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As visual perception games go, this one's a doozy - quick-moving play and simple rules, yet be prepared for some mental gymnastics if you intend to win! Each tile has four patterns on its corners. A 6 by 6 tile grid is laid out face up. A tile from the face-down draw pile is then flipped over and it's go time! Your job is to match the draw tile either to the edges of two tiles in the grid or to the corners of four tiles in the grid. Simple, but wait! Those with a nimble mind's eye can create a match where none seemingly exists by turning a tile in the grid a quarter turn in either direction. Each time you make a match, keep the tile, and at the end of the game, the most tiles wins! Kids are great at pattern-spotting, and there's no need to read, making this a great all ages game. Great fun for the entire family! For 2 or more players.

One of the many pleasures young children take in exploring these colorful, finely-crafted, solid wooden pieces stems from their smooth, cool, feel and the wonderfully tactile nature of the experience. Another stems from the variety of shapes and many ways in whch they easily mix to form new structures - steps, portals, doorways, bridges, pedestals, towers - so many options! These, and the extraordinarily bright colors, patterns, and illustrations on the pieces exert an almost magnetic pull on kids. Whether stacking, arranging pieces side by side, or creating countless puzzles, children will be engaged for hours on end of creative, stimulating, explorative play.

Anamalz is a line of uniquely adorable, pose-able critters made from sustainable maple wood and cloth. Each Anamalz is hand-painted with child-friendly water-based paint. Their heads, arms, and legs can be posed for maximum imaginative playtime fun. The Aussie Pouch (19.95) gives you three Australian Anamalz (koala, wombat, echidna) in their own bright green pouch. Numerous individual Anamalz (larger than the pouch Anamalz) are 8.95 apiece and available within four different categories - Farm, Wild, Australian, and Prehistoric. Accessories are also available to add to the fun. Anamalz' durable, natural-material construction makes them a pleasure to touch, hold, and observe. Their pose-ability lends itself to creative interaction and social play. A new era is born - Anamalz roam the earth!

Box-O-Mania's My Place Play Box brings a new level of fun to the old concept of playing house in a cardboard box. In this case, the playhouse is made of 100% corrugated plastic, suitable for indoor or outdoor play. Assembly is a snap (thank you, velcro) and the playbox we put together, called Le Petit Salon, came with all sorts of wonderful touches. Once decorated with the many large, elegant stickers that come with the set, the roomy pink structure did indeed resemble a hair salon open for business. With built-in see-through windows and a front door that opens and closes, the decor can't be beat. Come rain or shine, the My Place Play Box will put fun in your day!

This is something every household with a 5- to 8-year-old should have. It's really quite remarkable - an inexpensive, portable system that looks just like a notebook computer and provides 120 interactive skill-building activities for your child. From an educational standpoint, this is a very valuable tool. Kids naturally want to emulate mom and dad by using a computer, and the activities here are as highly engaging and entertaining as they are instructive. There are 5 invaluable categories - Story Book, Creativity Corner, Language World, Spanish Corner, Math Kingdom, Science Lab, Social Studies, Brain Booster - each of which contains several related activities. You can select the level of challenge manually, but most of the activities have an auto-leveling feature that increases or decreases the level of difficulty based on the success rate in previous rounds. There's a full keyboard, a functioning mouse and touch pad, and a 4.5 inch color LCD screen. Let the fun and learning begin!

Have you ever wanted to see a bug up close from every possible angle without, you know, touching it? Wild Creations has come out with Bug's World, a fantastic way to get up close and gain a high level of visual detail on bugs encased in crystal clear resin blocks. Each block (there are 6 in each pack) contains a single real and colorful insect specimen. And to enhance the experience, each block comes with a matching card that provides a detailed, scientific description of the insect. Our set of blocks included a wasp, a scorpion, a very unusual and spiky spider, a couple of rugged beetles, and a Heteroptera Pyrrhocoridae (don't ask). Bug's World is a great way to discover the peculiarities of each insect variety. The blocks really tend to attract attention (just put them out on a table while friends are over and watch people gravitate) and look surprisingly handsome just about anywhere. They're also nicely pocket-sized.

This is a great crossword anagram game, played with dice and cleverly packaged in a design perfectly suited for families hungry for fun - a Campbell's Soup can! The 36 dice, each with letters on all 6 sides, are divided among players. The game is then played in 4 rounds, called Servings. In each round, players take turns forming words by adding letters to a communal crossword layout until someone runs out of letters. Letters in your possession at the end of a round count against you, 1 point for black letters, 2 points for red. The player with the lowest cumulative total at the end of 4 rounds wins the game. Twists include your ability to insert letters into the middle of words, and our favorite - called 'Slurping,' - lets you pull a letter out of the crossword, replace it with one of your own, then dump the removed letter into another player's hand, a perfect tactic for keeping that player from ending the round. What else can we say but Mmmm, good! For 2 to 6 players.

Toddlers' eyes light up when Care'n Learn Teddy's starts talking and interacting with them. Press on his hands, feet, ears, or tummy to elicit a variety of responses, both verbal and musical, while his red nose flashes brightly. Press his left ear and he invites you to take his temperature with the thermometer (included), which shows a different result each time you press the button on it. He'll also invite you to use the stethoscope, generating a steady heartbeat sound when you put it against his heart. He'll ask you to put the bandage on his foot, arm, or hand, and let you know his boo-boo feels better with the bandage (included) on it. Pressing his right ear allows you to switch between music time and the more verbally interactive mode. He'll sing, giggle, make clapping sounds, ask for a hug, and even tell you he loves you!

Young children need to be at least as safe and secure as adults when flying, yet airline seat restraint design does not accommodate that need. CARES Child Aviation Restraint System is a simple, elegant solution, for use with children weighing between 22 - 44 pounds and whose height is 40 inches or less. Compact, light, and easy to carry, it is quick and simple to set up, looping easily around the seat-back so that its harness can work in conjunction with the plane's seat belt to safely secure your child in his seat. Children take to it easily, as it mimics the familiar feel of many child car seat restraints. It comes in its own 6-inch stuff sack and adjusts to fit virtually all airplane seats, though it is for use only in forward-facing seats. It is certified for all phases of flight, from taxiing to take-off to landing, through smooth and turbulent skies alike!

Chalk City Road Maker is a great source of outdoor fun for the entire family. This cleverly designed lightweight toy holds two pieces of chalk, enabling kids to easily create paths and roads for all kinds of outdoor play simply by dragging it along the ground from a standing position. How else could you draw a curving path (or a straight one, for that matter) with perfectly matched parallel lines? Road Maker creates the perfect playground for any kind of riding toy, inspiring kids to new heights of active outdoor play. Chalk City also makes a number of chalk stencil kits (sold separately) that make it easy to enhance the fun!

These nesting dolls, each of which acts as a canvas for children's colorful chalk artistic expressions - call them nesting 3-D blackboards, if you will - evoked a similar response from users un-nesting them for the first time, smaller and smaller, still - 'No way, another one!' Six in all - the smallest is quite tiny - their three-dimensionality allows artists to draw one or several images on each before moving on to colorfully adorn the next. Once the entire family of dolls has been artistically brought to life, nest and un-nest them, or wipe them clean and start anew. The pleasure of creative action followed by hiding and unveiling, fuels inspiration for each subsequent work of fun!

Chloe, a 10-inch plush horse, is not only a soft, wonderful, interactive companion, but, for all the child veterinarians out there (of which there are sure to be more now that we have Chloe), the Care For Me Vet Set is sure to be a cherished gift. Several of the included accessories induce sound and motion responses from Chloe. She sighs when you brush her mane, whinnies when you give her a shot. Her tail swishes when you pick or brush her hooves, and you can hear her heartbeat with the stethoscope. Examine Chloe's ears using the special instrument that lights up just like the ones used by real Veterinarians. Chloe needs lots of love and care, and, when you give it to her, she responds with pleasure and affection, just like a real horse! Chloe comes with Ear Light, Stethoscope, Hoof Pick, Grooming Brush, Syringe, and Vet Bag.

Citiblocs continues to expand their line of ultra-high-quality eco-friendly wooden construction blocks with one great new idea after another. Their new Little Builder Rattle Blocs are perfectly designed for younger children, with thicker, chunkier blocks for easy holding and manipulation, and hollow pieces containing built-in wooden marbles that rattle during play. The 10 rattle blocks have brightly colored window-like rectangles on their sides, thus providing the perfect foundation with which kids easiily construct buildings, towns, and little cities. The triangular rooftop pieces are also brightly colored with water-based paint, as are the wooden staircases and squares. There are 22 pieces in all, packaged in a sturdy, beautifully designed bucket with carrying handle, ideal for quick clean-up and transportation between playtimes. When it comes to creative, constructive play, Citiblocs ranks at the pinnacle.

