We love Keva Planks

At first glance, it's a hard sell. They're little maple planks. They're not colored or varied in shape or size. They're all the same. What fun is that?

More than I initially thought, apparently. For the past couple years at Toy Fair, I've seen the Keva Planks displays. They have these really cool models set up - made up of the Keva Planks. They're a real basic toy - made of plain wood - made in the USA. The fact that they're all the same makes them great for constructing huge towers - even world record sized towers. Check em out here, on our brand spanking new shopping page.

Check out these pics from Keva's flicker page.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Yes, it's made in China, no it's not chock full of poison

Many people have developed an aversion to Chinese made toys in the past couple of years.
The news reports of unsafe toys almost always refer to toys that are made in China, so why wouldn't people put two and two together and come to the conclusion that Chinese made toys are unsafe?
Well, let's look into that a bit. Here at YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun, safety of the toy is one of the primary things we look for when checking out a new toy. We get e-mails from the Consumer Products Safety Comission anytime there is a recall of any toy, and we keep on top of it. Since we've opened in November, we've had no toys that we carry been subject to recall. We also seek out toys made in the USA, and have some awesome items we carry that are made in the USA (Most of our books, Yo-Yo Jam yo-yos, Lunastix juggling sticks, KEVA wooden planks, Melissa & Doug cardboard puzzles, Gamewright games, Briarpatch games, Make-A-Plate kits, Flying Turtles & more) as well as toys made in the EU (Bruder, Playmobil, etc) - but the vast majority of what we sell are made in China.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that all toys made in China are subject to the same conditions of manufacture. Most of the bigger toy companies, companies like Melissa & Doug, send employees to live in China and keep tabs on the manufacturing of toys. The mistakes that have been made in China generally occur when a company farms out the manufacture of a product with little or no controls on how it's made.
There's also a wide variety of factories in China - some of the best made toys we sell come from China. Take Blue-Orange Games as an example. Their games are made in China - many of them from wood. In addition to making sure all their games are safe - they are extremely active in protecting our environment. They are the only toy company that I'm aware of with a plan to replant trees they use for production. For each tree they use to produce games, they replant two. Read their policy here. They won the first "Green Toy Company" Award from Dr. Toy in 2007 in recognition of their environmental awareness. It would be a shame to completely ignore their products based on country of manufacture. The miYim soft organic toys we just got in stock are made in China, but you'd be hard pressed to find a plush company with a bigger dedication to the safety and quality of it's materials.
The simple fact is that companies feel pressure to move manufacturing to China in order to maintain competitiveness in terms of price. Things are changing in China - both because of the safety concerns that have arisen over the past couple of years and by the staggering growth their economy has seen over the past ten years. Will that just cause a move in manufacturing to another country? Possibly - I've seen more "Made in Vietnam" tags on my clothes over the past couple years. Will it cause a reversal and move manufacturing back to the USA? I certainly hope so, as part of our mission here is to shop local - keeping money as close to home as possible - but we also have a responsibility to make sure that the toys we sell are also fun and within the price range of our customers.
So, when shopping for good, quality toys, don't dismiss 'made in China' out of hand - use it as one of the factors when considering your purchases.

Happy National Bankruptcy Day!

If you're a fan of toys, or have read my blog for a while, you'll be aware of the whole brouhaha that erupted last year for toy safety. Millions of toys were recalled due to a variety of safety isses - most famously due to lead content. People were rightfully outraged that toys were available in the US with two, three and even four times the legal limit of lead in them. This lead to the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.
There seems be some unintended (well, at least I'd like to say they were unintended) consequences to this act. The cost to test toys to comply with the CPSIA has been reported at $4,000 per toy, with toy manufacturer Learning Resources has been quoted a fee of over $24,000 to test one of their children's telescopes. Check out the quote here.
For toy giants like Mattel and Hasbro, this represents a relatively small amount per toy imported. It seems to reason that if you make a million of one Barbie doll, dividing $4,000 by a million will lead to a small incremental cost. But, what about small companies? What about people who still make toys by hand by the dozens, not the millions? $4,000 divided by 100 is $40 per toy. Dolls that are handmade to sell at $30 each can now over double to $70.
These small companies will face a decision, in a little over a month, of whether to increase their prices drastically, cease operations or operate illegally. Just to make toys in the US.
A group has popped up to try to save these handmade toys, it's the Handmade Toy Alliance. You can check out their website here. Or their facebook page here.
In this Wall Street Journal article about the pending law, Learning Resources chairman Rick Woldenberg has dubbed the day the CPSIA takes effect as "National Bankruptcy Day" due to the number of handmade toy makers, toy retailers and other companies that may be forced to close their doors due to the new laws. A website has popped up with that name that urges changes to the act. You can also click the cute image above to see what you can do to help.
I've been vocal about the need to increase toy safety, and I recognize that something had to be done, but it feels like in the rush to get something done, the US Congress has overlooked some significant details. The huge concern over foreign made toys last year has led to legislation that could all but eliminate small companies that want to make toys in the United States.

Green Toys

I have to say, these toys look pretty cool. They're from a company called Green Toys, Inc. The main ingredient in the production of these toys are recycled milk jugs. They're also made entirely in the United States.

According to their website, each pound of recycled milk jugs saves energy of the equivalent of 3000 AA batteries, saves enough electricity to power your TV set for three weeks or saves enough electricity to power your laptop for a month.

And they don't forget the packaging. The packaging is made of 100% recycled cardboard with no plastic and no annoying twist ties.

Are we ready for green toys? Members of ASTRA (The American Specialty Toy Retailer Association - we're a member!) voted the tea set (above) one of the top 20 toys at Toy Fair. My only hesitation is the price tag - the tea set will retail for about $35. Otherwise, I'm sold...

Made in the U.S.A.!

So, I'm hunting through the store, looking for toys that are made in the USA, and I did find some.

We just got an order in from KNEX - they're a pretty local company out of Hatfield, PA. If you're not familiar with KNEX - it's a very well known construction toy - probably only behind Lego as far as popularity. They're got some cool carnival toys you can construct (including the Serpent's Spider Roller Coaster pictured to the left). Most of their components are made in the USA - all of their bricks, rods and connectors. You can check out this letter from KNEX President Michael Araten - link. (Large range of prices - Ages 3 & up)

Oddly, they also have the Lincoln Logs brand - which are all made in China. Fear not, we've recently added Roy Toy building toys (right, $16 & up, Ages 4 & up) to our stock - which are very Lincoln Log like, and made in the USA.

Also, Lunastix juggling sticks (left - $20 & up, Ages 6 & up) are made in the USA.

KNEX, Roy Toy building toys and Lunastix are all in stock now. So, you've got options if you want to stick with items made in the USA. It's a shame it's not more toys are made in the USA anymore, but it's a sign of the times.