 Evaluation Summary - Category Ratings
Category ratings based on scale from 1 to 5 [3] = Meets Passing Criteria [4] = Excellent [5] = Outstanding / Best
( Only scores of 3 or higher are published. )
Product and service final rating is averaged from the sum of all evaluation category scores.
( With a total of 323 evaluation categories, only 6 of the applicable evaluation categories are featured for public view. )
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CE Marked | UL Approved | JPMA Certified |  | (Not Applicable) | | | | ASTM Compliant | eco-Friendly | eco-Conscious |  | | |
| BPASafe™ (Complies with CPSI EN71) | Soluble Heavy Metals
(Complies with ASTM F963/CPSIA 106) | Mechanical/Physical (Complies with ASTM F963/CPSIA 106) | | | | | | Flammability - Solids/Textiles (Complies with 16 CFR 1500.44/CFR 1610) | Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials (Complies with ASTM-4236/16 CFR 1500.14(b)(8) ) | iWatchDog™ Approved (Complies with ICCS™ Certification Standards) | | | |
| UPC | Manufacturer SKU | Age Grading | | | | |
| Manufactured In | Safety Hazard/Warnings | | Australia |  CHOKING HAZARD-Small parts. Not for children under 3 years. |
Introducing Stacker's Noah's Ark
* SUMMARY CODES: SN - Special Needs
Anybody see any rain clouds around? The reason I ask is because Noah, as in Noah and the Ark along with all of the animals are back in town! Children familiar with the story of Noah's Ark can name many of the animals that endured 40 days and 40 nights of flooding. There are giraffes, lions, elephants, monkeys and bears. But what youngster would shout out, kangaroo? Aussie kids, that's who! The Australian makers of a new line of toys known as Tier Toys has created an ingenious stack and play product line that kicks off with the debut of Noah's Ark with, naturally, two kangaroos!
Who Says Learning Can't Be Fun?
Who says learning can't be fun? That was one of the very first questions that came to mind as I examined this unique new product we recently inducted. It is so accurate in the statement made in the introduction in reference to children who are familiar with Noah's are being able to identify the name of many of the animals.
While the familiarization with the animals that children may have is so common, Stacker's Noah's Ark brings an entirely new perspective to a child learning about animals. Each level of the Ark as a child separates them has a space with a shape designated for a specific plastic animal in the group which comes with the ark, to fit perfectly. A child learns about object association through matching the shape of each animal in the Ark layers, with the specific plastic animal in the set.
The plastic animals themselves create yet another learning lesson. The color scheme of the animals encompasses all of the primary colors which are recognized by children in the age group for which the Ark was designed. This stimulates visual skills and the feel/shape of each animal provides a stimulation for understanding of object and shape differentiation.
Another lesson and quite valuable feature of Stacker's Noah's Ark is the assembly and dis-assembly of the ark itself. In their active period of Play, to begin playing with the Ark and the animals inside, the child must take the various pieces of the Ark and its layers, separating each one to gain access to the animals.
Upon completion of their Play period, a child can be encouraged to exercise their skills to identify each animal and place it in the appropriate shaped space for which it is designated to be stored. This stimulates further development of cognitive skills with an end result of improved self-esteem to go with it from the completion of everything being put back in place before storage.
From my own personal standpoint, having formerly taught pre-school and elementary school children, one strand of thought runs through my mind as I am preparing the product evaluation summary. A single word says it all...IMAGINATION! This toy has so many different pieces for a while to experience playing with. Each and every page can stir a child's imagination to what seems like a bound less number of possibilities.
When you consider the potential of what child can gain from active play with this toy, the level of critical, motor, and cognitive skill stimulation and development is literally mind boggling. Stacker's Noah's Ark is a hybrid learning and recreation medium that can be applied for use in home or educational environment.
 Independent Evaluator Reports
Obtaining An Independent Perspective...
In this section we will cover "Stacker's Noah's Ark" from the perspectives of qualified individuals in the specific field associated with the product being evaluated. To accomplish that task we have called upon the assistance of two top level industry professionals who know their stuff and have the credentials to prove it.
