Cows, ducks, hens, tractors and farmer's hat and boots are easy to match on these wooden dominos. Turn them over and play a traditional match the dots domino game. Finished in smooth natural wood these are basic gear that will be used for naming and knowing as well as for matching, stacking, or collapsing games. 28 pieces. 

SNAP: Introduce the playing pieces by finding all the cows as a first game, finding all the sheep as another game...etc. Playing a traditional game of dominoes can wait. Knowing and naming and matching builds the readiness for the old-fashioined game. These are nice for stacking and lining up, too.

Age: Toddlers, Preschool. Award Year: 2013.

Just in time for the travel season, this 14 piece bingo set has four sturdy playing boards with eight double sided playing cards that slide in and out of the frames and wipe off markers for keeping track of items that players must spot as you travel along. Check off the bridge, train, gas pump, bus, etc. Play a quick game to find four items in a row or play to find everything on your board. There are two levels of play; one side has 16 smaller images the reverse has 12.  All the pieces are stored in a sturdy box with magnetic closure and fabric handle. A good time chaser for the back seat and the eternal question--are we there yet.4-8

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2013.

An active early listening / reading game. An adult either reads the directions on the cards or kids use their beginning reading skills to follow the directions. On a player's turn he chooses a red doubloon and a blue one and reads the challenge that the two combined create. If he thinks he can do what it says to do he shouts, Yo Ho, Let's Go! If he does it successfully he wins gold doubloons for his team. If he can't do it, then he can pick another blue one. But be careful! If a player picks three game-over cards the game is over and his team loses! The cards have images that help the beginning readers and the idea of a pirate game will often charm beginners into playing and building their reading or listening skills.  Marked for 3 & up. We think this will be a better bet for older 4-7.  A fun game for a pirate themed birthday party, too.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Fans of everything pirates and specifically the Disney show Jake and the Never Land Pirates will enjoy this treasure grabbing game. The board sets up with Captain Hook taking a nap on his hammock -- he's surrounded by all of his treasures.  On each turn you will be instructed (by where you land) on which tool you will use to remove the treasure from the hammock.  Use the little plastic sword, fishing pole, tweezers (the easiest) or the shovel to grab your treasure. BUT be careful--if Captain Hook falls off the hammock, you lose the round. Fun and fast rounds.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Designed as a first game, this is likely to be a hit with your older toddler. It comes with a big fabric cube with different color on each face. Toss the cube and then pick a card that matches. Take turns with your toddler doing what the card shows. The cards have words and actions such as wave bye-bye, count your fingers, moo like a cow, etc. Learning to take turns and matching the colors of cards and cube all provide active playing and interacting. This is as much about playing together and having your attention as it is about the actions involved. Roll & Play is a cleverly designed toy for developing color concepts as well as other early language and pre-reading skills. Most of the actions will need modeling, but that will be part of the fun, especially if you ham it up. They say 18 months and up. We think this is a better bet for twos and up, but a clever idea for 2 or more players.

SNAP: Introduce the cards before you play. Read through them and practice what they say to do. You might want to introduce just one of each color for the first game or two and add another set of six the next time you play. There are 48 cards, so this will be a game you can build on gradually. The cards are well designed so that no real reading is needed once they get the idea of what the card is showing. The color cube can also be used for other games.

Age: Toddlers, Preschool. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A story-telling game that can be played as teams or one on one. Players draw cards from the deck and make up a story as they add cards. Can be played solo or up to 8 players. Try this for a sleep over party or a family day. This is one of those games that can be fun for mixed age groups that include everyone from preschoolers to parents and grandparents, too.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Assemble the strips to create an endless cast of zany faces. Created by artist Saxton Freeman uses his photos of found objects to create images that can represent eyes, noses, mouths and other features from leaves, ribbons, coins and such. There is no right or wrong. Good fun. 4 & up.

SNAP: A good talking game with objects to know and name and extend vocabulary. Use this game for solo play or taking turns adding the top, middle and bottom of faces.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2012.

A 28-piece set of picture dominoes with colorful graphics painted on the wooden playing pieces. Turn them over and have a game of traditional dominoes with dots. This is a good game for pre-readers learning to match images before they begin matching letters. Or, for early counting skills, dominoes helps children begin to sight read sets of two, three, or more and match them. 3 & up.

SNAP: A perfect choice for knowing and naming animals as well as beginning matching skills and counting.

Age: Preschool. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

This game is a lot like Connect 4 with round wooden pieces- instead of plastic chips. The object here is to be the first to put four in a row of the same color either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The playing pieces are painted in light and dark green and the entire game is made with eco friendly bamboo wood. That said, the pieces are small and fit into a choke tube, so this is a game that is not for kids who still mouth their toys. It is marked three and up, but playing the game will be more appropriate for 5's-6's and up.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A fun way to learn about grids and simple counting. Players turn over picture cards to tell how many seed they can put on the grid on empty bird houses. If the card shows a bird the player gathers all the seeds in the grid on the matching line and puts them in the bird's nest above. If the player turns up a squirrel image the seeds in the grid go to the squirrel above. The object is to feed more seeds to the birds than the squirrel. In other words, all the players are playing against the squirrel rather than each other. Another easy to learn cooperative game for 2-4 players. Marked 3 and up, we think this is more like a game for older 4-5 year olds.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.