This is a great two-player or team game - fun, fast-moving, easy to play, yet strategic in nature. Each player gets a game board on which you've got a finite amount of space to be filled in with numerous pieces, each of which is a different size and shape. Easy enough at the outset when your board is nearly empty. But as the game progresses and your board fills up, you may find yourself paying for decisions you made mere minutes ago. Why? Because a shape card flipped from the top of a deck dictates which shape you must place on a given turn, and if you've not been thinking and planning ahead, you may find yourself out of the action a lot sooner than necessary. The moment you can't find a place on the board for the shape in play, you've lost! So scan, plan, position, and plot, but try to leave open the spaces that can accommodate the greatest number of remaining shapes! Each game goes by quickly and is pure fun, but you've got to think to win!

Here's a marvelous idea that will provide hours of creative fun AND a cherished keepsake. Create Your Own Puzzle comes with two large, blank puzzle boards and 18 colored pencils. Each 20-piece puzzle board becomes a canvas on which you create your masterpiece, as simple or elegant as the mood that strikes you. When you're finished, it's puzzle time. Take your work apart and put it back together, time and again gleefully watching your work of art come to life! The back of each puzzle board has a certificate circle for the artist's name and age, making it a perfect memento that will give pleasure for years to come!

Destination USA is a board game in the best possible sense of the words. From its sprawling, brightly illustrated playing board to its simple, startlingly fun game play, every aspect is tremendously well thought out and contributes to the fun. Players use cards from their hands to navigate a playing piece around a large map of the U.S., picking up tokens and Destination Cards, both of which are worth points, along the way. There are strategies, both in terms of the order in which you play your cards (and thus move) as well as other decisions, but whether or not a player chooses, or is able, to employ them will in no way diminish the grand old time to be had here. And yes, it can be said that the game has an educational component, but it's just too darned fun for that to matter much to those playing it. Destination USA is a game you enjoy right out of the box, and it only seems to get better with each subsequent game! For 2 to 5 players.

Too few children's products in today's marketplace adequately encourage imaginative fun, so Tolo's Dinosaur Play Set is a welcome arrival. Its wonderful simplicity, colorful plants, creatures, and accessories, and stony backdrop set a stage that will ignite your child's imagination and keep it engaged for hours upon hours. There's as close to no assembly as conceivably possible - from box to full set-up took about a minute - and the glossy, highly durable components are of the highest quality. The arms, legs, heads, (and tails, where applicable), have a wide range of motion and make the signature Tolo clicking sound when moved. Comes with First Friends Trees and Flowers, Brontosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, First Friends Cave Boy, and 4 sizable mountain pieces, enough to create worlds within worlds!

The beloved Sqwishland family of colorful collectible rubbery characters is about to get bigger, and YOU just might be the creative genius behind it! DIY Sqwishland comes with a 5-inch blank Sqwishland character (Parrot or Frog, with more styles on the way), 6 acrylic paints, a brush, and a code to unlock the online gallery of kids' homemade designs. Paint the blank character in your own inimitable style, then upload pictures of it to the online gallery, where the Sqwishland community will vote and you might be one of the Grand Prize winners, having your design produced and made into the newest addition to the Sqwishland family! An artists' guide and instructions are included to help get your creative juices flowing. Plan your design in `advance or improvise as you go, work solo or with friends and family, or have your own competition at home before putting your work online. However you do it, you'll want to get in on this exciting, Sqwishtastically creative fun!

We don't see enough products that enable children to make music with their own hands. Do Re Mi Musical Blocks do that and engage kids on several other levels as well. There are eight blocks in all, each with a different size (and pitch) xylophone bar affixed to the top, enough to play an entire octave of the C major scale . Each hollow block is larger than the next, and they come nested so that the entire set fits compactly within the largest block. When it's music or play time, simply lay all the blocks side by side. The result is a sizeable, attractive, brightly illustrated musical instrument. Each block has illustrations and information introducing children to a different musical instrument. The blocks also stack beautifully, rising to a height of 45 inches. Each block is marked on top with the note's letter name, its pitch (do, re, mi, etc.), and musical notation. An accompanying song book shows how to play 10 perennially favorite tunes. Unleash your child's inner musician!

This all-in-one drawing activity kit is perfect for spontaneous, creative fun - anywhere, anytime. With it's compact re-sealable packaging, Doodle Roll practically fits in the palm of your hand, yet yields countless hours of inspired entertainment. The E-Z tear edge allows kids to tear off a sheet any size they like (with a nice, even edge) ensuring that the canvas matches the inspiration, large or small. The children we played with couldn't get enough of it, writing stories, comic strips, inventing games, and of course lots and lots of drawing - everything from the most frivolous fun to inspired works of art. The kit comes with a set of different colored crayons and either a 30-foot roll of 6-inch wide paper or a 15-foot roll, 4 inches wide.

Eleminis is a fun, fast-moving card game. Players take turns drawing a single card from the top of the deck and playing it in some fashion, the goal being to be the first to fill in five empty slots on the table in front of you with the five different Eleminis (Fire, Plant, Air, Water, and Rock). There are two types of cards, Character cards (which include the 5 Eleminis), and Action cards. Character cards are played face up into any empty slot on the table or on top of a weaker Character card. But because you can play cards into your own or other players' slots (particularly cards that work against opponents), things take a lot of interesting turns. Action cards, in particular, shake things up by requiring an action that could help or hinder you or your opponents. The game's speed, variety, and ability to suddenly reverse directions (Wasn't I just winning a minute ago?) are conducive to lots of enjoyable repeat play. For 2 to 8 players.

Fastrack is a game of non-stop action in which small wooden disks are propelled, rapid-fire, by two players on opposite sides of the board aiming for the same small opening. The disks are propelled by means of an elastic band stretched across each player's end zone. A single finger is used to take aim and let fly. The goal is to get all the disks onto the other players' side, and it's worth noting that the opening is just large enough for one disk to fit through at a time. The board is compact and ultra-hip, the star-marked disks light and fast. In a way, this game feels like a distant relative of Rock'em Sock'em Robots, in part because it has something of a classic, retro feel, but mostly because of the visceral action and raw, non-stop competition.

Labradors, squirrels, and ducks, oh, my! This decidedly outdoorsy version of Find it not only contains dozens of miniature representations of things you would find on a hunt, the tiny pellets among which they are hidden extend the theme nicely with a blend of wood-tone and camouflage colors. Like all the Find it games, On a Hunt keeps your hands moving and your eyes sharp as you race (either solo or against other players) to bring hidden items into sight. Everything is contained within a clear plastic cylinder, and the goal is to find as many hidden objects as possible by jostling, rotating, shaking, and inverting the cylinder, shifting the pellets inside to reveal the treasures. A scorecard listing all the items enables players to keep track of found treasures by checking them off as they are discovered. And, as always, focus, persistence, and a keen eye will get you everywhere!

What's better than a great idea? Two great ideas that come together for double the fun! Now your favorite VeggieTales characters can be found in a new version of Find it, but only if you keep your hands moving and your eyes sharp! This is an extremely engaging game, equally suited to solo play or group fun, in which players race to bring hidden objects into sight. Hold the clear cylindrical container in both hands (it's filled with tiny brightly colored pellets), then jostle, rotate, shake, and invert it, shifting the pellets inside to spy the VeggieTales characters hidden within. One after another they come into view, and when they do, check them off your scorecard. Simple, quick, fun - but not necessarily easy - Find it Veggie Tales encourages focus, persistence, and a keen eye, all of which go a long way towards finding the hidden treasure you seek. The hunt is on!

This is a five star game. HABA's games are always strikingly original, among the best on the market suited to younger children and entire families. Fleeting Foxes is especially fun, a race in which players' Foxes strive to catch up to Hen, all of which are being driven forward by rolls of the dice. One of the unique aspects of game play is that, in a single turn, a player moves all pieces on the board, including those of other players. This is where the simple strategy comes in. With one die for each piece on the board, a player rolls them one at a time, choosing which piece to move after each roll (each piece moves once per turn). Hen, who has no player associated with her, has her own die rolled at the end of each turn, moving her along until a Fox catches her or she catches a Fox (yes, Hen can win, too). Special spaces on the board add to the fun. The brightly illustrated board, wooden pieces, and dice have that super-fun, super-high-quality look and feel for which HABA is known.

