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Mathletics is a fun, exciting online platform for improving and reinforcing math skills at home or in the classroom. From the moment of the first log-in, when users can quickly and easily create their Avatar (an online visual representation of themselves), Mathletics is designed to engage and hold the student's interest. The Live Mathletics section does this to great effect by allowing the student to play math games in real time against other learners of similar ability. The Curriculum Activities section allows you to answer sets of questions from topics aligned with what you are studying in school, receiving immediate onscreen feedback to your answers. Points are given for correct answers and credits for improved results, keeping motivation high. Credits can be used to purchase new accessories for your Avatar, while points determine your ranking in the Mathletics Hall of Fame.

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!

Sarah Pirtle's expressive voice and lyrics evoke a sense of wonder, hers and ours, at the beauty and mysteries of the world in which we live. The sixteen songs on this CD take us on adventures great and small, but never trivial. Our favorites include 'Snow Came Today,' and the lively 'Vegetable Do-se-do,' songs that convey the magic of such seemingly simple acts of nature as the first snowfall of the season and vegetables growing and providing sustenance to others. 'Spring Singer' recounts the gorgeous stirrings and awakenings of spring, while the words and melody of 'Fairy House' beautifully capture the wondrous sense of possibility and imagination contained within each and every one of us. There's a definite folk/country sensibility to the music and instrumentation on this CD, perfectly suited to the lyrics and themes.

Everything you need to help kids master multiplication can be found within these pages! Loaded with examples, hints, tips, and playfully designed worksheets, this workbook is strongly geared to how kids think and learn. About half the workbook is devoted to mastering times tables 0-12, broken down into four levels based on ease of memorization. A scaffolded approach builds skills and confidence, and certificates are included with which to reward students upon completion of each section. More than 100 of the workbook's 260 pages are devoted to long multiplication, a typically challenging area for students. Age appropriate word problems appear throughout, building much-needed skills and confidence at working with real-world applications. The final section provides standardized test-taking tips and strategies. If you're looking for a systematic, comprehensive, highly-organized curriculum that makes learning (and teaching) multiplication fun and easy, you've just found it!

Kids often struggle with their multiplication tables, but it doesn't have to be that way. Just as many of us learned our ABCs almost without trying by singing them to the tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,' kids can now memorize times tables to the tune of eternal favorites like 'Pop Goes the Weasel,' and 'My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean.' The specially written, easy-to-memorize lyrics are playful and efficient. With a different song for each times tables 1 through 12, (and another for multiplication by zero), kids can sing the whole kit and caboodle in just 8 minutes. Each of the 13 songs appears twice, once with lyrics and once without, enabling kids to practice both ways. This is also a wonderful tool to use along with the Best Multiplication Workbook EVER! (See current Tillywig review under Books). An engaging, fun, spirited approach to learning something every one of us needs to know!

This is a remarkable game - fun, fast-paced, and highly effective at helping kids learn to read. It consists of six illustrated storybooks, each of which is accompanied by a deck of cards containing the 30 words used in the book's story. Before opening a book, a series of 6 simple word-matching games is played with its corresponding deck during which the student becomes familiar with the book's words. Each game moves quickly, with a winner every few seconds. Only once the student can read all 30 words without hesitation is the book brought into play. The student then experiences the pride and sheer pleasure of successfully reading the story. The games within each deck, and the decks and books themselves, are used in a specified sequence that makes the process unfurl in a highly systematic way that feels utterly natural, leading to a pleasurable experience for both student and tutor. The stories themselves, while purposefully simple, are professionally written and highly entertaining. Excellent!

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!

Engaging family members in stimulating, meaningful, or entertaining conversation can seem a challenge if for know other reason than that we think we already know everything about those closest to us. That's where Family Talk 2 comes in. The game-play is simplicity itself. Pick a card, ask a question. When we played, our biggest problem was that we couldn't get people to stop talking, which of course is not a problem at all. Everyone around the table was eager to throw in his or her two cents, often elaborating on one another's answers. The questions are surprisingly varied and open-ended, and of the sort to which there is no such thing as a wrong answer, factors that contributed mightily to the game's success in getting the conversation flowing. There are 100 question cards, durably made and bound by a metal ring, making for a highly portable conversation-starter that can be played anytime, anywhere.

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 kit combines several elements - touch, sight, sound, movement, and storytelling - to actively engage children in the processes of exploring colors, enhancing motor control abilities, and actively using their imaginations. The kit includes Dr. Seuss' My Many Colored Days board book, 10 different colored sheer nylon scarves, a CD with many beautiful well-known music selections chosen for the moods they convey, and a velcro strip for hanging the scarves. These elements can be combined and explored by parents and children in an almost endless variety of ways. The soft, flowing, 27-inch square scarves, when moved through the air to the accompanying music, create a mesmerizing attraction for the eyes and the spirit.

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!

Based on Dean Koontz' book by the same name, this app is loaded with great features. Trixie, a very happy golden retriever (based on Mr. Koontz' real life dog), explains that not everyone can be a dog. She expounds on many non-dog creatures, mostly in terms of how their existence benefits canine life (except perhaps for skunks). Read the story on your own in Read Myself mode, or hear it read to you in Read To Me mode. Learn to pronounce words by touching them on screen to hear them spoken. Touch objects on screen to hear their name spoken and see it written. Edit mode allows you to personalize the story by coloring images, recording your own narration, even altering text. During Read To Me Mode, words are highlighted as they're spoken. The endearing story, interactive vocabulary-enhancing features, and personalization options in this beautifully illustrated storybook app make it a treasure valued and enjoyed by both parents and children.

Based on Rhonda Fischer's book and illustrated by Kim Sponaugle, this app has a number of features to help sharpen vocabulary skills. The clever and endearing story is about Randy Kazandy's challenges with self-image on his first day wearing eyeglasses. Despite his efforts to lose, hide, or destroy them, his mother is always there with another pair. On the verge of teary-eyed defeat, he learns to love his glasses when he discovers his father wears them as well, and begins enjoying the new freedom his improved eyesight yields. Readers can choose to have the story automatically narrated, with each word on the page highlighted as it's spoken, or can simply read to themselves, in which case they can hear any word spoken just by touching the text. Touch any image, and the associated word will be spoken and displayed. Kids laughed and related to Randy's predicament, while the beautifully rendered illustrations and features captivated their attention such that they wanted the story again and again.

Based on Laurence Anholt's book by the same name, this enchanting app contains gorgeous imagery and offers a captivating introduction to Vincent Van Gogh, including many of his most famous paintings. It tells the tale of Van Gogh's touching friendship with the postman's son, a story of compassion and tolerance. The watercolor illustrations are startlingly beautiful. With a tap, kids can paint the characters as they please. The personalized characters then reanimate, becoming part of the artwork. Kids can also tap to play a fascinating game in which a machine-like armature that makes the characters move appears. Parts of the armature collapse and must be returned to their proper place within a given time to win. Tapping a painting provides an amazing 3D experience as one navigates a museum, viewing and learning facts about 10 different Van Gogh paintings. Throughout, the narration is superb. In fact, everything about this experience is magical and enriching.

It's time to get dressed for the royal ball - did we mention that you're the guest of honor? Fortunately, there's no shortage of finery at your disposal with Pretty Princess, one of a series of felt storyboards from Babalu Inc. that act as a springboard for your child's imagination. The felt board itself contains a colorful background, the canvas on which children build their stories, arranging and overlapping deliciously soft, colorfully detailed felt pieces in endless variations. Pretty Princess comes with more than 20 such pieces, allowing for a high level of detail as the story builds, and an easy storage pouch for the pieces when playtime is over for the moment.

Puzzle Blocks brings a new dimension of fun to puzzle play. Each of the nine blocks is illustrated on all six sides, meaning one set of blocks creates six different puzzles! Kids twist and turn the playfully illustrated cubes, searching for the side that fits the puzzle on which they're currently working. This highly tactile aspect of solving the smooth, light-weight block puzzles adds an element of fun not found in standard puzzles. From a developmental perspective, the contrasting and comparing required to find the correct side encourages eye-hand coordination, color-shape awareness, and associative development. Most important of all, kids have a wonderful time solving these simple, quick-moving puzzles. Puzzle Blocks are light-weight and compact, perfect for play during travel or at home. Available in three different themes - Fairies, Monsters, and Butterflies.

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!

More word fun from the folks who brought you Bananagrams, PAIRSinPAIRS consists of two fast, action-packed games - PAIRSinPAIRS and PAIRPOINTS. In PAIRSinPEARS, players race to be the first to construct a given number of pairs of words, with each word at least 3 letters long. All letters in a given pair must display the same pattern (solid, lines, dots, outline). Words within a pair are allowed to intersect, thus sharing a letter. In PAIRPOINTS, players are still racing towards creating a given number of pairs, but winning is based on points rather than who finished first. Letters can be from any suit. However, a player earns two points per letter for any pair in which all letters share the same pattern, versus one point per letter for mixed. First to finish gets a 5-point bonus. For 2 to 4 players.

Appletters is a word-lovers delight, with three exciting word games in one 110 tile apple pouch. Two of them, Make a Snake and Apple Turnover, require players to create words by adding tiles from their hand to those on the table, with the first or last letter of the word being laid down attaching to the first or last letter of the ongoing word snake. The twist of Apple Turnover is that it allows you to replace a word at the beginning or end of the snake with one that is longer, returning the tiles of the replaced word to the player who put them down. The third game, Apple Core, is scored for points on each turn, with a player earning one point for every tile involved in the words created by the tiles he placed. Each of the 3 games ends as soon as any player has used all their tiles. The red apple tile-pouch and boardless play make Appletters perfect to take with you for endless fun anytime, anywhere!

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.

Excercise your creativity and passion for fashion with this dream set for budding fashion designers! Tuck and gather formal length fabrics around the mannequin using the special Style Lock system, attaching the fabric exactly where you want it without the use of needles or pins. Add accents using the fashion accessories, stickers, and rhinestones provided. Make beautiful ribbon flowers with the deco plate, then put it all together and have a show to reveal your latest creations!

This book is so gorgeously illustrated it would be a treasure even if there were no words on the pages. But there are, and the language is simple, rhythmic, and lovely. Each illustration spans two pages, creating thrilling panoramas viewed by three children in a balloon as they soar over rivers, oceans, mountains, desert, the planet earth - all the way to the stars! Sprawling faraway lands populated by creatures great and small grace the pages. The spirit of adventure and limitless possibility make this an excellent eye-and-mind-opening choice for parents to read with their young ones or for kids to read alone. A sing-a-long CD is included, with the book's text as lyrics. Set your child's sights high, with Up, Up, Up!

This enchanting, imaginative collection of 40 fun indoor and outdoor activities and games is a fantastic way to engage your child in nature and gardening. Beautifully packaged and illustrated, Kids' Garden contains 40 easy-to-follow activity cards grouped into five color-coded categories - Exploring The Garden, Planting and Growing, Fun with Plants, Discovering Creatures, and Creating Garden Art. Among these, one favorite activity was Squirmin' Worm Inn, whereby kids create a habitat in which worms thrive and produce composting materials. Another, Planting a Rainbow, creates a bed of flowers divided into seven sections according to color, providing a beacon for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. An eight-page booklet contains information on garden tools, plant care, and garden safety. Kids' Garden is fertile fun that can produce a lifetime of pleasure for your child.

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!

This highly energetic disc contains a diverse set of songs by the wonderful Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck, music that will get just about anyone up on their feet, boppin' and groovin' and singin' along. Our personal favorite was Hey-O, an irresistible song with call-and-response listener participation, sung with special guest Roscoe Orman (Gordon from Sesame Street). Big Truck, Rock Like This, and Motorcycle Boy provide rock-solid rock 'n roll, with great guitar work by Ivan Max, while the acoustic guitar and lovely melody on the slower paced Smiling Moon allow Rebecca Frezza's beautiful voice to shine through with crystal clarity. The rest of the disc, which includes colorful instrumentation, great backing vocals, and a bonus music video, is excellent as well.

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!

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!

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.

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.

Racing fans and novices alike will be entranced by the sleek beauty and rippling musculature on display in this set. You'll be dazzled by this collectible black Thoroughbred horse equipped with saddle, bridle, saddle pad, and racing tack. The fully articulated 6-inch female jockey is dressed in boots, helmet, and colorful racing silks that match the horse's racing tack. She can easily sit astride his back or stand at his side. The set includes an 11-inch by 17-inch double-sided poster loaded with information and photos about horse racing - key racing terms, historical information, and the names of some of the most famous racehorses of all time.

Certains songs become so familiar to us at an early age that they seem almost to have been passed to us through our parents' DNA - songs like 'I've Been Working on the Railroad,' and 'Oh, Susanna.' The Take Me Out of the Bathtub CD contains kooky versions of 14 such songs, with silly new lyrics set to the original tunes. What's enjoyable about these silly songs, aside from their being funny, is the way they give playful expression to common childhood experiences. Any child with (or without) a younger sibling will love singing along with 'Stinky Stinky Diaper Change,' set to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.' Each song appears twice, once with vocals, once without, and the easy-to-remember lyrics are included in a booklet. The irresistible goofiness of 'Sock in the Gravy,' (sung to 'Rockabye Baby') and others, make them instant Sing-along, laugh-along favorites!

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.

Like all good party games, it's the banter and laughter that make such great fun, and Truth be Told yields plenty! So much so that scoring and winning often become an afterthought. Each turn has a designated Host who reads aloud a statement ending with a blank space. The Host fills in the blank with a true answer, while the other players devise answers that sound like something the Host would say. All answers are read aloud, after which each player guesses, in writing, which answer was the one actually given by the Host. Points are earned by guessing the correct answer or by having other players mistake yours for the Host's. Truth Be Told lets you put words in your friends' mouths and smiles on their faces!

These highly engaging writings and illustrations, . . . interwoven with key historical events, are a vital resource for family sharing and classroom use and a stirring reminder that the story of the White House is the story of every American.

In a rainy town in the north of England, there are strange goings-on. Dad is building a pair of wings, eating flies, and feathering his nest. Auntie Doreen is getting cross and making dumplings. Contest barker Mr. Poop is parading the streets shouting louder and louder, and even Mr. Mint, the headmaster, is not quite himself. And watching it all is Lizzie, missing her mam and looking after Dad by letting him follow his newfound whimsy. From an inspired creative pairing comes a story of the Great Human Bird Competition -- a poignant, exuberant tale of the healing power of flights of fancy, and a very special father-and-daughter bond.

Nothing attracts kids like fun, and one of the many great things about this kit is the sense of freedom and play it fosters while providing structure that enables children to explore and learn. Kids warm up with Muscle Movers, a game in which a roll of the die determines which card to flip and animal to mimic. They then use Magnastix (17 colored magnetic pieces) to form letters on the magnetic dry-erase board, with a special color-coded key to guide them. Next, the colorful Lower Case Writing Tablet has Max the Monkey providing playful instructions that make forming each letter seem like a game in itself. The back of the tablet contains reward stickers for when each page is completed. Both the tablet and dry-erase board (includes a marker) use a green-at-the-top, red-at-the-bottom approach to help kids remember to start letters at the top. Kids will improve fine motor skills, sharpen visual perception, learn proper letter sequencing and, best of all, enjoy every minute of it!

