Toy story

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/12/2002 (8539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It may be the latest kid craze, but those little spinning tops are being outclassed by classic toys this holiday season.

Yes, Beyblades battled their way onto the second annual Child’s Play top toy picks, but not as fiercely as you might expect.

What did head our list is surprising.

Wooden railway systems, including the popular Thomas line and the Brio trains, steamed to the top. A close second was the classic building toy LEGO, with sets of all kinds, including last season’s popular Bionicles and Harry Potter and the new Theatre sets, keeping this construction toy as trendy as any new toy on the market.

Spy equipment, especially the variety of kits by Wild Planet, remains popular, especially after the company redesigned the kid surveillance equipment to appeal to girls, as well as boys. No one will be surprised to see Barbie back on our top 10, especially after her video role as the flaxen-haired Rapunzel.

But before we get into all this, here’s how we do it. Our list of 10 top toys and nine honourable mentions (each receiving three votes) is a compilation of 14 other lists. A list of lists, you might say.

Toys recommended by Canadian Toy Testing Council (Children’s Choice and Best Bets) Oppenheim Toy Portfolio award winners, Today’s Parent magazine, Family Fun magazine, Dr. Toy’s Best Children’s Products, Zellers, The Lycos 50 Daily Report Top Toys, Canadian Toy Association, PlayDate 2002 (an independent marketing service), mail order company Grand River Toy Company, and local retailers Elements of Nature, Kite and Kaboodle and A Child’s Place, are compiled on a database. After eliminating any plaything with less than three mentions, we ended up with a list unlike any other, combining new toys, award-winners, and seasoned best-sellers. Big electronic video games are not included, nor are any type of software or books.

Our list also reflects local tastes, with three independent city stores surveyed this year. That might help explain why the wooden trains ranked first, since all three carry those kid-propelled trains, popular with the toddler and preschool set.

“Those are lifetime toys. They won’t wear out in six weeks,” says Jim Cordingley of Kite and Kaboodle, located at The Forks.

As for LEGO, that’s a no-brainer for anyone with a LEGO maniac in their home, since those tiny interlocking pieces can be constructed in an infinite number of ways.

“(LEGO is) very good at keeping up with the popular trends and keeping up to date, explains Zellers’ Dan Ewing of how sets tie in with Harry Potter and Star Wars movies.

The same goes for that chameleon of fashion dolls, Barbie. Not only is she a pop star sensation this season, she’s also the long-haired Rapunzel.

Other hot toys also have movie or television connections, such as Spider-Man action figures, Dora the Explorer, and indirectly, some of the spy gear.

If our list is any indication, Santa’s sleigh will be bulging with a wide variety of play gear. Along with the toys of season, old favourites will find their way back under the tree in 2002, which doesn’t surprise toy seller Eilef Ausland of Elements of Nature.

“The trend will always be there for the staples, like train sets and dolls. They’re just repackaged,” to suit the time, he says, referring to the popularity of rag dolls like Groovy Girls, recycled into a celebration of girl power.

The appearance of crayons on the list puts a new twist on a perennial kid activity.

The Crayola Window Writers turn windows into a canvas for your household of artistes. And the Crayola Crayon Maker is also a win-win gadget for both kids and parents. This ultimate recycling contraption squishes those little broken bits (the company calls them leftolas) into new, pencil-sharp crayons, so children can design their own colors, while satisfying their parents’ nagging urge to use up the old ones.

“For the first time in 99 years you can make your own crayons,” explains Gene Hayden of the Canadian Toy Association of the appeal of the gadget.

The make-it-yourself trend continues with Crunch Art, an Oppenheim Gold Award winner where children push fabric and paper into specially designed foam. No glue or mess here, a claim which alone makes it a purchase worth considering.

Award-winning Cranium Cadoo also places high on our list, most likely because it is a well-designed board game equally enjoyed by kids and their parents. (Another point to consider: the game takes only about 20 minutes to play.)

Kids and adults will be attracted to two magnetic construction sets, Magz and Geomag, both which feature steel balls and colourful magnetic rods that stick together in endless geometrical formations.

“They feel wonderful,” enthuses Grand River Toy’s Sandy Callahan of the Magz set. “The feel of something with a magnetic pull is really cool.”

A couple of toys which didn’t make the cut are recycled versions of hits of past seasons. Unsuspecting parents may want to avoid Chicken Dance Elmo by Mattel (could anyone really bear to listen to the yellow-suited red monster sing that dorky song over and over and over?), an attempt to replicate the company’s success with Tickle Me Elmo. Hasbro is appealing to boys with its Queasy Bake Cookerator (shades of the Easy-Bake Oven), which turns out really gross-sounding stuff like old mouldy cake and larva-licious cocoon cookies.

For those parents intent on seeking out sure-fire winners, your best bet is consulting with the Canadian Toy Testing Council ( www.toy-testing.org) for a list of top toys dating back six years.

“We’re totally objective. We have no affiliation,” explains executive director Leigh Poirier in a telephone interview from Ottawa. “We do have the most comprehensive (testing) program because we take six samples of each toy and place them in (our testers’) homes.”

While some parents are intent on only buying award-winners, others shop for the Christmas morning wow factor. Either way, it means following your child’s interests, wishes, and passions, suggests Callahan.

“You want to make them happy,” she says.

In the end, no matter how many lists you consult, the only one that really counts is the one penned by the short people in your own house.

Happy shopping.

brenda@suderman.com

It’s a symphony of sound for the wee ones these days. Check out next Saturday’s Child Play for a report on the new musical toys on the market, designed to make your baby brighter.

Child’s Play Top 10 Toys for 2002

Wooden railway sets (Brio and Learning Curve) 14 hits

Anything LEGO, 12

Spy Stuff (Wild Planet) 6

Barbie (Mattel) 6

Anything Spider-Man 5

Beyblades (Hasbro) 4

Cranium Cadoo (Cranium, Inc.) 4

Crunch Art (HandsOn Toys) 4

Crayola Crayon Maker, Crayola Window Writers, (Binney & Smith), 3 each

Magz, (Progressive Training) 3, and Geomag (Brainstorm Juggling, Ltd.) 2

Honourable Mentions

Dora the Explorer dolls (Fisher-Price, Mattel) 3

GeoSafari Talking Microscope (Educational Insights) 3

Groovy Girls and accessories (Manhattan Toys)3

Harry Potter games and playsets (Mattel), 3

LeapPad interactive games, (Leap Frog) 3

Maggie Raggies Sweetie Singer doll (Zapf Creations) 3

Rescue Heroes (Fisher Price) 3

Rush Hour (Binary Arts) 3

Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Cards (Upper Deck) 3