The Uglydoll for the connoisseur

We just got in the Uglyverse limited edition OX - in six fresh & exciting colors! Why is he limited? Cause they only make them in 2009, after that, he's histoire, mes amis. Since he's limited, he's more money, right? That's where you've gone wrong, mister - OX, limited or not, is still a paltry $19.99 - just like his regular old version. Plus, the colors are nice and springy! Get your Uglyverse OX today!

Delaware 'Toys that Teach'

I was honored to be selected to appear as a member of the 'Panel of experts' for a high school class project on Tuesday. Erin McNichol, art teacher at Ursuline Academy (and daughter-in-law of Catherine McNichol, a longtime Mitchell's employee) asked me, as well as seven other 'experts' to help evaluate her students projects .
I got to hear nine separate presentations from one junior and 19 seniors from Ursuline Academy for girls and Salesianum Academy for boys.
I'd give you details from the presentation, but these projects were not just class projects - they're serious pitches for products these students hope to get into the system - so I am sworn to secrecy.
I saw several projects that I thought were awesome, and I'd love to carry their items in our store if they get that far. I know from talking to some of the other judges that they were impressed with some of them as well. Hopefully, you'll be seeing some of these cool new 'toys that teach' at YoYo Joe's.
The group shot above includes students Christen Martinelli, Ben Mancari, Alexis Rushton, Christene Zane, Nick DeMichiel, Thatcher Howell, Brian Kelly, Kelley Doogan, Dan Wham, Joe Potts, Lauren Batemen, Annie Carter, Ethan Essick, Casey Parker, Kevin Shishko, Katherine Kneubuehl, Megan Krieg, Brian Debbrecht, Derek Slesinger & Wynn Koval. The picture also includes the experts - Maxine Gaiber - Executive Director of the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Sarah Willoughby, Executive Director of the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau, Carole Katchur - Museum Store Buyer & Manager for Hagley Museum & Library, Connie Cordeiro - Buyer/Manager for the Delaware Art Museum, Saralyn Rosenfield - Family Programs Manager for the Delaware Art Museum, Mariah Romaninsky - Tour and Outreach Coordinator for the Delaware Museum of Natural History, Eliza Lugar from the soon to come Delaware Children's Museum and yours truly. Finally, Erin McNichol, the person who put it all together is smack dab in the middle.

Thanks again to Erin for including us. Erin tells me the News Journal is doing an article about this program.

Five questions with Stephanie Oppenheim

I'm gonna start periodic segments called 'Five Questions' on YoYo Joe's. I'll ask five questions of people in the toy business. For our first entry, I exchanged e-mails with Stephanie Oppenheim - a child development expert and publisher and co-founder of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio. She is a leading consumer authority on children's media and a mother of two. She also authors a wonderful toy blog here.
If you're not aware, the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio picks through thousands of toys annually and awards the best of them with their platinum seals. Unlike many other toy award programs, they do not charge a fee to test toys. I have talked to several manufacturers who assure me that the Oppenheim awards are the most prestigious and that some of the other awards will give out an award to anyone who pays the submission fee. They also introduced a requirement last year that the toy companies must provide proof that the toy being evaluated has passed US safety requirements.
Thanks to Stephanie for taking the time out to answer my five questions.

Joe - When evaluating a toy for the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, what are the three most important things you look for in a toy?

Stephanie - Toys have to be fun and engaging. Over the years we’ve seen so many toys that are marketed as “educational” and good for your child, but if the game play isn’t fun, it doesn’t matter what the packaging says the toy will deliver. We also look for toys that are age appropriate. Of course, if something is on target for its intended audience, it goes along way to making it more entertaining. And of course we look at safety—which has obviously taken on new meaning in the few years. While we are not a lab, we have been troubled by a number of safety issues that parents can easily detect at home- these include toys with small parts, smelly toys, splintery toys and toys that are too loud.

Joe - The CPSIA is set to take effect on February 10, how will this new Act (in it's current state) change the way toys are sold in the United States?

Stephanie - The new law, when it is phased in completely over the next few years, establishes what parents believed was already happening in the industry. So many consumers believed that because toys are intended for our kids that they were already tested before they hit the toy shelves. While the current regulations are confusing and costly to toy makers, in the end the toy supply in this country will be safer.