These 18-inch, high-quality vinyl dolls come fashionably dressed right out of the box. The stylishness of their clothing and accessories makes it easy for girls of all ages to identify with them. Their open-close eyes, mobile joints, and luxurious hair lend them an unusually life-like air and expressiveness. The theme of the 4-Ever Friends dolls, implicit in the line's name as well as language on the packaging (Dream, Aspire, Soar), is one of inclusiveness and unilimited possibility, ideas supported and reinforced by their availability in a range of diverse ethnicities. And that is what these dolls promote - friends of all stripes coming together and exploring the world through imaginative play, creating community and having fun!

Kids will love walking, hopping, and playing their way along the Giant Timeline, a highly durable walk-on play mat that unfolds to a whopping 18 feet long. Taking us from 600 million years ago to the present, the timeline advances in 20-million-year increments and is richly illustrated with a host of bizarre and amazing creatures from our evolutionary past. There is a wealth of information accompanying the illustrations, much of it in the form of call-out balloons in which the creatures earnestly, and often comically, share facts with you about themselves. The play mat includes instructions for 18 different games that incorporate the mat's content in clever and entertaining ways. Also includes a glossary and numerous FAQS for kids, adults, and educators.

Get to know the coolest creatures that ever roamed the planet with Ancient Creature Cards! They're educational, entertaining, and very hard to put down once you pick them up. Everyone knows T-Rex, but do you know what a Dimorphodon looks like? Hint: enormous head, giant beak filled with two kinds of teeth, 4-1/2 foot wingspan, and a long tail for steering during flight. Each of the 67 cards is 8-1/2" by 5-1/2", printed on heavy duty stock, and bears a large full color illustration along with a variety of fun facts about the creature shown, including its size, description, and when and where it lived. Kids of all ages will find these brain treats captivating, and, yes, amazing!

Make friendship bracelets with an international flair, using My Friendship Bracelet Maker Traveler. Perfect for backpacks and carry-ons, this compact kit contains everything you need to craft gorgeous bracelets. Choose from 20 precut Prism embroidery threads (in 10 different colors) stored in the internal thread organizing drawer. The kit's beautiful surface, with the word 'friend' displayed in numerous languages, is your cleverly designed workshop. A built-in clip with a globe design anchors one end of your bracelet-in-progress while you work with up to 5 threads at a time. Numbered slots ingeniously hold the other end of the threads in place, keeping everything organized from start to finish. It's all so easy. Step-by-step instructions have you looking and feeling like a pro in no time, making bracelets your friends will adore!

Travel through time as you traverse the About Time board, venturing guesses as to the year in which historical events occurred! Although only one team advances on the board with each roll of the die, all players are in on the action from start to finish. Every team ventures a guess, and the team whose answer is closest to the correct year collects a token. And collecting the most tokens is the key to winning! There are many twists and turns that spice up the game, one of our favorites being the Joker. The Joker is one of three types of Time Cards, and can turn the tables on the competition in a heartbeat. While the other two types give you an extra nudge towards the answer, the Joker allows you to force an opponent to put half their tokens at stake, with the winner of the round collecting them! Questions are far-reaching, spanning pop culture to ancient history. Put on your thinking caps. It's time to play!

Here is a mini-playground for the hands and mind, the sort of experience vital to learning - shapes, stacking, sorting, free-form building, and everything in between. The all-wood Wagon of Blocks breaks down into 40 different building blocks and pieces, perfect for the imagination. Many of the wooden shapes rest atop the vehicle (which is a pretty sweet pull-toy in and of itself) on pegs, slipping on and off with ease. A quick turn of threaded nuts allows the wheels to slide right off, and pegs unscrew from the front and rear axles, allowing for maximum breakdown. Kids find the cool, smooth sensation of the quality hardwood pieces irresistible, and the sheer variety of ways the pieces can be assembled endlessly stimulating.

This toy racer has the timeless feel of a classic. Built of basic wooden shapes, threaded nuts, and pegs, it can be disassembled in a matter of seconds. The individual shapes can then be used as the imagination's building blocks for all variety of things. The cool, smooth sensation of the quality hardwood pieces invites the hands-on experience so vital to learning - everything from shapes, stacking, sorting, and free-form building, to reassembling the Racer to its original form. When the wheels are on, the Racer makes a nice pull-along toy to be proudly paraded from room to room, before launching into another inspired session of deconstruction and creation!

There's something mesmerizing about CitiBlocs. These light-weight, uniformly sized, impossibly smooth wooden rectangles make the perfect building blocks for whatever your heart desires. No glue, no nails, no tape, just eager hands fueled by the imagination.The results can be as intricate or simple, as pre-planned or spontaneous as you like. The action-oriented can just jump in, start building, and watch the resulting structure take on an impressive life of its own. Or aspiring architects can muse and plot something elaborately beautiful before laying wood to wood. In either case, CitiBlocs can be used to create surprisingly intricate-looking structures with ease and speed. When finished playing, the 100 CitiBlocs are easily repacked in the surprisingly small box from whence they came. No fuss, no muss, just wildly creative fun!

As with all the CitiBlocs wooden building sets, part of the beauty of the new Green & Turquoise blocks stems from the way they kick-start a child's imagination. Kids' hands seem to start flying at the mere sight of them, and the speed with which they can be used to construct an almost limitless variety of structures is at times stunning. Made with the same precision cut, high quality wood as in the past, these new blocks come colored with a non-toxic water-based stain, expanding the creative palette by allowing for color in all the right places. The perfect add on to the other CitiBlocs sets, and, as always, no fuss, no muss - just wildly creative fun!

The great CitiBlocs wooden building sets just got even better, with two new varieties - Hot Colors and Cool Colors. Made with precision cut, high quality wood, these blocks come colored with a non-toxic water-based stain - blue, turquoise, dark green, and lime green for the Cool Colors, and red, yellow, orange, and pink for the Hot Colors. Natural unstained planks are included in both sets. With these new colors, build forests, oceans, sunsets, Aztecan cities of gold - the possibilities are endless! These light-weight, uniformly sized, impossibly smooth wooden planks are perfect building blocks - no glue, no nails, no tape, just eager hands fueled by the imagination. Kids' hands start flying at the sight of them, and the speed with which they can be used to construct a limitless variety of structures is stunning. Highly recommended!

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.

Dozy Dolphin On The Go is a travel-size plush toy that plays four water-based sounds to help children sleep when away from home. Our favorite was the authentic-sounding underwater dolphin call. There is a built in timer that allows you to set the sounds to turn off after 23 minutes or 45 minutes and a velcro strap for easy attachment to car seats and strollers. Made with hypoallergenic bamboo fabric. Comes with storybook, adoption certificate, and 2 AA batteries.

Gentle Giraffe On The Go is a travel-size plush toy that plays jungle-based soothing sounds to help children sleep when away from home. There is a built in timer that allows you to set the sounds to turn off after 23 minutes or 45 minutes and a velcro strap for easy attachment to car seats and strollers. Made with hypoallergenic bamboo fabric. Comes with storybook, adoption certificate, and 2 AA batteries.

Bed-time has a new best friend! Gentle Giraffe is a huggably soft plush toy that plays soothing jungle-based sounds, as well as a mother's heartbeat, to help children sleep better. Select the sound of your choice, close your eyes, and it's Zzz-time. Gentle Giraffe comes with a built-in timer that can be used to automatically turn off the sound after either 23 minutes or 45 minutes. Comes with storybook, adoption certificate, and 2 AA batteries.

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.

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!

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!

This outstanding educational app for the iPad makes full use of its multi-sensory nature, providing stunning visuals and tactile interactions throughout grand adventures, puzzles, and games. Ansel, an adorable inter-galactic travel photographer from the planet Virtoos, and his robot companion, Clair, take you to explore three African locales - the Nile Valley, Sahara Desert, and the Serengeti Plains. But you're not just along for the ride. In each locale, you'll take photographs of things you've learned about - animals, plants, places, landmarks - collecting and arranging them in a travel log. The app's visuals are gorgeous, and the interactions, such as cracking an egg on the hood of a car to demonstrate heat, or wiping away rain or sand with your fingers, are delightful. Ansel's questions and observations, and Clair's encyclopedic knowledge interweave perfectly, while games and puzzles reinforce learning concepts that span geography, history, science, and more!

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.

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.

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!

You get an awful lot for your money with this game - multiple card decks, playing pieces, rings, beads, pegs, habit sticks, a beautifully illustrated board, dice - all of which figure prominently in the unique game play. Move around the board, acquiring positive and negative karma (colored beads and rings that neutralize one another). Pass through the Earth Realm, Spirit Realm, and Cosmic Consciousness, striving to acquire the positive karmic balance and master tools needed to win. Choice and Karma Cards picked up along the way can work for or against you, but in either event present words of genuine wisdom. And that's part of what sets the Cosmic Karma Game apart from so many others - a sense of sincerity and knowledge that runs throughout. And when the game is over, you'll not only have had a great time, you'll also be the wiser for having played!

X-Ball is a mind-pleasing, brain-teasing, creative-juice-inducing blast! Consisting of a set of 30 X-shaped magnetic pieces that click together to form a somewhat futuristic-looking geometric orb called the X-Ball, the unique design of the pieces allows the user to easily form any number of mesmerizing and beautiful shapes, such as the Starry Decagon, and the Hexagon Flower. The set comes with a 96 Page Creativity Guidebook with plenty of designs for the user to emulate, a creativity workshop to get the mind going in new directions, and more. Brilliant!

Feeling silly, kooky, creative, adventurous? Let your imagination run wild with Beach Buddies Shell Crafts. This great, fun kit makes for excellent group activities but is equally enjoyable to do on your own. The more than 25 included sea shells, beautiful to start with, provide a gorgeous, fascinating foundation on which to build your artistic vision. Paints, glues, wiggly eyes, felt accents, and more provide all you need in order to transform the shells into a wonderland of your own creation. Top notch fun for the hands, eyes, mind, and imagination!

Kids and adults alike will find creating stories and artwork on the pages of their own hardcover books to be a fabulously fun and rewarding experience, not just for the pleasure and creative ease fostered by the kit, but also the timeless keepsakes that will be returned to again and again. With 3 blank hardcover books, colorful mini-markers, story starter ideas, and 100+ stickers, visual and verbal storytelling is such a breeze that even those not normally artistically inclined will find themselves inspired to new heights of creative self-expression. Includes bookplates for identifying the author as well as a perfectly sized book holder for the proud presentation of these treasures.

Your friends will be amazed when they ask where you got your beautiful headband and learn that you made it! Fashion Headbands gives you everything you need to transform 10 different colored satin headbands included in the kit into personal fashion statements! An insert from the box makes the perfect workstation at which to create your wearable masterpieces. Just dab a little craft glue to affix bows, flowers, butterfly, rhinestones, ribbons, and more, all of which are included. How detailed you get is up to you. Do a little design planning up front, or just jump in and improvise as you go. Fashion Headbands makes it that easy!

Talk about the gift that keeps on giving! Day at the Spa is the ultimate way for girls to pamper themselves (and Mom). Invite friends over for a spa party or fly solo. The kit comes with everything you need for first-rate manicures and pedicures, plus all the trappings of an authentic spa experience! There are 5 different nail polishes, Hand Rest, Electric Nail Dryer, Spa Mask, Pedicure Slippers, Inflatable Pedicure Pool, Press-on Nails, and more! Special white sticker strips make it easy to create a French pedicure. Add a coat of glitter polish for sparkly effects. Nail sticker art tops things off with delicate, beautiful patterns in seconds. Day at the Spa will give you countless hours of rest, relaxation, rejuvenation, and fun!

With Feather Fashions, creating your own feather accessories is as easy as 1-2-3. Hair clips, headbands, hair extensions, and more - even those who consider themselves challenged at craft-making will be creating and wearing beautiful accessories in no time. The instructions are oh so simple, and the kit includes everything you'll need - fabric flowers and circles that act as bases on which to combine different feather colors and patterns; glue to hold it together once you get the exact look you're after; rhinestones to add color, sparkle, and a touch of class; headbands, hair clips, and ponytail bands that attach easily to your creations; and craft string for making lovely hair extensions. There's enough to make more than 12 feather accessories and to begin designing, decorating, and wearing your own creations. All you have to do is open the box!

These little robots are as cute as a batch of speckled pups, and twice as much fun! This kit gives you five walking wind-up bases along with all the bits and pieces you need to design and assemble the kookiest, craziest robot gang in the universe. Use the colorful cardboard cutouts, stickers, wiggly eyes, mini-markers, and more - putting together your creative vision is half the fun! Then wind them up and watch your robot minions mingle and march. It's an art. It's a craft. It's a gang of hysterically funny little robots you put together with your own two hands!

Making friendship bracelets just got easier and more fun with this kit from Crorey Creations. The kit comes with 56 precut threads in 14 different colors, conveniently stored in a in a built-in thread organizing tray. The butterfly clip and string holder enable you to work easily with up to five different threads at a time, making it a snap to build wildly colorful bracelets without getting all tangled up. The instructions take you step by step through the process. When you're done, just slide the top back on the thread organizer and you're ready to hit the road - to friends' houses, the car, the backyard, you're ready to make friendship bracelets anytime, anywhere!

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!

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!

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.

Bring history to life and solve the mysteries of the past with Roman Town! This interactive computer game lets you run your own archaeological digs with clicks of the mouse, allocating manpower and tools to locations marked with on-screen flags. As you progress, the sound of picks, trowels, and hoes fills the air, and when your workers find something interesting, be quick to click on it in order to experience the thrill of uncovering an artifact. Roman Town is chock-full of practical and historical information, familiarizing players with archaeological tools and providing plenty of information on artifacts and the people who used them long ago. Roman Town also affords players shorter bursts of fun with playful selections from the Mini Games Menu. A fun, engaging game for the whole family!

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!

The very best teaching methods are those that incorporate fun into the process and keep your child coming back for more. Let your child find out how much fun math can be with Dreambox Learning's K-2 Math program. Children earn rewards and uncover clues by completing highly engaging game segments. The top-notch graphics, audio, and progressive challenges in this learning tool make it an invaluable resource in developing your child's age-appropriate math skills.

These hand-sized critters from Italy are cute and squishy, but more importantly they go SPLAT when thrown against the window, door, or floor. Watch them stick, then magically regain shape as if taunting you to try again and give it your best shot. Squeeze them, toss them, bounce them in the palm of your hand, but watch out - playing with Splatterosi can be highly addictive!

In addition to being outstandingly educational, the EarthBox Snow Pea Kit provides your child the unique pleasure and satisfaction of initiating and sustaining a garden project and watching nature do the rest. That the yield is an edible crop of food is an invaluable part of the experience. Imagine the excited sense of pride and self-sufficiency your child feels as the family sits down to a dinner that includes food he or she has personally grown and nurtured. And it is so easy. The reusable garden kit & staking system sets up quickly, and planting and maintenance instructions are simple to understand and follow. The EarthBox system, in conjunction with the splendid array of activities provided in the activity guide, teaches applied science, horticulture & nutrition, and is uniquely designed to facilitate the production of quality produce in most any setting.

This gift set includes a book, CD, and plush doll that tell the tale of a lost little girl who becomes Nana Star when she happens upon a lost baby star and promises to help it return home. As she goes about fulfilling that promise, loving interactions occur between the characters, and a strong appreciation for the beauty and wonders of nature are on display on almost every page. Like the character in the story, the beautiful plush Nana Star doll carries a baby star and branch, and the accompanying audio CD includes a sing-along song in addition to a spoken-word version of the story. This well-rounded and entertaining experience conveys kindness, generosity, and a very warm human touch. Each component of the gift set makes for a very entertaining experience in and of itself. Together, they create an exciting multi-media and tactile experience.

