(eeBoo $19.99 each) We know, 1000-piece puzzles are way beyond most of our audience. But, these make a great family project that can be done cooperatively over time if you have tweens and teens. Put the pieces and box on a table where members of the family can sit down for a while and then walk away. It’s not going to happen all in one day, but it’s a good way of building on the idea that some things take time and patience and problem solving. eeBoo has designed a number of n

(Mindware $19.99) Pick Me Up Piggy is a “drive-around-town” memory game with a big playing board. Horse, Chicken, Mouse and Cow have things to do in town. Piggy drives them to the place they need to go and drops them off. Players take turns putting their playing piece into one of the small buildings where it disappears inside. Here’s where the memory part fits in! Piggy has to go back and pick each of the animals up before running out of gas. Players work together to remember

(Gamewright $14.99) They call this a fruit frenzy card game and that’s how it’s played...with fast and furious fruit cards! 13 cards are put out on the table. Players each get 20 cards in a facedown stack (no peeking allowed!) Players take turns guessing if the fruit they name will be on the card they turn over in their pile. If not...nothing happens. That card gets added to the cards on the table. But if the player names the fruit on the card he turns...it’s fruit frenzy ti

(Mindware $15.95) Here’s a cooperative game that’s not about winning or losing, but one that’s meant to sharpen children’s emotional IQ, to help them recognize how others are feeling and how reading facial expressions can clue them in on how others are feeling. Sounds heavy, but the game play lends itself to a good deal of silliness and laughter. There’s a Gumball playing board and all the Gumballs are put out face side down. Players spin the spinner and pick up a color matc

(Childs Play $7.99) One of a collection of lift-the-flap board books. Each of the animals is shown close up with the question, “Whose there?” Lift the flap and the whole animal is shown in action. The sheep is leaping, the horse is galloping, cow is chewing, dog is chasing…and for some reason, the chicken is clucking. Peekaboo! in the Snow features les familiar animals that would be found in a snowy environment…again, almost always revealed in action. Even further afield, Pee

(Child's Play $5.99) Five enormous dinosaurs disappear one at a time in this counting backwards book. A colorful introduction to one less and subtraction. Most of all it’s going to be fun for kids who love dinosaurs. This oversized paper back picture book comes with a CD that they can sing along with as they look at the illustrations by Will Bonner. Older 2s will like this. Also fun for a sing-along, the same oversized paperback picture book plus CD of the ever popular “She’l

(Play Monster $19.99) These three colorful shapes don’t really look like balls, as they are called. But they do roll around and that’s not all. Soft and pliable they can be stretched, smushed and twisted. They are stackable, chewable and easy for baby’s chubby little hands to grasp, toss and roll. Add to that they are dishwasher safe, so they are easy to keep clean. Made of silicone, they are phthalate and latex free. Fun for infants for solo shewing, social lap games, and ac

(Mattel $27.99) 2018’s You Can Be Anything doll is an astronaut. Not the first of her kind from Barbie; the first was in 1965 and there have been others since then. But, for today’s young girls, the return of a Barbie with a career in space, is sure to be a hit. Dressed in a white space suit with turquoise trim, she has a helmet white gloves and boots…ready to blast off for the stars, Mars and other places afar. Ages: Early School Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award 2019 C

(Child's Play $7.99 each) Toddlers and young preschoolers are fascinated by trucks and other vehicles. This collection of sturdy board books will no doubt interest them as they introduce what the various vehicles do without overloading the young listener with more information than they need. Wheels in the City opens with a very current Organic food truck. It moves right along to a school bus, city park truck, a sleek intercity bus, and a recycling truck. Each page has a lift-

(KidSource $19.99) Put this on the high chair table and watch the fun begin. A simple swipe of a little hand will set the big colorful green and yellow ball spinning inside the see- through 5" ball with tons of tiny colorful pellets that fall through the grooves of the maze. It makes a happy sound as they cascade, providing visual stimulation, as well as lessons in cause and effect. The suction cup is large and strong, so this will provide plenty of sensory feedback. 6 months