Our professional and independent evaluators have formed their own opinions from extensive analysis and produced detailed, in-depth reports connected with their study and evaluation of Stacker's Noah's Ark. The information to follow is comprised of excerpts from those same reports which have been paraphrased in order to encapsulate the primary points being conveyed in each report. This approach provides completely independent perspectives in the evaluation of Stacker's Noah's Ark.
PLEASE NOTE: The names of our independent evaluators are not disclosed to protect the privacy of these individuals upon their request. Their labors are provided at no charge to assist us in providing a well-balanced and qualified product evaluation summary. Their title is provided to clarify for our readers the specific type of specialist from which the information provided has been included in each product evaluation summary.
PRODUCT: Stacker's Noah's Ark
Plastics Engineer
"This Stacker's Noah's Ark is a most impressive piece of work when it comes to plastic materials. As I carefully looked over each animal, my strong personal interest was quickly aroused. This wasn't just another run of the usual firm plastic animals with poor tooling for the molds, this was something more carefully designed with detail I seldom see any more. This is a toy made with the quality and workmanship in plastics design which was common place and has now almost literally forgotten."
"If you look closely at each individual animal, you will see distinct features which make each animal unique amongst its fellow creations. Each animal possesses characteristics which make it more realistic in detail, despite it being composed of plastic compounds. Soft and flexible to everything else, this places a value on this toy that is surely due."
"The balance of the pieces which are for the structure of the ark is also of the finest design and combination of plastic compounds used. There is virtually no risk of splintering from breakage and the workmanship is nothing short of the finest for this level of a product. The design structure of the Ark is such that it is dazzling to the mind to see such an ingenious design for the most part.
"The only bug up my backside here would be the ramp design for the Ark. I do realize the fact of remaining within certain dimensional parameters overall, and it works effectively with a child but a broader entry and ramps to the Ark would have have been much more appealing in the design and would have provided a lesser materials cost to create. Outside of that, this is a toy I would mind not my grand kids having it to play with."
Pediatrician - General Practice
"Toys are a fundamental part of a child's life even as early as the first month of their introduction to their new reality, our living habitat. Most parents on the average from what I have seen in my practice, don't realize that a toy's mission is not to simply be an object which causes a child to elicit a smile, a giggle, or a laugh.
It is of the highest priority for a parent as serious in their study about their child's development physically and mentally as an ant is with a fresh food supply. When a parent his armed with the proper knowledge and understanding of what a powerful tool a toy is, they will be able to make intelligent decision in their buying habits for their child or children."
"I see the Noah's Ark toy as a fundamental necessity that parents should be looking for. Although there is a potential choking hazard for children under 3 years of age, I still have a strong comfort with the toy. If parents have more than one child and one of the youngest is under 3 years of age, it is the responsibility of the parents to make sure the animals from the toy are not within the reach of the child. It is an superlative toy which can fulfill the recreational and skill development stimulus in a collective manner."
"I found the fine detail in the animals to be most enthralling. That is a feature which will set the toy apart from others of similar nature even more so. Fine detail of such magnitude will serve as an excellent catalyst for development of developing association of the plastic animals with the real-life animals. Whether a child makes an association with an image in a book, television, or actual animal directly, the contribution in reference to skill development still remains the same. "
"My evaluation of this toy is one I can take pride in saying is a positive one. It is my hope that a trend in parents buying purchases for their child or children may begin to develop which leans towards toys of this quality and over all functionality. This is especially so in regard to SN children. They are very special and this is a toy that will fit well into the therapy a nurse or behavioral specialist can introduce for an SN child in my own personal opinion."
 Consumer Hands-On Evaluation
Nothing is more powerful than hands-on experience by a consumer with a product when it is being evaluated. Based upon that fact we put every single product we evaluate at the mercy of consumers in a hands-on evaluation where anything goes. Shall we see how "Stacker's Noah's Ark" was seen with consumers?
 | Stacker's Noah's Ark dispensed the right ingredients to pull plenty its share of attention in our hands-on evaluation with consumers. Surprisingly enough, we had no issue with any of the plastic animals being taken.
