All around
Charlotte Street Toy Shop - Trains,
Blue's Clues, Telettubbies, Beanie Babies, alone with classics like yoyos,
slinky, and even wax lips.
Ace Toys toys store
The Big Boys
From Jacksonville.com - Kids rate years' top playthings 11/23/98
Times-Union staff
Editor's note: Parents know that some toys withstand the test of time.
Other toys end up among giant dust balls under the bed.
For this year's toy guide, Family put four top-rated toys to the ultimate test: Real kids.
The pre-kindergarten class of teacher Wendy O'Brien and teacher assistant
Sue Tyre at Andrew
A. Robinson Elementary School tried the following toys for a week - and
then adopted them into
their classroom. Here are the results:
Toy: Bounce Around Tigger.
Description: This toy is consistently mentioned by market experts as a
favorite this year.
Children are supposed to grasp Tigger around the midsection and pull down.
He says, ''I'm
gonna bounce.'' Then he does, making ''boing, boing'' noises and laughing,
''Hoo, Hoo,
Hoo.'' As this performance draws to a close, he proclaims, ''Bouncin's
what Tiggers do best.''
Tigger is for ages 18 months and up.
Cost: $30.
Kids' reaction: Boing, boing, boing, bounced Tigger.
Boing, boing, boing, bounced Ashanti Jones, 5, in perfect time with Tigger.
A kinship exists between Tigger and the average preschooler. Tigger bounces
with limitless
energy. Preschoolers bounce with limitless energy.
It's love at first sight.
Teacher reaction: Most of Tigger's preschool pals weren't patient enough
to push him down by
his stomach.
''They push down on his head,'' O'Brien noted. If Tigger could really talk,
he might report a
headache and whiplash.
In addition, while Tigger is endearing, children don't play with him long.
''After they see it
bounce just so many times,'' O'Brien said, ''they got tired of it.''
Toy: LeapFrog Phonics Desk.
Description: A combination of touch, sight and sound teaches children letters,
sounds and basic
word spelling. The desk comes with alphabet letters and cards. Each card
contains a different
word, such as ''J-A-M'' or ''C-A-T.'' Children put a card in the desk and
then figure out which
letters spell the word. When a child presses on the letter, the desk repeats
the letter and its phonic
sound. This is designed for children from pre-kindergarten to second grade.
Cost: $44.99 and $59.99 (depending on where you purchase it).
Kids' reaction: The desk drew immediate interest. ''I can do it,'' volunteered
Ashley
McDonald, 4, as she spelled C-A-T with the plastic letters.
Two other children tried to take turns while Ashley was playing with the desk.
Teacher reaction: ''This was our overall favorite,'' O'Brien said.
Sitting at a table where children do academic exercises, she said, ''They
sit here using it all by
themselves.'' Pressing on the letters and hearing the sounds have reinforced
the alphabet lessons
that O'Brien and Tyre are teaching.
Also, children in this age group learn through touch, O'Brien said. They
are engaged by holding
and moving the letters. O'Brien and Tyre were impressed.
Toy: Hug and Learn Little Leap.
Description: This is a combination fun toy and learning tool. The alphabet
is written on Little
Leap's stomach, and numbers are on his hand. The frog counts, says the
alphabet and has a ''Say
Please'' game intended to teach manners. The frog is designed for ages
2-5.
Cost: $29.99 to $39.99 (depending on where you purchase it).
Kids' reaction: Little Leap is green, has big eyes and a cute childlike
voice. He was hugged by
4-year-old Rico Moore and greeted by the class with affection given all
stuffed animals.
Teacher reaction: Little Leap does not sit up by himself, O'Brien said.
That makes him hard to
use. Children also had trouble pressing the letters. They would attempt
to press a ''Q'' but instead
would hit a ''P.'' Little Leap became simply a stuffed friend.
Toy: Sing Along Blue.
Cost: $20.
Description: Squeeze one hand, and Blue plays a song. Squeeze another,
and she barks. This is
a stuffed animal designed for children age 1 1/2 years and older.
Kids' reaction: Eric Crosdale, 5, was among the first to hold Blue, but
many other classmates
have befriended the stuffed animal. Blue had three things going for her:
She's a lovable dog; she's
blue; and she's recognizable as the title character of Nickelodeon's popular
television series,
Blue's Clues.
Teacher reaction: The children seemed to like Blue, but otherwise, the
teachers were unexcited.
Tyre said matter-of-factly, ''It's a doll.''
After four years of collecting Barbies as an adult, I'm as eager for
Christmas as any kid who's
been dragging her parents down the Barbie aisle in the toy department.
I'm not alone. Barbie remains among
America's top-selling toys, according to
Toy Manufacturers of America. This is 39
years after she was introduced, wearing her
zebra-striped bathing suit.
So when the Family section started work
on its annual toy guide, I knew I had to
share my Barbie shopping insight with all
those readers trying to find the right Barbie
for their loved one.
Based on my experience buying Barbies for
my favorite ''big kid'' - me - here are some
tips:
Not all Barbies are inexpensive: You
get that three-page holiday wish list, and
you see some Barbies on there. Hey, no
problem, a Barbie costs what - $15? $25?
Guess again, and welcome to the age of
collector Barbies, where the dolls can cost
more than $200.
For instance, one of the newer Barbie sets
is based on The X-Files characters, with
Barbie as Scully and Ken as Mulder. The
truth is out there: Don't expect to pay action
figure prices. The set costs $65-$80,
depending on the retailer.
