Smooth and sleek, these chubby tugboats comes in red, green or blue and each has a life buoy that can fit on the boat or float beside it. There's nothing complicated here. Ideal for tubtime fun. Solidly built, they will not take on dirty bathwater. Choose your favorite color - red, green or blue or buy a fleet. 1 & up.

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

Unlike the usual game of adding items without making everything fall, this is a cooperative game where you want bugs to fall out of the web, one at a time, without letting Willy the Spider fall out of the web! This is a fun game for 2-5 players to help kids learn to use a scissors and learn to the concept of left and right. Set up will need help by an adult, as the paper web is stretched across the cardboard twigs. Now the cardboard bugs are poked into the web and Willy is added, too. Play begins as each player takes three snips with the safety scissors trying to make a bug fall. There are three levels of play. Game One is just about the cutting and having some strategies to avoid Willy from falling. In Game Two players pass the scissors to the person on their left. In Game Three you draw a card that says if you pass the scissors left or right and how many cuts you can make. Each game takes about 15 minutes. This comes with 50 stretchy paper nets but you can order more for free by contacting the company at info@peaceablekingdom.com. It's marked 3-6. We think older 4's and up will do best

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

What a playful paper doll set this is! Fans of the Ivy and Bean books are going to love the two stand up dolls that step right out of the pages of their books. They come with a reversible setting showing indoors and out and 100 vinyl stickers for dressing up. Best of all the stickers themselves are funny, with masks, funny glasses, zany clothing that will produce smiles. Enough here for play-date fun. While you are at it, bring home a new Ivy and Bean book. 5 & up.

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

First in a new series of drawing books for school aged kids. We usually prefer a blank sheet of paper, but we know that kids of a certain age begin to want their end products to look more realistic. Having some techniques for making that happen can be helpful. This is the first of a series that shows kids the step-by-step process of drawing simple items such as a bird, a cup and saucer, a tulip. These instructions are somewhat like the Ed Emberly drawing books but less cartoonish. The instruction pages are followed by a double-page illustration that provides a frame and setting. Here kids can use what they have learned in a more open-ended picture.  Tuck this in to your travel bag for a long flight or for quiet time at your destination. 5 & up.

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

Designed for beginning game players, this is a cooperative game that involves some fine and gross motor skills, simple counting, and turn taking. Set the Woozle playing board with its big mouth on a table that kids can easily reach. Players take turns tossing the die and putting that number of snacks in a big plastic spoon. Now the trick is to carry the snacks on the spoon to the Woozle without spilling them. For every piece that gets in the Woozles big mouth you get a yummy card. There are thee levels of play. Level one involves simple walking to the Woozle and feeding it. Level Two involves following the directions on the spinner. Players may have to walk backwards, hop or wiggle and still not spill the pieces. The third version calls for a blindfold! This will make a fun party game. Level Two sounds like the most fun. Blindfolds are sometimes a little scary for threes...but try it once they have the hang of this game.

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

Three zany looking puppet heads are on rods with levers that make their mouths move. They have googly eyes, three colors, and odd-looking head shapes. These may in fact be easier for kids to manipulate than the usual hand glove puppets and with their strange look may lend themselves to original story telling. 4 & up.

SNAP AWARD: Given their rod holding design, these may be easier for kids with physical challenges to operate. They can be held in one hand and the mouths made to move with the other hand. So these may be real find.

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

Tuck these into your travel tote for playing simple matching games. Players each begin with eight cards and draw from the pile to make sets of three matching cards. The object is to be the first to get rid of all your cards. These are over-sized colorful cards illustrated by Bob Barner and labeled with animal names. 5 & up.

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

A new activity floor mat for infants done in autumnal colors of green, orange and brown. The cross bars are covered in fabric and can hold any three of the five little fabric critters that come with the mat. There's a jingly owl, a bird that tweets, a mirrored apple, a rattle birdie, and a nutty squirrel for gazing or batting at. The arms have additional loops for hanging other toys. The mat itself has a nice tree top graphic and leaves appliquéd that will not make the surface bumpy or lumpy to lie on. There's a pillow for tummy time that can be velcroed in place and a flat mirror that comes out when you want to launder the mat. All in all, a solid choice for basic gear. Newborns & up.

Age: Infants. Award Year: 2012.

For pretend carpentry play, this set of plastic tools is scaled just right for toddlers. There's a tool box for carrying a small hammer( with soft hammer head), a screwdriver, wrench, saw and drill with sound appeal. All the pieces are designed for little hands and have soft rubberized parts. 2 & up.

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

Highly stylized images of multicultural children from around the world fit together, hand in hand, on this big 16-piece floor puzzle. The playing pieces are two-sided, so there are 32 images that can be joined. Each figure is wearing the native costume of his or her country and the name of the country is printed on the side. Marked for 3 & up, but the concepts are well beyond that age group.

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