This extraordinary gift set includes an interactive plush doll named Moonman Lovey who plays music and whose head glows like the moon when hugged. Moonman is one of the title characters of the accompanying hard-cover book and CD, which includes a recording of the spoken story as well as a sing-along song. The book is the second in a series, a warm, reassuring tale of friendship in which Moonman helps a little girl named Nana Star return a lost baby star to its home. The story as told on the CD is beautifully spoken, and the sing-along song adds a nice dimension to an already generously well-rounded and entertaining experience for young ones.

The Snowcase - a suitcase for Elves that doubles as a mobile playhouse - enhances the already considerable fun to be had with Elf Magic Elves. The Snowcase contains everything an Elf needs to ensure a happy stay in your home, and opens into a playhouse for your visiting elf. The inside looks just like the Elf's bedroom back at the North Pole, with a built-in window bench that looks out onto a colorfully rendered winter wonderland. There's also a 'Claus-it' for hanging 'Elfits,' a sliding drawer, and lots of goodies - a mini-passport, magic snowflakes, stickers for decorating the suitcase and passport, and more! Whether you already have an Elf Magic Elf in your home or are just starting out, the Snowcase will add to your child's fun, excitement, and the indelible memories being created as part of a lifelong tradition.

The abominable snowman lives! With two fierce black eyes and a row of large foam teeth down to your eyebrows, this adjustable abominable snowman hat manages to transform the wearer without covering his or her face. If you've ever wondered how to look silly, cool, and cute at the same time, Yeti is the ticket! With fabric lining and secret pocket.

elope, Inc. is known for making creative, high quality, playful headwear, and the Nemo Hat is a cut above. This goofy, laugh-inducing hat is so much fun that we found kids of every age, and more than a few adults, gravitating to it on sight. Bright orange and beautifully made of plush, durable velvet, the Nemo Hat looks as good resting on a dresser or table (or pinned to a wall) as it does snuggled on top of someone's head. And good news: it has a built-in Velcro size-adjuster so that it can fit every head in the house. Nemo-lovers, unite!

This fabulously entertaining toy creates exciting visual effects and animation at the flick of a switch. Just spin the Strobotop and aim your hand-held LightPhaser at it, adjusting the dial until the images spring into motion. The results are often dazzling, sometimes strange, but always fun! There are 18 different Strobodisks included, each with something different - ants crawl, pigs gallop, wildly colorful patterns jump between order and chaos. Included are disks that allow you to create your own colors, patterns, and drawings. For even more fun, additional Strobodisks are available in booster packs.

The EzyRoller is aptly named, in that it is easy to assemble (two screws, one minute - bam - you're done!) and it is easy to ride and navigate. It might just as accurately have been named the FunRoller, the AwesomeRoller, or the WowRoller, because it elicits all those responses from those experiencing it for the first time. Seated incredibly low to the ground, legs extended in front of you with feet placed against a metal bar, the user has simply to push with alternate feet in order to propel this delightful 3-wheeled contraption forward. To turn, simply push harder with one foot than the other. The ride is surprisingly smooth, and the method of locomotion enjoyably strange to observe, as there are neither pedals nor feet pushing off the ground - just a gentle wiggle-like motion caused by feet on the bar.

The startling bursts of color and dramatic effects made possible (and easy) by Metallic Mania take art-making to a new level of fun and excitement. Just flip open the Black Paper Sketch Pad and whip out the Metallic EcoPencils, Gel Sticks, and Markers. Every stroke on the page takes on a vivid depth and boldness, inspiring you to new heights of creativity. Experiment with touch when using the EcoPencils to create varied, original effects. Gel Sticks create a smooth, creamy consistency, while the Metallic Markers create colors that jump off the dark backgrounds. Add water and use the brush to create watercolor effects. Use the blending stick to meld colors together. Pre-cut black cardstock shapes (rocket, butterfly, motorcycle, and more) make unique canvases, each with its own little exhibition stand. Sheets of black velvet paper add to the variety. Join in the fun - your art never looked so good!

The fact that these cuddly playmates from Peru are organic and eco-friendly is icing on the cake. It would be hard to imagine a more cheerful and distinctive group of play toys. Their mere presence visibly brightens a room, and they're so soft and squeezable it can be difficult to put them down. There are nine Joobles in all, and no two look alike. Meet Bella the Bunny, Buzzy Bug, Calley the Cat, Fair Bear, Icy the Penguin, Jiffy the Giraffe, Mel the Monkey, Mooey Cow, and Pip the Dog!

Even the pizza-box style packaging on this wonderful family game makes players laugh. Pizza Night comes with 150 pizza-slice shaped game cards separated according to six different colors that match the colored die players roll to determine which card to play next. Each card has super-simple instructions to a lightning quick game (e. g., Everyone take a big sip of their drink and see who has the biggest drink mustache). Take a turn, play a game, pass the die - there are no losers, only winners, laughter, and happy Pizza Night Family Dinner Game players.

This quick, fun game is perfect for families on the go. While intended for play while waiting in restaurants or on the road during travel, the 132 easy games included here are well-suited to any family occasion. Each of the 11 circular game cards contains 12 games apiece. Game cards fall into one of three categories: While You Wait, While You Eat, and Travel Games. Select the card you want to play and place it on top inside the Gather 'Round Game Unit. At the push of a button, flashing lights circle round before randomly selecting a game instruction to be read aloud and instantly played. Good, clean, fast, easy fun! Batteries included.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Find it is a highly engaging game that is equally suited to solo or group play. The clear plastic cylinder contains numerous small toys hidden amongst colorful plastic pellets. The object is to hunt for and find these hidden treasures (48 of them in all), checking them off a list as they are found. Since the treasures are on the inside, manipulating the container from the outside is the only way to bring them into sight - jostling, rotating, shaking, and inverting. Some of the objects seem stubbornly intent on staying hidden, but focus, persistence, and a keen eye will go a long way towards revealing every last one of them.

Celtic Challenge has a winning recipe - a pinch of luck, a dash of skill, simplicity of execution, and a unique presentation. The handsome hardwood board and rustic tiles give it an ancient look and feel. The pace of play moves at a good clip, and a game only takes about 20 minutes. Start with the tiles nested in layers and all but the top layer of four face down. The goal on your turn is to choose the symbol (there are five) that enables you to remove the largest number of tiles from the board. Uncovering a tile with a free edge allows you to turn it over and increase your bounty if it, too, matches the symbol you chose. Sometimes choosing a symbol that doesn't match the largest number of face-up tiles proves best, when it allows you to flip new tiles that then match your symbol. But you won't know until you take the risk, and you might regret it! Great fun for 2 players, or as solitaire.

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!

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!

This stellar hidden object game has 42 items you would find on a farm hidden among brightly colored pellets inside a cleverly silo-shaped cylinder. On The Farm will keep your hands moving and your eyes sharp as you race - twist, turn, shake, nudge, jostle - whatever it takes to bring those hidden items into sight. Whether playing alone or in a group, keep track of the items you find by checking them off the detailed score pad. Or, when you're on the road or on the go, just use the item checklist printed on the game's bottom. The 'learn as you play' element was really evident (so that's what a tiller looks like!) throughout the action. Play veered easily from fierce competition to communal cooperation, with everyone sharing in the satisfaction when players excitedly called out new finds. The replay value is very high in this game, which means it doesn't ever get old. You'll have countless hours of fun playing it again and again.

Bob Knight, creator of the brilliant 3-dimensional hidden object game, Find It, has produced a spectacular new version for everyone to enjoy. Starry Night, in a new twist, comes in a custom star-shaped container, with 40 glow-in-the-dark items nestled among the brightly colored pellets within. Planets, moons, stars, an astronaut - all things celestial, if you will - can be found if one looks carefully enough, and a few earthly items, as well. Rotating, inverting, and gently jostling the container will reveal many things. Find It Starry Night is great fun whether played alone or in a group, making it a perfect family game. Score pads listing all the items enable players to keep track of treasures by checking them off as they are found. The game is excellent for promoting focus and concentration, and the combined visual-tactile element makes it powerfully engaging for players of all ages.

This beautiful, fun-filled backpack will keep your young girls' imaginations and playtime sparkling with activity and magic. This beautiful, plush child-sized activity backpack is loaded with fun stuff to take with you anywhere. The soft Fairy doll that comes with it is beautifully designed and dressed. There are three different colored backpacks and dolls to choose from - Alexandra, Madison, or Tomar, all three of which appear in the illustrated storybook you'll find inside when you unzip the backpack. The Fairy doll slides smoothly into her flower-design holder on the front of the backpack, adorning it with her magical presence so that she can share the sights with you during all your travels. Inside there's a built-in whiteboard, 4 dry erase markers, a fairy pencil wand and magic fairy glasses. There's also room to pack some of your favorite items from home. A portable world that brings magic to life everywhere you go!

Kristina is one of the newest additions to the Friends Forever Girls Dolls. The thought and care that went into her evolution and design will be evident to anyone the moment they lay eyes on her. This 18 inch, high quality vinyl doll comes stylishly dressed right out of the box and is of Asian American heritage, in keeping with the manufacturer's focus on diversity and inclusiveness. Each of the Friends Forever Girls Dolls comes from a different background, and the positive values inherent in the line (there's even a Friends Forever Girls Pledge, rooted in kindness, fairness, courage, and respect), are especially appealing. Like the other dolls, Kristina comes with her own background story and personality traits, and each of the Friends Forever Girls Dolls comes with a hard cover book - The First Day of Forever.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

Fast, frolicking fun from Gamewright! Setup takes mere seconds, after which players begin launching colored lifesavers in the direction of the elevated game board. The goal is to have your lifesavers land so that they encircle the 3-dimensional Flamingo figures on the board, sparing them from the imminent threat of leering alligators while scoring points for you. Each player's lifeboat acts as their life-saver launch-pad, and the product design is such that it is quite easy to get lift and distance with your shots. Aim, however, is the skill here, and with just a bit of practice, you should be saving flamingoes left and right!

Polar Derby is beautifully made, with 25 wooden Polar Bear playing pieces on skates (in 5 different colors) and a pair of high quality special dice. Each Polar Bear is marked with a point value, and players pull them off the board on their turn based on rolls of the dice. The skill is rooted in quick decision-making, as many rolls of the dice result in choices to be made by the roller, not the least of which is whether to end the turn and take the winnings or keep rolling but risk losing everything won thus far on the turn. The player with the most points once all Polar Bears are off the board is the winner!

Funny Business is Fun with a capital 'F!' Presented with a randomly selected pair of business cards, players score points by creating and/or voting for the best name for a merger between the two businesses. For example, a Laundromat and a Sushi Bar, or a Golf Course and a Butcher Shop might merge. Players have 45 seconds to create and write a name for the merged business on their personal write-erase board. After the names are read aloud, players vote for their favorite. The player whose name won the most votes earns points, as do players who voted for that name. To help keep the creative juices flowing, each business card lists 20 words associated with that business that players are free to use in the naming process. A great party and family game!

Too Many Monkeys is a great game for kids or kids and parents to play together. It's quick moving, easy-to-learn, and includes some very playful graphics and quirky 'special' cards in addition to the numbered monkey cards. The game-play teaches number sequencing and order placement, but more importantly, it's just plain fun!

We can't say enough about what a great game this is - it's quick-moving, enormously fun, engages everyone from start to finish, and cultivates some fundamental skills including simple strategic decision-making. Just a few seconds (literally) of looking at instructions, and we were ready to go. Each player receives a hexagonal game board containing 61 spaces marked with images (a button, a tiger, an airplane . . .). Players take turns calling out objects while everyone marks off that image on their board using the nifty plastic markers provided. A player wins by being the first to create a continuous line that connects one colored border on their board with the same-colored border on the opposite side. For 2 to 4 players. Fantastic fun!

Another great game from Gamewright! Fine motor skills, as well as shape and color recognition, figure prominently in the game play. Fill the sprinkle shaker with the colored wooden shapes (stars, cubes, triangles, etc.), place the cupcake cards on the table, and you're ready to go. On your turn, roll the die and shake the sprinkle shaker the number of times shown on the die. Any shapes that pour out can be placed on the face-up cupcake cards if they match both a shape and color found there. Cover all the shapes on a given card and you get to collect it and the shapes on it. Once the sprinkle shaker contains no more shapes, the player with the most cards wins. Take the Cake is simple, delicious, fun!

A keen eye, an elephant's memory, a healthy dose of luck, and a willingness to take chances will take you a long way towards winning this fun, quick-moving card and dice game. Roll the dice and move the mouse around the board, seeking cards that are higher or lower than the number on your card or that match the odd or even on the die. When you succeed, roll and try again, if you dare - for you risk losing what you've just gained! Sometimes you'll need to remember the exact location of face-down cards you've seen before. Or, if they're face up, the challenge will simply be in getting to them. If a card that's turned over has a mouse on it, the first player to shout 'Eek!' and grab the mouse figurine gets the card and the next turn. The first player to collect 10 cards wins. Fabulous family fun!

Sounds Like a Plan is a great party game, with a flair for sparking silly connections and interactions between players. The basic premise is, given a specific goal (e.g. Pet a wild animal, Build a time machine, Start a cult), be the player whose advice best suits the goal and the type of advice that was sought. A rolled die determines the type of advice you're after - Best, Worst, Grandma, Kid, Wild, or Psychic - and a different player on each turn ranks the suitability of the advice given by the other players. That ranking determines the number of spaces a player advances on the board, and the first to the finish line wins. This is quick-moving, highly interactive fun, loads of laughs from start to finish!

This has got to be one of the most wonderfully kooky conceptions we've ever seen in a game - Heavyweight Hamster Wrestling in which plastic, player-controlled hamsters go toe-to-toe in the ring! Play is quick-moving and takes no time at all to learn. A roll of the die on your turn determines whether you EAT (place plastic pellets in your hamster's mouth), TRAIN (try to knock unmanned hamsters back to their home spaces), or SLAM (engage in a 3-round wrestling match). During matches, players use magnetic wands to lock onto their hamster from beneath the ring and slide it around the ring's surface in an effort to topple their opponent. The magnet-bottomed hamsters manage to look cute and fierce at the same time, and make no mistake about it - when push comes to shove, there will be only one Sumo Hamster left standing!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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 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!

Zip Zap erupts in flurries of action. Players must be alert at all times, using quick hands to execute fast choices that will help or hinder them mere seconds in the future. Sound intense? It is, in a fun, exhilarating way. Game play occurs in rounds. Players, without taking turns, rapidly rid their hands of cards by playing them in numeric order onto the card just played. The color suit must also be matched, or wild cards used. The goal is to end each round with as few cards as possible. Those remaining in your hand count against you. Players often possess more than one playable card at a given moment, leading to choices good and bad. There are also powerful Zip Zap cards that can keep you rolling. Everyone's in on the action from start to finish and until the final card is played, it's anybody's game. If you like fun, fast-moving card games with a great balance of luck and skill, welcome to heaven! For 2 to 6 players.

The telling and hearing of tales makes for a fertile imagination. It also can be a raucous good time. So we're fortunate to have Rory's Story Cubes to provide seedlings that sprout into spontaneous full-fledged stories. With this 'Actions' version, each of the 9 cubes has an image on each side, representing 54 different verbs. Just roll the cubes and start talking, spinning a story from the images you see. The cubes act as a creativity tool, sparking wild flights of fancy. Eyes flit from one image to another, activating minds to weave imaginings into a cohesive whole. Tell stories one at a time, or as a group. Relate what you see on the cubes to characters in a movie or other famous story. Or mime the actions shown on the cubes. The possibilities are endless, and there's no right or wrong way to play. Whether solitaire, or as a party and family game, Rory's Cubes keeps the fun and creative juices flowing. For 1 or more players.

