Gift Guide2007
From toys that stand the test of time to board games that are anything but boring, we found the best products for each grade that will build your child's brain as well as being chock full of fun. Our list of loot is kid-tested, teacher approved, and full of options for any family, so get wrappin'!
Real Rhythm Drums
Research has shown that drumming improves cognitive skills-- increasing children's brain power and nurturing physical, emotional, and language development. But research aside, drumming is just plain fun. And this drum in particular is just the right mix of indestructible and musically wonderful, to ...
Cadoo
It's hard to think of anything this well-established, award-winning game does not offer. Think Tic Tac Toe, Bingo, Charades, Play-doh and Trivial Pursuits, and you'll be part way there. Kids take turns pulling cards which give them quick, goofy tasks to complete. When they have succeeded, they get ...
Balance Bike
Training wheels make bike-riding easy... until they come off. This bike makes the whole transition moot by allowing kids to put the pedal to the metal without any pedals or metal. Based on similar European models, the Skuut lets kids cruise simply by kicking off the ground, the same way ...
Kiva.org Gift Certificate
Looking for a way to help kids give back during a season of get? Slip this in their stockings to give a hands-on lesson in fighting global poverty, by using one of their favorite tools...the Internet. Introducing Kiva.org, which works with micro-finance centers worldwide to distribute small loans ...
Planet Earth: The Complete DVD Series
This blockbuster series, narrated by the wise and witty Sir David Attenborough, gives viewers a closer and clearer look at the stunning beauty of our planet than ever before. Filmed in over 60 countries over a five year period, Planet Earth spends each episode covering a specific feature of our ...
Super Fort
This toy provides all the straight-up fun of a home-grown fort, but without the mess of misplaced sheets, chairs, and pillows. Using flexible foam tubes, many-sided magnetic connectors, and multi-colored fabric panels, kids can build just about any kind of lair they want, whether it's a tug-boat, ...
Corel Painter Essentials 4
This home painter's studio is the perfect program for both beginners dabbling in digital art and serious art students and designers. With two streamlined "workspaces," one for painting and drawing on a blank canvas, the other for working on photos, finding your way around is a snap. And, while some ...
Blokus
Deceptively simple in appearance, Blokus is an addictive game of strategy and spatial reasoning. Resembling a 3-D game of Tetris, the playing board is a simple grid onto which players fit differently shaped tiles as they spread their pieces towards the center of the board. The catch? Each of your ...
Mindstorms NXT
R2D2 move over! The coolest robot on the block doesn't come from a galaxy far far away. And he can be built in thirty minutes flat. With Lego Mindstorms NXT and a computer, kids can design and program a robot to do their bidding. This hunk of gears, wires, and plastic comes hopped up with a 32-bit ...
Lincoln Logs
In this case, an oldie really is a goodie. Simple, non-toxic, and easy to handle, they offer hours of old-fashioned fun. Because of their kid-friendly size, Lincoln Logs can be used by five-year-olds independently and with much delight. Without realizing it, kids will enhance several academic ...
"Victor Vito" by Laurie Berkner
When it comes to kids' music, Laurie Berkner is recording artist royalty. A regular on Nickelodeon's sister station, Noggin, and a frequent guest on the national morning show circuit, Berkner is far from undiscovered. But for those parents who haven't yet had the pleasure of a listen, and who don't ...
Pieceless Puzzle
Until now, picture puzzles have been pretty self-explanatory. They're fun, challenging, and develop visual and spatial reasoning skills that will serve kids well in the long run. But with their small, irregular pieces, puzzles also equal messy play spaces and lost pieces. Until now! The "pieceless ...
Eyeclops
Science has an unfair reputation for being boring sometimes, but there's one activity that's always a hit: magnifying stuff. This toy brings the wonder of magnification into the living room. The bionic eye is a hand-held microscope that plugs into the TV and magnifies objects 200 times the normal ...
Clocky
There's no way your kid is going to do well in school if he never makes it there. It's a fact: teens sleep, a lot. Often they sleep straight on through their alarm clocks, and sometimes they even hit snooze in their sleep. What's the solution? Why, an alarm clock that can run and hide, of course. ...
Nate the Great
Nate the Great, a pancake loving, Sam Spade spouting, grade school private eye has a bravado perfect for this age set, who don't want books for "little kids" anymore. Still, underneath the swagger, the short chapters and simple words are just right for blossoming readers. Case closed. (Yearling, ...
SimCity Societies
Do demographic problems, such as suburban sprawl and rural isolation, strike your teen as simply business as usual? Give him a lesson in city planning with SimCity Societies, the new computer game where players build cities piece by piece. Players can make cities grim and industrial, efficient and ...