One of the most common sights of parent & child with the Ark and the many colorful animals, was either the child and parent placing the animals side-by-side in front of the Ark. With some of the animals this was not as simple as it appeared.
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The facility where we setup to do the evaluation had all smooth brushed metal table tops. This equated to next to no traction for placing items vertically without falling. With the animals from the Ark, there were many times when one animal would fall over, causing two more to fall over and when the parent or child tried to pick up the fallen animals, the inevitable result was the majority of the animals falling over as well.
Although at first glance it may not appear to be such, that situation with the slippery tabletops could not possibly have been more ideal for our evaluation. It demonstrated how Stacker's Noah's Ark triggered a strong motivation for the parent and child to not cease in their efforts to make all of the animals standing upright. At the same time this activity was sparking a massive rush of stimulation which would accelerate skill development for the child and do some dusting on the established skills for the parent simultaneously.
In our actual live experience as well as reviewing our video tapes, it became quickly apparent what an outstanding toy that Stacker's Noah's Ark was. The animals created a perfect venue to encourage parent / child interaction and bonding. It was so moving to watch our videos in our evaluation process, seeing the wealth of emotion emanating from the mothers and their children as the worked cooperatively in opening the Ark up, separating the levels, pulling the animals on each level out, and when done, reversing their first actions.
Through the consumer hands-on evaluation we were able to obtain a much clearer understanding and judgment of where Stacker's Noah's Ark stood as we progressed through each page of categories for evaluation of the toy. This proved quite invaluable in all segments of our evaluation process. In the results from the feedback form we discovered that:
- Popularity with the participants was high yet was falling short just a pinch in regard to market purchase. Mothers loved it yet were more inclined to but a toy of this size with a more well known name. The majority of the feedback on that was still quite high.
- The percentage of mothers who would "consider" stopping to look at the product on a shelf at a major dept store was high but not over the top. The current economy has these mothers edgy about their purchasing decisions while at the same time the mothers looked at the box and product repeatedly and the Stacker's Noah's Ark was a topic of discussion with many of the mothers well after they completed their evaluation.
- Many of the mothers saw the visual appeal of the Stacker's Noah's Ark being "absolutely wonderful" yet still missing the WOW!factor.
- The majority of the mothers loved the product in all aspects except for the labors of putting everything back together to put it away. Based upon their own words on the feedback forms, they are looking at the labors for themselves rather than the overall benefit for the child in sync with being cost-effective.
 A Sampling Of Category Ratings
A small sampling of the individual category titles & rating
scores from the complete product review itself for
this product are featured here. The categories which have been selected to be
featured in this product evaluation summary for public view, specify some of
the primary points of how and why that specific rating score was reached.
- If a product is inducted, a product evaluation summary of the
complete review is published for public view.
- When a score has been assigned to a category rating, it has been through
a thorough validation process to ensure accuracy and no inflection of bias.
- If a product scores an overall category evaluation
rating average of [2] Stars or lower from the complete review results,
it fails the evaluation and is not inducted.
- Information for products which do not pass our evaluation is confidential
and is shared only with the company submitting the product.
The Featured Category Ratings for this Product Evaluation
Summary are listed below.
COST BENEFIT: Rating Level - [5] 
Stacker's Noah's Ark was a bit of a challenge to evaluate for this category. The product has so many features which when weighed against the MSRP appears to be a good balance. In our evaluation we do not just make quick decisions. With Stacker's Noah's Ark we tried to look at it from as many perspectives as possible to fully qualify the rating assigned to the product in this category.
Stacker's Noah's Ark pulls a perfect balance of features vs cost which helps bring give it a fighting chance later in the marketing value and other categories. When you look at the quality, detail, potential skill development gained from repetitive use, and the MSRP, it screams so clearly that Stacker's Noah's Ark deserves a perfect score of [5] Five Stars in this evaluation category.
DURABILITY: Rating Level - [5]
Stacker's Noah's Ark held the trump card in this evaluation category for durability. We rand every piece of the toy through every possible test we could devise to give it serious wear and tear yet it still remained with proper margins expected. The plastic compounds used for the creation of Stacker's Noah's Ark are of high quality and flex levels which makes it quite durable product that will handle most any environment or manner of care.
