The remarkable degree to which LeapFrog LeapStart gets kids excited about learning stems in part from the diversity and playfulness of its highly engaging activities. This all-in-one system teaches more than 200 key skills through a library of books organized and labeled according to progress levels: Preschool, Pre-kindergarten, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade. There are several LeapStart activity books at each level, with ti...Read more

With Learn & Groove Musical Mat, kids giggle, fidget, step and dance their way to a roaring good time. It's highly physical fun and learning in which every action has a playful and enlightening reaction. Each of the 10 colored circles on this jumbo mat (over 4 feet long) displays an animal playing a musical instrument. In Explore Mode, pressing or stepping on the circles causes the given animal to alternately identify its...Read more

LEGO Elves The Dragon Sanctuary delivers a detailed, story-driven build-and-play experience populated by fantastical creatures and infinite play possibilities. Children excitedly immerse themselves in building the 585 pieces into an otherworldly playscape inhabited by Aira and Tidus mini-doll figures, Gust the 4-winged dragon, and Rayne the baby water dragon. The resultant characters and structures (including a 3-level bu...Read more

To experience LEGO NEXO KNIGHTS Axl's Tower Carrier is to step into an intricately detailed world in which imagination runs wild. Children take pleasure in building the set's 670 pieces into a fantastic battlefield populated by colorful characters and stunningly original machines. Four minifigures (Axl, 2 Axl Bots and an Ash Attacker) and the ferociously menacing Burnzie big figure make up the cast. A rotating, detachable...Read more

Lil' Butters is a line of 4-inch collectible butterfly figures, intended for girls, that helps give kids both the freedom and a conduit for expressing and embracing their own emotions and unique personalities. They are unlike any butterflies you will have seen before - laced with humor, intelligence, and lots of attitude. Each Lil' Butters communicates a great deal about herself through appearance alone, and every one of ...Read more

The many parents and grandparents for whom Lincoln Logs was a mainstay of creativity and play during their youth expressed a thrill at the sight of this 100th Anniversary Tin and its ample contents. Their children and grandchildren, some encountering Lincoln Logs for the very first time, were no less excited. The moment the tin was open, those youngsters leapt right in and started producing a variety of shapes and structu...Read more

Children and parents alike find this finger puppet theater set to be among the most enchanting and delightful things they've ever seen. More importantly, kids glom onto it immediately, spinning stories and giving live performances that are as imaginative as they are spontaneous. The foldable stage, brilliantly and playfully illustrated with undersea flora and fauna, has a cutout window that provides the perfect backdrop f...Read more

Math-a-Round is a smartly crafted game in which children hone their basic math skills. Players take turns picking up number tokens without seeing them first. They must each then place the number on their respective playing board to the right of a previously selected number and insert either a plus or minus sign between the two. In this fashion, a running total is created and altered on every turn, through a combination of...Read more

Children find Matribus to be highly engaging fun, in part because game play is easy to grasp but filled with what can be fairly intricate decision-making. The math involved is simple (addition constantly comes into play), but the logic and choices are surprisingly rich. The goal is to get 3 in a row on the game board (a 6 X 6 grid of numbered spaces) either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The first player to do s...Read more

Melody the Musical Turtle gets young minds working and little hands moving with 10 fun learning activities kids can't seem to get enough of. Melody talks, plays music, initiates challenges, and keeps track of answers while little ones interact with her by pressing any of the 10 light-up buttons on her shell. One or two children can play at a time, activities that include finding numbers and colors before the music stops, ...Read more

This enormously enjoyable memory game plays well across a broad range of ages and takes no time at all to learn. Kids, parents, and grandparents loved the fast-moving fun, making it a great game for any type of gathering. Play consists of a number of tokens being inserted face down into a cleverly designed game component called the shaker. Each token has an image of a common object on one side. When the shaker is flipped ...Read more

Miclik is a fine example of innovation in the building and construction toy category. Its fundamental building blocks are flat, colorful pieces (made from firm, but soft, plastic) that bend along a fold in the middle. That fold-a-bility is a key element in the enormity of ways those pieces can quickly and easily be snapped together. The results are often astonishing. Kids as young as age 3 are able to put together surpris...Read more

Mixxie Pony is a stunningly colorful play companion, offering a multitude of activities that encourage and development fine motor skills and imaginative fun. Bright patterns and textures entice young eyes and fingers to roam and explore Mixxie's body and accessories. A variety of fasteners (buttons, elastic, velcro . . .) encourage kids to detach and reattach components that include 4 removable legs, 2 decorative leg band...Read more

It's easy to see from this 9.5-inch Chow Chow Pup why Miyoni is one of Aurora's most popular collections. For starters, the adorableness factor is off the charts. And anyone who has ever met an actual Chow Chow will revel in how much this pup resembles the real thing. The deep set eyes, large head, thick mane of oh-so-soft hair, and lion-like regal bearing are utterly compelling. It is no wonder kids find him irresistible...Read more