Sad to report that the Monster Badminton set from International Playthings that I demonstrated with Al on the Today Show is not going forward. We loved the super large birdie…and equally large racquets. Oh well.
Monster Badminton…gone
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Author Archives: Stephanie
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Awards…
We started working on the award notifications this week…as more products keep pouring in. Still waiting for our safety verification form to be returned from several companies before we can finalize our list. We also got a walk through the new website–it’s going to be great!
Rubik's Cube…new site "www.youcandothecube.com"
The makers of Rubik’s Cube are aiming to help kids master the cube…and use that skill as a positive message for life. Having thrown my fair share of Rubik’s Cubes across the room as a kid….I could have used a little help! (My brother figured it out the first afternoon, put it down in front of me and said… “there, not so hard” and left the room. The site is www.youcandothecube.com. I’m still a big fan of the original…our testers did not like new 360 Edition…where you have a sphere to contend with…even our best brain teaser experts felt it wasn’t the same “skill” experience.
Spinmaster RC Air Hog Switchblade
The Spinmaster RC Air Hog Switchblade — has gotten a lot of buzz lately. It was featured on Letterman–where happily for the company and our friend Shannon…it worked on air–much to the delight of the audience (and Dave).
So we were eager to give this one a try. The results were decidedly mixed. If the Switchblade is fully charged, there is no wind–and you’re relatively skilled with these types of toys–it goes up and will fly–and it is extremely cool. Now here’s the down side–we could only get it to do what it’s supposed to do two or three times in the course of a full afternoon of testing. This is not a load it up, charge it, take out and fly it kind of toy — it requires much more finesse.
After having several teens try it with limited success — (they all really wanted it to work)…in come my two adult engineering friends (one designs drone helicopters and the other has a degree in nuclear engineering). Nothing like watching grown men get very excited about these types of toys. I shared the reports of the day—and they both were not satisfied. They were sure that they could get it to work. After about a half-hour of consulting –they both gave in and concurred with their younger counterparts. “Great idea, poor execution.” They then offered a much more detailed report about why it wasn’t working. (I love these guys. I remember when we first started toyportfolio.com, one dad (he worked for Dupont) sent back a ten page review of an Erector set with design modifications!)
One of my go to teen testers told me that he often reinforces the very lightweight material with some duck tape–so that crashes are less likely to do permanent damage to the toys. I thought that info was worth passing on–of course, he warned that if you don’t put it on the right way you can blow the whole aerodynamics of the toy. Of course!
So even though this toy can be fantastic…in the end, it can not sustain the wow factor.
Pick of the Day: Prime Time's Max Liquidator
The Max Liquidator from Prime Time Toys is great fun for the pool. Unlike many other water shooting type toys, the spray in this one is not as harsh–making it a safer choice. It also looks more like a water toy -rather than a plastic assault gun. I personally love the kickboard that has the mechanism built in…allowing you to surprise your kids when they think you’re just just floating around.
Sometimes rules are really hard…
Ok, so one of our rules about bath toys for kids is no squirters. Yes, yes…squirters are really fun. But here’s the thing–if you don’t get all of the water out of them…and your child has taken a bath, it can pose a a problem. (Maybe it’s a little OCD of us–but would you take a bath and then save some of the water, only to squirt it potentially in your mouth the next night?) I guess if you really washed them out-and made sure they’re really, really empty and completely dry…
As a result, we’ve passed on lots of fun bath toys…ALEX entices us every year with new sets of squirters…and one of Corolle’s lines of dolls also come with these squirters. We pass on them too. There is no government regulation–just our concern that used bathwater needs to go completely bye bye.
Which is why it completely pains us to pass on the new Gotz Maxy Aquini 16″ Bath Baby Doll. We love her sundress (really, I would wear it to the beach)…and her purple crocs are wonderfully hip. Because we can’t crawl in the box and implore you throw out the froggy squirter (he’s pretty cute too)..we can’t give this doll an award–otherwise she’d be a clear winner. Really–look at her feet!
Toy Safety: Small Parts in Toys Still a Concern
LEGO has been a consistent winner of our top Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award each year–often with multiple winners. This year will be no exception–except in one category.
When we were at Toy Fair in February we were really excited to see a renewed commitment to the DUPLO line–designed for kids 2 & up. There were Fire Stations, Trucks, Zoos…all great fun and we knew our preschool testers would love giving them a try.
Each set has arrived and while they are wonderful for 3s & up, we are concerned about the size of some of the pieces in these sets for kids under three. While most of the pieces are big and chunky, we found one or two pieces that caused concern. Let us be clear, all of the pieces meet current government guidelines. Each of the pieces in question (see images below) extend outside of the “choke tube” and therefore are completely legal. We wondered though–why make these pieces so close? The CPSC recommends that parents use a toilet paper roller as a home test…all of these pieces fail under this test.
So we asked the team at LEGO whether there was a design or developmental advantage to having two year olds handle such small pieces and why the pieces were so close to the edge. Here is their response:
Thanks for your question about the DUPLO Zoo* item and some of the accessories it includes. As you know, all LEGO products are rigorously tested and meet or exceed all safety regulations in the more than 130 countries where the products are sold. Because the safety of children is our primary concern, we also have our own safety and testing standards that we layer on top of the regulated requirements.