Here is a wildly fun game in which no one is ever left out of the action. Every time a new card is flipped from the top of the Scramble deck, players are alert, keen-eyed, and ready to pounce. Each Scramble card flipped has a playful geography-related challenge on it, and the winner of each challenge collects a state card. For example, 'find a state whose nickname starts with H, K, or L.' Or 'find a state whose border touches 2 or more states directly below it.' Players then race to find such a card among their own 5 face-up state cards. Other Scramble cards require players to determine which of their own state cards is closest to a given state. Once they have, the player whose card was closest of all collects 2 state cards. The Scrambled States of America is fast-moving, plays exceedingly well across a broad range of ages, and has not one dull moment among the many moments you will hungrily spend playing it!

This is a great game for families with younger kids. They'll love the game-play and the components, which include four brightly colored tin travelling trunks, replete with postcards from travels abroad. The idea here is that Emmet the elephant, who's late for a trip, needs your help packing. Players take turns rolling the wooden die and packing a piece of clothing (an illustrated token) into the matching colored trunk. That is, of course, unless you happen to roll a sneaky mouse, in which case the trunk closest to Emmet the elephant will be emptied and you'll have more clothes to pack. There are a couple of nice twists, such as a bonus when you roll the color of the trunk nearest Emmet, as well as the possibility of unloading clothes dumped on you by that sneaky mouse. Playing Elephant's Trunk reinforces fine motor skills, pattern recognition, and color identification. A sweet, fun game with unusually attractive and charming components. A keeper!

FitzIt is simple, brilliant fun that takes just a minute or so to learn, can be played by any size crowd, and takes only 20 minutes or so per game. Just pop open the pocket-sized box and play. Each card contains a brief verbal description, such as 'Has feathers,' or 'Coin operated.' On your turn, add as many cards as possible from your hand next to one on the table (forming an expanding grid) by naming an object all those cards' descriptions have in common. For example, if you held 'Makes a loud noise,' 'Usually runs on gasoline,' and 'Bigger than a car,' and a card on the table said 'Has moving parts,' you could announce, 'Airplane,' and lay your cards down next to it in a row or column. The object you conjure in your mind is what links the cards together, and creative thinking will take you far. The first player to use all their cards is the winner. There are also some great twists that enable you to dump cards on opponents. Hilarious, quick-moving, imaginative, verbal fun!

Part of what makes Scallywags such great fun is its simplicity and variety. And of course there are the gold coins (40 to be exact), which figure prominently in game-play. The coins are dumped in the middle at the outset, face up or down, however they land. On each turn, a player does one of 3 things 1) Take one face down coin, or 2) Play one action card, or 3) Discard one card and pass. The variety stems from the numerous actions at your disposal from the cards in your hand, which include taking, swapping, stealing, or blocking the theft of - you guessed it - gold coins. When you take a coin from the middle or from a another player, it becomes part of your take, and whoever has the largest take at the end is the winner. You'll love the hilarious pirate illustrations on the cards, and there's never a dull moment - players employ deduction, math, and visual discrimination skills in acquiring their bounty. All in a day's work for you and your fellow pirates! For 2 to 6 players.

This is a fabulous game in which players collect colored dice (removing one die on each turn) in an effort to match the dice combinations shown on combo cards held in their hand. Some cards are very specific (a blue die showing 6 and an orange die showing 3) while another might require any combination of blue and orange dice totaling 15. This game is all about decision-making. The biggest risk is that another player will take a die you need before your next turn. So you stay aware of how many of each die you need are available on each turn, and choose wisely. There are 1 or 2 wild dice per round that can be any color you choose, as well as Action cards that influence dice in the tray. At round's end, keep the combo cards you completed - they're worth points. Kids will learn probability, visual discrimination, and strategic thinking. Even with the luck of the draw and the roll of the dice, a keen eye and alert mind are what determines who wins Take it or Leave It! 2 - 5 players.

This wildly entertaining game is in a class all its own. For one thing, it comes with 150 bright red, fuzzy mini-tomatoes and 2-inch tall baskets that serve as tomato patches. The object is to be the player to harvest the most tomatoes while defending your patch against weeds, varmints, tomato zombies and flying hippos. These latter oddities come your way in the form of cards played by opponents aiming to undo your progress. But fear not! You've got more than a few cards up your sleeve to help defend against them. Each card contains a brief, humorous explanation of its power to attack or defend, making it easy to quickly familiarize yourself with the wide variety of possible actions. And then there's the hilarious artwork. (Our personal favorite is the Remote Control Mole.) In other words, this game is a treat just to look at, but don't stop there - everybody deserves a chance to play The Big Fat Tomato Game! 2- 5 players.

Truly, it's amazing what you can build with the powerful magnetic components in this ingenious Geomag kit. By inter-connecting the glow-in-the-dark magnetic rods and metal balls, you can quickly assemble a variety of 3-dimensional shapes. But more importantly, you can build yourself a nifty Moon Explorer vehicle. Clear plastic panels (squares and triangles) snap right into magnetically generated rectangles and triangles, while illustrated inserts (also glow-in-the-dark) create a detailed, polished look. Attach the 4 rims to the special wheel axles, slip on the sleek tread-less tires, and you've got a highly mobile unit that looks great day and night!

The stacking quartet is composed of a little house and three fabric figures stimulating babies to clutch and put together. Each of the four elements emits a different sound. Includes kaleidoscope and magnetic flap.

HABA is masterful at providing food for your child's imagination, and their new Biofino Fish is no exception. Beautifully designed and executed, soft, colorful and creatively detailed, this fun fabric fish is sure to wind up in the play kitchens of little chefs everywhere. The belly of the fish opens to reveal a pink dotted interior and a removable plastic fish bone (the tip of which is just visible through the fish's puckered mouth). The kids in our group loved inventing games, playing before and after by serving up the fish whole and then revealing the bones picked clean after they were done 'eating'! They also couldn't resist hiding little treasures in the resealable belly for later discovery. This tasty morsel provides a smorgasbord for the imagination!

This is an outstanding game, incredible fun for the entire family. A simple concept - 30 seconds reading instructions, mega-hours of fun - executed in a fresh, clever way, makes this a highly entertaining play. Elsie the cow (an endearing 3 X 3 inch wooden creature with wobbly back legs) has a habit of standing right in the middle of a heap of grass bales (a pile of cardboard tiles) whenever the farmer wants to mow the meadow. Players take turns using a wooden fork to pull these bales out from under Elsie and off the game board without tipping her over. If you manage to do so, keep the tile and pass the fork for the next player's turn. If Elsie tips, put her back on the heap before passing the fork - you get nothing for that turn. The game ends when either all bales are off the board or none can be removed without Elsie falling. The player with the most bales wins. For 2 - 4 players. Highly reccomended!!!!

Young ones will love this wooden stacking pull-around toy. The brightly colored designs and varied shapes of its smooth, wooden pieces make it a happiness-inducing magnet for hands and eyes. This finely made developmental toy will grab your young child's attention and keep their brain stimulated and delighted. Stack and rearrange the pieces every which way before proudly parading it through the house on its four bright blue wheels. Bear, Gator, and Rhino look oh so happy no matter where you put them in the stacks, and the playful, eye-catching design will brighten any child's room.

Young kids will love the large, easy to snap together pieces and vivid, playful illustrations in these durable puzzles from HABA. Each box contains six different puzzles, a wooden figure, and six stand-alone pieces (each of which shares background color and motif with one of the puzzles). The puzzles hold together well, are easily maneuverable on table or floor, and, along with the wooden figure and stand-alone pieces, inspire imaginative storytelling. Assembling the puzzles builds fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and close observation skills, while matching the stand-alone pieces to their like-themed puzzle promotes cognitive associative development. There are three styles available - Farm, Animals, and Construction - each of which contains all of the components described above.

Imaginations will run wild with this 62-piece set of brightly-colored wooden shapes. The 'I' and 'L' shaped pieces make it easy for fingers and minds to quickly create patterns and structures of surprising beauty and playfulness. The child-safe wooden pieces can be laid out flat or built up into vertical structures, and the set comes with several easy-to-copy examples, ranging from simple to elaborate. Whether you're building pre-planned designs or improvising your way to a surprise ending, these ingenious pieces will keep your fingers nimble and your creativity flowing!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

Fun is often in the details, and the fine level of detail is one of the first things you notice about Building Blocks Habaland Train. The vivid sharpness and contrasting colors alone make it a treat for the eyes. Factor in the decorative flourishes, the array of movable and removable parts, and you realize you've got a playtime work of art on your hands. Speaking of hands, there is much for them to do here - a smiling conductor and wooden drum (with a built-in bell) are removable, as are the pieces that make up a stacking game built onto one of the cars. The caboose has an extra set of connected wheels riding up on its back that can be flipped down in an instant, extending the length of the train. All four cars connect via magnets, which means they can be separated into 4 nifty stand-alone toy vehicles and reconnected into a train in the blink of an eye. Unstoppable fun!

This simple, highly enjoyable game can be played quite easily by young children. Each player starts with 4 wooden tiles, randomly pulled from the cloth bag. A starter tile is placed on the table and players take turns adding to it. The winner will be the first player to use all their tiles. The tiles have 3 different jigsaw profiles - round, pointed, and angular, so that some tiles fit together, while others don't. For example, a tile with a protruding peak fits into one with a triangular notch. If you can fit a tile to the existing chain on your turn, do so, and play passes to the next player. If you can't, you must draw one from the bag, and in doing so try to find one, by touch alone, that fits. Because everyone's tiles are visible at all times, you can make strategic choices to hinder other players or further your own next move. The game play here goes deeper than at first you might think, making it a game adults and older children will enjoy as much as the young ones! For 1 to 4 players.

HABA's products have a distinctive quality, a uniqueness that makes them incredibly appealing, dynamic, and fun. Treetop Trouble is an outstanding game in which memory, strategy, and luck come together to create a playful race to get all your animals home where they belong. Each player has 6 animal tiles randomly placed face down on the Tree House (game board) and Elevator. The object is to get each of your animals to their proper floor. Each roll of the die sends the elevator up or down one or more floors, where all players swap their elevator tile with their tile on that floor. During the swap you're allowed to peek at your tile as it enters the elevator. Then it's just a matter of getting it to the right floor. When you roll, you control whether to go up or down, and there's a star on the die that, if rolled, lets you choose any floor, enabling you to make clever choices that help you win. Great fun for the entire family! For 2 to 4 players.

It would be hard to find a schoolage kid who has not read or heard a Prelutsky poem and who does not want to hear another. He plays with the language and encourages readers to revel in the game. Puns, jokes, wordplay and shape play, wit, silliness, slapstick, and joy abound. Some of the poems are about people, some are about animals. And some are about things that never were (and that one hopes never will be). Be warned: Read a poem once and you will love it. Read it several times and it will be part of you forever.

Have you ever encountered an underwater marching band, a pig in a bathing suit, a pet orangutan, or a witch in a hardware store? You will have, once you've read this exuberant collaboration from Jack Prelutsky and his partner in crime James Stevenson. The reigning czars of silliness have once again teamed up to bring readers an irresistible collection of poems that will have tongues twisting, imaginations soaring, and sides aching with laughter. The result is genius, indeed.

Thomas Ward is the apprentice for the local Spook, who captures witches and drives away ghosts. As the weather gets colder and the nights draw in, the Spook receives an unexpected visitor. Tom doesn't know who the stranger is or what he wants, but the Spook suddenly decides it's time to travel to his winter house, Anglezarke. Tom has heard it will be a bleak, forbidding place, and that menacing creatures are starting to stir somewhere on the moors nearby. Can anything prepare Tom for what he finds there?

This is the heartwarming tale of a young boy named Nico who is asked by his aunt if he would 'be so kind' as to take care of her dog Lola for the weekend. Before Lola, an adorable black pug, arrives, Nico asks himself, 'How will I be so kind?' He needn't have worried, as he proves himself a loving and considerate caretaker. The images in this beautiful photographic book include many shots of Nico and Lola in lush outdoor settings, as the instantly inseparable companions go exploring and make new friends together. The writing is well crafted, and the kindnesses demonstrated in the storyline and images are encapsulated in a series of 'Being kind is . . .' statements highlighted on every other page. Being a good listener, taking turns, sharing, treating others the way you want to be treated - these are just some of the kindnesses Nico and Lola show one another, and the reader, in this lovely tale.

She longed for adventure. So she left her home and ventured out into the wide world. The pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar. Yet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine . . . She was brave. She was fearless. She was feathered. She was a chicken. A not-so-chicken chicken. Her name?

This cleverly designed 108-card deck comes with instructions for six excellent games. Each card contains an image of either a bead or pendant that comes in various shapes, colors and patterns. Each of the six quick, easy-to-learn games involves using your bead and/or pendant cards to create strings, by using pairs (two cards that share 2 of the 3 bead qualities), or perfect pairs (two identical cards). Our testers had a great time with all six games, but our personal favorite was Beadominoes, which had a habit of surprising players who thought they were about to win by getting rid of their last card, only to suddenly find their hand growing fat with cards again to their opponents' pleasure.

Dodsworth wanted adventure. He wanted to see the world. He especially wanted to visit New York City. What he didn't want was to be joined by a duck. A crazy duck. A duck that misbehaves. Young readers will laugh out loud at the duck's silly antics as Dodsworth has the unexpected adventure of his life in the Big Apple . . . and beyond.

This wonderfully illustrated book and read-a-long, sing-a-long CD will get your kids up on their feet, singing, dancing, wiggling, and laughing, as the hit children's song, Tony Chestnut, is brought to vivid, colorful, activity-inspiring life. The story begins with Tony and his little sister Eileen on their first day of school in a new neighborhood. Sitting on the playground surrounded by kids playing, Eileen's sadness over leaving old friends behind brings her to tears, BIG tears! After failing to cheer up Eileen with his usual tricks, Tony breaks through his shyness and performs a bold, brave, song and dance that engages all the kids, spreading smiles and laughter everywhere. The dance, illustrated in the book, follows the lyrics of the Tony Chestnut song (on the CD), in which children's names double as movement instructions (Pat - pat your shoulders, Neil - kneel, Skip . . .). A fantastic multi-sensory experience for all!

Magnetic Match Rings is the fun way to learn about magnetism, help develop visual matching skills, and improve eye-hand coordination. Players select one of 50 pattern matching challenges and attempts to stack the magnetic rings in the exact same color order as shown on the card. If a card shows rings that are floating (magnetic opposites) your rings must also be floating.

Some games just seem to have it all, and this is one of those games. For starters, the components are of the highest quality, in terms of both design and execution. Take the beautifully detailed 6 and 1/2 foot long board (three panels that quickly and easily interconnect like giant puzzle pieces), which in and of itself provides ample entertainment value. Throw in the marvelous playing pieces, the Goldbug cards, the magnifying glass tokens, the timer, the spinner, the food tiles, the ferry boat, the gloriously straightforward instructions and game play. Add in the teamwork, (players either all win or all lose together), the observation skills, (the game is a visual scavenger hunt), the quick pace and group participation. Mix it all together and you've got hours and hours of fun!