FlipOut is easy to learn, has a great balance of skill and luck, plays well across a broad range of ages, and is loads of fun! Players each have six cards arranged in an arc in a card-holder in front of them, so that they can only see one side of each card while their opponents see the other. The cards have colored patterns on both sides, and the goal is to obtain as many cards as possible by collecting sets of 4 to 6 matching adjacent cards, based on the side that's facing you. On each turn, a player chooses two actions to take out of a possible six that include flipping, switching, and swapping, all with the goal of lining cards up for a score. And scoring happens frequently in FlipOut, sending the fun level into the stratosphere. For when a player collects a set based on the side they're viewing, they often undo a score you were planning based on the flipside of those same cards! For 2 to 5 players.

Banagrams has taken the classic game of dominoes and made it zestier, more colorful, and, of course, given it a bright fruity twist! The Fruitonimo tiles are smooth, white, cool, and contain six different fun fruit patterns. After drawing five dominoes from the draw pile, players take turns matching one domino at a time from their hand to the dominoes in play on the table. If a player can't match an open tile, he or she must take another domino from the draw pile and pass the turn. Play continues until one player uses all of his or her Fruitonimoes and wins the game. If instead, the draw pile is gone and no player is able to play another tile, the winner is the player with the lowest number of fruits on his or her remaining tiles. Fruitonimoes is fast, fun, easy to learn, and plays well across a broad range of ages, making it a great family game! For 2 to 4 players.

The Garden Plate makes eating fun and easy for young children, helping to keep them happy and engaged at mealtime. The plate is divided in ways that allow different foods to be kept separate and makes it easy for little hands and developing motor skills to get food onto forks and spoons, with special nooks and crannys for just that purpose. The colorful design integrates fairy wing patterns that match the Tillywig Award-winning Garden Fairy utensils (see separate review under 'Set of 3 Garden Utensils,' and these two products from Constructive Eating, Inc. work exceptionally well together. It's dishwasher and microwave safe, and all materials used have been approved by the FDA.

What if every time you threw a football, it produced a flurry of bubbles in its wake? Well, this lightweight, kid-sized football does just that, with the help of a special circular bubble-producing attachment, and, of course, the One and Only Gazillion Bubble solution. The perfect enhancement for a game of outdoor catch, Gazillion Bubble Football comes with two 'endzone' trays and a bottle of bubble solution with which to fill them for more bubbles per throw. Just dip and throw and let the bubble magic begin!

Getting out in the world with a young child means doing everything you can to make sure she's safe and comfortable. Without confidence in the safety factor, there's no peace of mind. Without the comfort, you have an unhappy child, which can make for a dismal experience for all. And then there's the fact that you only have two arms, and the thought of lugging twice your weight in child accessories can be enough to make you give up and stay home. That is, until now. The Go Anywhere Booster Seat is extraordinarily compact and weighs only 1.5 lbs.. It quickly secures to a chair using three sets of adjustable straps, and the five-point restraint harness keeps your child comfortable, safe, and secure. When finished, it easily folds back into a bag shape, with handle and shoulder strap, freeing up hands and making it perfect for travel, home, and on-the-go. It's also stylishly attractive, in an espresso-and-blue pattern, available soon in pink.

GUBS is a strongly imaginative game with an exciting variety of actions that can be taken on any given turn. Players employ richly detailed cards that bestow special powers to the holder while striving to build the mightiest GUB colony. Easier said than done, given the array of card types that can be used to acquire, protect, liberate, devalue, or attack other player's GUB cards. On each turn, a player draws a card and then can play multiple cards from hand, which, if wisely chosen, can expand their colony while decimating an opponent's. One especially exciting element of play is the unpredictability of who will be up and who down from moment to moment. EVENT cards, in particular, can pull the rug out from under players, leveling the playing field or turning it upside down. Cards with the letters G, U, and B (one of each), gradually appear, and once all three have shown, the player with the greatest number of free or protected GUBS wins the game!

Picture a full-blown playground, designed, sized, and well-suited to a baby's developmental stages, and you'll have some idea of the Gymini Move 'n Play. The mat, approximately 40 inches square, is colorful, soft, cozy, and playfully illustrated. Two brightly colored arches stretch up from the corners of the mat, crossing overhead. Hanging from these, on movable plastic connecters, are a variety of highly engaging activities for your child - plastic rings of assorted sizes and colors, soft monkey and elephant rattle toys, a mirror, and, at the center, an electronic music and lights toy. The music and flashing animal lights can be set to continuous play or so that they respond interactively to baby's touch. The arches are fully adjustable, which means you can position everything according to your baby's developmental stages. It all folds up for storage in about 30 seconds, and is very lightweight and portable, making this one invaluable addition to your baby's life!

The term 'Play Blocks' doesn't quite do justice to this beautifully made wooden set designed specifically for the hands and minds of young children. Not only is each individual piece a pleasure to touch, turn, hold, and inspect, but the seemingly simple designs fit easily together in a surprising number of ways. Just put a toddler within reach and watch. You'll see things materialize that you couldn't have imagined - houses, a tree-lined roof-top deck with a double stairway leading up to it, tunnels, towers, spires, bridges - and each wooden piece a brilliant, vivid color. A wheeled vehicle with a removable passenger brings added life and motion to the already highly animated experience of playing with Habaland Play Blocks!

For those of you unfamiliar with HEXBUG Nanos, these tiny, collectible, robotic creatures scurry and explore, wending their way across floors, tables, through mazes, and most amazingly, within their own customizable habitats. The HEXBUG Nano Bridge Battle is a brilliant extension of prior Habitat Sets. Why? Because it's natural to want to pit these guys against one another. We've seen kids (and adults) contrive all manner of competition just for a shot at declaring their Nano the supreme HEXBUG champion. The Bridge Battle Set literally takes things to a whole new level, as Nano owners place their bugs on either side of an elevated arena which they enter through one-way gates. Once there, they chase, nudge, and bump one another until one is knocked over the edge to the lower level. But just because you win round 1 doesn't mean you'll win round 2, 3, 12, 36, or round 100! The set comes with 2 scrappy, high energy Nanos and 29 easy-connect pieces!

Kids and adults will go bonkers for this. There's a wow factor in the Hexbug products that tends to leave mouths hanging open, and this new Hive Habitat Set is so brilliantly designed, the experience of first laying eyes on it is like stepping into the future of fun. This transportable multi-level Nano environment is highly customizable, its floor spotted with attachment points into which you can pop a dazzling array of accessories, including pinwheel-like merry-go-rounds, a see-saw, bump-points, and rotatable flags that briefly steer the wild Nanos. The Nanos themselves are as lifelike as ever, interacting with their environment in surprisingly intelligent ways - getting themselves out of tight corners, righting themselves when flipped on their backs, always exploring! Entry and exit points are opened and closed using built-in gates, and this set, a wonderful stand-alone playground, easily connects to any pre-existing habitat set. Oh, and yes, it even includes a Nano, raring to go!

Everyone loves finding a hidden prize. Perhaps that's why what we most noticed while observing kids with the Ice Age Excavation Kit was their growing sense of excitement, curiosity, and wonder as their hammers and chisels gradually revealed what lay hidden within each solid blue block. Thrills, too, as more and more of what was unearthed became recognizable - a rib cage? A tusk? - and an eagerness to see it all unveiled! But there's no rushing this work. To do so might damage the precious contents. So patience (but only a little) is required. Once all of the pieces have been found, they can be readily assembled into a detailed, display-ready skeleton replica. Surely, this is a taste of what it must be like to be a paleontologist on the dig of a lifetime - the pleasure, the knowledge, the sense of accomplishment. The sheer fun!

Jenga XXL is the massively popular Jenga game brought to a whole new level, one that makes taking your turn more harrowing, and more fun! Just about everyone is familiar with the concept - each player, in turn, removes a block from the tower and balances it on top, the object being to do so without causing the tower to topple. This requires steady hands, and especially nerves - Jenga XXL starts off at more than 4 and 1/2 feet tall, and the further the game progresses, the more precarious the balance becomes. At some point the tower will start swaying, and it's almost impossible not to hold your breath when it does, especially on your turn. When it goes down, a hilarious uproar goes up from the players. The sturdy, lightweight, bright orange blocks are made of precision cut double laminated corrugated fiberboard. There are 51 in all, each 18 inches X 6 inches X 3 inches, and they can be quickly broken down for compact storage and transportation. Jenga XXL takes fun to a whole new level!

