Award
Winning Educational Toys
Many of the toys we carefully select for our
store are also chosen for awards by some of the most respected
organizations in the industry. The criteria they use for their
evaluations are excellent sources of ideas that you can use to
select toys yourself.
The Oppenheim Awards
The Parents' Choice
Awards™ Program 
Dr. Toy's Best Children's
Products 
The National Parenting
Center's Seal of Approval 
Parent's Guide to
Children's Media
iParenting Media Award
The Oppenheim
Awards
The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio was founded in
1989 as the only independent consumer review of children's media.
They test and review products for children year-round and do what
most parents wish they could do before they buy. They open the
toys, run the videos, read the books, play the music, and boot
up the software. Then they send the best products on to a set
of families of testers for further evaluation.
The criteria used in evaluating products includes:
What is this product designed to do and how well does it do it?
What can the child do with the product?
Does it invite active doing and thinking or simply passive watching?
Is it safe and well-designed, and can it withstand the unexpected?
Does it "fit" the developmental needs, interests, and
typical skills of the children for whom it was designed? What
message does it convey?
Toys as well as books and videos can say a great deal about values
parents are trying to convey. For example, does the product reflect
old sexual stereotypes that limit children's views of themselves
and others?
What will a child learn from this product? Is it a "smart"
product that will engage the child's mind or simply a novelty
with limited play value? Is it entertaining? No product makes
our list if kids find it boring, no matter how "good"
or "educational" it claims to be.
Is the age label correct? Is the product so easy that it will
be boring or so challenging that it will be frustrating?
Oppenheim Gold Award :
Presented to our International
Playthings Musical Hands Mat Floor Keyboard.
Presented to our Beka
Adustable Drawing Desk Table-Top Easel.
Presented to our Guidecraft
Rainbow Blocks.
Presented to our Geomags
sets.
Presented to our 90-Piece
Art Studio and Case.
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The Parents' Choice
Awards™ Program
Identifying the best products for children
of different ages, backgrounds, skills, and interests, the Parents'
Choice Awards are given to products that meet and exceed standards
set by educators, scientists, performing artists, librarians,
parents, and yes, kids themselves.
Fewer than 15% of those items submitted to
the Parents' Choice Awards program receive a commendation in one
of the six award levels: Classic, Gold, Silver, Recommended, Approved,
and Fun Stuff, underscoring the coveted and prestigious achievement
of being honored with a commendation from the Parents' Choice
Awards program.
Parents' Choice evaluates, reviews and awards
the best products produced for children, be they infants or young
adults.
Criteria include excellent http://www.creativityinstitute.com/production
values, universal human values, appeal to children, age appropriateness
when making their decisions. The Parents' Choice Awards committees
look for products that entertain and teach with flair, stimulate
imagination and inspire creativity. Judges are interested in how
a product helps a child grow in many ways: socially, intellectually,
emotionally, ethically, physically. Products must be free of racial
or gender bias. Above all, products must not extol violence.
Parents Choice Approved
Presented to our Beka
Adustable Drawing Desk Table-Top Easel.
Presented to our Anatex
Mini Play Cube
Presented to our Geomags
sets.
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Dr. Toy's Best
Children's Products
Dr. Toy, Dr. Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.
D., reviews and lists the best products of the year. Here are
her criteria for selecting products suitable for home and school
use, and ones that are positive, beneficial and appropriate for
learning and growth.
Dr. Toy spends many months reviewing catalogs
and products of all kinds for all ages. Included are books, tapes,
toys, games, construction toys, dolls, software, CDs etc. She
visits stores, talks to children, parents and teachers,grandparents,
and many people in the industry. She searches not only for the
hot new toy that will sell BIG, but also those wonderful products
that will offer all children durability, value, and many extra
qualities that mean so much. How to select the best from among
so many excellent entries is a real challenge. Dr. Toy looks at
many aspects of every product.
Some of Dr. Toy's criteria for Selecting Best
Products are:
Adaptation of Product to Home and School.
Appropriate for Age or Gender
Auditory Quality and Clarity
Challenging
Childrens Special Needs
Community Awareness
Creativity
Cultural Sensitivity
Design
Durability
Ease of Use
Educational Value
Environmental Education
Ethnic Diversity
Flexibility for Different Ages
Guarantee of Company
Good for Physical Activity
Good Use of Materials
Innovation
Learning Skills
Originality
Packaging
Play Value
Price and Value for the Money
Quality
Safety Requirements
Socially Responsible
Technically Well Produced
Uniqueness
Visually Interesting
Appropriate,
and, of course, FUN!
Dr. Toy's100 Best Children's Products 2002
and 10 Best Active Products has been presented to our Geomags
sets.
Dr. Toy's Outstanding Toy Manufacturer Recognition
of Excellence Award has been to Schoenhut
Piano Company, maker of our toy pianos.
Dr. Toy's Best Vacation Product Award has been
presented to My
First Piano.
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The National Parenting
Center's Seal of Approval
The National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval
program is an independent testing procedure conducted to judge
a variety of products introduced and marketed to the parent/child
consumer market.