This game quickly got the creative juices and silly streaks kicked into high gear for the players who tested it on our watch. Given a made-up word, a silly category, and a doodle sheet, players race against time to write and/or draw their own definition of the word. For example, one might be given the word 'quib,' the category 'something slimy,' and a doodle sheet containing a starter doodle of 3 slightly curved lines. The category and starter doodle help kick-start the imagination and take it in surprising directions, and there were strange and wonderful things coming out of players' minds and mouths in no time. The player chosen by the judge as having the best definition collects the word card, and three word cards wins you the game. A spinner gizmo called the Spindoodler throws wild curve balls during play, making this an unpredictable play-fest of epic proportions.

The Alphabotz program is designed to reinforce beginning reading skills. Oh, and did we mention that it's also quite fun for kids and parents alike? One of the great things about the program, and there are many, is the level of easy-to-follow and highly engaging structure provided throughout. That sense of structure is embedded in each of the 46 wonderfully illustrated Character Cards. Just as importantly, a few minutes spent reading the Game & Activity Cards will equip parents to help children explore and contextualize vowels, consonants, and letter combinations in highly imaginative and entertaining ways.

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.

This silliness-inducing board game, for 2 or more players, is designed to get teens and adults talking up a storm, revealing secrets, and behaving in ways they might not normally behave - all in the name of fun! The game play is simple and quick-moving - roll the die, move your playing piece, follow the instructions on the space where you land. For example, Talk like a baby, Sing a rap song, Imitate your best friend. Every third or fourth space tells you to draw and read aloud an I've Never card, which might say something like, 'I've never received a love letter,' or, 'I've never had a crush on a teacher.' You then have to admit whether the statement is true or false, for which there are further potentially exciting or embarrassing consequences, depending on your answer!

Bobble Bots Moshi Monsters Moshlings are a set of bobble-head mini robotic pets. Seriously, they zip around in all their cuteness, using special vibration technology to bop into, bounce off of, and generally find their way around almost anything. But where you'll want to see them in all their glory is in a Monstro City of your own making. That's where these building sets, each of which includes one ultra rare Moshling, come in. Everything snaps together in seconds, with awesome colors and detail work already complete. Each set also includes two city block cells, with curbs and accessories so that you can build a contained unit or buy different sets (there are currently four available), interconnect them, and watch your Moshlings traverse an entire town. These little robots are based on Mind Candy's hugely popular online world for kids. Now you can bring a 3-D version of that world into your own home and fill it with buzzing, bustling, little creatures. Vive le Moshlings!

This is one of the stranger and more amazing products we've seen, and while watching the HEXBUG Nanos in action in their habitat, we couldn't help thinking, 'Whoever created this is a genius!' The set includes two extremely rare HEXBUG Nanos - tiny, collectible, robotic creatures that scurry and explore, unpredictably wending their way across floors, tables, through mazes, and most amazingly, within their customizable habitats. As incredible as the HEXBUG Nanos are, the Habititat itself is brilliant - a unique, customizable set of hexagonal rooms that easily interconnect with one another or via straight and curved pathways (included). Each side of a room has a little gate that can be open or closed, allowing for the easy creation of many maze-like variants for your Nanos to skillfully traverse, always finding their way out! Additional pieces are available for expansion.

The HEXBUG Nano has to be seen to be believed. These tiny, collectible, robotic creatures scurry and explore, unpredictably wending their way across floors, tables, through mazes, and most amazingly, within their customizable habitats (see separate review of Habitat Set). HEXBUG Nanos use the physics of vibration to propel themselves forward in a surprisingly lifelike way. Trapped in an enclosed space, they hunt for an exit. Create even a small opening, and they will find it and escape. Place them on their backs, and they will flip back onto their feet. About an inch and a half in length, HEXBUG Nanos come in various colors and degrees of rareness, and each one comes with a unique serial code number and point value system that users register online at handandstars.com to play games, earn points, and learn about real scientists and their discoveries.

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!

This fun, sprawling floor puzzle (2 Feet X 3 Feet) has large, rugged pieces made from 98% recycled materials. Like all Innovative Kids' Green Start series products, this puzzle is not only good for the earth, it also helps kids see their connection to it, in this case with a wonderfully illustrated garden scene showing kids busily working and playing in and around the garden. Once assembled, the puzzle becomes a hunt-and-find adventure in which kids count objects hidden in the garden. Numerals and matching illustrated quantities (chicks, apples, bees, flowers, etc.) along the top and bottom borders of the puzzle show kids what, and how many of each, to look for. When finished, pack it back up into the very attractive carrying case package it came in, also made from recycled materials. Highly engaging fun that's good for your kids and for the world!

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!

The Country Tree House is spectacular, an epic playhouse for children and their imaginations. Very little assembly is required, yet the resultant level of detail creates the feeling that you've entered a real world in miniature. More importantly, it is a place you want to be, a sprawling, rustic, multi-level getaway whose charm bespeaks rest, relaxation, and easy country comfort rooted in the outdoors. The front of the Tree House has numerous exterior play spaces for the Calico Critters to inhabit - a rope-handled bridge, observation deck, hot tub, a pagoda with flower boxes, and a walkway that surrounds the 1st floor level, with a waterslide to the ground level pond. The rear of the house provides open access to all levels for easy 'indoor' play. Two Calico Critters are included, along with numerous stickers that enhance the interior and exterior of the house with delightful finishing touches!

Who knew an elephant could pack this much fun? Place this ultra-cuddly toy within reach of a young child and watch their face light up and hands and eyes leap into exploration mode. Ample colors and patterns stimulate visual activity. Numerous textures and shapes paired with crinkly and squeaky sounds invite fingers to squeeze and probe. Multiple compartments housing delightful surprises of various shapes and sizes keep the mind actively engaged. A built-in cloth handle makes this the perfect toy to take with infants and toddlers anywhere and everywhere!

Love has just arrived on your doorstep! This wonderful doll (available as a boy or girl) has the luxuriously high quality feel of a bygone era, with beautiful blue eyes that close when reclining and soft, pretty clothing designed so little ones can easily dress and undress them. Their delicate yet solid, weighted feel (the midsection is a squeezably soft bean bag) make them seem real, especially when cuddling or rocking. Available in boy (dressed in blue) or girl (pink).

Young children will love this fun, highly engaging pull toy. Beginning walkers will want to keep leading Henrietta across the floor - so much stimulation! She clucks, flaps her wings, and lays eggs one by one as you pull her along. Hear a chick peep each time an egg is released. The eggs are marvelously well-designed - a happy chick's head peeking over the top of half an egg shell, weighted at the bottom so that the egg rocks, rolls, but always returns to an upright position. Her bright colors, irresistibly playful design, and high quality durable construction make Henrietta a must-have for the toddling crowd!

Here's a quick, fun game with a cleverly simple premise. How many scoops of ice cream can you pile on top of one cone before they fall? Players use a special scooper and twelve different flavored scoops of plastic ice cream to find out. Place as many scoops on the cone on your turn as you can without any falling. The player who stacks the most, wins! In an alternate version, players take turns adding one scoop at a time. If any scoops fall on your turn, you're out. Play continues until there is just one player standing - the winner. Loads of good, clean fun for 2 or more players!

There's nothing quite like a fun activity that produces great end results! This easy-to-use tie dye kit is great for ages 5 and up (with adult supervision). The kit comes with pre-measured dye in red, blue, and yellow, and the entire process consists of 3 easy steps: 1) Wet the fabric and tie with rubber bands or string. 2) Soak in soda ash (provided) for at least 20 minutes while mixing the dyes with tap water. 3) Apply the dye, wait 24 hours, then rinse, wash, dry, and enjoy! The kit contains everything you need to create up to 5 adult t-shirts, but can also be used on heavier items such as jeans. The instructions provide methods for several different patterns (bunching, spiral, vertical stripe, geometric design) and encourages creative experimentation. This is a gift that keeps on giving.

For ages 4 and up (with adult supervision), this kit contains everything you need for hours of creative fun and artistic expression. It comes with 3 stretched silk hoops, 3 primary color Dye-Na-Flow paints (which you can mix to create a broad spectrum of colors), and supplies and instructions for four splendid techniques. The Watercolor technique allows colors to blend freely on the silk, creating a look similar to a watercolor painting. The Resist technique involves applying a water-based substance (provided) to the silk to act as a boundary between colors, allowing for a fair amount of intricacy in your artwork. The Salt technique uses Silk Salt (provided) to create starbursts of color, and the Sunprinting technique enables the use of small objects and sunlight to create interesting impressions on your artwork. These four techniques can be easily combined to inspire and create truly dazzling art!

You've got to love instructions that are written both clearly and with a sense of humor. The box cover claim that Triviathon is a game for smart AND stupid people is true in that you can pretty much lack any trivia sense at all and still do a pretty good job of pretending you know what you're doing. After all, the only questions you'll be asked are 'How many spaces do you want to move?' and 'To what colored space do you want to move?' You then are given four options, for example, 'The number of toes on an ostrich.' Your job is to try to pick the option whose number (or color), when revealed, gets you furthest along on the board. Very simple, clever, social fun, and the facts you learn along the way (Papa Smurf wore red pants and hat!) you'll surely carry to your grave. Each player also receives a 'character card' that can be used at will (usually only once) to throw humorous curve balls and reversals into the action. For 2 to 12 players.

Here's an outstanding way to keep little ones (up to 80 lbs) active and engaged, both physically and mentally. They'll hop their tails off on this specially designed kids' trampoline, burning energy while participating in virtual adventures that let them learn as they play. Built-in handles provide stability and safety, while a special mount securely holds an iPad or other tablet device (tablet device not included) in place so that the trampoline user can view and play along with the 12-minute RompyRoo exercise adventure video cartoon that comes with the iBounce. You'll follow RompyRoo, a young kangaroo in search of his favorite teddy bear. He'll put you through your paces counting, hopping, climbing, and stepping along with him as he covers all manner of terrain, giving you visual and verbal cues on just how to move. JumpSport will keep the adventures rolling by introducing a new video every few months. Fun, active, learning - the perfect triple play!

K5 Learning is an outstanding educational program designed to build reading, math, and study skills for kids from kindergarten through grade 5. Part of what makes K5 Learning special is that it's format is so engaging (lessons are animated, interactive, and simple to navigate) while at the same time delivering material in a concise, effective manner. It's fun, interesting, compelling, and entertaining, yet its function never wavers from kids' progress. Lessons consist of a quick introduction, a couple of examples, and off you go, learning and doing. And kids won't want to stop, because both the process AND their progress are enjoyable, doable, and gratifying. An online assessment helps ensure kids work at levels appropriate to their skills, after which they work independently through over 3,000 lessons and activities at their own pace. A parent dashboard (including tracking and reporting) is a boon. Kids yearn to learn - it's in their hard-wiring. Give them access to K5 Learning, and they'll have all the tools they need to last a lifetime. $25.00/Month or 199.00/year.

Kids (and you) will love these precision construction blocks that can be used to easily create an astonishing array of designs - towers, bridges, buildings, sculptures - simply by stacking. Smooth, lightweight, perfectly cut, their identical construction allows them to be quickly stacked with a very high level of stability. Kids start stacking and building the minute they're out of the box, and the level of intricacy and variety achievable is almost limitless, making this a creative toy suited for all age and skill levels from toddlers on up. The blocks also are a genuine artistic medium, nurturing your child's creativity and self-expression. The guidebook that comes with this set is fantastic, offering basic stacking techniques, construction challenges, group activities, games, and more, making this an astonishingly versatile product with exceptional longevity and play value.

Let's face it. Knowing stuff feels good. It doesn't much matter what that stuff is. With Guilty Pleasures, a fast, fun entry from Kheper Games, that stuff happens to be the amazing amount of seemingly useless information you've accumulated through years of watching movies and television, reading tabloids, and gossiping around the water cooler. How awesome is it for that knowledge to finally make you proud? Roll the die, move your playing piece, draw a card, answer a question. If you get it wrong, you'll find the correct answer fascinating and mindlessly educational. If you get it right, puff out your chest and move again. If you get it right while on a special Token Space, excellent - collect a token and you're on your way to winning. Pure social fun, an excellent party game for 2 or more players.

Extraordinarily lightweight, durable, and smooth-riding, this attractive 3-wheel Swiss-designed scooter stands a class apart. Whisper quiet as it glides along, the Maxi Kick requires very little push-off to get it traveling a hearty distance. The 3-wheel design creates ultra-stability, allowing kids as young as age 6 to get scooting confidently in no time flat. The Maxi Kick's overall precision and special lean-and-steer mechanism create a unique and exciting riding experience that kids of all ages will love. Recommended weight limit: 120 lbs.

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!

Smart-e-bear is soft and cuddly, entertaining, and loaded with soft-ware that enables the bear to sing songs, tell stories, and play countless educational games interactively with your child. Squeezing Smart-e-bear's hands or feet lets you to start and stop programs, respond to questions, and otherwise interact with this very intelligent bear. While Smart-e-bear comes bearing a fair amount of fun and games right out of the box, you can tailor and add considerably to that content through a multitude of additional fun available for purchase on the smart-e-bear website and downloadable using a USB connection.

The Shuttle Imagination playhouse is the ideal environment for children to express themselves in (and on) while playing to their hearts' content. Made in the USA using 100% recycled cardboard material, it measures 72 inches tall X 39 inches long x 34 inches wide. The space shuttle design unleashes their imagination to go on countless adventures, and provides a sturdy canvas on which to draw and express their inner artist. Perfect for individual and group play, parties, rainy days, sleepovers and anytime all-around fun!

Coin Blasters is a collection of competitive table-top target games in a book. But it is so much more than a book. The coin blasters themselves are sturdy plastic chutes (includes 2) that hold a coin on its side while a player unleashes it with a flick of the finger, often at stunning speeds. The built-in sight allows you to aim with surprising accuracy. The pages of the book are actually brilliantly constructed game components. By opening it to a given page and standing the book upright, you can enjoy a wide variety of targets and challenges using your coin blasters - take slap shots at a goalie, shoot baskets with Hot Shot Hoops, measure your shooting power with the Blastometer, enjoy coin versions of Miniature Golf and Skee Ball! There are 10 different games in all, with additional free stunts and tricks available on the Klutz website. And the instructions and descriptions are as fun and entertaining as the activities and games they're illuminating - simply brilliant!

These are the paper starfighters you might make if were born a hundred years in the future and had a team of top aeronautic engineers at your disposal. But no need to wait. The Aerodynamics Team at Klutz labs has put it all together for you in this book - the designs, the paper, easy-to-follow folding diagrams, everything you need to create a fleet of high-flying paper aircraft. The full-color custom-designed pages means your handiwork will look out of this world as it zips through the air. You've got the Naboo N-1 Starfighter, the Millennium Falcon, the T-65 X-Wing . . . six different designs in all, with five copies of each for you to build. With typical Klutz flair and clarity, the book gives you folding and troubleshooting tips for optimal results as well as background information on each craft, written by their pilots. This is paper aircraft-making raised to the highest standards, with masterful results.

Klutz has long published a fantastic array of clever, laugh-filled activity books and other fun stuff. The Klutz Guide to the Galaxy is chock full of great things to do that will expand your knowledge of our galaxy through hands-on activities (well, as hands-on as you can get with things that are millions of miles away)! Want to know how old you are on other planets? How to spot the moon any day of the year? How to estimate a star's altitude? It's all in there! So are four star maps, components and instructions for making both a sundial and a telescope, a Galactic Passport that contains a Sneaky Solar Noon-o-Graph, and oodles of other fun, cool stuff that will smarten you up without making your head explode! So get ready to laugh and learn - with the Klutz Guide to the Galaxy, you'll actively explore the workings of our galaxy, come rain or come shine!