This quick-moving, easy-to-learn game is sometimes easy, sometimes not-so-much, with the level of difficulty often impacted by a roll of the die. There are two types of question cards, Just Joe (one player answers the question) and Any Joe (all play). In either case, the first player who correctly answers the question keeps the card, and the first to collect 10 cards, wins. Each question, all of which contain a blank, is completed by the number rolled on the die. So while 'Name 2 types of lettuce,' may be a walk in the park for most of us, naming 6 might be a stretch. The fact that some cards require more specialized knowledge, such as 'Name _ human bones,' while others, (Name _ TV dads) lean toward pop culture or frivolity, creates a balance that allows just about anyone to compete well. The highly compact packaging makes it easy to bring along anywhere, keeping the conversation and fun flowing at all times!

Kloo Card & Board Game is really a series of games, each of which uses specially designed color-coded word cards to help you easily and playfully learn a new language. Versions for learning either French or Spanish are available. Games range from solitaire versions to variations of classic card games. The color-coding makes it easy to correctly form sentences, and as games progress, translating the words in these sentences begins to come to you naturally. Kloo is a great way to reinforce and supplement your learning of a second language, making it fast, fun, and competitive. The board is optional, and allows players to race to various locations in Europe as they play.

Knock Your Blocks Off has an irresistibly distinctive look and feel that adds to the already considerable fun generated by playing it. The play consists of two phases. In the Building Phase, players work independently to build their choice of one of five possible structures using wooden blocks. Each type of structure has a distinct advantage, and building requires that you properly match colors on the sides of the blocks, placing a special crown block on top when finished. Speed matters, because the first one to finish building receives a victory token and goes first in the Destruction Phase, in which players employ one of three attack methods, as determined by a roll of the Demolition Die, to try to knock the crown block from an opponent's structure. Succeed, and collect a victory token. Fail, the defender collects one. The first player to collect 8 tokens wins. Both phases are wildly fun and play extremely well across a broad range of ages, making this a great family game. 2 to 4 players.

This game is an extremely entertaining way to spend the evening (or many evenings) with friends and family. There's not much heavy lifting when it comes to strategy (nice, relaxing fun), yet there's more than enough variety to make it plenty interesting. Players each start out with $10,000 in play money and move around the board on rolls of the dice, following instructions on the spaces as they go. The goal is to be the first player to accumulate 60 cows plus an amount of cash at least equal to what you started with. There are plenty of opportunities to buy cows ($500 a cow), and you get to collect $100 from the bank for each cow you own every time you circle the board (seems like a no-brainer, right?) BUT you have to watch your money - there are lots of expenses that will hit you along the way, and if you can't pay - you're out! There are also ways to lose both cows and money - one minute you're up, the next you're down - but one thing you can count on with Life on the Farm is fun! 2 to 6 players.

Here's an unusual and highly effective recipe for fun - a cauldron, a magic wand, Magic Jewel chips, and math! Just add players. These ingredients work like a charm, yielding many hours of fun that also happen to be very stimulating to the brain. The cauldron is filled with number chips. On your turn, flip the timer and use the magnetic magic wand to pull chips from the cauldron, verbally stating an equation that uses the numbers on the chips as you go. Be simple or complex - add, subtract, divide, multiply, your choice - but complete the equation before time runs out or no score for you! Once the cauldron is empty, players earn one point for each chip (two points for Magic Jewel chips) they successfully used. Instructions offer ways for young players to compete evenly with older ones, and the game has near endless replay value. Math-A-Kazam really gets players thinking on their feet as equations unfurl before their eyes as if by magic. But no magic here, just brains and fun!

Mermaid Beach is fantastic fun, and was invented by an 8-year-old girl, no less! The game moves at a brisk pace, has lots of variety, and is very easy to understand and play. There are two card decks - Shell cards are worth points and go face up when you get one, while Beach cards stay hidden in your hand until played. It is the variety and consequences of the Beach cards that really super-charge the fun. For example, discarding a Mermaid card or pair of matching beach items earns you another Shell card and thus, points. A Sneaker Wave card will cause another player to lose a valuable Shell card, while Seaweed cards cause someone to take another Beach card, keeping them from going out. The object is to be the player with the most Shell card points when the game ends, but beware the Sea Monster, which eats all your highest numbered Shell cards! Full of twists and turns, Mermaid Beach plays very smoothly and is loads of fun!

Mighty Mind Aquarium Adventure gets kids using their brains in so many ways - recognizing and manipulating shapes and colors, pattern recognition, puzzle and problem solving - all while having an immense amount of fun! The set includes 32 design tiles and 50 aquatic-themed puzzles to solve. The puzzles consist of large, sturdy, illustrated cards with outlines to be filled using the shapes. Doing so requires that a child perform 3 basic activities - FIND, MANIPULATE, BUILD - to complete a picture. The puzzles are ordered and become more complex as one progresses by providing fewer shape-specific outlines. Smaller tiles can be combined into larger shapes when solving, increasing the number of possible solutions and stimulating creative thinking. Mighty Mind will keep your child happily engaged while providing a tremendous foundation for the kinds of critical and abstract thinking essential to later academic success.

Up close, the sleek Mobo Mini looks to have sprung from the sort of engineering expertise typically devoted only to professional race cars and high-end luxury vehicles. Billed as the World's Smallest Luxury Three Wheeled Cruiser, The Mobo Mini is in a class all its own, with a look, feel, and handling that will thrill kids of all ages. Its unique steering system is easy to use, yet presents a development tool for hand/eye coordination and muscle strength at a young age. Its extraordinarily solid, sturdy body and low to the ground design enhance its safety, and the adjustable frame allows it to grow along with your kids, giving it a long usage life per child. The seat offers exceptional comfort and support, and everything about the sleek, cool look of the Mobo Mini will have your child's heart racing with excitement and pleasure from the first time they lay eyes on it. Kids will stay happily ever-active with the Mobo-Mini!

There are so many fine touches to the My First Zoo set in addition to the LEGO bricks we've all come to know and love so well. The icy translucent blocks that suit the Polar Bear, the blue railings that allow for the creation of fenced-off areas, the pitchfork-type implement that fits perfectly into the baby elephant's mouth, the Zoo sign, the automobile, brightly colored flower pieces, and more. Most importantly, there are the many variously sized and brightly colored LEGO bricks that fit together in so many ways, encouraging your child's imagination and creativity. Specially designed for small hands, these DUPLO bricks are twice the size of the classic LEGO bricks. In addition to being fabulous fun, the My First Zoo set stimulates fine motor skill development, identification of shapes and colors, social interaction, and creativity. Wow!

In addition to being a great deal of fun, My Ribbon Barrette Maker produces an immense feeling of satisfaction in the finished result - a stylish, creative, professional-quality ribbon barrette made with your own two hands. And it's so easy! The instructions are extremely clear, and the process is systematic and repetitive, simple and quick. The specially designed loom keeps your ribbons in place (no tangles!) while you weave, and everything you need to make 8 ribbon barrettes is nicely, neatly contained right inside the compact ribbon maker. Just slide back the top, take out what you need for the barrette you're currently making, and start having fun! This is a great activity when playing on your own, but even more fun in a group, where each person has his or her own barrette maker, becoming a wonderfully social activity during which great conversations unfold as your barrettes come to life!

olelo is a highly social board game less about competing than about sharing yourself with others - who you are, where you've been, what you think - and having as much fun as possible doing so. A quick look at the instructions and you're off and playing. Players are dealt 12 Question Cards apiece, either Adult Cards, or, if age 10 or younger, Children's Cards. One at a time players roll a die, move their playing piece, and answer a question from a card they hold whose color matches the space they're on. The goal is to be the first player to answer all your question cards. If you don't have a card whose color matches the space you're on, you lose your turn, so it behooves you to know the colors you still hold and to try to move your piece so that it lands on one of those colors. The fun spikes whenever a player lands on a purple space and has to draw from the Silly Cards. olelo provides a nice low-key, no-pressure evening of fun for 2 to 6 players.

