Another beautifully designed and brilliantly executed wooden playset from the folks at HABA. Parents were singing the praises of this creative set from the moment they began playing with it with their children. The box is part of the play pattern as it folds down to reveal the zoo. The lid is so well made […]
HABA’s Musical Eggs are a set of five colorful wooden eggs, each producing a different sound. They rattle, whistle, jingle, and click. At their core they are simple rhythm devices that let children make music or keep the beat with music or nursery rhymes or whatever track may be playing in their head. Kids loved
The old adage that good things come in small packages holds true with the Twinkle Top Treehouse. The small package really does belie the creative and imaginative fun that lies inside. The 3D house is built with colorful foam pieces. Remarkably, again for such a small package, there are 274 pieces in this set. It
The jigsaw puzzles you and your child may be familiar with are about to take on a whole new level of interactivity. Now instead of a singular focus on putting the pieces together to complete the puzzle, there is a second level, one that includes games and activities. The puzzle pictures are age appropriate and
Glow Pets are oversized stuffed animals with a magical light hidden inside the body that makes them glow in the dark. There will always be something magical about anything that glows in the dark or lights up a room at night. The soft fabric covering the animals, which include unicorns, seals and the like, lends
There are all kinds of environments as the theme or centerpiece of play sets. Over the years we were pretty sure we had seen them all, until now. PopStars! Stage uses a big colorful stage as the backdrop of this toy. The set comes with 4 pop star figures, each in different poses. Children are
The Zipperoo monkey and frog are so darn adorable its very easy to forget that they are really the packaging for a game. Well, that’s not entirely accurate—they are part of the game, but those big smiling eyes… Inside the zipper, which is located on the back of each character, are a number of circular
Sometimes even Moms have to admit that gross is OK. That was the big concession of this testing period. When put into the hands of SmartLab, Mom’s realize there is an opportunity for some real learning and they can look the other way when their kids present a beaker full of snot. The instruction manual
The Fairy Tale High line of dolls brings classic fairy tales to life with teenage versions of some of our most familiar and iconic animated heroines. Each doll has been designed to look like a teenage doll. For instance Cinderella (Cindy) has long blue streaked hair and listens to her MP3 player. Sleeping Beauty also
This new building toy/piano is a sound and visual all-you-can-eat buffet thats loaded with a ton of features and nonstop motion. Made with bright, primary colors, the keyboard lights up, the “Billy Beats” character dances and has a laughing smile on his face and big, white cartoon hands. There are several different settings — dance