The testing involves a multi-step process conducted
over an eight week period. Staffed by volunteers, the testing
facility of The National Parenting Center gives parents, children,
and educators the opportunity to examine a variety of submitted
products. The testers are encouraged to play with, build, read
about, and judge by the reactions of the children, each product's
quality.
Participants fill out questionnaires for each product they test.
Evaluated are each product's level of desirability, sturdiness,
interactive stimulation and other ingredients essential in the
make-up of a quality product. Test results are based on both statistical
averaging and comments received from the parent/testers.
The Seal of Approval program is designed to continue the efforts
of The National Parenting Center, which was chartered in 1989
to help create better informed parents as they tackle the challenges
of parenting in the new millennium.
National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval
has been awarded to Schoenhut
Piano Company, maker of our toy pianos.
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Parent's Guide
to Children's Media
The Parent's Guide Children's Media Awards
Program promotes excellence in children's books, magazines, toys
and games, computer programs, audios, videos, television programs,
and websites. Parenting materials also are included in the awards
program to highlight outstanding aids and advice for parents and
other adults.
The following criteria are used in selecting
materials for awards.
1. Books are honored according to quality of
text and illustration, and quality of http://www.creativityinstitute.com/production.
Books accepted for awards consideration include fiction, nonfiction,
illustrated, poetry, song, young adult, reference, and activity.
2. Children's Magazines will be honored on the basis of their
appeal to children, quality of text and illustration, and quality
of http://www.creativityinstitute.com/production.
3. Toys or Games should (1) stimulate imagination, (2) enhance
developmental skills, (3) encourage discovery methods, and/or
(4) help develop creativity.
4. Audio Cassettes and CDs should (1) be of high quality musically,
(2) provide an enjoyable atmosphere for creativity, imagination
and/or knowledge, or (3) present a delightful delivery of story.
5. Video Cassettes and DVDs should (1) be of high quality http://www.creativityinstitute.com/production,
(2) appeal to children or young adults, and (3) assist in the
development of skills and character, or stimulate an interest
in the subject matter.
6. Computer Programs should include (1) activities that teach,
(2) hibh quality graphics and sound, (3) ease of use, and (4)
appeal to children or young adults.
7. Television Programs should (1) appeal to the child or young
adult, (2) assist in the development of unbiased perspectives,
and (3) stimulate imagination.
8. Websites should (1) be quick in response, (2) be easy to use,
(3) include informative, accurate activities, and (4) be aesthetically
pleasing and hold the attention of children or young adults.
9. Parenting Materials should (1) be informative and accurate,
(2) serve children's and parents' needs, and (3) enrich families.
(The parenting awards will omit the words "children's media"
on the certificate and seals unless the product is specifically
for children or teens.)
Awards for products submitted as "Classic"
or for "Group Use."
1. Classic products should (1) have been available
for at least the past five years, (2) be consistent with the criteria
listed above for the respective category.
2. Group Use: Materials for teachers, students, or parents should
be consistent with the criteria listed above for the respective
category.
Parent's Guide Children's Media Awards has
been presented to the Schoenhut
Piano Company, maker of our toy pianos.
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iParenting Media
Award
iParenting Media is proud to announce that
its iParenting Media Awards program has attained ISO 9001:2000
Certification. ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
is the world's largest developer of standardization regulations
and ISO 9001:2000 is an internationally recognized standard for
quality assurance. Only a fraction of the companies that attempt
ISO certification succeed. The iParenting Media Awards program
is the only product evaluation service with an awards program
of its kind to earn this prestigious status.
In order to achieve ISO 9001 status, the iParenting
Media Awards program went through a rigorous and thorough evaluation
process whereby all of the program's business practices, documents
and systems were scrutinized and appraised by Underwriters Laboratories
Inc. (UL). Upon determination of satisfaction of all ISO 9000
standards, Underwriters Laboratories Inc. then registered the
program to the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) to ISO 9000 Series Standards for Quality.
We evaluate children's media and juvenile products using the expertise
of licensed childcare centers, experts and parents nationwide.
Our objective is to find the best products, recognize them with
our award and deliver insightful feedback to all submissions.
We look forward to reviewing your product.
iParenting Media Award has been presented to
Schoenhut's
Gloss Baby Grand Toy Piano.
Schoenhut's Traditional
Spinet Toy Piano
and to Schoenhut's My
First Piano.
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MORE ON CHILD CREATIVITY
Make
your child
more creative for life.
Every child has creative
ability just waiting to be tapped. Even infants have budding creative
potential. The right educational toys can bring it out. and let
children enjoy the benefits of creative pursuits at many levels.
Infants,
toddlers,
preschoolers,
early
school age and older
school age children all delight in opportunities for creative
expression through colors, shapes and sounds.
At The Creativity Institute, we handpick each infant educational
toy, every creative plaything, each piece of furniture and every
toy musical instrument based on its potential for developing vital
creative resources in your child.
Toy
pianos, oversized
foam building blocks, puppet
theaters and puppet stages and people
and animal hand puppets, art
supplies and children's
easels, play
tents and more. The scale and durability of many of these
toys make them perfect for classrooms, homeschool,
day care centers and waiting rooms, too. The benefits of nurturing
creativity can be profound, offering children tools for success
in all endeavors athletic, artistic or academic. Let your baby
begin now.