(Djeco $24.99) Remember Shake and Bake? Meet shake and paint! It's a craft kit for making marble painting by putting dabs of paint on three marbles and dropping them into the box that holds a precut animal form. Shake the box from side to side. Count to 10, then count to ten again. Good math practice! Now open the box and see how you like the design. Need more paint? Do it again. Once dried, kids can mount the pictures they made on any of eight colorful backgrounds. The kit

(Djeco $24.99) Basically, this is a glitter paint-by-number kit. We usually steer clear of color-by- number art, since we want kids to create their own images rather than just filling in other people’s drawings. That said, we think some might love the novelty of adding glitter paint to the four original jungle images provided in this kit. Recently at an art show in NYC, we saw a collection of enlarged black and white photographs of elephants and leopards that were embellished

(Djeco $31.95) A fascinating combo of art, construction/, science, and creative thinking! It’s a kind of animation kit that’s battery-free and off the screen, yet an engrossing open-ended construction set. Using the flat magnetic playing boards side by side and layered on top of each other, one creates illusions of motion. The 60 magnetic pieces are each printed with strange parts of a “robot” that are unlike the stereotypical robots of yesterday. There are arms, legs, eyes,

(Djeco $18.99) They're not kidding when they call this a puzzle Giant! Assembled, Leon the Dragon is over 54” long and a real challenge. We suggest working on the floor or a long picnic table where it will not be disturbed. The painterly patterns make this anything but easy, although there are only 58 big pieces. That said, it’s a handsome work of art that has no frame. It comes with a miniature version that will be a great help, especially since the color patterns on the pie

(Djeco $22.80) You and your toddler will find many ways to play with these adorable “house” blocks and the little animals that come with them. Show them how the animals can fit inside, on top of, or next to the blocks that has a matching image on one side. Or, put the animals inside the houses and line them up, side by side or stacked in size order. As you do this, you’re modeling ways to play while also enlarging basic concepts and language. One side of each house also has a

(Fisher-Price $31.10) Ride n’ Chomp Crox is a very neat Croc—it gobbles up the multi-colored Mega Bloks in its path. Low to the ground for young toddlers to straddle with ease, it’s bright green with chartreuse accents on the seat and feet, has big eyes, purple wheels and a wide opened mouth that magically scoops up scattered Mega Bloks. Little riders can lift the seat and build on the back or front of the Crox. There are 25 Mega Bloks in single and double sizes that are big

(Fisher-Price $39.99) What a playful combination! It’s a construction toy with music and sounds for toddlers. Four “animal” blocks are color coded to match the base they fit on. Put them on their base and they make appropriate animal sounds or play a rhythm or melody on the instrument pictured. There’s a bluish elephant that plays drums, a yellow striped tiger that plays a xylophone, a purple parrot that plays guitar and a red monkey that plays maracas. The animals have peg b

(Mindware $25.99) There's no messy cement to mix and mold. The stepping stone comes out of the box, ready to paint. Follow the images or make it unique with the set of 12 paints, paint brush and color guide. Once it’s painted an adult will need to bake it in the oven to make it weather proof enough for the out-of-doors. It’s not very big; measures just 10” X 9”—a stepping stone for small feet. This is a charming anytime valentine that can be done as a project to keep a visiti

(Blue Orange $27.99) They call this a gravity-powered logic game. At first glance it looks like a pinball machine without lights and sounds. In fact, it’s a pin-ball-like game that the player designs on each play. It comes with 40 challenge cards that slide under the playing board and show you how to set up the maze barriers. It also shows you where to place one or more of the steel marbles on top of the maze and where you must make the marbles land in the slots at the bottom

(Winning Moves $16.95) Like playing in the leaves? Here’s a tabletop version that requires no raking or bagging! Mix the two decks of leaf shaped cards together with half the cards facing down on the green side and the other half facing up with colorful leaves and bugs. Spread them on the floor or table top. Now players take turns picking up one leaf and placing it in front of them. BUT, players can only pick up a leaf card that is totally uncovered! The object is to collect