A tipoff that the Barbie might be expensive
is when the recommended age is 14 and up,
not 3 and up.
The name game: Make sure you're clear
on the name of the Barbie you've been
asked for.
The name game is especially important
because of the wide range of prices: For
example, the new Sunflower Barbie in the
Artist Series retails for about $80, while
just a few years ago, Toys 'R' Us had a
kid-friendly Sunflower Barbie for less than
$15.
Holiday Barbies: Speaking of holiday
Barbies, it's hard to encourage anyone to
run out and buy a 1998 Happy Holidays
Barbie after the overproduction of the 1997
Holiday Barbie that saw the doll marked
down to about $10 after the holidays. (You
could get one for $20 even around
Christmas.)
I've seen the 1998 doll on shelves at
various stores around Jacksonville, so it
looks as if they've made enough this year.
If you have a collector in your life who has
most of the Holiday Barbies produced since
their introduction in 1988, you might not
want to risk waiting for the price to go
down.
While we're on the holiday theme, if you
see a holiday-related Barbie item at
Hallmark and it doesn't need to be under
the tree (and the box doesn't have to be
perfect), Hallmark stores usually mark
down those items after Christmas.
Watch the ads: Every week, it seems
some store has Barbies on sale.
Sometimes, stores will even do an
across-the-board price cut (such as 20
percent), but those deals usually don't
include collector Barbies.
Stop by toy stores: Time is a precious
commodity for all of us, but if you can find
the time, visit the Barbie section in places
such as Toys 'R' Us, KB Toys, Wal-Mart,
Target and Kmart.
Sometimes, they have specials that aren't
publicized, especially if the doll isn't
brand-new. Toys 'R' Us and KB Toys
have had several offers in the past year or
two in which you can get a free Barbie with
a purchase of a certain amount.
Stores will also mark down the Barbies
they're trying to get rid of to clear the way
for new stuff.
Look at doll magazines: My favorite is
Barbie Bazaar ($4.95 per issue), a
bimonthly that bills itself as the official
Barbie Doll Collector's Magazine. It can be
found in the Jacksonville area at Barnes &
Noble, Books-A-Million and Borders.
Doll magazines carry ads from dealers,
which can help in two ways: Many ads list
prices, and if you can't find what you want
locally, you can try these dealers.
If you're buying from an out-of-town
dealer, keep a few things in mind: Shipping
and handling charges can add up (of
course, a good price can offset that), and if
you need the doll in a hurry, make sure the
store has it in stock.
Now that I've helped you with holiday
shopping for Barbies, let me offer a
warning, especially with the 40th
anniversary of Barbie coming in 1999:
Collecting Barbies can be addictive.
While most kids outgrow their Barbie
collection, some of us get worse as we age.
And Mattel has been catering to adult
Barbie collectors for more than a decade.
It's a fun hobby, but it can be expensive.
Keep that in mind before bringing home
any Barbie that's more than $25.
"There is a lot that goes into it," said Ron Dubren, who
co-invented Tickle Me
Elmo with Greg Hyman. "If you have a really great toy then you have a fighting
chance."
It's children who determine if it is a really great toy, said Terri Bartlett,
spokeswoman for Toy Manufacturers of America. But they don't get a chance
to
play with it, she points out, unless toy buyers like it when it premieres
at the
association's annual toy fair in New York in February.
Once the buyers latch on, "it helps if you have some creative marketing,"
she
said.
In Tickle Me Elmo's case, public relations strategists sent the doll to
new talk
show host and mom Rosie O'Donnell, who played with it on national TV, giving
the product exposure as well as an impromptu endorsement. It was also able
to
ride on the coat tails of Sesame Street's eternal popularity.
Similarly, toy store chain FAO Schwarz took Furby under its wing by helping
launch it and labeled it a hot seller before it actually was, Dubren said.
A toy also has to translate well in television commercials, perhaps explaining
why combined TV expenditures reached $856 billion in 1996.
"Bounce Around Tigger comes across quickly," he said. "It tells what it
does in
an instant." Furby, however, doesn't. "I don't think it communicates it
well.
People don't get it and its a real drawback," he said.
Debbie Marentette of Madison Heights doesn't get it. "What is Furby?" she
asked while shopping at the Toys 'R' Us in Troy for her 7-year-old daughter,
Megan. "I won't be getting any of the hot toys this year."
Shoppers like Marentette are one reason the "try me" feature is a staple
among
most new toys. Manufacturers can prove their toy's mettle by letting the
consumer
play with it -- pushing Elmo's stomach to hear the giggle, for instance
-- before
shelling out money for it.
Scarcity -- and all the press it brings -- is another plus for a toy but
it's a fallacy
that toy makers create the shortage. "With 50 percent of sales taking place
in
December, making it the manufacturers' only shot at making some money,
they're
not going to shoot themselves in the foot by limiting supply," Bartlett
said.
What happens, she explained, is toy buyers place an order after the toy
fair in
February. The stores receive the product in July but the demand cycle doesn't
begin until October, which robs the buyers of enough time to have more
hot
sellers built and then restocked in time for Christmas.
"Nobody can predict a fad," said Chris Byrne, editor of Playthings
MarketWatch, a toy trade publication.
Still, parents can make their children happy even if they don't buy the
hot toy.
"If it's not a hot toy to your kid then it's not a hot toy," he said.