Groovy Girl Kitchen....
...and plates
Manhattan Toy’s award-winning line of Groovy Girls has been expanding into other realms of pretend play. Last year they introduced costumes (on our Platinum List). We look forward to testing their first kitchen and dishes.
The new Sing-a-ma-jigs from Fisher-Price
I loved Sing-a-ma-jigs when I first saw them last year at Toy Fair. To me they look like claymation characters with their little round mouths and big eyes.
Wallace and Gromit
I love that they are able to sing (and even harmonize) together. This year– the new versions come with a little mini-me attached the larger doll. They sing together. The upside, you don’t need to buy two dolls to have them harmonize. I’m not sure I love the mini-me aspect. The smaller doll cannot be removed and somehow the smaller animal looks slighter meaner than the bigger doe-eyed larger being. Kind of reminds me of the character Masterblaster from Mad Max.
To watch a video of the new dolls, click here.
For video of past videos, click here.
Masterblaster from Mad Max
A few years ago toy land got really dirty. I’m not talking about toys that are in poor taste, but real dirt. Gone were all the classic clean-up toys. Our favorite – the vacuum cleaner was from Fisher-Price that had a light (friction activated) and little tiny balls (dirt). I can go on at great length as to why this was the perfect toy vacuum cleaner…no batteries required, cause and effect, pleasing without being too noisy, etc….but someone, somewhere decided to do away with this little marvel. This year we saw a renewed commitment to housekeeping! Interestingly, we saw many a toy iron. This one is a new setting from Step 2.
New Cleaning Station from Step 2
Today’s toddlers and preschoolers have a new addiction. Forget the boob tube and those pesky videos – now we’re talking about little fingers that are incredibly adept at navigating APPS on your pricey iPad and/or iPhone.
What’s a toy maker to do? How can they compete with such amazing graphics?
Wasn’t it bad enough that video games have rob them of the tween market?
Here’s the industry response to date…
1. The “Can’t beat them, join them” approach. It seems like everyone has an APP for your child. Barbie, Leapfrog, Hot Wheels, Thinkfun….everywhere we went at Toy Fair…there was an APP we needed to “let our readers know about.” (Except of course for the dizzying number of embargo dates). And yes, we will have to start taking a closer look at all of these toy related APPs. I haven’t gotten to play with it yet, but I do have to say that the Barbie Fashionista APP–looked really appealing (this coming from someone who really didn’t play with Barbies).
Barbie's Fashionista APP
2. “This is not your father’s iPad” – really. Toy makers are rolling out there own versions of iPad inspired tablets for your child. LeapFrog and VTech will go head to head with their platforms. Are they cheaper? Yes. Will your child be satisfied? Maybe. As with any of these toys, they just don’t have the sizzle of the real thing (which is why toy companies are hedging their bets with approach #1.) We will have to take a look at each of these products to review the content (remember that?) and whether the interface is pleasing. I have a sense that if your toddler or preschooler is already schooled in your gadgets, this is going to be a hard transition. On the other hand, if you start here–you may get to play with your gadget without the constant refrain of “my turn!”
Vying for attention (all to be released later this year):
LeapFrog Explorer Tablet
LeapPad Explorer Tablet (LeapFrog)- Promises to come with a 5″ screen and leverages the library of games and content from this educational toy company. It will also come with a built in camera. Suggested retail will be $99.99.
VTECH InnoPad
InnoPad (VTech) -Also features a 5″ touch screen, promises educational games, ebooks, USB port, a headphone jack. Suggested retail will be $79.99.
We’ll have to take a look. Sadly, both companies have moved away from partnerships with traditional publishers –leaving the ebook experience to the domain of mostly licensed materials. On this point alone, you may want to invest in a Color Nook–if you don’t want to go the bigger bucks on an iPad. Technology only goes so far. The CONTENT is still what should rule the day. We want our kids enjoy reading quality picture books no matter the format. Disney Princesses and Scooby Doo are fun–but they shouldn’t replace children’s books as part of your child’s daily experience.
