Children serve as toy testers at Upper St. Clair preschool
VTech’s Sort and Discover Activity Cube was popular among the Goddard School’s youngest students.
Pre-kindergarten students give Yeti In My Spaghetti a try.
The object is to keep the Yeti on top of the spaghetti instead of falling into the bowl.
VTech’s Sort and Discover Activity Cube was popular among the Goddard School’s youngest students.
Pre-kindergartners at the Goddard School in Upper St. Clair relax after a round of Yeti In My Spaghetti.
VTech’s Sort and Discover Activity Cube was popular among the Goddard School’s youngest students.
The object is to keep the Yeti on top of the spaghetti instead of falling into the bowl.
OK, Nettie. Are you ready? Make this toy rhyme with “spaghetti.”
How ’bout “jetty”? “Richard Petty”? Hey, that stuff looks like confetti.
”Davis, Bette”? “Let’s go steady”? I’ve come up with nothing …
Yeti!
Well, maybe the conversation didn’t go quite that way among the creative types at PlayMonster. But the Wisconsin company did come up with a game called Yeti In My Spaghetti, and the combination of thin pasta and the Abominable Snowman is a hit.
At least, it’s a hit among children at the Goddard School in Upper St. Clair, who recently had the opportunity to serve as toy testers and selected the Yeti as their favorite.
The school was among 50 locations to participate in the 2016 Goddard School Preschooler-Approved Toy Test, during which kids play and teachers observe, with results compiled from all over the country as to who likes what best.
“It provides an exciting opportunity for the Goddard School to identify what educational toys will be most popular for the gift-giving season,” Lori Santo, owner of the franchises in Upper St. Clair and Peters Township, said. The latter location participated in the 2013 test.
To get a gauge on what the children think, the toys are placed in age-appropriate classrooms, from infant through age 6.
“Each classroom gets two to three toys to explore and play with,” Chrstina Martin, assistant director at Upper St. Clair, explained. “When we brought in the toys for them, they were all excited and eager to play with them. They all ran to the door and wanted to get their first look at the toys.”
Participating toy brands included VTech, Leap Frog, Beleduc USA and Manhattan Toy Co., with products varying from high-tech to the type of stuff kids could have enjoyed back in the ’60s.
“They’re all very hands-on toys,” Santo said. “They’re play-based, but they’re educational, too.”
Some of the other more popular selections were the STEM Force and Motion Activity Set by Learning Resources, and another PlayMonster product, the Action Stackers Big Builders Set.
As for Yeti In My Spaghetti, the concept is relatively simple.
“It’s a bowl with spaghetti noodles,” Martin said about the plastic pasta replicas, “and the Yeti sits on top. You have to really focus and concentrate on which noodle you’re pulling out, which one do you pull out next, because you don’t want the Yeti to fall into the bowl. They loved that game.”
If you’re looking for ideas, here is the list of the top 10 products as selected by Goddard students nationwide:
• Click Clack Ball by Manhattan Toy Co., all ages
• Sort and Discover Activity Cube by VTech, suggested age range 9 to 36 months
• Mirari Pop! Pop! Piano by PlayMonster, suggested age range 12 months and older
• Musical Gator by Alex Brands, suggested age range 18 months and older
• Newborn Nursery Newborn Baby by Madame Alexander, suggested age range 2 years and older
• Lauri Tall Stackers by PlayMonster, suggested age range 2 years and older
• Gearation Board by John Deere, suggested age range 3 years and older
• Puppy Up by PlayMonster, suggested age range 3 years and older
• Yeti In My Spaghetti by PlayMonster, suggested age range 4 years and older
• Hexenkuche (Witches Kitchen) by Beleduc USA Inc., suggested age range 4 years and older