This Grandma found the Oppenheimer Toy Awards years ago. It should be the first place to look for award winning toys and games for 2023 for children of all ages. Why? They are researched and tested by children of the targeted age group and give you the newest and best at all price points.
The Oppenheimer Toy Awards are at the website www.toyportfolio.com. The toy portfolio website is set up with various levels of awards that has thought of everything: the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award, the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Blue Chip Classic Award, and the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio SNAP Award. You can access all at this link.
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award: These represent the most innovative, engaging new products of the year.
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Blue Chip Classic Award: Reserved for classic products that should not be missed just because they weren’t invented yesterday. Products must be in the marketplace for five years to be considered for this award.
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award: Given to outstanding new products that enhance the lives of children. Products listed with four play balls have received a Gold Seal Award.
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio SNAP Award: Special Needs Adaptable Product Award is given to products that can be used by or easily adapted for children with special needs.
Each award honor is then divided into age groups: Infants. Toddlers. Preschoolers.
Early School (5-8). Tweens/Teens.
This Grandma goes directly to the Platinum awards list, their top tier, that, as with all the various levels, are divided up by ages. There are direct links for purchase on Amazon. Here are links to the 2023 Oppenheimer Platinum Toy Award winners by age group:
Yes, we must look at the newest “in” toys that the advertisers have pushed on our grandchildren so that they covet them. However, this Grandma has found that those toys are easily discarded, while the Oppenheimer Toy Award Winners are played with year after year and handed down to the younger children. They stand the test of time, as they have stood the testing of real children to reach award status. Read how the Oppenheimer Toy Awards select the safest and best toys each year and you too will save a lot of time and effort thanks to Toy Portfolio.
The second best resource, National Toy Hall of Fame, helps you explore some of the best and most important toys of all time. The National Toy Hall of Fame recognizes toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period. Each year, the National Toy Hall of Fame inducts new honorees and showcases both new and historic versions of classic toys beloved by generations. You can choose from the most recent inductees: Baseball cards, Cabbage Patch kids, Fisher-Price Corn Popper, and Nerf Toys, and the details on each at this link, which also brings you to past inductees.
You can scroll down by year and examine the past year inductees, many of which you will recognize that your children and even you played with as children. It is wonderful to introduce the toys and games to the new generation–our grandchildren.
You can even plan a visit to the museum that houses The Strong National Toy Hall of Fame, located at One Manhattan Square in downtown Rochester, New York. The museum considers itself upstate New York’s largest year-round cultural attraction. It allows you to experience two floors—more than a city block long—of hands-on, dynamic, interactive exhibit spaces and “play your way through video game and pinball history, leap into the world of American comic book superheroes, and take off in a rescue helicopter. Also, take a cross-country journey on a kid-sized train, stroll through a lush, tropical garden with hundreds of free-flying butterflies, and more.”
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Joy,
Mema