Stephanie shared some of the hot new trends from the International Toy Fair with NBC's Willie Geist and guest host Steve Harvey on the TODAY Show.  Check out what got their attention! For more details on the products discussed visit Stephanie's blog.

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We hope everyone had a happy holiday!  Our award winners cover all age groups and every budget - and are good all year round!  To see our complete list of award winners, click here.  Stephanie shared some of the toyportfolio.com's Platinum Award winners with TODAY Show's Willie Geist.

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As a kick off to the 2012 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Awards, we were featured on the TODAY Show. The focus of the segment -- the best educational toys of the year. There are so many products that make this list in our book, but alas we can't show all of them in four minutes.  Click here to read the complete reviews of the products featured. At the same time we encourage you to look through your child's age range to find so many other outstanding award winners.  To watch Stephanie's segment with Al Roker, click here.

This year's Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2012 Awards cap off another wonderful busy year of testing for the best. As always we looked at hundreds and hundreds of toys.  We're looking for the most engaging, innovative, well-designed toys of the year.  The best of the best go on to our network of toy testers all over the country to give us their feedback. For this season we had testers as far as Alaska, Hawaii and even London in the mix.  In additional you'll find books, audios and DVDs to enjoy together.

We are always grateful to the families that make this process so much fun. This year more of our first group of toy testers headed off to college-- how is that possible!  Our complete Platinum, Gold, Blue Chip and SNAP Award winners for 2012 can be viewed by clicking here. Congrats to all our award winners!

Our mission remains the same: to take the guesswork out of finding wonderful products to share with your kids. We hope you'll find our list useful! Please join us on facebook,  twitter, and pinterest as we update our coverage as toy season heats up!

All our best,

Joanne and Stephanie

You can watch Stephanie's segment on the Today Show here.

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The Olympics are the perfect opportunity to make a connection for your kids that they are part of a global community.  Watch Stephanie from the TODAY SHOW on how to make the most of the Olympics with your kids.

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Our testers have been busy at work since the new toys started arriving for 2012. Wondering how the new LEGO FRIENDS did with our testers?  Or what kind of games you can bring home to build your child's ability to problem solve?  What kind of toys match your toddler's new mobility?  Which science toys are worth your child's time?  We have it covered.

Click here to see our ratings/reviews.  Stephanie shared the top toys for spring with the TODAY Show's Savannah Guthrie on April 24th.

Click here to read Stephanie's Behind the Scenes blog.

We always feel so grateful to our network of family testers from all over the country that help us find the best toys of the year. To these families we say a special thank you! 

And to all we wish you a healthy and happy new year! 

Hot toys are a big part of the news cycle this time of year. They tend to be toys that have been heavily promoted. The hype often leads to shortages and then more news stories! So if you find yourself with one of these toys on your child's holiday wish list, you may want to buy yours earlier rather than later. You'll see that Elmo is back and Star Wars LEGO holds the top spot in construction toys--they are joined by a flying shark, monsters, and interactive dancing toys.

Click here to see our list.

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The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2011 Platinum Award winners were announced on the Today Show on September 27th.  Watch Stephanie here.

We're delighted to announce the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Awards for 2011. (Click here to see complete list of award winners.) We congratulate the toy companies and their designers for producing award-winning products that engaged and entertained our toy testers. As always, we thank our dedicated family testers (all over the country) who take our process to heart.  Once we have looked at toys in terms of whether they work, are fun, and are developmentally appropriate - the toys are then sent out to families for their feedback. These families join us in our mission: to take the guesswork out of finding quality playthings that will entertain your kids. With budgets tighter than ever, we know that no one wants to bring home a toy that is a waste of time or money.  For those of you just discovering us, you should know that we do not take fees from toy companies. This has allowed us to be able to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly in toyland.  You can click on the 2011 Award Page to view all of our winners including Platinum, Gold, Blue Chip and SNAP (Special Needs Adaptable Product) Awards.  

  - All our best, Joanne & Stephanie

Stephanie was on NBC's Weekend Today Show on August 7th to discuss the Breast Milk Doll. Read her blog to get the scoop on this latest media-hyped toy.