November 05, 2007 09:29 AM Eastern Time

NEW YORK (BUSINESS WIRE) — The independent consumer organization Oppenheim Toy Portfolio announces their annual top Platinum Award list of the best toys of the year. “As always, we look for products that are developmentally appropriate, innovative, and fun,” notes President Joanne Oppenheim. “But this year, with ‘rolling recalls’ due to lead contamination, we knew consumers needed us to go one step further–to give families a list of lead-free* choices.”“The products on our Platinum Award list have been tested and determined to be lead-free* by an independent lab,” said Stephanie Oppenheim, publisher and CEO of the well-known and respected consumer review. “We wanted to offer families reassurance in a year of doubts about toy safety.”

For the first time in 15 years, the organization will not publish its annual book. “Given the current problems with toy safety, we felt it a violation of public trust to go to press with toys that were not independently verified as lead free,” Stephanie Oppenheim explains.

The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Lead Free* Platinum Award List may be viewed with complete reviews at www.toyportfolio.com; the award winning toys are:

Infants

• Lamaze Chime Garden (Learning Curve)
• Mommy and Me Musicals (Rich Frog)
• Musical Babipouce (Corolle)
• Royal Jungle Puppets (Manhattan Toy - pictured)
• Spunky Key Wind Motion Musical (Gund)

Toddlers

• Shop n Grow Walker (Little Tikes)
• Go Baby Go Stride to Ride Lion (Fisher-Price)
• Inchworm (Radio Flyer)
• Sorbet Melodie Doll (Corolle)
• Little Petals Daisy Collection (Mary Meyer)
• Laugh and Learn Learning Kitchen (Fisher-Price)

Preschoolers

Dolls & Puppets

• Groovy Girls Poseable Dolls (Manhattan Toy)
• Lia Interactive Baby Doll (Corolle)
• Madeline Cloth Doll (Alexander Doll Co.)
• Arnold the Snoring Pig (Gund)
• Bobbidi (Gund)
• Higgins (Mary Meyer)
• Classique Nursery Twin Stroller (Corolle)
• Grover Puppet (Gund)
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Butterfly Puppet (Kids Preferred)

Pretend Props and Settings

• Circus Tent (Bazoongi Kids)
• Ryan’s Room Home Sweet Home Dollhouse (Small World Toys)
• Woodland Adventures Pirate Ship (Step 2 - pictured)
• Castle of Courage (Step 2)
• Mini Automoblox (Automoblox)

Games and Puzzles

• Candy Land Castle Game (Hasbro)
• Diggity Dog (International Playthings)
• Once Upon a Time Matching Game (eeBoo)
• Smart Cycle (Fisher-Price)
• Goodnight Moon Puzzle (Mudpuppy)

Early School Years
Construction

• Arena (Playmobil)
• Mars Mission (Lego Systems)
• K’NEX Serpents Spiral Coaster (K’NEX)
• Creator Ferris Wheel (Lego Systems)
• Double Ferris Wheel (K’NEX)

Dolls & Vehicles

• American Girls Julie and Ivy (American Girl - pictured)
• Bump n Chuck R/C Bumper Cars (Kids Galaxy)
• Air Hogs Havoc Heli (Spinmaster)

Games & Active Play

• Bendomino (Blue Orange Games)
• Cat in the Hat I Can Do That Game (I Can Do That Games)
• I Spy 3D Game (Briarpatch)
• Jam Pack Jam (Cranium)
• Toss Your Cookies (Gamewright)
• Twister Scram (Hasbro)
• BeeBoo Big Bubble Mix Kit (Extreme Bubbles)

Crafts

• Crayola Telescoping Crayon Tower (Crayola)
• Decoupage Diva Tray (Creativity for Kids)
• Me By Me (Alex)

Electronics

• Digital Arts and Crafts Studio (Fisher-Price)
• Eye Clops (Jakks Pacific)
• Fly Fusion Pentop Computer (Leapfrog)
• Kidizoom Camera (Vtech)

(*) The asterisk on the list verifies that samples from only one particular batch of these toys tested lead free. “We can not guarantee that other samples or production runs of the same products will be lead free,” notes Joanne Oppenheim. “The same products produced by different sub-contractors could unfortunately yield very different results. Our hope is that by next holiday season the government will have stricter regulations in place.”