My, what fun Pajaggle is! In addition to being great fun, it really gets your brain working as you race to fit the 61 Pajaggle pieces into their proper openings (known as 'sockets') in the Pajaggle Board. Doing so requires matching the shapes to their sockets, easier said than done given the subtle variations in size and shape and the fact that each shape only fits perfectly into one socket. Adding to the challenge is the fact that some of the pieces (known as Doublers) have a space in their center for yet another shape to snuggle, so you won't be able to find a home for certain shapes until their parent Doubler is in the board. At the start, when the board is empty and all the pieces laid out in front of you, Pajaggle can be quite challenging. As the board fills up, it becomes easier to match the remaining pieces to their sockets. The instructions include more than 10 different outstanding games that can be played with the Pajaggle Board. Includes an electronic timer. For 1 to 4 players.

This is a very clever game - simple, but clever - that gives you 5 seconds to memorize the color on a color chip, then allows you to sift through 18 color wheels (each of which has 6 shades of a given color on it) in search of an exact match for that color. If it's a match, keep the color chip and slide it into one of the slots on your nifty palette. Players alternate taking turns, and the first to fill all seven slots in their palette wins! Part of what's exciting about this game is that it gets you thinking in new and different ways as you try various methods to 'lock' the color in your mind's eye. It's not an easy thing to do, given the fairly slight gradations between shades of, say, yellow. But as play went on, players improved at this, whether from becoming more familiar with the various shades or figuring out memory devices that fit the task. In any event, the game moves very quickly, is loads of fun, and plays extremely well across a broad range of ages. For 2 or more players.

This is a very well thought-out game that uses the Periodic Table as the basis for 6 different card games and two different variations of board game play. The set comes with a game board, more than 100 playing cards, 6 dice, and 4 playing pieces. The Player's Guide is well written and easy to follow, and the game is fun to play. One of the most valuable things about Periodic Quest is that it makes learning chemistry fun. Multiple game play options will, among other things, introduce players to various elements, atomic shell structure, and teach them to form chemical compounds. The Player's Guide starts each game description with a quick summary and has Quick Reference charts at the back for several of the games. Periodic Quest is a great way to make chemistry a fun part of everyday life!

The shaped rubber bandz craze just got hotter! PiggyBack Bandz quite literally adds a whole new dimension to the fun by building a mini-version of the shape into each band bracelet. With band on wrist, the 'piggybacked' mini-shape stands straight up. This 'shape on top of a shape,' not only takes the guesswork out of what you're wearing once they're on, it also lets you create cool three-dimensional designs - simply add several bandz to each wrist and stagger the mini-shapes so that they form a highly visible multi-colored ring around each wrist. Create words, fashionable patterns, show your artistic flair! PiggBack Bandz currently come in 9 themes - Glam, Football, Sealife, Cool Rides, Baseball, Safari, Groovy, Alphabet, and Extra Letters - all in a wide variety of cool and funky colors. Collectible, tradable, mixable, matchable fun!

Anyone who's ever been backpacking knows that the right equipment will enable you to carry a surprising amount of weight long distances without discomfort. Piggyback Rider operates on a similar principle, allowing you to comfortably carry your child on your back by distributing the weight at your core. No strain, no pain. The child stands on a foot bar which rests near your waist's height. This standing position gives your child added height, enhancing the sense of adventure and fun in your outings. Your child holds built-in grab handles, while your own hands are gloriously free. Piggybback Rider is extremely lightweight and, when not in use, resides in a compact carrying case not much bigger than a fanny-pack. The Piggyback Rider is made of 420d Nylon and top quality climbing buckle and webbing components and comes with a limited lifetime warranty.

For many children, nightlights are an essential, comforting part of bedtime, integral to a smooth transition and a good night's sleep. Cloud B, a company whose business it is to help children of all ages sleep well, has put a new face on nightlights, and a genuinely sweet, friendly one at that. Pink Ladybug has soft, plush legs, underbelly and head, and a calm, sleepy expression on her face. Pressing a button on her back turns your ceiling into a starry sky of blue, green, or ruby red - your choice - but not too bright, just the right amount of light for bedtime and sleep. A built-in timer automatically turns Ladybug off in 45 minutes to conserve on batteries, but in the meantime, 7 different star constellations and a crescent moon are on display. The accompanying booklet shows you what they are, and how to find them on your ceiling, contains Ladybug facts, a Twilight Ladybug adoption certificate, and the story of Twilight Ladybug.

What can your eyes take in - what can your brain make sense of - when looking at a muddle of intersecting lines? Quite a bit, actually, when those lines are made up of overlapping images of simple objects - a scissors, say, or a candle - printed on transparent cards that have been stacked expressly for the purpose of confusing the eye. Seeing is revealing, and Pix Mix causes players to use their eyes and minds in new and brilliant ways, decoding and breaking down the tangle into recognizable objects at a glance. Six overlapping picture cards are tucked into a windowed envelope and players have 30 seconds to look and write down as many objects as they can see and name, earning one point for each correct answer. Pix Mix is fast, exhilarating, and plays really well across a broad range of ages, making it a great game for parties, family gatherings, or pretty much any moment you'd like to inject with a dose of fun! For 2 to 4 players (or more if you make teams).

Play Draw Create is an outstanding activity and creativity kit that has the added benefit of being one of Innovative Kids' green start products. This means it is printed using only eco-friendly inks and that all outer packaging is made from post-consumer recycled materials. The easy-carry kit is light and compact - about the size of a hardcover children's book - but comes packing an awful lot of fun and excitement. Open it up, and on your left, you have a magnetic dry erase board that comes with 35 magnetic pieces, 5 dry erase markers, and an eraser. On your right is a write & wipe activity book with more than a dozen pages of activities and games using shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and more. The layout and design ensure that it can be used over and over again, allowing for countless hours of fun, imagination, and learning!

It's difficult to fully convey the charm of Pulling Figure Crab Calino without seeing it in motion, or seeing the light in a child's eyes when he or she puts it in motion. Like all pull toys, it has an attachment (string) that a child grasps in order to pull it along behind them. But that's where the similarity ends. Rather than having wheels as most pull toys do, the crab's body itself is a wheel of sorts (although it does not at all look like one). Most prominently, each side of the crab's body has four legs that flip, rotate, roll, and click with surprisingly fluid motion and speed as Crab rolls merrily along. The effect is quite enchanting and mesmerizing. Like all the Haba products we've seen, the quality here is extraordinarily high, the design colorful and brilliantly simple - in this case just wood and string. But put it in motion and it's pure magic!

Cloud B, the company that helps children of all ages get a great night's sleep, brings you this fully illustrated book and accompanying finger puppets. The gift box opens into a puppet theater in which you can act out your own bedtime tales. The book tells of Jimmy, a boy on safari with his family who becomes frightened of the dark. To the rescue come Twilight Turtle and Gentle Giraffe, whose magic powers and kind care make Jimmy happy and calm, while easing him to sleep. The finger puppets are also representations of Twilight Turtle and Gentle Giraffe, two popular plush animals, available separately from Cloud B, that provide real bedtime magic, one by casting calming starry lights on your child's bedroom ceiling, the other by making comforting, relaxing, sleep-inducing sounds. Let Twilight Turtle, Gentle Giraffe, and Puppet Theater transform your child's bedroom into the land of fun and dreams!

This remarkably compact, lightweight indoor/outdoor folding tricycle elicited smiles and excitement from every youngster who saw it. The colorful design (Ladybug or Bumble Bee) and extraordinary ease with which it unfolds and folds back up again make it playtime perfect, not to mention a smooth, easy ride. Little feet on the floor or ground provide the power, and the short, easy-to-maneuver handle bars provide the steering. The non-scratch wheels glide equally well on tiles, floorboards, or pavement, and the long seat makes straddling and getting on and off easy to do. Let your little guys and girls get around in kid- and parent- friendly style, then, when it's time to store it in the car or at home, it takes up almost no space at all!

This hilarious twist on charades gives you more of everything - more words, more clues, more guesses, more chaos - and above all, more laughs! Unlike classic charades, in which one person acts out clues while the rest of the team guesses, Reverse Charades has an entire team simultaneously acting out as many words as one person can guess in 60 seconds. And with guesses flying and all that body language going on at once, everyone gets an eyeful. The answers, which come in a stand-up card box, were clearly concocted for maximum mirth. Here are some samples straight from the game box - Tinker Bell, mullet, earthquake, double chin, counting sheep. Mass hysteria of the funniest kind!