Joe - What was your favorite toy when you were a kid?

Stephanie - My sandbox. Ironically I didn’t play with too many toys as a child. I loved my bike (a boys Schwinn with a banana seat) and just about anything my older brothers played with. We used to see how far the Hot Wheels tracks could go in our house. Given my mother’s background, there were lots of props for pretend, a toy kitchen, a work bench and big appliance boxes (that usually became space ships). I got one Barbie doll (with amazing go-go boots)—but my brothers pretty much shamed me out of playing with it. Unfortunately for my mother, the gorgeous dollhouse my folks bought me didn’t get a lot of play time. I was much more about whole body pretending—so costumes were always great fun.

Joe - The best toy store in the world is ________

Stephanie - When I was little my family would go the FAO flagship store in NYC, and I was always amazed by the toys they invited you to play with in the store.

Joe- What was your favorite toy of 2008?

Stephanie - Too many!! Our year end Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Awards started out with twenty toys when we started making award lists in 1990. Now we have more than 50— due to ties in certain categories....but really it’s a way of keeping peace between my mother and me! Every year we worry that there won’t be enough new great toys to write about—but somewhere around mid July, we realize that we have another great list of innovative products to share with our readers.

Worst Toy at Toy Fair 2009

This is my third year to name the 'Worst Toy at Toy Fair.' Previous winners included Rubik's Revolution and the Carmen Electra stripper pole.

Actually, this was the second worst toy I saw at Toy Fair this year. The first was so offensive, I dared not even post it! So, this will have to do. New, from Outset Media, it's the Fart! game. Complete with cards marked with titles like 'Silent But Deadly,' 'Duvet Lifter,' 'Eggy Stinker,' and 'Pant Ripper.'

Look, I know that farting is natural. And it comes with a 99-track CD chock filled with fart sounds. And yes, it is the funniest thing in the world for boys aged 4-97, but come on, really? Do we need nicknames for specific kinds of farts? Do we really want to encourage farting and talking about farting with a group that doesn't even need a good excuse to talk farts? Hey, boys are gonna talk about farts, they're gonna fart, they're gonna giggle when you say the word 'fart,' - it's all good, but I do not wanna play a game called Fart! thank you very much.

YoYo Joe's makes Forbes

Well, kinda sorta. A mention, anyway. It's an article about the Toy Safety Bill (CPSIA) that took effect on February 10th. When I told her, Emily quoted one of my favorite quotes from the world of the arts,"This is the kind of spontaneous publicity, you're name in print, that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now."

- Navin R. Johnson, AKA 'The Jerk'

Al Roker loves kids books - who knew?

I admit it, I don't watch the Today show. I actually don't watch any morning tv, so I only knew of Al Roker in that he was a host on the show. I had no idea he was such an advocate of kids books. He has Al's Book Club for Kids, kinda like Oprah's Book Club - but for kids. The website is chock full of interesting stuff - read the first 20 pages of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, see question and answer videos from authors like Kadir Nelson (just won the Silbert Medal for his book "We Are the Ship"), Kate DiCamillo, author of “The Tale of Despereaux,” and Eoin Colfer - author of the “Artemis Fowl” series as well as lots of other stuff.
Al's latest choice? - The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

Cool new toys - Playmobil Egyptian Pyramid

Each year, guys from the Mitchell's train department would head out to Nuremberg, Germany to see the train building. They'd stop by the massive Playmobil booth to pick up the latest German Playmobil catalog. Why? Because Playmobil would debut their newest toys in Europe, then roll them out in the US the next year. So, if I wanted a sneak peek at next year's Playmobil items, all I had to do was to get a copy of the German catalog and see what was new.

Now, with the magic of the internets, we don't need no stinking German catalog to see what's coming next year, we just point and click, baby!

All this is a lead up to introducing an upcoming theme for Playmobil in 2009 - the Egyptian Pyramid theme. I took a couple pictures of the pyramid. It is awesome looking, like all their toys. Rich in detail and with cool little features, I'm sure it will be a hit.