(Steiff $27.95) Silky soft and totally huggable, Ellie is a floppy grey elephant with a small curved trunk to grab, and safe stitched features. The inside of her big ears and the bottoms of her legs have a waffle texture. Although she is the most relaxed elephant ever, her round bottom is weighted so that she can sit up, although she does seem to be ready for sleep at any moment. Also, Hoppie Hase, ($ 39.99) is a lovable grey 15” bunny, silky to the touch with a velvety pink

(BigJigs $10.00 each) For older toddlers and young preschoolers, choose these nine piece wooden puzzles with small pegs to grasp. These call for fine motor skills and some precision to turn and fit the pieces back into the board. There is no picture on the board to match, so these present a visual challenge, too. Use them to enlarge knowing and naming skills. With their love of vehicles, there's no doubt the transportation puzzle will make a great hit. Try singing Old MacDona

(Strictly Bricks $24.99) We told you about Strictly Bricks clever set that provide settings for Lego-style bricks last year. Newest of the settings include innovative baseplates that have trap doors and ramps that can be used for moving from one level to the next. Build the structure four stories tall or two stories side by side. Combines construction play, problem solving, and fine motor skills with creativity, language, and dramatic play. Ages: Early School Oppenheim Toy P

(BigJigs $19.00) A striped orange and black tiger, black and white zebra, grey elephant, golden lion and a spotted giraffe; all five pieces fit into this jungle scene with trees, birds and blue sky as background on the wooden puzzle frame. The raised pieces are easy for little hands to lift out and fit back into the board. Beautifully painted, it’s also a color matching game that helps beginning puzzle players find the space that is the same color as the animals. A fun way t

(BigJigs $19.00) A chubby pink pig, spotted cow, a brown horse, a wooly sheep and a red tractor; all five pieces fit into a green meadow scene with a small barn and blue sky as background. The raised pieces are easy for little hands to lift out and fit back into the board. Beautifully painted, it’s also a color matching game that helps beginning puzzle players find the space that is the same color as the animals. A fun way to reinforce knowing and naming color words and famil

(Gamewright $14.99) Our testers had a lot of laughs, groans, and got-it-fun with this high rolling dice game. Players have to predict (guess) how many dots they think they will roll. Then, roll the dice and keep rolling until you think you might go over the number you predicted. But watch out! If you roll one too many times you may lose everything and your points will go to someone who bets you are going to predict wrong! Ages: Tweens Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award 20

(Thinkfun $14.99) A fast paced word game with words spelled out on the rings of circular cards. Players vie to be the first to figure out where the word begins and shout it out. Can be played solo or with 2+ players. It's a sequel to the original Word A Round. Set includes 100 cards with 300 words. Ages: Tweens Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award 2018 Click here to purchase the product from Amazon.com

(Thinkfun $9.99) We really enjoyed this card game that is indeed like an elegant puzzle on each play. The game comes with a set of transparent color cards and a set of challenge cards that start out easy and get ever more difficult. A player begins by finding the transparent color cards pictured on one side of the puzzle challenge card; now turn the puzzle card over. The player must twist and turn and layer their transparent cards until they get them to look like the image on

(Innovative Kids $23.99) Kids with a fascination for construction trucks will love this huge two by three- foot floor puzzle that features a fleet of trucks in a city setting. The sixty-piece puzzle is challenging and kids will need some strategies for getting it together. Bring their attention to the image on the box and the people who walk along the frame at the bottom. Suggest that they find the pieces of the buildings, start with one color and then move on to another. Is

(Innovative Kids $19.99) Early school age kids tend to be fascinated with maps. Just as they are beginning the grasp the idea that a word is a symbol for real thing, they are just at the beginning of understand what a map represents. This huge two by three- foot pictorial map of the United States is designed with 60 big pieces with the names of the states and their capitols and the iconic buildings, monuments or products for which they are known. Unlike some map puzzles, the