3. The “Ok, you can play, but please don’t break it” approach. Handing off your expensive toys to a toddler or preschooler is a balancing act between achieving calm (at the grocery store, at the restaurant, in the car, etc.) and the possible damage that came come to such gadgets from liquids (those pesky sippy cups) or a plain old “oops” moments. For those parents, Fisher-Price hopes to be of assistance with their new Laugh & Learn I Can Play Case that puts your smart phone into a bigger case with easy-to-grab handles. We look forward to trying this case–will little fingers find the case too intrusive? Of course your 3 year old will find this way too babyish.
Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn I Can Play Case
Crayola's New Color Wonder Metallics
I love Crayola’s Color Wonder. It’s really magical. You take a clear pointed special marker on the special paper–and voila, color emerges. The markers also don’t stain. All in all–a great product. So we were really excited to get the new metallics –and they deliver. (Some metallics are dull–these are really pretty and vibrant). Watch our video.
The Metallic set comes with five markers, 18 sheets of paper and stencils.
Gumby named to TIME Magazine's list of 100 Greatest Toys
TIME magazine has just released their 100 GREATEST TOYS from 1923 to the present. Not sure I’d put fake vomit, Wrestling Buddy, or Bratz on any list of “Greats”. The list reads more like a “notable” list.
Right before we went on--I'm not sure what we were looking at!
Yesterday we did our last holiday piece of the season. The assignment was to feature toys for every budget. With so many toys on our award list, making the selection for this one was really hard. We had just four minutes to highlight toys that we really love. If left to our toy-geek selves, my mother and I could talk about each of these toys for at least that! Since this was more of a gift segment than a piece focusing on the developmental advantages of each toys, we did more toys than usual.
Two best friends getting ready for the segment!
Can you say cutie-pie?
When we got there at 7:30 the green room was already very full. We always want the kids to be there early but it is a really long, long time to wait. There are donuts — kids eat donuts–kids get a little hyper. It’s all part of the pre-segment experience! (I on the other hand wait to eat my chocolate donut until after the segment is over). Dustin Hoffman was also there. Unlike many stars that come through the green room…Dustin smiles at every one. He’s beloved at the Today Show for being such a nice guy–and you can see it. He looks great–and I guess the word is…happy. While the Meet the Fockers series just makes me uncomfortable (I guess it’s supposed to) I realize that he is one of those touchstone people that I have grown up with. Remember Little Big Man? I remember probably because my folks took us all to see it at the underground theater at Columbus Circle. As a kid, I thought that was amazingly cool.
Before the segment actual airs there are often teases – which promote what will be coming up on the show in the next half hour. So the girls did one tease with the dolls from Manhattan Toy and the Nursery Carriage from Corolle. I then did one with Jay–we played with the 3-D Flash Art from Hasbro.
Jay and I are using the 3-D Flash Art
You can see what the camera is getting from the 3-D Flash Art
After the tease! We did it!
I love this toy–we didn’t do it justice since we couldn’t turn down the lights…but it’s the best spin art toy you’ll ever find. The blue light changes the images as they spin on the black paper…and in the dark, it’s really special. I also like that you can wipe off the black papers and start over. The process of making the spin art is the thing here–not really the finished product.
The segment went well. The kids had a good time. Al and I were so worried about not getting through to the end that we rushed…and ended up with time to spare. I hate when that happens–but it’s worse not to finish.
The boys playing with the Citiblocs and Planimals
When the segment was over the set gets taken down super quickly to make room for the next segment that involves product. It’s a whirlwind…but definitely fun! (A special thanks to Donna for taking all the pics! Next time I’ll have a zoom!)
After the segment with Al and the boys!
Here’s my semi-annual plea to buy building sets for girls. While I don’t 
really see the need to color code such building sets, if pink is what will do it for you or the girls in your life…go for it. You can buy CitiBlocs new Hot Colors set. LEGO also offers a bucket of pink bricks (read our review here). If we want our girls to excel in math and on their standardized math tests…part of that comes from playing with blocks. Spatial relations, visual discrimination and other essential skills that are key to success in math, engineering and architecture all begin with being exposed to construction toys as kids. Not to mention that such open-ended sets are great for developing your child’s sense of what can be. For a full review of CitiBlocs, click here.