The Kool Rider provides a sonic boost for bikes, turning even quick jaunts around the block into genuine thrill-rides. This clip-on accessory mimics the sound of a speeding motorbike. It took our testers less than 30 seconds to install the Kool Rider, and less time than that for the smiles to light up their faces as heads turned while they zoomed down the block. The Kool Rider is aptly named, not just for how it makes your ride sound, but also because it looks extra sharp. Its magnificent clamp force and spring action are made possible by a blend of performance polymers from Dupont. Moms and dads used playing cards and clothespins to create similar effects when they were kids, but inspiration and modern technology have brought Kool Rider and your bike hurtling into the 21st century!

Sphere XYZ is brain teaser puzzle with a new twist! This sphere contains different colored rotating hemispheres as well as colored squares that slide along two different tracks surrounding the sphere. The object is to have each hemisphere contain only squares of a single color, the exception being the two white squares, each of which must wind up at the north and south poles in order for the puzzle to be considered solved. Our testers, ranging in age from 8 to 50, became quite absorbed in manipulating the sphere, to such an extent that each wanted to take it home when the evening was over. Wonderfully tactile brain stimulation to get those synapses firing!

Add a touch of elegance to your daughter's world with this beautiful classic armoire for dolls. As with all Laurent Doll furniture, quality and detail add up to something special. Rather than a piece of furniture that looks like it was made for dolls, this Armoire looks like it was made for tasteful humans and shrunk down to hold an 18-inch doll's wardrobe. With inset panels, an arched top, rounded knobs, and brass hinges, the doors swing open to reveal an inside as pretty as the outside. A rack for hangers can hold up to 6 doll dresses, and the interior drawer will hold plenty of your favorite accessories. Quality hardwood construction means it's durable and long-lasting, and the smooth white finish will add luster to any room it's in.

The thought you're likely to have when first you lay eyes on this bunk bed for dolls is 'Wow, I wish my bed was that nice.' It is, indeed, a fine-looking piece of furniture, quality-crafted hardwood with a smooth, white finish and plenty of tasteful nuance. It's sizeable enough (comfortably fitting two 18-inch dolls) that it feels like a genuine piece of furniture, adding appreciably to the decor of any room. It comes with 2 cotton mattresses and pillows, has a beautifully proportioned ladder on one side, and is life-like, or should I say human-like, in every detail. Assembly was very easy (trust us, it was a snap), and the result will make everyone - girls, parents, dolls - proud. Playtime guests will be thrilled and envious.

If you would like your kids to be able to break out those super-fun toys and games (with gazillions of pieces and whose packaging is likely long gone) and play to their heart's content, then Lay-n-Go LITE is a necessity. Lay-n-Go LITE is an activity mat, cleanup, carryall, and storage solution, sized (18 inches) and designed for families on the go. When playtime is over, just pull the drawstring, and the circular mat closes up around the play items, encircling and securing them for carriage in an almost effortless cleanup. Its 100% nylon fabric is durable and water repellant. The nylon cord keeps toys securely inside, and the handle makes it easy and comfortable to carry. Whether making an outing to a restaurant, the park, a friend's house, or taking a road trip or flight, Lay-n-Go Lite makes it a snap to kick-off the fun, as well as to wrap it up when playtime's over. Available in blue, green. or pink.

LEGO Life of George brings together two great play media for a special dose of competitive fun - 144 LEGO bricks that come in the packaging, and a touch app that's available free from the App Store. The app (for iPhone, iPod, or iPad) provides timed building challenges for you to create with the LEGO bricks. The moment the app shows you a model to build, the clock starts ticking, and off you go, racing to finish before the clock hits zero. When you're finished, place your model on the play mat and snap a picture. You'll be given a score based on speed and accuracy. As you complete the challenges, your snapshots fill up George's photo albums for different destinations in his worldly travels. There is also a My Life album that allows you to create your own models and save pictures of them, then return later to use them as timed challenges. LEGO Life of George will keep your brain active, your creative juices flowing, and your fingers moving nimbly!

This imagination-inspiring toy will bring hours and hours of fun right out of the box. One byproduct of LEGO's easy modular design is that the Fire Ship is as much fun to build as it is to play with. Things snap into place, one after another, until you've created a miniature world with a remarkable level of detail, durable enough to withstand the exciting playtime this toy will inspire. A sense of accomplishment gives way to a sense of wonder at this formidable firefighting vessel and the many accessories with which it comes: six water cannons, a 360-degree rotating fire-fighting boom, 4 firefighter mini-figures with life jackets, a floating dinghy, and more! The boat itself measures over 16 inches long and over 11 inches tall.

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!

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.

Enter the realm of Dixit, one of the most gorgeously illustrated games we've come across. An extra-large 84 card deck contains the kinds of images one might find in a book of faraway lands, mythical creatures, and mesmerizing dreams. Each player receives 6 of these cards. The designated storyteller (each turn has one) makes up a sentence relating to one of the cards in his hand, and will only score points on his turn if some, but not all, of the other players later choose this card from among several placed face up on the table. This requires the storyteller to create a sentence that will lead some players to his card without being so obvious that all correctly guess it. Other players earn points by guessing the correct card. Players advance on the board the number of spaces equal to their points on that turn. Whoever is farthest along when the deck runs out is the winner.

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.

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.

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.

Beautiful, fashionable, and stylish are not words one normally associates with industrial metal school lockers. Until now. With LockerLookz Accessories, Middle and High School students can make their lockers as homey or glamorous as they desire in minutes. And everything's held in place by small, powerful magnets, easy on, easy off! Gorgeous wallpaper? Check. Elegant motion-sensor chandeliers and locker lamps? Check. Colorful shag rug? Check. There's much more, including mirrors, white boards, even stunning organizational bins that make items as mundane as pens, pencils, and markers look hip. Each piece in this mix-and-match collection comes in several different colors or styles, and it's impossible to overstate how attractive and well made they are. See for yourself at LockerLookz.com, where brief videos demonstrate how easy it is to transform your locker into a space you'll enjoy and want to show off. Priced at $6.99 & up.

The Make a Plate kit comes with everything you need to have your child create a work of art and have it transferred to a usable, break-resistant plate, creating a keepsake that can last a lifetime. Once the artwork has been created, simply submit it via the pre-addressed envelope, and a plate with your artwork on it will be delivered right to your door. One parent suggested how nice it would be to have his daughter create an artwork on the special Make a Plate paper without telling her it's purpose, then surprise her with the plate on a special occasion! Kit includes one certificate for transferring artwork to plate.

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!

You've Been Sentenced generates exceptionally wacky sentences, a natural byproduct of scrambling to create a grammatically correct sentence from a given pool of words. Reading those sentences aloud and then defending them when challenged makes for some robust hilarity. The mental gymnastics involved in juggling and rearranging words lining the edges of the 10 pentagonal cards you receive each round, all under time pressure, can be exhilarating. Each word used in forming your sentence has a point value (except for Wild Cards). Using all 10 cards or being first to form a legitimate sentence earns you a bonus. First player to reach a given point goal wins. For 3 to 10 players. Skill and laughter makes a winning combination in this clever game!

We found this educational video game for the Nintendo DS to be an effective and enjoyable way to engage kids while helping to establish and enhance their reading skills. The game is broken into three main sections: The Books/Library section has several different stories to choose from, and modes that allow books to either be read aloud by the virtual tutor, explored for reading comprehension, or to be read by the player. In each instance, the game is interactive, providing easy help, puzzles, and games that reinforce learning. The Phonics section contains a variety of excellent mini-games such as selecting words said by the tutor, words that contain or start with a certain letter, or words that rhyme with the one the tutor says. The Quiz section includes plenty of games and questions. The prizes, fun factor, and strongly encouraging feel will keep your child coming back for more.

This puzzle and game is very cleverly designed, and promotes spatial awareness and problem solving skills in all ages. The instructions booklets, after a brief introduction, consist of 303 distinct game setups for players to solve, ranging in difficulty from easy to very advanced. The progressive difficulty of the problems allows for an apt starting place for every level of skill. The 2-dimensional problems involve first filling in areas of a grid in an exact imitation of the problem set-up shown in the booklet, then filling the remaining empty areas of the rectangle with the balance of the multi-colored, multi-shaped game pieces. The 3-dimensional pyramid problems are very challenging, and thankfully, the instructions make clear exactly what level of 2-D problem solving experience a player should have before attempting them.

Mind Fizzle has many merits, not the least of which is the way it requires you to hold in mind a group of symbols while assessing which of them is missing from a card on the table and scanning cards in your hand for any of the missing symbols. If you spot one, you'd best be fast in getting the right card from hand to table because everyone else is doing the same and it's the first one down who wins the round. Whew! It all happens in a heartbeat, and if this doesn't keep your hands fast and your mind sharp, we're not sure what will. For 1 to 7 Players, ages 7 to adult.

This edition of the award-winning Consensus board game is equally fabulous and is well-suited to bringing the entire family to the table time and again for laugh-filled fun. This socially interactive game requires only a few minutes to learn. Ten 'noun' cards are turned face up on the board. An 'adjective' card is then turned face up and players vote privately, then publicly, for the noun they feel best links to the given adjective. If any noun receives a majority of the votes, the players who voted for it advance one space on the board. This game inspires spontaneous comments from players throughout the game and will get everyone's funny bones into high gear in a jiffy. A great family game!

This game is great fun, very socially interactive, for 3 to 8 players, and requires only a minute or two to learn. Each player has a pawn on the board. Ten 'noun' cards are turned face up. An 'adjective' card is then turned face up and players vote privately, then publicly, for the noun they feel best links to the given adjective. If any noun receives a majority of the votes, the players who voted for it advance one space on the board. The fact that all possible choices are on the board for everyone to see often results in hilarious observations blurted spontaneously, particularly with respect to some of the odder pairings. The game moves briskly, always a plus, and rarely did all players vote for the same choice. This is a fun, pressure-free game. No one at our table felt un-smart for even a moment, although several were uncharacteristically comical during the course of the game.

This Movie Edition of the outstanding Consensus game is great fun and highly socially interactive. For 3 to 8 players, it requires only a minute or two to learn. Each player has a pawn on the board. Ten 'Movie' cards, each with the name of a single movie, are placed face up on the board. A 'Movie Question' card is then turned face up and players vote privately, then publicly, for the movie card they feel is best suited as the answer to the question, explaining their choices along the way. If any card receives a majority of the votes, the players who voted for it advance one space on the board. With questions like 'which one of the following movies would the President of the USA be most likely to rent?' the answers are highly subjective, making this almost the opposite of a trivia game. This is a fun, pressure-free game in which players often feel free to let their inner comic come out.

This enjoyable game has just the right amount of intricacy. It's a game that can be played very lightly, or with great intensity. The strategies are easy to understand and employ, and the stealing and defending, two main components of game play, are gratifying as all get out. Each of the five types of cards in the deck has a designated function or functions. Throughout five rounds of play, you'll use cards from your hand to defend your rice (markers) and to attack and plunder your opponents' rice and cards. A round ends when a player has accumulated seven Samurai cards of the same or two different colors, at which point rice markers are worth one point apiece, and the seven Samurai cards have a point value determined by their color distribution. Highest cumulative score at the end of five rounds is the winner. For 2 to 8 players.

This two-player game from Mindtwister is great fun. Start playing after eyeballing the instructions for just 30 seconds or so, then gain a deeper understanding as you go. The concept is simple, and very clever. Be the first player to get five same-colored marbles in a row. The twist is, in this case, literally a twist: Each move consists of placing a marble (one player is black, the other white) on one of the four quadrants of the brilliantly designed board and then twisting any of the four quadrants ninety degrees. This means players have two direct ways to disrupt their opponent's progress and advance their own - marble placement and quadrant rotation. And the latter can make it challenging to see just what curve ball is coming your way, including hearing the words, 'I won,' just as you were planning your victory dance.

This game has it all - a handsome wooden board, playing pieces, and lid, a simple game-play concept that lets you get moving in the blink of an eye, and a depth and intricacy that increases both during the course of every game and as you gain experience as a player. Players alternate taking turns sliding a playing piece (one player is white, the other black) onto vertical poles on the board. The first player to get four in a row, vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, on any level, column, or plane, is the winner. The more pieces that accumulate vertically during the course of play, the more challenging it becomes to track the possibilities. Relax your concentration for a moment or get too focused on playing offense, and you'll likely be blindsided. Throw in the optional 90-degree twist (the center of the board rotates), and you've got a game that let's you see and play in four mind-twisting dimensions!

Dizios is a fun, fast-moving game in which players take turns playing a tile from their hand by matching its edge with the edge of one of the tiles already on the table. Your score on a move is determined by the number of dots on the tile you play yours next to on the table. Highest score once there are no more tiles to draw and no further possible moves is the winner. The cleverly designed tiles are extremely colorful, with dizzying swirl-like patterns that add to the fun and the challenge. This is a great all-ages game in which younger kids can compete well with older players. Includes 1 starter tile and 70 playing tiles - for 2 to 4 players.

This game is fast, there's no turn-taking, and a keen eye and agile mind will get you everywhere! Visual dexterity plays a big part in Q-bitz, as players race one another to recreate a pattern shown on a card drawn from a deck, using wooden cubes with images on their sides. Each player works with his own set of 16 cubes (each side contains a different image), filling in a wooden tray until the pattern is complete. Some players fill in the corners and sides first, others think in larger chunks, assembling several cubes into a unit before dropping them into their tray. Regardless of your approach, being able to mentally hold onto spatial relationships while thinking and moving quickly will go a long way towards winning. Play consists of three rounds, each with a different twist. The winner of each round keeps the card, and the player with the most cards after three rounds wins. Fast, furious, fun for 2 to 4 players!

Here is everything you need for startlingly creative fun - 42 extraordinarily well-crafted wooden block magnets in a carrying case that folds open to become the canvas on which they stick, along with 50 full color illustrations to replicate. The variety of shapes, sizes, and vibrant colors of the Imaginets allows for a stunning variety of self-expressive play. Make animals, faces, crabs, cranes, monsters, houses, entire worlds of your own invention! The white interior also acts as a dry-erase board, allowing for the mingling of magnetic and hand drawn art. When finished, fold it up, Imaginets inside, no fuss. You're ready to take the fun on the road!

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.

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!

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.

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).

Scramblitz is pure action! Players use quick eyes and nimble fingers in a head to head race to recreate what's on the Puzzle Card, using their own set of 16 pattern tiles. First player done wins the round. But not so fast! Each tile is double-sided, and either side may appear to work at a given point in the solution. If you don't consider which side to play as you speed along, you may get to the end and find that your puzzle won't work due to a prior bad choice. You can still go back and fix your mistake, but that takes valuable time. The trick in Scramblitz is to strike the right balance between speed and care. Too much of one without the other and your opponents will zoom right past you to the solution. Each Puzzle Card is worth a score (shown on the card) based on the difficulty of that particular puzzle. The first player to collect enough Puzzle Cards to total 25 or more points is the winner. For 2 to 6 players, ages 8 to adult.

