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)

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.

Today Show/ toyportfolio.com Platinum Award Toy Segment

Right before we went on air, our 4 minute segment became 3.5 minutes–that’s right–to talk about over 15 great Platinum Award winning products! We also had kids on the plaza (bundled up) that were really into playing with the Castle of Courage from Step 2, the Arena from Playmobil, and the Candy Land Castle Game from Hasbro. Al Roker is always fun to do segments with - and I usually like doing segments outdoors because the crowds are there - giving that extra energy that you don’t get if you’re in the studio. The downside? The wind today was kicking up. So right before we were about to go on live, I turned sideways and all of my hair got caught in my lip gloss. Not the best look. But more important than my hair was that the Havoc Heli RC helicopters from Spinmaster couldn’t fly - too much wind for these really cool tiny helicopters that are meant for indoor use or a very calm day. Thankfully the big K’nex Double Ferris wheel did not fall over! It looked iffy there for a moment too. Of course I could really talk about any one of these products for 3.5 minutes–so it’s always hard to decide what the sound bite will be for each–and I didn’t want to skip any–so it was full steam ahead. If you want more info about these award winning products, you’ll find a lot more on our website at www.toyportfolio.com and we also have posted a calmer discussion of some of our award winners on www.youtube.com. The best sign of a successful segment, the kids didn’t want to stop playing with the toys after the segment was over!