Web Smarts

www.toytips.com

What: Swept up in the hurricane of hype about the hottest toys this season? This site offers reviews, research, and buying tips on hundreds of toys.

BEST POINTS: Toy Tips provides independent scientific research on educational value, toy popularity, and safety. Reviews and research are broken down by age groups for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children. Users can also access up-to-the-minute information on toy recalls from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The site even features articles on toys for adults (to enliven the workplace), an executive gift guide, toys for children with special needs, and toys for pets.

What YOU NEED TO KNOW: Toy Tips does not accept money from toy manufacturers, and all of its research is conducted at The Toy Research Institute, a nonprofit research center based at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Toys are tested with children at more than 500 sites including schools, day-care centers, and summer camps. For toy information elsewhere on the Web check out ToyHotline.org and CPSC.gov.

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