Part of the fun and excitement of Look Look stems from the wildly imaginative illustrations players scan while looking to solve a challenge dictated by a card that's just been flipped. It may be as simple as finding the symbol or creature that's on the card. Or to seek out two numbers found within specific colors and perform quick addition or subtraction. Whatever the challenge (and there are a variety), the first player to solve it collects the card. Each card has a letter on the back, and the first player to spell LOOK LOOK is the winner. There's a fair amount of visual terrain to cover (8 large tiles, each with numerous images in various sizes), and playing Look Look cultivates visual discrimination, matching, strategies for effective search, and simple math skills, among others. Everyone's in on the action from start to finish, making Look Look a fantastic, fun, energizing game for 2 to 6 players!

We've encountered few games that get the wheels in your brain turning as quickly as Mine Shift does, while generating a massive dose of fun. 10 tiles (from a 27 tile deck) are laid out to create a playing board. Each player starts with 4 same-colored jewels on his/her home tile and strives, during the course of alternating turns, to advance all 4 jewels across the board onto their opponent's home tile. The first player to do so, wins. Each player makes 3 moves per turn in, and there are several types of moves to choose from: stepping or jumping jewels, pivoting tiles, or shifting entire tiles within the board's perimeter. However, every turn must consist of at least one Jewel Step. These simple rules open up endless ways to advance and defend in this remarkable two-player game. Each twist and turn of play unfurls new possibilities. Each glance at the board reveals things you didn't see a moment before, making this one of the most exciting new games of 2012! For 2 players, ages 8 to adult.

Blind Spell is a game that shines in every way. Its simplicity and outrageously fun design make it a joy to jump right in and play. The premise: spell a word using letter shapes and nothing but your sense of touch! On your turn, you're shown a correctly spelled common 3-letter word, fitted with a pair of special glasses that block your vision, and handed 4 letter shapes - the 3 letters required to spell the word plus one extra. A timer is started and you must weed out the bad letter while arranging the others to correctly spell the word, all in under 30 seconds! The letter shapes are a good size, the words simple. Easy, right? But sightless, the ticking of the timer closing in on you, it can get a little frantic. What's more, each round is made harder by adding one more extra letter than the previous round. By round 5, you are handed 8 letters (the 3 correct letters for the word, plus 5 extra letters to weed out) . Once you're a master, you can even play using 4-letter words. For 2 to 4 players.

Imagination and intellect blend seamlessly when using this building set to explore and create during fun and play. Morphun Education construction bricks have a patented side joining system that makes it easy to construct a stunning array of models and shapes using their square and triangle bricks. The set comes with 3 instruction sheets showing a multitude of examples ranging from simple to surprisingly intricate. Additional instruction sheets can be downloaded from the company website. The set comes nicely packed in an attractive plastic tub with a carrying handle for building at home or on the go. The tub contains 200 square and triangle construction bricks in 6 different colors, and 4 joiners for connecting the bricks in new and unusual ways.

There's such a perfect blend of fun and learning to be had on this DVD that the learning almost seems beside the point, at least while you're playing. But afterwards, you find yourself remembering detailed information about this part of our bodies too many of us know too little about. Go to Brain Island to access games relating to the Cerebellum, Hippocampus, Cerebral Cortex, and Brainstem. With each game, you'll learn about a specific part of your brain while using that part of your brain to play the game! Each brain part has a couple of different games, with several levels of play, as well as songs and stories. The DVD is very easy to navigate, and does a great job of engaging through a number of relatable characters like Miss Hippo, Brian Stem, and Phoebe Brainheart, whose brain we enter and explore in an effort to help her. Here is a rich source of information on this essential topic, delivered to us in such a way that we can take it all in through pleasure and play - and retain it!

Now you can listen to the original songs from the interactive musical brain game on CD (14.95) or as individual downloads from iTunes (.99 each). As with the game, the power and uniqueness of the songs stems in large part from what we effortlessly learn as we play. While enjoying the tunes, the lyrics enlighten us as to how our brains work, what the individual parts are called, how they work together and what they do for us. Listening to these songs, one develops an immense fondness for, and appreciation of, the brain. We realize its essentialness, its centrality to everything we do and experience. That we glean this amidst the playfulness and musicality of these songs is a tribute to the songwriters and performances. The selections are varied, some with strong dance beats, others sweetly lilting. There are 17 songs all told. The overall feel is upbeat and playful, leaving us enchanted and enlightened about the very thing we are using while listening - our brains!

This is a truly fabulous CD for children and family, every song on it a joy to sing-, move-, or dance-a-long to. There's an overall quality to the music, instrumentation, and lyrics that's so bright, cheery, and engaging, it's hard to imagine not feeling happy while listening to it. The presence of both adult and (lovely) children's voices invites active participation by all ages. The various meters, keys (both major and minor), and rhythmic accompaniments complement the wealth of musical styles, providing an incredibly rich listener experience. It would be difficult to name favorite songs, only because each one is delightful in its own unique way. A 32-page booklet includes a fun music-making activity suggestion for each and every song. We can't say enough good things about this wonderful musical experience!

Curiosity is such an innate human quality, and every parent can recall the barrage of questions with which we were greeted almost daily by our growing children's growing minds. But our minds never stop growing, or at least they don't need to, now that Wonderopolis.org, a website and online community, is here. Part of what makes Wonderopolis.org such a fabulous experience for child and adult users alike, and such a potent resource for parents and educators, is the highly appealing and very digestible manner in which topics and information are organized. Each day a new 'Wonder of the Day' is presented (recent Wonders include 'How Hot is the Sun?,' and 'Why do you Sneeze?'). Both text and video are provided, each of which is, in itself, plenty informative and engaging. One of our favorite things to do is to print out the text portion and use it, during meals, as a launch pad for stimulating, enjoyable conversation. We can't speak highly enough about Wonderopolis.org - and yes, it's free!

This outstanding children's story features Knuffle Bunny taking an exciting trip to the laundromat. The adventure takes a surprising turn when Trixie realizes that something is missing!

There was plenty of frivolous, funny interaction during the playing of this game. It's easy to learn, moves briskly, and most anyone will find it very easy to participate. All players simultaneously write down an answer to questions such as 'What would be the weirdest job?' or 'What word is the most fun to say?' The player who read the question secretly picks his favorite answer from among those given. The other players bet on which answer was picked and earn points if they are correct. The game plays well in part because there is no pressure to be a genius, and no one during our playtime experienced any performance anxiety whatsoever, just pure fun!

In what year did Barbie get a belly button? The answers to this and other burning questions are the stuff of which Wits & Wagers Family game is made. The super-good news is that you needn't know the answers to play and even win this fast, fun family game! On each turn a question is asked and players write their best guess on a little dry erase board. The answers are always numeric, and players, after seeing all the written guesses, select which answers they think are closest to correct (without going over) by placing wooden pieces on them. The pieces are called Meeples, and each player gets two, one large (2 points), one small (1 point). You can split your Meeples between different players' answers, and needn't choose your own. You'll still score if your answer wins, even if you didn't place a Meeple on it. Plenty of ways to strategize, score, laugh, and win!

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!

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.

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.

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.

The technology at the heart of this deluxe learning experience is nothing short of amazing. Touch any word or image on the abundance of materials provided (books, sounds sheets, word sheets, stickers, flash cards) with the CROCOPen and hear that word sounded out or spoken aloud. Touching various icons activates different features, enabling the Pen to spell words, read aloud sentences and paragraphs, rhyme, sing songs, and play games. Progressing through the four books is fun and exciting. Seven bunches of sturdy flash cards (each held together by a plastic ring) are particularly helpful, with a word and photo of a given object on opposite sides of each card. It all packs up compactly in a playful, attractive carrying case for fun learning anytime, anywhere!

This pegged playset gives children the freedom to fully express imagination and creativity. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' approach to using the more than 50 pieces to build and explore. And yet, the way the pieces are constructed and interconnect continually suggests a logical framework for that freedom, thus promoting spatial awareness, color recognition, even critical thinking, during play. The green pegboard has 100 holes in it, and each of the colored Tall-Stacker and Mighty Monkey pegs has a hole of its own to build upon, leading to infinite possibilities. Monkey figurines become active inhabitants of the play-land under construction, and the slide, elevator, wheel cart, and swing bring added elements of action and motion to the mix. The instructions include suggested activities and numerous outstanding questions to pose to children that will enhance their understanding of choices made while playing and building. And it all packs up neatly in the handy storage box when finished!

Quincy Moves to the Desert is the gorgeously illustrated, lovingly told story of a horse named Quincy who lives in a tan and white barn in New York State. Quincy loves his owner, Cam, and his best friend Beau, an older horse who also lives in the barn. One day Quincy learns from Beau that the two of them will be going on a big trip to the desert where they will reunite with Cam. Along the way, Quincy learns a great deal from Beau, about states, about types of horses - Standardbreds, Thoroughbreds, Arabians, and more - and how different types of horses perform different tasks. He even learns that he and Beau are both American Quarterhorses. As reluctant as Quincy had initially been about going on a big trip, it opens his eyes to the world at large and the world of possibilities that exists for all of us. This is a wonderful connecting tale that demonstrates growth, maturation, friendship, and mentorship. It also includes a map of the U.S. that shows their cross country progress.

Young ones will enjoy this classic stacking toy for its visual, tactile, and auditory (clack clack) cues, as they stack and reorder the colored circular pieces. Parents will love it for its safety, longevity, and the care PlanToys takes in making products that contribute to a sustainable world. Smooth, cool, solid and strong, these sectional pieces can be flipped and sorted according to color and size, helping your youngster begin to make sense of the world while learning and applying principles that will carry them through all their learning endeavors for years to come. The wooden rod on which the pieces stack is bendable for added safety. The pieces themselves are highly durable, strong enough to be passed down from generation to generation. PlanToys uses only safe, non-toxic water-based dyes on their toys, products made with clean, natural rubberwood.

The time required for assembly of this fantastic children's product is well worth it. The high level of detail in this elaborate miniature circus set will stimulate the imagination and provide tremendous entertainment value.

Playmobil consistently creates products with a meticulous level of detail, and Expedition Ship is no exception. The ship comes with a variety of accessories, including binoculars, detailed human figures, and a treasure chest, Once assembled, the ship floats on water. As with other Playmobil products, for us, at least, putting it together was half the fun and added greatly to our enjoyment of it when finished.

Animal Clinic offers a fertile environment for the imagination in this representation of a veterinary clinic, complete with human figures, many animals and a number of vet clinic devices used in the treatment of animals, such as an ultrasound machine, casts, and bandages. As always with Playmbobil, the astonishing level of detail is a strong factor in drawing children into a 'little universe' in which their minds can play out countless creative scenarios. Animal Clinic has small parts and is not intended for children under the age of 3 due to possible choking hazards. While assembly is required, for us, at least, putting this carefully crafted toy together was quite enjoyable and simply added to our appreciation of it when finished.

Imagine shrinking yourself down to Lilliputian size and being given the opportunity to attend the most modern, well-designed, best-equipped school around. Having Playmobil's new Finished School Building in your home is kind of like that. The set includes a school building with functioning bell, a furnished classroom, science room, and art and music room. Nine human figures (one of which is a skeleton for the Science Room) and numerous accessories add just the right touches with which to nurture and unleash your child's imagination, providing countless hours of stimulating entertainment.

Playmobil's penchant for detail and fine craftsmanship has produced another great play product for children, one that is also wonderfully portable. The farm building, with easy to carry handle, comes with a variety of human and animal figures and a multitude of accessories sufficient for even the most elaborate imagination. The two level farm house opens to reveal four rooms which look out onto a fenced-in animal enclosure populated by a host of farm animals, tools, vegetation, and more. Play to your heart's content, then scoop everything into the farmhouse, fold it shut, and you're off to a playmate's house to share the wonders of My Take Along Farm with a friend.

Kids will love collecting Mini Kimochis, the wonderful new twist on the existing Kimochis toys with feelings inside. Each 6-inch Mini Kimochi character comes in a canvas peek-a-boo pouch, its sweet little face peering out at you, and includes a Kimochis comic book and feeling keychain. The Mini Kimochi we received, Huggtopus, was irresistably soft, cute, and, yes, huggable. Both the story and illustrations in the comic book, 'Huggtopus and the Uggtopus Feeling,' were loaded with charming originality and humor and, naturally, was a tale of strong feelings and a healthy resolution. A separate compartment in the canvas bag held the feeling keychain (one of the soft little Kimochi feeling pillows with a clip attached). Kids will be resistably drawn to the originality and playfulness of Mini-Kimochis, with the added benefit of having a toy to help them learn to identify and express their feelings in a fun and comfortable way!

This delightful concept releases tension from the potty training process while introducing fun and excitement for both parent and child. Super Dooper Pooper is a set that contains a children's book, t-shirt, and before-you-go bathroom spray for kids. The hardcover book is the humorous, brightly illustrated tale of Danger Monkey and his bear-friend Scout that turns potty training into an adventure. The toddler-sized T-shirt (available in pink or blue) gives kids at the potty training stage a boost of pride, boldly proclaiming, 'I'm a Super Dooper Pooper.' The 2-ounce spray bottle (also pink or blue) creates magic all its own - just spray it into the potty before your child goes. When your child is done, flush, and the only scent you'll smell is the refreshing, calming aromatherapy mix of grapefruit, orange, and ylang-ylang. Not surprisingly, the sprays work just as effectively for adults. The items in the set are also available individually - Spray 9.95, Book 11.95, and T-shirt 11.95.

Kids will love this beautifully constructed, exceptionally well-designed game. Parents will adore that it's easy to set up, fun to play, and teaches colors, counting, matching, movement, objects, money sense, and a balanced approach to food. The goal is to be the first player to fill your shopping cart with six items (from five different food groups plus one treat). Players store purchases in brightly colored little shopping carts they wheel around the board on rolls of the die, seeking items from their shopping list. A vibrant, two-sided stand holds items available for purchase, separated according to food group. Payment slots for coins are located below each food group, and if a player forgets to pay, he or she must return the item. For 2 to 4 players.

This is an exceptionally fun, quick-moving 2 player game that takes no time at all to learn, in which players use simple logic and reasoning to win. Both players secretly stack their animal tiles in their own tower in any order they choose. By asking yes or no questions, such as 'is the giraffe above the pig?' players can zero in on their opponent's order. Whoever correctly guesses the order of their opponent's tiles first is the winner. The components are cleverly designed and playfully illustrated, and the game is lightweight and compact, perfect for hours of fun at home or on the go!

This special bat and ball set made a huge splash with our testing team. The soft foam ball soaks up water like a super-sponge, then unleashes a drenching spray of invigorating fun with each swing of the incredibly lightweight, durable foam bat. Great for the pool, the park, parties, and cooling off while working up a sweat, the Splash Bat brings the zing to warm weather fun!

On the surface, this is a cute cuddly bear. Beneath that surface lies something with the potential to make baby, Mommy, and Daddy very happy. Back to Sleep Bear contains a sound box with digital recordings of several sleep-inducing sounds from which to choose, including sounds from the womb, lullabye, and the option to make your own recording. To conserve battery power, the recording stops playing after about five minutes and reactivates when baby cries or jostles. As any parent who has ever gone to great lengths to help their infant get to sleep knows, a tool such as Back to Sleep Bear can prove invaluable.