We dare you not to laugh when you flip up Little Red Riding Hood's dress to reveal Granny's smiling face, then flip up Granny's bonnet, revealing the snaggle-toothed Wolf. And yes, Wolf is wearing Granny's pink, flowered gown, his grey paws jutting out from the checkered sleeves. Fun details populate this three-way reversible soft doll, with the entire classic tale on display. The path through the woods is illustrated around the bottom of Red's dress, complete with Wolf on the prowl. A bag, which flips open and closed, bearing fruits and jams, is affixed to her dress. Granny's outfit has illustrations of her home along the bottom - tables and chairs, the infamous bed - while on the flipside, the Wolf in Granny's clothing has a red patch on the tummy, showing the Woodcutter. Flip open the patch, and you'll see Granny and Red together (remember, the Woodcutter liberates them in the end). This extraordinarily clever creation is sure to be a favorite in your household.

This is a fun, fast-moving board game that anybody can play. Moving in clockwise fashion, players take turns. On your turn, draw a card from the Challenge deck, read it aloud, then roll the Alphabet Die. Each challenge involves the turn-taker providing words that start or (in some cases) end with the letter on the die. There are four different types of challenges. The first three types involve providing a list of words that begin or end with the given letter. The fourth involves completing a sentence with words that start with the letter rolled, often to great comic effect. This is one of the most nicely packaged games we've seen. It comes in a nifty tin case designed as a vintage trailer, with station wagon playing pieces and a retro map of the U.S. for the board. Keeping things lively, there's a second deck of cards that throws curve balls (that can work for or against you) every time a player lands on a 'Rest Stop.' Well, what are you waiting for? It's time to hit the road!

With the near endless array of toy vehicles to be had - cars, trucks, trains, planes, motor-bikes, and more - the only thing missing was adequate roadway to accommodate all that traffic in your home. The clever folks at Wild Creations bring you Roll-Up Roads, realistic road designs that stick to floors, tables, hallways, even walls, and don't leave any goo behind when removed. Want to lay down a quick roadway for your cars without digging around in the closet for all those disconnected (and missing) pieces of plastic track? In the mood for a quick race or two? Just grab a roll of Roll-up roads, tear off the amount you need - no more, no less - and it's go time! Roll-up Roads comes in 20 foot rolls and 6 different designs, available individually or in a six-pack set.

This family-friendly version retains all of the fabulous characteristics of the Say Anything party game - it's fast, takes no time at all to learn, and it brings out the funny in people! Players simultaneously write down answers to life-or-death questions such as, 'What's the best way to waste time?,' or 'Which famous historical figure would make the best babysitter?' while the judge (a different player each round) privately selects her favorite answer. Players use two tokens apiece to guess which answer the judge selected, earning one point for each correct guess (both tokens can be placed on the same answer or split between two). The answer is revealed, points scored, next question please! Once everyone has asked two questions, the player with the highest score wins. Players enjoy both the pleasure of creatively answering kooky questions and the challenge of predicting which answer the judge will pick. Wildly entertaining, and good, clean, FUN!

Every parent knows that mealtime can be a challenge, with growing kids resisting the fuel and nutrition they greatly need. These colorful, garden-themed new eating utensils bring fairy lore to the table, sparking your child's imagination and turning mealtime into something engaging and enjoyable. The design of each utensil - the Garden Rake Fork, Garden Shovel Spoon, and Garden Hoe Pusher - incorporates a unique plant and fairy combination, while the packaging includes both the names and a description of the personalities of each of the three fairies. Let Allo the leader, Charlie the prankster, and sweet, wispy Willow turn mealtime into something your children eagerly await rather than resist. Just as importantly, they're rugged, lightweight, dishwasher safe, and FDA approved. Let mealtime be a fun, imagination-inspiring, family time!

This is a great game for younger kids and for the whole family to play together. The Quick Rules are very fast to get you up and playing, and even the full instructions take only a moment to learn. Players take turns flipping over Berry Path Tiles, each of which indicates a number (from 0 to 5) of Strawberries (red berry-like beads) to be collected from the Big Berry Basket and threaded by that player on his or her Strawberry String. Once the Berry Path Tiles have been exhausted, players progress to flipping the River Path Tiles, each of which indicates the number of strawberries to be removed from that player's string and passed to the player on either the turn-taker's left or right, as directed by the tile. The lucky recipient threads their bounty, and play continues until all tiles have been flipped. The player with the most strawberries wins. Share a Berry develops counting, plus and minus, fine motor skills, right and left recognition, and is just great family fun!

Can you draw a centipede? A light bulb? A briefcase? This clever, original drawing game brings plenty of zest, creativity, laughter, and fun to the table. Players sketch and draw their way through 10 quick rounds, earning points by correctly guessing one another's drawings and having theirs correctly guessed. Scores are determined by the number on a token grabbed by the artist when he or she finishes drawing - higher tokens are nabbed first, so be fast, but not so fast that no one can tell what you've drawn! As always with offerings from Blue Orange Games, components are of the highest quality, the game-play distinctive and unique. Finally, a drawing game that's fresh and super fun!

These slap bracelets from Base4 Group bring a whole new shade of fun to the fashion trend. This ultra-hip design comes in several cool colors. One of the things that sets SLAPlets apart from other slap bracelets is that they're fully customizable using SLAPlinx - collectible, tradable, colorful rings that slide right onto your SLAPlet. Personalize your SLAPlet with SLAPlinx numbers, letters, words, and many other designs. The variations are endless. SLAPlets are coated in 100% hypo-allergenic silicone that not only looks fantastic, but is also extraordinarily comfortable against your skin. Mix, match, and wear with a flair, SLAPlets will give you an awesome new look!

Wow - transportation for your young child that modifies and adapts as your child's needs and abilities grow and evolve! The Smart-Trike Recliner is both a stroller and a tricycle, with many fine features allowing for the comfort, adventure, and increasing sense of autonomy and exploration that's an inherent part of childhood development. Parental contol and navigation is simple with the telescopic steering handle, and the adjustable, reclining seat makes it easy for your child to nap. A seat belt, safety bar, and footrests help keep travel safe and secure, and a detachable canopy provides protection from the sun. When the time is right, your child can use the non-slip pedals, either in conjunction with parental steering, or detach the handle and morph into a full-blown tricycle. The Smart-Trike Recliner is smart indeed, responding to yours and your child's needs!

The Smart-Trike Zoo Collection offers exciting, animal-themed strollers that morph into trikes. As your child evolves and grows, so does your Smart-Trike! Themes include cows, bees, butterflies, and frogs (ours was the Bee - irresistibly bright yellow with black stripes). This exceptionally well-designed ride comes with a steering handle that allows full parental control, while a clutch turns steering over to your child. Footrests allow for passive riding, non-slip pedals for child-powered locomotion. For the early stages, there are safety straps, bottle holder, play phone, ample back support, everything to make this the niftiest ride as you and your little one head out into the world. And it's lightweight, with rubber wheels for a smooth, easy ride. A bucket space on the back provides storage for toys and other gear, and a removable canopy protects baby from sunlight. As your child develops, the pedals come into play for full trike action!

This is a wonderful game for younger kids, delightfully fun while actively promoting fine motor skills, color identification, and matching. Its components - game board with pond, wooden pebble, special die, brightly colored wooden droplets, and round palette-like player boards - are of exceptionally high quality, beautifully designed and playfully illustrated with a high level of detail. Players take turns dropping the pebble into a 'pond' filled with colored droplets, the goal being to cause some of them to splash out onto the game board. Freed droplets are collected by that player only if they also match an empty space on his or her player board. The number of times the pebble is dropped is determined by a roll of the die, which can also yield a 'free pick,' allowing a player to simply take a single colored droplet from the pond and add it their board. Irresistible fun for 2 to 4 players!

Pop open one of the dozen little bubble-like Sqwishland containers and you're in for a massive dose of fun. Inside, you'll find one of a number of adorable, quirky, squishy little collectible creatures that come in varying degrees of rareness AND a small slip of paper with a code on it. The code grants you access to the online world of Sqwishland, where your avatar will mingle with those of others and you can play many wonderfully clever and entertaining games. The games enable you to accumulate sqwash (rhymes with cash) which is bartered for treats and services for your avatar. Membership is free or choose one of the premium levels with more exciting features. The 12-pack includes 12 different Sqwishlanders, two of which are rare, two ultra-rare. These colorful creatures are loads of fun in and of themselves, but when you consider the hours of online play, it's easy to see why kids love their Sqwishlanders enough to catapult them into the latest toy craze!

