You may have seen the book called Gallop with its moving images. This wonderful toy allows children to create their own moving images. The case and markers come with premade art that young kids color. Then they close the case and turn the dials to see their colorful creation come to life. The kit comes loaded with a roller in place and a spare roller with more images that can replace the original. We usually steer clear of coloring toys that are not open-ended. But this goes beyond simple coloring. It's a little magic, science and illusion. Younger kids will need help with setting it up and adding the second roller. 

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

When you think of a scrapbook for school-aged girls, this oversized beauty looks as it should! There is a photo pocket on the front cover so she can change her picture from time to time. It's a good sized book (12 1/2  X 13 1/2 ) with 20 acetate covered pages to protect the photos, souvenirs, and work girls will do in designing their pages. It comes loaded with stencils, cut out shapes, journaling stickers, bubble stickers, gems and foam frames.  Each of the pages has color and patterns, providing colorful backgrounds for the personal items girls will add around their photos, programs, clippings, tickets stubs and other treasures. 8 & up.

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

A basic arts and crafts activity kit that now has a "green" edge to it. Our testers thought this kid was just right for a play date or when you have more than one child at play. Comes with 20 crafts to work on including creating puppets, animals and jewlery. The kit uses recycled stickers ( an impressive  428),   6 recycled colored pencils, 42 craft sticks, a wooden spoon, fort and spatua, 42 wooden buttons,
ribbon, glue stick, tissue paper - you get the idea. With some instructions for the projects. 

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A perfect set for best friends to share. It's a set with two scrapbooks plus ribbons, scissors, pens, self-adhesive frames, stencils, flowers, glitter stickers, papers, glue sticks, rhinestones, and everything they need to make two unique books. The hard-covered scrapbooks have 10 pages and 20 layouts to guide beginners in the art of scrapbooking.  This would be fun for a sleep over or day long playdate that best friends often enjoy.   The company has signed a verification form complying with our safety requirements.  We did not independently test this toy in a lab.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

You have probably seen these glow sticks at parties, but here's a new twist. These come with plastic connectors with sprockets that allow you to construct some amazing structures that kids can wear or display. These would be fun for a pajama party to keep kids busy and eager to turn off the lights--so they can wear their glow in the dark creations. The set comes with three colors, 40 glow sticks, and 18 connectors. Of course, the glow part fades after a few hours, so this is basically a disposable novelty item. But, so are birthday celebrations and family events. This buys you a little quiet time for busy hands and ooos and ahhhs.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Remember those small wooden looms that you could make a really, really long knitted tube from? I never quite got the hang of them or really understood what to do with the tube when I was done. Well, this kit has both a plastic version of the old school size as well as a really big loom!  With the big loom you can make a hat, a tube dress for your doll, or maybe even a small purse. The set comes with three skeins of colorful yarn (pink, red and purple), embroidery thread, pony beads, a knitting hook, a yarn needle, a thread needle, needle threader, a tassle maker and ideas for projects.  A nice starter kit for needlework. Althought I think these kits work best if someone is around who remembers how to do these crafts!

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years, Tweens. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A perfect activity for a Mother's Day present. The set comes with two pairs of flip flops (one for Mom and one for a daughter).  The big pair of zebra printed flip flops are said to be a Big Kid size 4-7 but our mom tester with a woman's size 7 1/2 was able to use these.  SO I guess we should say they will fit mom with average or smaller feet!!  The smaller cheetah pink flip flops are designed to fit a child's 11-2 shoe size. If you're in doubt the back of the box has a shoe print of both flip flops so that you can see if they'll fit. The set also comes with lots of satin ribbon, fabric flowers, craft gule, heart rhinetstones, self-adhesive rhinestone trim (our testers liked this aspect alot!) and a handy scissors.    A fun summer time craft!

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Updated versions of Russian nesting dolls have been big lately in toyland. Last year there were several decidedly ugly versions (pirates, bikers, etc.).  This year Creativity for Kids introduced this lovely new kit- that we love. It comes with 5 nesting dolls (a dog, a cat, a bunny, a mouse and a little piece of cheese).  Each has  a pre-printed design- now some will find this cheating but it does lend a more finished product that kids can bring their own creativity to in terms of color selections. The set comes with eight little tubs of paint, two paint brushes and a black marker.  If you have a child that will be upset if they go outside of the lines, then you may want to give them permanent markers to work with instead. We found that medium Sharpies work well.  For other kids, they will enjoy adding paint without fretting over the lines.  In some cases this will depend on the age of your child or their temperament.   The kit is marked 6 & up, we found that you really need to be more like 8 & up to do the detail work. 

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years, Tweens. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Our testers gave this badge making kit thumbs up for being fun to do. Comes with supplies for making 10 badges. The badges are easy to assemble--and the set comes with fabric circles that you can decorate with glitter stickers and gems. A good project for a play date. The company has signed a verification form complying with our safety requirements.  We did not independently test this toy in a lab.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

This science kit comes with enough ball powder to make six bouncy balls. There are three different molds. A fast project with a great payoff! It takes approximately 2 minutes to soak the ball in the form, 3 minutes to dry before you can take it out  - and then you're good to go. A fun science lesson of what happens when you combine water and a powder to form a solid --that bounces! Pretty amazing.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.