Perfect for Holiday Gifts

When I look for gifts for my niece or nephew and my friend, Will (5 years old), I always look to see what are the award winners for that year and the year before. Then I know they’ve been tested and not only will the kids love them, but the parents will too. Here’s my top choices for 2011:

1.  Furnished All Seasons Doll House: Gold Award Winner from Parents Choice, the dollhouse features a two-sided roof (warm/cold weather), split-level design, a variety of rooms and an open structure that allows easy access to the well-appointed kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, TV room, living room and loft. The furniture and appliances are realistically detailed with doors, drawers, knobs and pulls. Rooms are appropriately outfitted with a pots and pans, pillows and linens, towels, and yes, an iconic rubber ducky for the bath. (MSRP $199.99)

2.  STARE! Junior Game – 2nd Edition: A winner of the National Parenting Seal, kids can test and train their visual memory skills and have a blast doing it. In Stare! Junior the players have 30 seconds to stare at an image on a card. Images are varied and fun for kids to look at. It might be a movie poster, funny photo, comic, work of art and more. When time is up, an opponent will flip over the card and ask the player a series of questions about the image to see how much they can recall. What was the clown holding in his left hand? What color was the girl’s hat? Guess right and advance on the game board. Kids can play individually or on teams.  (MSRP $24.99)

3. LeapFrog Leap Pad Explorer Tablet: An Oppenheim Platinum Best Toy Award Winner, though sleek and thin, the LeapPad can withstand kids’ roughhousing and dirty fingers. Designed to be flipped, shaken, and turned by little hands, the LeapPad comes with a tilt sensor for game control that puts kids in the middle of the action, a 5-inch color touch screen and a built in camera that can also shoot videos. This learning tablet has more than 100 educational books, games, videos, and apps. Subjects like mathematics, reading, and science are covered in a fun and interactive way. For ages 4-9, (MSRP $99.00.)

4.  Crayola Color Wonder Sound Studio: Won Activity Toy of the Year TOTY 2011, your child can bring their Color Wonder creations to life with realistic sounds. This interactive coloring pad lets you choose from 60 fabulous sound effects… and place them anywhere on any Color Wonder coloring page. The package includes the sound studio drawing board, 12 color wonder pages with pictures, 6 blank color wonder pages, 5 mini markers and 6 sound cards. Each sound card has 10 different sounds with themes including city, jungle, dinosaur, music, farm, and beach; a nice, basic variety. (MSRP $34.99, but I bought one at Toys R Us for $24.99.)

5.  Crayola Color Wonder Magic Lightbrush with Metallic Paper: last years version with non-metallic paper won the TOTY 2010 Activity Toy of the Year and this year, this version won an Oppenheim Platinum Award. I bought this for Will last year and he still loves it and plays with it. This toy comes with clear paints that only appear when applied to Color Wonder Paper. Making it fun to paint, even in the dark, the special light-up, fiber optic brush magically glows metallic the color of the paint being used. Designed for children ages five and up, the Wonder Magic Light Brush is fun and magical. (MSRP $29.99, but on sale everywhere for less.) 

6.  MindFlex Duel from Mattel: An Oppenhiem Platinum Best Toy Award Winner, this is for kids of all ages, Based on Mindflex, the original mental acuity game, Mindflex Duel lets two players engage in battles of intense “mind-eye” concentration. This amazing game comes with two lightweight headsets, which allow players to levitate the foam ball and move it across the game platform–all with their minds. Alternate between states of concentration and relaxation to control the sphere and master the five interactive challenges. Recommended for ages eight and up, the games offer solo, head-to-head, and co-op modes for hours of telekinetic fun. (MSRP $99.99, but also on sale at Amazon for $79.99.)

7.  Secret Agent Headquarters with Alarm System from Playmobil: A Gold Award Winner from Parent’s Choice, this set comes with plenty of miniature agents (one of whom is a double agent!), a jetski, a spy car and more, this secret lair will get any boy or girl into agent action. The set even comes with a security alarm that can be used in the child’s room to warn them of intruders. The lair itself, which is built into the side of a cliff, is packed with exciting gadgets, a garage for the multifunctional spy-crafts, secret entrances and more. Playmobil doesn’t disappoint with this set. (MSRP $89.99)

8.  North American Bear Nesting Puppets – Goldilocks and the 3 Bears: Another Oppenheim Platinum Best Toy Award Winner, this favorite fairy tale comes to life with these puppets that fit inside each other with imaginative foam lined puppet characters in soft velour and cotton with embroidered eyes. My neice had something like this that came in a soft, cotton house. She took it to church every week to play with and called it her “church purse”. Soon to be a treasure, the nesting puppets also come in the 3 Little Pigs version too.  Available at Amazon, (MSRP $39.99.)

9.  Quadrabyke: A Silver Award Winner from Parent’s Choice, this bike has been well-constructed, well-priced, and well received and perfect for any 3-6 year old. This bike is moving fast so if you want to get it for someone for the holidays, get it now.  This bike changes with your child, and can go from Quad, Trike and Bike all-in-one with a unique axle system, for easy and quick wheel change. The design allows for smooth and easy use so they can pedal more smoothly. Check out Amazon or the Quadrabyke website to purchase. (MSRP $129.00)

10.  NERF N-Strike Stampede ECS Blaster: Boy Toy of the Year (TOTY 2011), there’s some serious power in the blaster, forget about pumping or pulling back to load the nerf bullets — no we are talking serious automatic battery power here.  Snap the 18 bullet clip in, hold the trigger down and shower your target in bullets. All I can say is batteries, batteries, batteries. This takes 6 D batteries, so if you don’t want you “kid” (dads and boyfriends will want this) to whine, make sure Santa brought some of them too.  (MSRP $59.99, but you can get it on sale at Amazon for $29.99.)