We’ve just posted our list of top green toys. It’s a fun mix of beautifully crafted wooden toys from companies like Plan Toys, Wonderworld, Citiblocs, Tegu and
Schylling. As well as some plastic toys from recycled materials (Green Toys) and even a nod to a plastic lamp that you crank rather than load with batteries. We even have two solar powered devices that will appeal to tween and teens.
What we passed on: scratchy organic dolls, dolls that got credit for being organic but were very muted, and in our opinion a little sad looking. We also passed on many solar activity kits that just didn’t work. Nothing like having a solar panel that just doesn’t feel like powering anything.
At the end of the day, I find any labels like Green or Educational to be only part of the story. If the toy isn’t fun and engaging, it doesn’t matter what great list it should be on. Probably too many negatives there–but you get the point. It doesn’t make the cut with us unless it’s also something that engages our testers.
Stephanie Oppenheim, Al Roker and Natalie Morales
This morning’s segment was about the toyportfolio.com’s BEST HIGH TECH TOYS for 2010, the complete list of products is on our site. If you missed the segment from this morning you can watch it by clicking here.
This morning Joanne and I were in the upstairs green room. Usually we have so many kids with us that we are in the larger downstairs green room. As much as upstairs is very dignified, there’s usually a lot more action downstairs. I was down there for hair and make up. Rascal Flatts was getting ready. I got to see Peter Krause out of the corner of one eye while getting mascara put on. Love his show Parenthood!
The set seemed strange without my usual ten or twelve kids milling about but since I had a lot of high tech toys we decided to go without kids in the studio. We turned on all the bugs and many of the Hexbug Nanos jumped from their Battle Bridge and ended up on the floor. We had a fun collection of games, bugs, spiders, a motion activated snake, Crayola Color Studio, and an assortment of video cameras include Barbie Video Girl that seemed to really disturb Al! I see his point about the placement of Barbie’s camera (on a necklace–on her chest) but our kid testers really liked using this high tech version of Barbie.
Al taking a look at Barbie Video Camera
At the end we did a demo of the hot new KINECT for XBOX 360 from Microsoft. I was planning on wearing a dress but I was told last night that the sensors might not read my legs in a dress. There’s nothing like having to pick out an outfit where you know the camera is going to shoot you from behind (every woman’s dream). So I decided to go Matrix-y – all in black with the highest heeled boots I own! For the live tease Whitney (from Microsoft PR team) did a demo with me–she did great! And thankfully Tim (my tech hero this morning) was making sure that the KINECT game was up and running. Hard to play a game and talk about it as you’re playing I’ve discovered.
Al Roker and Stephanie Oppenheim playing KINECT
Usually after I do one of these segments I remember all the things I didn’t say. This morning the list includes: I didn’t mention that you need alot of space to play KINECT so it’s not great for really tiny apartments or dorm rooms. You need to be about 8 feet back and you also need room to move side to side (or run the risk of really hitting your opponent!). Als0 – most of the games that have come out for the holiday season are family and action oriented. So if you’re more of a point/shoot XBOX 360 fan, there aren’t titles for you yet…but suspect they’ll be on their way. I love playing Rallyball – it’s like Dodgeball but no one gets hurt! While it’s true that you don’t need to use a controller to play KINECT you will need to know how to use one to set it up initially…(in otherwords, if you’re not comfortable with controllers…you’ll want to get someone who know what they’re doing). The last thing I forgot to mention is that KINECT has facial recognition so that if you make your own Avatar and you turn it on–it will recognize you. How cool is that? Also there is voice recognition as well (also pretty Jetson like if you ask me!). That said…there is a learning curve for selecting games that can seem slow which seems kind of odd since the whole concept is so cutting edge. Ok…now I’ve said it all!
