Wooden Trains…an interesting twist from Plan Toys

It’s really unfortunate that wooden trains have taken such a hit this past year. Wooden trains are one of our favorite play experiences for preschoolers. Putting down tracks is really an open-ended puzzle (hence our recommendation to stay clear of play tables that recommend gluing down tracks). If you’ve ever watched a preschooler work at the process of putting the tracks down, you can almost sense the brain power involved. I’ve also discovered that somewhere around four, most kids are far better at figuring out the tracks than their parents!

Since Brio was acquired by K’nex, the train line has taken a back seat to their core business. Sure there were a couple of new add-ons shown at toy fair, but I miss the “lines” of trains that had interesting themes. Having covered wooden train sets for over seventeen years (how many people can say that?), it’s sad to see how the line has diminished. The lead issue also rocked the world of parents who believed that they were bringing home heirlooms to their kids when they bought pricey bridges and sets from Learning Curve’s Thomas the Tank Engine line.  The bridges, stations, and other accessories are always great from this line. It will be interesting to see if they can regain the trust of parents.

So you can imagine that we were pretty happy to see Plan Toys new Road and Rail set. The handsomely designed station also converts into the storage box for the whole set (pretty neat). We look forward to testing this set. Plan Toys had a number of sleekly designed wooden play settings (garage, airport, etc.) that have that level of design you won’t mind having out in your home. The company also reports that they are phthalates and lead free. We look forward to testing these sets when they’re ready.

Trends in Toyland: K’NEX and Sesame Street

K’NEX is going to launch a new line of preschool sets that feature Sesame Street characters. Unlike traditional K’nex sets, these include more building “bricks” (you know like the other guys) - that will make the sets easier for young builders. They look like fun–we’ll look forward to trying them with our testers.

Trends From Toyland: Step 2’s Gender Free Kitchens & Retro Diner

Step 2 is continuing their wonderful line of gender free kitchens.  To their credit these kitchens also have some sound effects–but not overly intrusive bossy instructions (an unfortunate trend in this category).  For the holidays, Step 2 will also have a new Retro Diner, complete with a cooking side and a two person “booth” side.  Both boys and girls will love this pretend setting.  The retro diner styling (complete with licks of red–our favorite) looks fresh and fun.  On the upside, the company is also phthalates free. The company is also working to address the issue with the Infantino toy line– a company they recently purchased.We were also delighted to report that the company took our concern over their small plastic hot dogs and french fries to heart. The hot dog is now in a bun (much larger) and the french fries are being combined so that they are also larger.  All good!    

Trends from Toyland: Sprig Toys

We got to meet with the folks from Sprig Toys, a new company that is scheduled to launch a line of action vehicles for the 4 & up crowd.  The vehicles will be chunky and rugged–nothing ground breaking in that department–but what is a huge departure is the method and technology that they will use.  The trucks will be made from re-purposed plastic and wood.  Literally made of saw dust–the vehicles have a strong green component, but not one the company feels is the key to their company–just their way of doing business.  Cool.

The action figures will plug into the vehicles via a USB port built into the vehicles and from there the vehicles can suggest “adventures” for the child to participate in.  From our point of view the directed play mode is not that important since we strongly believe that kids can generate their own adventures. It was clear that the folks from Sprig think so too–and therefore you can turn off the directed play mode.
The lights and sounds are generated by the motion of the vehicle (not batteries).  Also clever. The “electronic base” in each vehicle can also be removed for repair and perhaps, most importantly for smart recycling.  Much like a toner cartridge, you can take this component out of the vehicle and not just send it to the landfill.  All good.

We look forward to testing the vehicles out with kids.  The company is producing the products in Canada–no paint, no phthalates, no lead….They’re off to a very good start.

Trends from Toyland: Leapfrog’s TAG

For as many years as I’ve been covering toy fair with my mother, we have had certain gripes that continue from year to year.  One of them has finally been put to rest–thankfully.  Each year we are shown cutting edge technology that is going to teach our kids how to read.  You know the assortment of electronic books and other platforms that have plugged into tvs.  Our gripe: the books were usually poor in quality.  The selections usually include books written in-house by less than inspired authors or a wide selection of licensed characters.  “Where are the good books?”  “Real storybooks?”  we would whine (we own up to it) …. I’m sure at this point many a toy maker would even know what was going to come out our mouths since it was pretty much the same exchange every year.  Until now!

TAG is Leapfrog’s new interactive pen that reads, wait for it….wonderful new and classic storybooks.  The Little Engine That Could, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Olivia…are all part of the library that you can buy for TAG.  Here’s how it works, you buy the book ($13.99 per title) that has been formatted to work with the special TAG pen.  (The pen is $49.99 and comes with one book). You then download the audio off the Internet from the Leapfrog site. The pen can hold the audio for five different books at a time.  The pen can read the story “by the page” or by the word–depending on your child’s preference.  There are also some interactive games that are designed to build reading comprehension skills.  Plug the pen back into the computer and you can track how your child did on these exercises. The whole on-line track-how-your-kid-is-doing is part of the new Leapfrog site and works with many of their new and existing platforms.  Somehow all of this tracking makes me really tense, but I suppose there will be parents who will be into the accountability factor.

Of course none of this replaces reading with  your child–but this is certainly really cool.  We can’t wait to test this one. The product will be available in June.

And again, hats off to Leapfrog for spending the money on quality books.

Trends from Toyland: KOTA

Every year there is an animal that seems to dominate toy fair. Last year it was hard to find a toy that didn’t have a  penguin on it.  Dinosaurs never really leave toyland…they remain great props for dramatic play…but this year they have come back in a very updated way.  KOTA the Triceratop, from Hasbro ($300), is an oversized dino that your preschooler can even sit on.  Much like the company’s pony, Butterscotch, KOTA is sound and touch activated (there are 11 different touch points).  He will even roar, enjoy chomping on some leaves, and give your child a spring-action ride (he doesn’t move forward).  We look forward to testing him with our testers.

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.

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)