The whirl balanceSCOOTER from Prince Lionheart has an awful lot going for it. Utterly charming in appearance, its design emulates a motor scooter, with pink metal spokes and rims and a matching pink wooden headlight. The 100% birch frame, rubber tires and handgrips, and height-adjustable seat are highly durable, and assembly is exceedingly easy (a mere few minutes). Everything about it bespeaks high quality. More importantly, the bike does what it's intended to do, and does it well, building balance and coordination in young children while instilling in them the confidence necessary to transition to a two-wheeled pedal bicycle. Children learn to balance and steer, first walking while seated on the balanceSCOOTER, then gliding along just like the big kids!

The chop balanceBIKE from Prince Lionheart is rugged and durable, its look designed to emulate that of a vintage motorcycle. The 100% birch frame, rubber tires and handgrips, and height-adjustable seat create a perfect vehicle for building balance and coordination in young children while instilling in them the confidence necessary to transition to a two-wheeled pedal bicycle. Children learn to balance and steer, first walking while seated on the balanceBIKE, then gliding along just like the big kids! Assembly is quick and easy (a mere few minutes, even for those of us who are less than handy), but the fun, confidence-building experiences gained with the bike will last your child a lifetime!

This fantastically creative, highly entertaining musical program represents a quantum leap forward in musical education. Viewers are provided with an in-depth understanding of music fundamentals via 30 episodes on 15 DVDs. The DVDs feature an energetic Englishman named Quaver, proprietor of a magical music store in which he humorously deconstructs music while statues of famous composers yak and teenage musicians perform. Each DVD comes with a matching Teacher Guide that provides parents or educators with an overview of the disc along with tips and guidelines for teaching and reinforcing the material. Each extraordinarily well-produced episode has a different focus. From tempo and rhythm to harmony and songwriting, from the Baroque Period to Reggae and Country music, Quaver will grow your child's love and knowledge of music almost effortlessly. Includes one-year full access to Online Quaver Classrooms that contain special learning resources.

Jack and Annie of Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, know they have to search for one of the four secrets of happiness to help Merlin the magician find joy in his life again. And so they head off in the magic tree house for Florence, Italy, in the early 1500s to spend the day with one of the greatest artists and inventors of all time?Leonardo da Vinci! Mary Pope Osborne takes young listeners back to the time of the Renaissance, an amazing period when great art and new ideas flourished in Europe and helped change the world.

Snuggle Buddy is an outstanding companion and playtoy for babies - a soft, irresistably cute plush toy and security blanket all in one. The fabric and satin are soft and soothing to the touch, while the internal rattle rewards baby's actions with intriguing sound stimulation. Each different Snuggle Buddy character is quite unique, with its own enchanting qualities. Though intended for babies up to 2 years old, more than a few parents emitted an appreciative 'awww' at first sight and couldn't seem to keep their hands off them. But it's baby who gets to squeeze, rub, cuddle, and hold Snuggle Buddy all day long.

Anyone who's ever spent time patiently unraveling a knotted ball of string will appreciate the challenge and brilliant design of this highly entertaining brainteaser. The clear, plastic sphere-like object has 12 elastic strings stretching across its interior, crossing paths with one another. The strings are colored (red, orange, purple, yellow - three of each) and have plastic nodes at either end holding them in place from the outside. The player manipulates the strings by moving the nodes along tracks, the object being to finish with a specified number of same-color nodes along each side, but with no entangled strings on the inside. Kids and adults alike thoroughly enjoyed Brainstring, which requires a keen mind and deep concentration. The process is so fun and absorbing that the desired outcome becomes almost secondary, although we give huge bragging rights to those who master Brainstring!

This is a fun, fast-moving brainteaser puzzle. Place the triangular tiles on the ball so that all of the dots touching each yellow number add up to that number. It's easy to make swift progress in the beginning, but once the ball begins to fill up and there are fewer tiles to choose from, you'll likely have to reevaluate some of your prior choices. When finished, simply move a few of the yellow numbers on the ball and start over. There is always a solution. Icosoku is highly tactile, very gratifying, and more than a little addictive. Hours and hours of fun - ingenious!

Feel the sweet satisfaction of solving the Mind Jewel puzzle - and the maddening frustration when things go awry along the way! The Mind Jewel comes out of its package as a three-dimensional ball you can hold in the palm of your hand. With a quick tug it unravels into a series of colored gems connected by an elastic string. The challenge is to reassemble it to its original shape by twisting, turning, and fitting the pieces together (they have little nodes along the edges that allow them to snap into place). Our testers really enjoyed the fact that the challenge was doable, even for kids of a relatively young age. Having two or three on hand only enhances the fun by allowing races to see who can finish first!

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!

The characters and songs in this fun, engaging DVD teach multiplication in such an entertaining and straightforward manner that learning time will feel more like play time. Just as valuable is the way the DVD's positive, encouraging tone fosters the viewer's confidence in her ability to master multiplication. The fun kicks off with a number of catchy, upbeat songs teaching multiplication tables through 12. Songs are repeated, once with answers given immediately, then again with a pause to give your child time to provide the answer. The What Is Multiplication section does a fine job of showing that math is really a form of addition, giving practical examples that use real world objects, and includes some very nifty multiplication tricks. The Skip Counting section shows how to count by 2s through 12s and by 25. An invaluable addition to learning multiplication!

This unique clock makes telling time easy for children. The design is such that the more traditional face of the clock faces upwards, and is covered by a clear plastic dome. The hour and minute hands each have a playful character attached to the end (in this case a little girl with a wand and a swan with a crown), standing upright. The side of the clock shows numbers 1 through 12 brightly printed, with lines marking the half hours. Kids can see the passage of time as the characters move along the edge of the clock, and illustrated cards showing key events of the day can be placed so as to allow your child to know exactly when it's time for snack, meal, bath, bed, or rise and shine! The clock can be placed on any surface, and will add color and playfulness to the room. It's time to make telling time easy and fun!

Jishaku is a unique and fascinating game that has players place magnetic stones, one at a time, into indentations in an egg crate-like structure. Your objective depends on which of the three included games you are playing. Regardless, as the first few stones are placed, things typically remain where you put them. But as available space fills up, the chances that two or more stones will jump together suddenly as you attempt to place yours, increases to the point of inevitability. The fun here lies in choosing your placement wisely, based on a combination of experience, knowledge, and gut instinct!

Stimulate the brain and the senses with these unique, brightly colored, highly squeezable, soft rubber foam balls. Their already substantial tactile nature is enhanced by the fact that each ball has plenty of numerals, shapes, or letters on them, raised three-dimensionally so that they can be 'seen' by the fingers as well as the eyes. Ball play does so much for hand-eye coordination development. Bounce them, roll them, dribble them, have a game of toss. And given their variety, collect them. Excellent for both indoor and outdoor play.

This set contains 9 squishy, velvety-soft blocks, each of which is brightly colored, durable, and very fun to touch. The blocks come with equally squishy cylindrical connecters that fit snugly into openings in each of the blocks' sides. This design allows a variety of sturdy formations to be quickly created, disassembled, and repeatedly varied. Both the blocks and connectors are soft and bouncy enough that they make for a pretty good game of toss, and bounce in fun and unpredictable ways. This is a great set for building creative and critical thinking skills, color sense, and just all out fabulous tactile stimulation.

This is a fun, creativity-inspiring toy. These 16 velvety-soft, brightly colored foam triangles provide a tactile and visual playground for eager hands and eyes. Put them together to form new shapes and designs, invent games, or simply play catch. See who can build the tallest tower of triangles (fear not - if they tumble, there will be no damage and nary a sound, so soft are they). Their shape and foam rubber design means they also have a pretty good bounce, and a resilience such that, when squeezed, is sufficient to promote hand strength.

This is one of the best educational DVDs we've ever seen. It's hugely entertaining. The experiments are easy to do. And your jaw will drop at the things you see while performing these experiments. You'll learn fundamental principles of science the good old-fashioned way - hands on, with your sleeves rolled up. The DVD's host, Jason Gibson, is excellent, a natural, relaxed presence who's easy to follow. There are a whopping 23 experiments, most of which take just a few minutes to perform. Jason takes you through them, step by step, helping you ask the right questions about what you've observed before sharing the science behind it. Some of our favorites - Color Changing Milk, for example, or Amazing Magnetic Force - play out much differently (and more excitingly) than their titles might suggest. You'll perform every experiment. Then you'll want to perform them again for friends and family, just to see the looks of amazement on their faces!

We dare anyone to play with Mr. Bubble Bathtub Monsters without breaking into a huge smile! This bathtub treat lets you build your own soap monsters in the blink of an eye, really cool-looking creatures that turn bath time into exciting fun. Just press the nozzle on the can and the foam flows. Shape and mold it as you like, then add the colorful soft foam pieces that bring instant detail to your creations - silly or sinister eyes, gnarly teeth, funky tentacles, and assorted other limbs. The foam is ultra-soft but firm, so the pieces stay where you place them but can be effortlessly moved when you want to change things up. There are 29 monster pieces in all, in varying shades of red, grey, green, and blue, including a floating pedestal on which to perch your beasts as they prepare to battle. When playtime's over, your monsters serve a different purpose altogether. Just use them to wash up. Then pack everything into the water friendly mesh bag until next time. Pure, imagination-pumping, fun!

With Mr. Bubble Ice Cream Shoppe, bath time becomes filled with a sense of magical adventure. Set your imagination running free with your own soapy ice cream shop in the tub. The Ice Cream Station attaches to the side of your tub with suction cups, and will hold your cone creations as you create them. Swirling designs spring forth from the can of Mr. Bubble Foam Soap, just by pressing the nozzle. The surprisingly ice cream-like foam comes flowing out into the plastic cones, holding its shape until you're ready to use it to wash up. Or spray it straight onto the water, wherever you want - it's soap! Add pretty sprinkles to your cone using the Bath Soap Confetti. Throw in the soft floating decorations stored in your Ice Cream Station's mesh bag, and you're in business. The business of fun!

Based on the popular children's books created by Michael and Betty Paraskevas, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast highlights the relationship between our five-year-old heroine Maggie and her best friends. Maggie loves her favorite stuffed toys Beast and Hamilton so much that she has created a whole world Nowhere Land for them to explore!

In the kingdom of Kippernium, girls are typically raised to be ladies-in-waiting . . . but Jane isn?t exactly a typical 12-year-old girl. When Jane rescues Prince Cuthbert from a dragon who turns out to be not so ferocious after all she is granted special permission by the king to begin training as a knight?s apprentice..

This game is so much fun you're almost afraid you'll wake up and discover it was all a dream. You know you're dealing with something special from the moment you open the box. The game's components are beautiful and unusual - a sizeable 3-dimensional green dragon with purple horns on her head, back, and tail, 29 soft, plastic lizards, and 15 hard golden eggs. Place all the lizards on top of the dragon, and the 15 golden eggs on top of the lizards, creating a precarious tangle of limbs and eggs. Each player gets one set of pinchers, to be used to extract as many lizards as possible without causing any eggs or lizards to fall. Each lizard you get is worth a point. Anything falls, and your turn is over, whether you've snagged a lizard or not. Each falling egg costs a point, and trust us, eggs will roll. You'll treasure Dreaming Dragon. It's a game your kids will remember when they're all grown up, along with the wonderful times they shared with friends and family. For 2 to 4 players.

This fast-moving, fun game combines color recognition, mental mapping and quick thinking. After rolling the Color Die, players race to figure out which character on the Game Board is flying that particular color kite. There are six different kites at the top of the board and six different characters at the bottom, each holding a string that connects to a single kite. The spacious blue sky in between is lined with twisting strings that cross and loop around one another before connecting character to kite. Using eyes only, players mentally follow the string to its source. The first player to get the correct answer wins a pinwheel tile (used to keep score). The Game Board is made up of 4 reversible panels, with different string configurations and character order on either side, so there's no memorizing the board. There's no turn taking - everyone's in on the action from start to finish, and a couple of special twists help keep everyone on their toes. For 2 to 6 players. Great family fun!

Trifusion is one of those rare games that, while presenting plenty of opportunities for thought and strategy, is often just played full tilt - spot a move, make the move, score points - next player's turn! And moves are easy to find, at least early on. After divvying up 48 Game Tiles, most of which contain more than one color, players take turns laying them down one at a time. To do so, every color on the tile being placed must match the color of every tile it's touching, at each point of contact. You'll earn points for each game tile in the color chain your tile connects to when you place it, even when it extends to several tiles already on the table. The game's central concept is very easy to understand, so you'll be playing in no time. How deep you want to go, how many connections and points you aim for, is up to you. That's where a keen eye, one that quickly takes in all the possibilities and the scores that go with them, comes in. The sky's the limit! For 2 to 4 players.

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!

Hue Turn is a clever game in which the object is to position colored wooden pegs on a game board so they complete a pattern shown on one or more of the Pattern Cards in your hand. It's a conceptually simple game that, as it progresses, creates an array of possibilities for your mind to juggle. That's the beauty of Hue Turn - brilliant simplicity that unleashes tendrils of possibility with every move. Pegs placed on the board are a different color on top and bottom (except for the yellow Starter Peg, which is wild). Every turn consists of one player either adding or flipping a single peg on the board in an attempt to match pattern cards in their hand. If that player succeeds, he or she reveals the pattern card(s) matched, earns points, and replenishes their hand. An exciting and unpredictable aspect of game play is that one player's flip may undo another player perched to make a pattern on the next move. Hue Turn gets the mental juices and the fun flowing every time!

An outstanding use of brain-power, fueled by fun! Space It! allows you to dazzle your friends with displays of mental acuity as you gleefully place tiles on the table - creating, and adding to, sequences. Each tile has a number on it (except jokers, which are wild), and each player starts with 12 tiles. Players open the game by each creating an independent sequence of 3 or more tiles, such that the value between adjacent tiles is equal - for example, 7, 11, 15 (spaced by 4). Players then take turns adding as many tiles as they can to their own or others' sequences, by either extending an existing pattern (7, 11, 15 . . . 19), or by inserting 2 or more tiles, changing the spacing (7, 11, 15 becomes 7, 9, 11, 13, 15). As the table fills up, your mind continually performs simple but lightning-quick assessments of where to place tiles. Failure to play at least one means drawing another tile from the bag. The first player rid of all their tiles, wins. For 2 - 5 players.

Much of the pleasure in playing Foodle comes from the fact that it's about something we all know - food, that essential ingredient of life. Most of us carry around a surprising amount of information about food and nutrition - some correct, some not - making it fun to put to the test. Playing Foodle will certainly enhance and hone your knowledge, and win you some bragging rights in the process. Players move forward or backward on rolls of the die based on whether or not you answer a question correctly. The questions are either True/False or multiple choice, making it easy to save face. Some of the answers are fairly well-known facts, some intuitive, and others are just plain fun to figure out (How many strands does a cup of cooked spaghetti contain - 15, 32, or 85?). There are special spaces on the board that require a quick physical activity (jumping jacks, jog in place). This is a fun, fast-moving game that will smarten you up with essential facts for good, healthy living.

Part of what makes Let's Drive so exceptional is that many of its outstanding aspects - how you get around the board, the strategies involved in doing so and in scoring points - exist separate and apart from its subject matter. In other words, it's a blast to play, and would be so even if the game had nothing to do with U.S. geography. The fact that it does means your geographical knowledge will catapult into the stratosphere, becoming second nature. You will also become adept at surveying many elements at the same time (cards in your hand, cards, locations, and pieces on the board) and making choices that serve your goal - winning the game. We won't go much into game play here, other than to say you move your vehicle from place to place on the board via roads and airports, collecting points along the way. There are many flourishes that keep you actively engaged at all times - you can even score points on other players' turns. Fun from start to finish! 2 - 5 players.

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).