If you're looking for lots of action, loads of laughter, and tons of fun, Telegruv is the game for you. Telegruv takes the classic game of Telephone to the dance floor by having teams pass a series of dance moves down a chain of players. Until just before your turn to go, your back is turned away from the action, ensuring that your dance moves come strictly from observing the player who went directly before you. The very first player on your team who danced got her moves from a dance card (drawn from a deck) that detailed the moves in photos and words. Each turn requires 3 - 5 dance cards be drawn and danced at a time, so it's no surprise that the final player's moves often bear little resemblance to those of the first. Meanwhile, the other team awards one point for each move that accurately makes it to the end (or half points for partial accuracy). This is a fun, fast-moving game that keeps temperatures high and the laughs rolling! For 6 or more players.

This game very cleverly, and hilariously, adapts the classic 'Telephone Game' to the visual realm. Every player receives a multi-page sketch book and a card with several words on it. Each player, working with a different word, draws a sketch of it. Books are passed down the line, with one player writing a guess based on the previous player's drawing, and the next player drawing a sketch of the previous player's guess. The result is that the final sketch is often hilariously different from the first - 'Birdhouse' might become 'Lasagna,' and 'Lasagna' might become 'Volleyball.' The game is played in rounds, and a couple of different scoring methods are given. But scoring's not the point here - laughing is - and Telestrations delivers the laughter in spades. Everything - the sketch books, cards, markers, timer, cleaners, die, and especially the game play - are perfectly and playfully designed to be the life of the party. So open the box and let the fun begin. For 4 to 8 players.

This portable electronic musical mobile will keep baby engaged and happy at home and on the go, providing much-needed visual and auditory stimulation. It's lightweight design attaches easily to a wide variety of cribs, car seats, and strollers. The happy-faced cloth bee, tortoise, and frog that dangle from the slowly spinning three-pronged axis are multi-colored and patterned, swinging and moving in a way that catches baby's attention. The music starts playing automatically when the mobile is on, and four calming musical selections (Chopin, Mozart, Nature, Bach) can either be set so that one of the four plays for a 20 minute duration or so that all four play in succession over that time period. It can be turned on and off manually or using remote control (up to 15 feet), has variable volume (including mute), and a setting that produces light as well. While the dominant color is pink (it's Tiny Princess, after all) there's plenty of variety for either gender. A happy baby is a healthy baby!

When it comes to toy vehicles, Tonka is a quality name than stretches back as far as the memory can reach. Yet the Tonka line continues to route new directions, with quality intact. The Tonka Road Crew Hauler Truck is a recent addition, an emergency vehicle with a hitch on back that comes with a towable flashing 'CAUTION AHEAD!!!' sign. The flashing sign uses new Hyper Glow LED technology and looks like something you might actually see on the road (although it's a bit nicer than its real world counterparts). The Hauler Truck is a handsome, tough-looking vehilce that rolls well on hard floors or carpet. It's fast, light, and durable, and will grab your child's imagination, offering untold hours of playtime entertainment.

Toppletree brings loads of fun and excitement to the table. Starting at the base, players take turns adding colored branch pieces to a tree, expanding it upward and outward until someone gets four of their same-color pieces in a row and wins - or causes the tree to topple, losing the game! Pieces come in four different colors, and each player starts with 12 single pieces and 6 double pieces (double pieces are y-shaped, the fork at one end causing the tree's growth to change direction precariously). Pieces must be placed using one hand, steady as she goes. But steadiness will only get you so far - pesky old gravity makes sure of that. If someone doesn't get their 4-in-a-row, the tree will eventually fall, and often winning is primarily a matter of making sure that person isn't you! As the game progresses, the excitement builds, until cries of delight or frustration signal a winner or loser. But fret not. Another game - and more fun - is just moments away! For 2 to 4 players.

Tote 'n Go Laptop looks like a toy, perfectly suited for young children to play with, but it is also a surprisingly powerful interactive tool that enables kids to stimulate their brains while having a blast! Its design emulates that of a real laptop, with a letter and number keyboard, working mouse, and a small monochrome screen that displays moving images and allows 20 word-, shape-, and logic-based learning activities to be enjoyed. Activities such as Number (or Shape) Learner, Add it Up, More or Less?, and Taller or Shorter? teach early math skills, while others, such as Letter Learner, Hide & Seek Letters, and I Spy, develop language skills. The logic-based activities develop logical thinking and visualization skills, while the mouse and keyboard build hand-eye coordination. Use the USB cable provided to connect to a computer and download additional content or upload your child's progress report. Tote 'n Go Laptop provides a delectable smorgasbord of food for your child's hungry brain!

Trigger is an exciting, funny game that will get your laugh juices flowing and your heart racing. Speed is of the essence. One player reads a statement aloud, and all the others respond to it simultaneously, with their hands! There's a foam target on the table, and you need to get your hand there in a hurry in order to win. Your right hand means 'true,' your left - "false." Each statement results in an instant stack of hands, and it's up to the reader to determine which hands got there first and whether or not the response was correct. In each round, the first correct answer wins a card and the first incorrect answer loses one. As soon as someone runs out of cards, the player with the most cards wins. The often quirky statements lend themselves to hilarity. Many are specific to the players, some require a bit of thought. Some, like 'The third player to your right is a man' - are both. Never a dull moment!

Leo the lion is running loose, and 2-4 players race to find him. Terry the Terrier kicks off the action by telling you where to start the hunt, and from then on, a keen eye and a quick mind will take you to the lion fast! Each card you zero in on, starting with Terry's, tells you the last place Leo was seen. You then hunt for the card with that location on it. When you find it, that card will also tell you a location where Leo was previously seen, and so on . . . until finally there is no card visible with the location you're looking for, thus telling you you've found Leo! The first player to place a wooden bone by that card wins the round and earns a feeding bowl. The first player with 4 feeding bowls wins the game. This game uses a very simple but clever form of backtracking to guide your eyes over the 24 face-up cards, and while a quick mind and a keen eye will help you, anybody can play and win. Great family fun for all ages!

The premise here is wonderfully simple and delightfully funny - so much so that simply flipping through the card decks is sufficient to generate plenty of laughs. Throw in the human element - two players per round, each making a case for why their character would best the other's in a specific, preposterous contest, while other players vote on who made the best argument - and you enter the upper stratosphere of hilarity. Flipping the top cards of two decks determines the characters and competition for that round, for example, Tarzan and the Dalai Lama competing in mountain climbing, or Al Capone and Buffy the Vampire Slayer going head to head in a spelling bee. The player with the most votes keeps the Event card, and the first player to collect five, wins. And of course, it's all timed to keep the heat on. Break this game out, anytime, anywhere, for a lively, laugh-filled time! For 3 or more players.

This wonderful CD comes with a beautifully illustrated hard cover book of lyrics and contains lovely, simple songs for moms and dads to sing to their babies. This is a gift to your child in so many ways - the gift of music, the gift of your voice in song, of simultaneous verbal and non-verbal communication. The lyrics are just what you would want your baby to hear - loving, caring, often playful, infused with warmth, at all times conveying a strong sense of connection. Since moms and dads often sing in different keys, each song appears twice on the CD, once sung by a man and once by a woman, in two different keys. The instrumentation and arrangements are simple and low key, mostly stringed instrument accompaniment with occasional light percussion behind talented singers. The lyrics are easy to learn, but as the preface in the book makes clear, you don't need to be a singer or know the words in order for this to be a wonderful, memorable, bonding part of your family's life.

This sweet, beautifully illustrated tale tells of two very different creatures (at least on the outside) who share the same habitat and meet quite by accident. The theme - how our perceptions of one another based on differences can often be misleading, and how quickly exposure and communication dispel those perceptions - is a rich one to which every child should be exposed. Ben KaChoo is a hippopotamus with allergies, his life at the zoo frequently interrupted by hippo-sized sneezes. But he doesn't let that get him down. In fact, it gives him certain abilities. For example, if he sneezes while swimming in the zoo swamp, the force propels him rapidly through the water in what he calls a 'sneeze-jet!' It is just such a sneeze-jet that sends him rocketing into Arrow, one of the crocodiles that inhabit the swamp and who are no friend to the hippos. For all their differences, Ben and Arrow find many things in common and become fast friends. Ben KaChoo is also available as a sneezing plush toy for 24.95.

