Tag Archives: toyportfolio.com

Teeter Ball

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When I saw this toy at Toy Fair, I was psyched. Little Tikes made a teeter toy years ago so I was happy to see it back in the line. I used to love teeter toys as a kid — it is a   toy that involved having a good friend. Someone that would not give you too rough a ride, calm it down if it was going too fast (clearly you can see that I had issues).  Rollercoasters were never my thing – a good teeter ball ride was as adventuresome as I got.  Lame, probably–but just how I’m wired.

I sent a sample of the new Teeter Ball to one of our go to tester families…they have two  boys, 6 and 3, and they like active play.  Last year they were big on water/sand toys–not afraid of water, dirt, mud, etc. either– my kind of family!

While the boys enjoyed the toy, their dad gave the toy low marks when it came to putting it together.  While he said you didn’t need a power drill, he had one and used it where screws were required.  The most challenging part was “attaching the yellow ring and the inflatable purple ball.”  He warned that this could pose a problem for people not comfortable putting things together.  I’m certainly in that category.  While I know that lots of people do have power drills and are far more handy than I am with putting things together, I really question from a consumer point of view why such effort and skill should be necessary for a toy.   I appreciate the cost-cutting opportunity that  at-home assembly provides, but I can’t imagine that such assembly engenders a great deal of good will.  For $69 it seems to me the toy should either come good to go or without a huge amount of effort.

Our family also noted that the toy did not hold the boys interest for long stretches of time. I think that’s true of most teeter toys–they’re the type of toy you run to on the playground…take a turn and then go onto the next activity.

So be forewarned, almost all of the big plastic toys we have received this year required a power drill and a certain comfort zone in reading complicated directions (and making inferences from the picture on the box).

I was happy to read that the older brother waited for his little brother to get back on his seat when he fell off …that’s a very good sign that while the toy may not be a home run, these boys already have a lovely relationship.

Our testers trying out Little Tikes new Teeter Ball

Backyard Discovery Jungle Gym Gets High Marks

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Over the years we’ve testing many outdoor play systems.  They have become so expensive that you really want to be sure you’re making a wise investment.  This season we asked one of our testing families to try a set from Backyard Discovery — a mid-priced brand of wooden sets that is widely available.  They tried the Highlander – it comes with a 10′ wave slide, a rock wall, ladder, two belt swings, a two person glider, a picnic table and a four level fort with a covered porch.

What they loved:

The three levels to climb. (This trend for super high climbers makes us a little nervous. It certainly demands constant adult supervision).

The accessories.  The telescope, the steering wheel– all fun for pretend play!

Stability.  This is super important when kids are swinging high and on the glider.

Rock Wall. The kids really enjoyed this aspect of the set.

Slide. The wave slide is super sleek and slippery–our testers liked that it was super high.

Hardware. Heavy and looks like it will hold up well.

Swings and Glider.  A big hit…how high can you go?

Downside:

Swings and glider are a bit close for our parent testers’ taste.  Our mom suggested that another three inches between the swings would make crashes less likely (yikes).

The rock wall is awkwardly close to one side of the picnic table underneath–making it almost inaccessible for even a small child to get into the bench on that side.

Overall–this family gave the set high marks.  They noted that it took a professional installer 13 hours to put the whole thing together.

Safety First— please note that all backyard equipment needs to have safety material under and around it to help avoid serious injury if your child falls off the equipment.  For a complete list of the CPSC’s playground safety recommendations, click here.  Playground experts recommend that you have at least 12 inches of wood chips, mulch, sand or pea gravel or safety tested rubber mats.  While this adds to the expense of your backyard playground, remember that 200,000 kids end up in the ER due to playground injuries…so buy the wood chips!

Sing-a-ma-jigs- LOVE THEM

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Fisher-Price's Sing-a-ma-jigs!

Take a look at our home page today at www.toyportfolio.com.  I’ve posted video of this fab four that just arrived!  I think we may have to have a running webcam for the sing-a-ma-jigs…Nice to know I can still get sooo excited about a toy after so many years of reviewing.  Hats off to the team at Fisher-Price.  I wonder if the group that was responsible for all of these playful Elmo dolls were redirected to this collection. (Elmo and the rest of his Sesame Street buddies will now be produced by Hasbro).

