They were well meaning, but it just wasn’t my thing.

As a professional toy reviewer (and mother of two boys), I quickly saw that there was also a problem on the other side of the equation. Boys tend to get two types of presents: things that move and things to build- that’s pretty much it. When we first started toyportfolio.com, a mother was surprised that I suggested a toy kitchen for her son. “Do you want him to grow up and feel comfortable in a kitchen?” I asked. This is where it starts. When my younger son and his friend took their dolls (yes, both my sons loved huggables and dolls) in their strollers to the park, an adult commented loud enough for everyone to hear “only in Greenwich Village”. He then asked the boys (almost three years old) what they were doing. “We’re playing daddys” they both chimed. It was one of my proudest parenting moments. They parked their “babies” and ran off to play on the climbing equipment.

Throughout the years we have kept track of what we call the GenderAgenda in Toyland. Our annual book has a gender-free list of toys and products that bend the gender agenda. We applaud toy kitchen makers like Step 2, Little Tikes and Small World Toys–that have broken away from the stereotypical pink kitchen.

So what can you do?

Buy building sets for your daughter - the more open-ended the better!

Buy a gender free ride-on (they also have the added advantage of being enjoyed by younger siblings no matter what their gender).

Buy your son some dishes and a toy kitchen. Your future daughter-in-law will love you for it.

Buy board games for both - playing games enforces not only reading, math and language skills- it’s an important way of introducing negotiating skills - something we all need!

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Since we didn’t publish our book this year, I thought I’d share our GenderAgenda list with the caveat that with the exception of the Cat In The Hat Game and the Kidizoom Camera, we did not test any of these toys for lead.

ActiviTot Developmental Mat (Tiny Love)
Amazing Baby Sound Balls (Kids Preferred)
Cosmic Catch (Hasbro)
Go Baby Go Stride to Ride Lion (Fisher-Price)
Hyper Dash (Wild Planet)
Cat in the Hat! I Can Do That! (I Can Do That!)
Kidizoom Camera (VTech)
Kitchen Appliances (various makers)
Retro Rocket (Radio Flyer)
Trikke 5 (Trikke Tech)
Word Whammer Fridge Phonics (LeapFrog)
Ultimate Lego Duplo Set (Lego Systems)