We always make effort to have play imitate life, so the size of the suitcase is proportionate to the DUPLO figure. We would not include an accessory that could potentially cause harm to a child or that does not pass the CPSC standard for small parts and age grading as regulated by the official choke tube test. The accessory does not fit completely into the choke tube and use and abuse testing reveals that it also does not break into small parts that will fit completely in the tube. While we understand the “home” test potential of the toilet paper tube, it is not a regulated means by which to measure safety as it has no bottom to mimic a real-life scenario.
*Since we asked this question about the DUPLO Zoo, we have received several other set that raise similar issues for us.
While we appreciate that the idea of scale is important–we’d side on the up-scaling or eliminating these items for this age range. The working light piece on the top of the truck (one of the coolest aspects of the garbage truck–and also in the fire station set) could have been attached to a bigger piece, the fireman’s ax could be attached to his hand, the same with the pitchfork…you get the idea. The flower and the fish…just look so inviting.
All of these products would have been Platinum Award contenders if not for these small pieces. We do recommend them for preschoolers–but unfortunately we don’t feel comfortable with the existing age label. If you buy one of these sets and you have a child under three or a child who still mouths his toys…remove those pieces that concern you and you’ll be left with a engaging product.
We hope LEGO will remodel these “close” pieces. Last year, after our concern over STEP 2’s hot dogs (that came with some of their kitchens)…the hot dogs were redesigned…so that the hot dog is now encased in a bun–making it a much wider and safer prop for play.
Below are some of the pieces, in our opinion, that are unnecessarily too close for comfort. Again–completely within the law, but we see no reason for them to be this size.
Best Bubble Toys
As we’re wading through all of the new toys that will be vying for your toy dollar come December, I was just thinking how much fun blowing bubbles can be. I’m not sure why I keep focusing on bubbles, but for the past few days, I’ve really wanted to play with some bubbles.
When you’re really little there’s the excitement of watching bubbles being blown by others and chasing them down–and as you get a bit older there’s the ultimate satisfaction of making your own bubbles. Now I find it really pleasing because it is such a pure play experience-no batteries, no instructions…you’re good to go. Come to think of it, that’s probably why it’s on my mind so much–many of the toys we’ve been looking at this week are very high tech. Not that there’s anything wrong with high tech toys–but none of them deliver what bubbles do. You make something so beautiful and then, in a matter of moments, watch it as it floats away….lovely really.
I loved the pink and blue plastic jars of bubbles –with the wand. Remember those? The way the bubble solution always found it’s way to my hands…it was just fun- unless of course I knocked it over…and then there were tears! The picture below is from one of my birthday parties (my brother James is on the left). That is not me in the background, but I do remember that ride-on.
For this new generation, bubbles are a whole new experience–thanks in large part to the folks at Little Kids–the inventors of the No Spill Bubble Tumbler…no more tears from an accidential spill. No more sticky fingers from trying to get the wand out of the solution.
They have them now in all sizes–the little ones make great party favors!
Now for super big bubbles–I’m a huge fan of the BeeBoo Big Bubble Mix Kit from Extreme Bubbles, Inc. You can watch my demo on the TODAY SHOW last year. I’ve also noticed that it doesn’t matter how old people are–they love trying this toy out. Even my most reserved teen age (and mostly retired) toy testers love this product.
Baby Chicks…thoughts?
We just got a game where each player sits on their seven eggs…literally you sit on the egg cards. Each player takes a turn rolling the dice–to see which kind of chick has been hatched…yellow, white or red. Each player then removed a piece from under them and if it matches they place the egg on their nest in front of them. One of my problems is tha the red chick really isn’t too red…but we’re all sitting here wondering if we really want to be sitting on eggs?
A long day playing with toys…
As we all enjoy summer, there are so many people working on the 2009 Holiday Season. As toy reviewers, we are in that group–and when we used to do the annual book, we were always a year ahead. Our annual book was always designed for the next year—so at any given point in time, I had great confusion as to which year we were actually in. I told my kids that if I ended up in a ER someplace and was being given an exam that included naming the date…please don’t have them be alarmed if I was off a bit. (Morbid…a little I guess.)
I have to say our new web-based system (new and improved website coming for fall)…has improved our general spirits here considerably. For the 15 years we did the book, we had to be done writing by July 4th- no joke or we wouldn’t make the printer deadline. The next week would be filled with the copy-editor’s notes and then a round of inserts for toys that arrived just in time. We reserved space and copy for things we thought would be terrific…and then adjust them accordingly before we went to print. The last book we did never saw the light of day due to the lead issues. Painful that we did all of that work – it was a good edition.
The web has allowed us to write longer reviews and to be less concerned about hard and fast dates.
The lack of such an extreme deadline has also meant that my mother and I no longer have our annual June fight–where we’d start arguing over some book or some toy…that of course had nothing to do with any specific product but just the tension of getting a book out with so many details that had to be fact-checked. Our working relationship has been one of the treasured experiences of my adult life. We still laugh when a really ridiculous product comes across our desk–and we still marvel at a toy that seems to get it just right.