Lauri's Lacing & Tracing Dinosaurs
(Lauri $6.95 Score:) Dinosaur lovers will enjoy these bright dinos that they can lace with colorful yarn. These are a fun way to develop fine motor skills. New for 2007, Farm Lacing and Tracing Set (Lauri $6.99 ) with pig, horse, sheep, cow, hen, barn, and farmer on a tractor, plus colorful laces for “sewing.” SNAP INFO: These dinosaur boards with prepunched holes to lace are an entertaining way to motivate kids to use and refine their fine motor skills. These dinos are slightly more challenging than some of the shapes in other chipboard sets offered by Lauri. ACTIVITY: Kids can trace the dinos and use them for cutting, pasting or coloring.

Age: Preschool,Early School Years. Award Year: 2001.

Lacing Beads in a Box
(Lights, Camera, Interaction! $15 Score:) Thirty painted wooden shapes (rectangles, squares, triangles, circles and ovals) come with colorful patterns. The squares are marked with numerals from 1 to 10. Comes with two long laces (red and green) and all are neatly contained in a wooden box with a plexiglass sliding top for storage. An open ended toy with multiple types of learning possibilities. Talk with your child about making patterns with the numbers, patterns and shapes. SNAP Award: Encourage your child to sequence the numerals in order; also work on making patterns with shapes or colors. If you use a red, then a green, then a red, ...what comes next? Work on simple patterns and gradually make them more complex. This is really an open ended set for developing language, fine motor and math skills.

Age: Preschool,Early School Years. Award Year: 2002.

Lace-a-Saurus
(Lauri $11.99 Score:) These precut felt puppets with a dino theme are just right for your dinosaur fan with six pre-cut dinosaur hand puppets and one finger puppet. Kids lace them up and use them for storytelling. Kits come with yarn and big plastic needle for sewing (which develops fine-motor skills kids need for writing). 5 & up.

Age: Early School Years. Award Year: 2003.

Musical Friends and Fairies of the Field
(eeBoo $14 Score:) Musical Friends and Fairies of the Field are beautifully illustrated sturdy cards that kids will love to work on. Marked 3 & up, but will be most enjoyed by 4s. (212) 222-0823. Lacing & Tracing Tools (Lauri $6.99 ) is made of sturdy chipboard punched with holes that kids "sew" with colorful laces. Also recommended, Lace & Link Numbers ($14.99), crepe 4" rubber numerals that reinforce shapes in a tactile way. 4 & up. (800) 451-0520.

Age: Preschool,Early School Years. Award Year: 2005.