Parenting Magazine's Toy Hall of Fame in 2006

Pamela was a Judge for Parenting Magazine's Toy Hall of Fame in 2006
Toy Hall of Fame: Judges: 2006
Cliff Annicelli, editor of Playthings magazine; Lou Casagrande, president and CEO of the Boston Children's Museum; Janet Chan, editor-in-chief of Parenting; Shelley Pazer, Ph.D., president of The Discovery Group, Inc.; Pamela Pier, proprietor of Dinosaur Hill Toy Store, New York City; Marianne Szymanski, coauthor of Toy Tips: A Parent's Essential Guide to Smart Toy Choices

New York Magazine Best of 2006

This store peddles brightly colored wooden blocks and games you won't mind seeing in your living room.  Owner Pamela Pier, who opened shop in 1983, sells a dozen varieties of blocks, in languages including Hebrew and Braille.  For preliterate little ones, there are Haba and Selecta wooden rattles ($7 to $21.50) and the Kouvalias Musical Toy ($58.25), a set of rainbow-hued wooden globes connected by springs to a revolving wooden base, to help stimulate those tactile skills.  And for children on the move, Pier carries gear like Selecta's delightful, waddling mouse push-toy on a stick ($35.50), the perfect companion for when the stroller set actually begins to stroll.

Zagat's Survey 2004 and 2005

"A fanciful philosophy pervades" this East Village "wonderland" that feels like a "small town toy shop" yet offers and "amazingly large assortment", with "treasures tucked in every corner"; "delightful owner" Pamela Pier stocks "quirky" handmade "goodies" "for every child" (and "adults too"), from unbelievable puppets" from Bali, Burma and Mexico to "classic" playthings and musical instruments, plus "unique baby and toddler clothes."

New York Magazine Best of 2000

Zagat's Survey 2006

"Expect the unexpected" at this "simply marvelous" East Village "wonderland", where every "nook and cranny" is filled with "magical" toys, making it "fun to wander through with a child"; it has "all the basics", but it's also jammed with the "sort of stuff you would've gone nuts for when you were a kid" like kaleidoscopes, marionettes from around the world, stained-glass fairies, wooden dollhouses, steel drums and figurines.