In the final analysis in our evaluation of Stacker's Noah's Ark in this category for durability, Stacker's Noah's Ark made it through like it was a pair of roller skates. It closes the book on this category with a perfect score of [5] Five Stars.
EASE OF USE: Rating Level - [5]
Ease of use is a concern in our evaluation. If something is too easy to use, parents sometimes become complacent and fail to remember the potential choking risk if they have a child under the age of three.
Stacker's Noah's Ark wrote the book in regard to ease of use. With a very logical structure which is rather innovative in design, Stacker's Noah's Ark provides a very simple, easy to use, toy which enriches a child's play environment. As we come to the end of this portion of our coverage on Stacker's Noah's Ark, it screams into the finish with a perfect score of [5] Five Stars in the Ease of Use evaluation category.
NEVER LEAVE YOUR CHILD OR CHILDREN UNATTENDED WHILE PLAYING WITH STACKER'S NOAH'S ARK IF UNDER 3 YEARS OF AGE
INNOVATION: Rating Level - [4] 
Innovation is the name of the game these days and scoring just an average score in this category is barely a blip on the buyer's radar! Stacker's Noah's Ark showed its stuff and is clearly innovative enough to easily receive a score which is well above average in this category. Stacker's Noah's Ark pulls ahead when it comes to innovation with the creative layered concept of stacking the layers yet having a a primary base in which each layer fits in and held securely by the primary base. There is no question about Stacker's Noah's Ark being ahead of the game as far as innovation goes, yet at the same time it just doesn't enough yet to make it all the way to the top in this evaluation category. Stacker's Noah's Ark falls short of a perfect score by a single point with a score of [4] Four Stars in this category of innovation.
MARKETING VALUE: Rating Level - [5]
Marketing value is a tough one to call sometimes, but that is why we have the evaluation structure we do, to ensure personal opinion is as far out of the picture as possible. The facts speak for themselves.
At the same time, there are many possible perspectives from which the marketing value of Stacker's Noah's Ark can be seen in its evaluation process. Despite the feedback form results which demonstrated that the product had some shortage in the opinion of the participants in regard to marketing value, there is more to consider. There are simply so many elements in the game here which brings Stacker's Noah's Ark to a shining glory, the toy was still dominant and pulled a perfect evaluation score of [5] Five Stars in the category for marketing value.
VISUAL APPEAL: Rating Level - [4]
When it came to visual appeal, we tried to look at Stacker's Noah's Ark through the eyes of a child, a parent, a teacher, a corporate buyer, and a simple Mom and Pop's shop. With each profile, Stacker's Noah's Ark still scored well above average. For the final score in this category for visual appeal, Stacker's Noah's Ark pulled through just a single digit short of a perfect score in this category with a score of [4] Four Stars. It was great but just didn't have the WOW!factor to pull it to the top in visual appeal.
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| Seal of Approval:
Approved |
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| eco-Recognition™
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Not Eligible |
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| Award of Excellence:
Approved
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THE TOY MAN® PRODUCT GUIDE AWARDS
"The globally recognized awards that are received by a limited few...
and give a product the well earned recognition it deserves!" |
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The
products and online services which become recipients of "The Toy Man® Award of Excellence" acheived an evaluation category rating average of [5] Stars, the highest level of rating available on a 1-5 scale evaluation model. The average is based upon the overall average from all applicable evaluation categories, not just the 6 evaluation categories featured in this summary. |
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"The
Toy Man®  Award serves as an emblem of recognition for products & online services that contribute substantially to positive skill growth and/or productivity. |
| ( This includes books, CD's, DVD's, consumer electronics & accessories, recreational games and equipment, home furnishings, juvenile, software, toys and specialty. ) |
This distinguished award is exclusive as well as unique, with the editor's signature which represents a product being selected as an  . |
PLEASE NOTE: The eChoice™ Award images which were used from 1971-1984, 1984-2007, 2007-April 2010 have been retired. Although the former versions of the eChoice™ Award have been retired, they still remain valid. |
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