My mother just told me that she thinks the video I posted first makes them sound annoying–funny, it kind of reminded me of chorus rehearsal at my high school before a concert!

A room of their own…Step 2’s Naturally Playful Countryside Cottage

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Step 2 Naturally Playful Countryside Cottage

Toddlers and preschoolers love having spaces that are scaled for them! It’s cozy and has such grown up features as a doorbell, a phone and a kitchen. If you’re shopping for such a cottage (that you can use indoors or out)–take a look at the new Step 2’s Naturally Playful Countryside Cottage. What I love about these types of spaces is how kids play with them differently as they grow.  For twos , the act of going in and out of the cottage is a huge part of the play- it’s much more about exploring the space and enjoying their new mobility–and ability to go move about a space independently.  Older toddlers and preschoolers – armed with more language and ability to pretend–will enjoy spinning their own stories about what they’re cooking, who they’re talking to on the phone, etc.

Our family toy tester pointed out two drawbacks. The photo on the box shows the cottage with flowers in the window box. The product does not come with flowers and there is no drainage hole in the window box for real flowers.  My recommendation – you can add a drainage hole if you’re going to use this outside–or use potted plants. The other comment was that there was no place to sit inside.  While this cottage does not come with a bench or chair, our tester noted that there was space for a child-size chair inside.  The cottage went together well (while the directions say a drill is optional–our tester felt the use of a drill made it much easier.)

One of our testers hard at work!

Baby GoGo and Baby Stella: two great baby dolls

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Baby GoGo by Little Sib

If you’re about to bring home a new baby and you already have a preschooler at home, we recommend giving your new “big” sibling a doll of their own. Sometimes having their own baby doll can help them make the bridge from being only your baby to big brother or sister.   (Now truth be told, some kids want no part of babies–real or otherwise. My older son was absolutely stunned to learn that his new baby brother was not going away when our beloved baby nurse was leaving. Adam walked into my bedroom with polar bear in tow “he’s staying?”)

In any case, baby dolls are just right for role playing…you may hear many of your own favorite phrases being used (crack out the video cam for these moments if you can…trust me, you’ll be happy to have them on camera!)

Here are two favorites that have just come in.

Baby GoGo from a new company called Little Sib started by a grandma–who recognized the upside of providing older sibs with their own doll, baby bag, cloth diaper, etc.  The doll is gender neutral (if you agree with me that orange is a gender free color). Read our full review here.

And new from Manhattan Toy, a boy version of Baby Stella.  Our favorite aspect of this one…the pacifier that attaches with an embedded magnet. Baby Stella has been around for a couple of years, but this is the first boy version (clothes only)…not sure why they couldn’t of renamed him Steven or something…but still very sweet.

Baby Stella - boy version by Manhattan Toy

To see our VIDEO REVIEW click here.

A look at the latest in Operation

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Shrek Operation

One of my favorite games when I was growing up was Operation.

The Original Operation

Something so pleasing about getting those little pieces out without the buzzer going off!  I’m not really sure how well I did it–but the game remains a fun hazy childhood memory.  It’s probably those memories that always make me perk up at Toy Fair when they unveil the new Operation games of the season. 

Toy Story 3 Operation

So far we’ve received both the Shrek and the Toy Story 3 Versions.  As my son Matthew pointed out this is not the first Shrek Operation — the folks at Hasbro confirmed that there was an earlier version to go with one of the first three movies.  There is also a Buzz Lightyear–you’ll notice that this is the first break from the usual image of one large body image stretched out (a la on an operation table).  You see all of Buzz Lightyear but now he’s in an action pose.  Probably not earth shattering news–but worth noting.  Each of these movie-based versions has you going after appropriately themed pieces accompanied by sound effects that go with their characters.

Watch our VIDEO REVIEW by clicking here.

Hasbro’s Bop It! Bounce

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Hasbro Games Bop it! Bounce

This just came in for testing and we’re eager to hear how kids react to it.  Our first round of testers thought it was a lot like bouncing a tennis ball on a racquet – except here there is a very loud voice keeping score.  Some of our more sly testers realized that they could “cheat” the machine by bouncing their hand on it a bunch of times.  This only came into play when thoughts of beating a sibling’s score came into play. Here’s the demo from toy fair so that you can see the action. Our first round of testers didn’t like the fact you couldn’t turn the voice off or down.