Habitat Spy is charmingly written and illustrated, engaging your child on several levels. Every pair of pages opens into a large illustration of a different North American habitat, bustling with the creatures that live there. The text, in rhyming narrative, invites the reader to visually locate each of several living things pictured - plants, invertebrates, birds, mammals, insects, and more. You'll visit 13 different habitats in all - from desert to forest, cave to open meadow, you'll journey across vistas, plains, and swamps, finding, identifying, and naming dozens of creatures. The 'For Creative Minds' educational section at the back of the book does a fantastic job of delving into what's in a habitat, the adaptations, basic needs, and classifications of the living things found there, as well as the nature of food chains (predators, prey, carnivores, herbivores, and more). In Habitat Spy, you have a most enjoyable read that leads to very active young brains - pure fun all the way!

This warm story entertainingly navigates the challenges inherent in finding ourselves in a new environment. A new home, school, or neighbors can be daunting or downright scary, at least until we get to know someone and things become familiar. Harry is a koala new to the zoo in which he and his family now live, who stays up high in the branches where he feels safe and things that are strange and new can be kept at a distance. That is, until Harry is visited by Charles, a giraffe whose long legs and neck bring him right up to Harry's level. One way Harry does like to be adventurous is with food, although veering from his steady diet of Eucalyptus always gives him hiccups. Charles encourages Harry's innate curiosity while acting as a good will ambassador, providing friendly support and information on Harry's new environment. Harry Hiccers is also available separately as a plush doll, for 24.95. Sometimes all it takes is one new friend to ease the way.

Cabanga, another outstanding educational program from Six Red Marbles, offers differentiated math instruction, addressing topics students often struggle with, including decimals, fractions, proportions, expressions, inequalities, the xy plane, equations, and much more! Students earn virtual dollars that allow their online avatar to make smart business decisions, producing a strong sense of the real world value of math and its practical applications. Explanations for incorrect answers are given in such a clear and concise way that concepts and methods are readily absorbed and immediately applied. A robust dashboard enables teachers to track student progress. Pricing is $40.00 per student, with a subscription for home use available.

Juba is an extraordinarily well-designed online learning program that gives children age 3 and up an environment in which to explore, create, learn, and share. Juba combines over 2,000 photographs from around the world with sound effects, multisensory discovery and story-telling. Select an image you like, then open your artist's toolkit to creatively alter it in a variety of colorful ways. Save it to your wall where it can be opened later for further creative fun. Words and icons related to the picture speak or emit sound effects when clicked.There are hundreds of interactive activities, each of which promotes fundamental aspects of childhood development, from fine motor skills to vocabulary and conceptual thinking. Teachers and parents can log into the dashboard to review students' work and help guide their progress. Parents, teachers, and children will find Juba to be a perfect blend of engaging, educational fun! Price is $500.00 per classroom (individual subscription for home use is also available).

It's been well established that children have a window of time in their early years during which they can easily learn multiple languages. It would be a shame not to take advantage of that golden window, and Little Pim is an early language-learning system designed to do just that. The German Gift Set Plus comes with a boxed set of 60 German word and phrase cards and a boxed 3-pak of German language DVDS introducing over 180 words and phrases, as well as an 8-inch Little Pim Panda plush toy, all packaged in a reusable see-through tote. Little Pim is a cute and peppy panda, appearing throughout the DVDs and on every language card. The live action and animation make the DVDs highly engaging, and each well-illustrated flash card also denotes which DVD teaches that card's word or phrase in order to help reinforce learning. The DVDs are lots of fun, very child appropriate, and parents enjoy learning from them as much as do children! Little Pim offers products in 10 languages.

Little Reader Deluxe is a complete kit with everything you need to start teaching your baby to read. It contains a one-year curriculum that progresses your child from learning single words to couplets, phrases, sentences, and full stories. The software is easy to navigate. Simply select the curriculum you want from the list of courses, choose the lesson day you want, and press Play. Each day is made up of 2 sessions, with each session made up of different types of lessons such as Word Flash, Picture Flash, Pattern Phonics, Multisensory, and Stories. The Start Guide gives clear, concise instructions on how to optimize your child's lessons. The software allows for considerable customization and does a fabulous job of combining interactive audio and visual for maximum learning and enjoyment. 25 remarkably engaging books come with the set, and are specifically designed to teach young children to read.

Children find Oum irresistible. And what's not to love? He's big, blue, equal parts friendly and furry, and in no time at all he gets children playing along with a series of activities and games. This DVD helps build psycho-motor and physical skills by taking kids through 3 progressive, well structured interactive sessions, each consisting of several smaller segments, led alternately by Oum's kooky friends Mimi and Coco. Children become familiar with concepts such as loud and soft, high and low pitches, rhythm, tempo, the body and its senses, and much more, by matching physical actions to hearing, vocal, and visual input. The use of live action footage that includes participating children and a variety of animals is particularly effective. The sing-a-longs, rhymes, animal imitations, and movement activities are extremely well laid out and very engaging, the key to effective teaching and the resultant learning.

Spellodrome is a great way for students to improve their spelling, writing, and vocabulary skills online. The fun, challenging, self-paced environment offers many games from which to choose. At the outset, players create an onscreen avatar by choosing features and accessories that suit their fancy before jumping headfirst into the play and competition. Live Spellodrome allows students to race against the clock and compete against others from around the world in three different levels of competition - Rookie, Master, or Championship. There are several other great games to play. One favorite, Words in Pieces, has players fit word fragments together like jigsaw pieces to form complete words. My Word List allows players to practice on words that will appear in games. Credits are awarded throughout, while results are tracked for later analysis. Spellodrome's exciting game environment promotes independent learning and motivates students to explore and learn!

This DVD, book, and CD set brings new meaning to the words 'fun' and 'learning'. The DVD, 'Crazy Adventures with Harry and Susy,' combines live action with animation as our two heroes magically transport themselves from place to place in pursuit of that rascally rodent, Raton Ramon. The performances are top notch and as entertaining as any children's show we've ever seen. Susy speaks Spanish throughout, while Harry often repeats her words before quickly puzzling out the English translation. This repetition and translation ping-ponging back and forth is both natural and extremely effective in reinforcing the words' meaning. Each scene includes a song by Susy, the lyrics incorporating many of the words from previous dialogue. The set's CD includes the songs, while their lyrics, along with English translation and colorful illustrations, can be found in the book. Even a single viewing of the DVD will leave your child retaining and correctly using Spanish words and phrases.

Part of the beauty of Waza, an online learning program, is that it guides kids through basic mathematical concepts in such varied and engaging ways that the ideas are embraced and absorbed easily and naturally. To the learning child, it's a game - an adventure across galaxies to rescue Waza's friends, the Wuffles - and a fun one, at that. Kids learn at their own pace, as Waza continually adapts to their learning level. Concepts such as big, small, above, below, between, counting, addition, order, equalities, inequalities, patterns, and much, much more, are presented using onscreen objects and animals. It would be next to impossible to teach so creatively and effectively solely in the physical realm. A robust dashboard enables teachers to track class and individual student progress. Pricing on Waza is $40.00 per student, and a subscription for home use is available.

This fun and exciting series teaches children essential early learning concepts such as colors, logic patterns, geometric shapes, numbers, prepositions, and music. Each DVD expands and builds on the previous disc's concepts, incorporating many visual examples, talented performers, songs, animals, and some of the highest production values we've ever seen. The 50 activity cards included are perfect for reinforcing the learned concepts while away from the computer or DVD player. What's truly remarkable about the series is how effective the DVDs are at presenting material in such playful and interesting ways that they thoroughly hold a child's attention, making it possible for some of the topics (particularly geometric and musical concepts) to progress to what might be considered fairly advanced levels. Of course the children don't notice. They're too busy having fun and letting their minds do what they do best - drink it all in!

Children will love this DVD and book set because it's exciting and entertaining. Parents will love it because it so effectively teaches children essential early learning concepts such as colors, logic patterns, geometric shapes, numbers, prepositions and - in a bonus book and CD - music. Each of the six books covers a different topic using pages specially designed so your child can be introduced to a word or concept before opening the flap to expand on it. The 6 DVDs progressively expand and enrich those concepts further, incorporating many irresistibly engaging visual examples, talented performers, songs, animals, and some of the highest production values we've ever seen. Children will carry with them for many years to come the tools, concepts, connections, and love of learning they gain from this wonderful series. A true gift!