Toys

Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether, Brown/ White

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WaterWheel Play Table

The falling water action from this Waterwheel Play Table encourages creative exploration with cause and effect learning. This imaginative water play center encourages hours of outdoor fun. Pour water into the wide funnel, and activate the water wheel which then spills into the inner and outer harbors. Two molded-in sections function as canals, boats, lakes, harbors and more. An elevated design keeps water at toddler level and also keeps ground dirt clear of water and mud from forming on children's feet. It accommodates up to three children to encourage group play. Two built-in drain plugs allow for easy water removal. The four piece accessory set includes: one cup, two sailboats, and one water wheel tower. Features decorative molded-in fish designs on legs. It can holds up to four gallons of water.

The Settlers of Catan

One of the most successful games of all time, Settlers of Catan is a trading and building game set in the mythical world of Catan. Players roll dice to determine which resources are generated each round and then must strategically trade those resources with other players to get what they need to build their settlements, cities, and roads. With multiple ways to gain victory points and a board that changes in every play, Settlers of Catan is a game that can be played hundreds of different ways. The base of a hugely successful franchise, with multiple engaging expansions, Settlers is the core game of many collections, and is a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends. For 3 to 4 players.

The Settlers of Catan from Mayfair Games is an award-winning strategy game where players collect resources and use them to build roads, settlements and cities on their way to victory. The board itself is variable, making each game a little different from the next. Each round of The Settlers of Catan is intended to keep three or four players ages 10 and above engaged for up to 90 minutes.

The game map changes every time for an endless variety of play. View larger.

Settlers of Catan engages both children and adults, garnering best-seller status in both Germany and the US. View larger.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Engaging strategy game that's different each time you play The Bad: Requires three or four players In a Nutshell: The Settlers of Catan is fun, easy to learn, and keeps advanced players on their toes At a Glance Ages: 10 and up Requires: Three or four players

On the Road to Settlement
The game rules and almanac booklet sets out four pages of guidelines for getting started. Don't worry, the rules are straightforward and the four pages include plenty of illustrations. There's a starting map that shows a well-balanced set-up for beginners to follow and directions that allow more advanced players to lay out the map of the island at random. You'll have to pop the die-cut components of the game out of their cardboard holders before you play your first game.

The almanac portion of the booklet is laid out alphabetically, so while playing you can find answers to specific questions quickly. Useful entries remind you exactly what role pieces like the robber play, how actions like maritime trade work, and how to set up the board or finish the game.

Exploring and Developing Catan
The board consists of 19 terrain hexes surrounded by the ocean. Each type of terrain produces a different type of resource: brick, wool, ore, grain or lumber. There's also a desert hex that produces no resources. As the game progresses, players use resources to build roads along the edges of these hexes and settlements or cities on the intersections where three hexes meet. Each player begins the game with two settlements and two roads.

Each player's roll of the dice causes certain hexes to produce resources, which you collect if you have a settlement on one of them. On your turn, you'll use various combinations of the resources you've acquired to build new roads and settlements, upgrade settlements to cities, or purchase development cards. The ability to trade resources with other players adds a new level of strategy and ensures that the game includes lots of interaction between players. You can also trade without worrying about other players using an unfavorable maritime trade rate. Elements including a robber piece that lets you steal from other players and a variety of development cards add intrigue to the game.

The objective of The Settlers of Catan is to be the first one who collects 10 victory points. Each settlement is worth one victory point and each city is worth two victory points. You can also earn victory points by holding the "Longest Road" card, the "Largest Army" card, or special victory point development cards.

Best-Selling Game of the Year
It's easy to see why The Settlers of Catan has been recognized as a best-selling Game of the Year in both Germany and the U. S. We found this game to be fun and engaging for both children and adults, and the variable nature of the playing field really made us want to play again and again. When we started pausing to contemplate our opponents' strategy and factoring the probability of different dice rolls into our moves, the game sometimes took longer than expected, but we were so engrossed we didn't even notice until it was all over.

Due to the widespread popularity of the original game, several expansion sets (sold separately) are available that allow you to explore new aspects of the game or add more players. The only downside to this game is that you need to have either three or four players to play, so it's great that expansion sets are available that will allow you to add players.

What's in the Box
Six sea frame pieces, 19 terrain hexes, nine harbor pieces, 18 circular number tokens, 126 game cards, 16 cities, 20 settlements, 60 roads, two dice, a robber and a rules and almanac booklet.

Blokus Classics Game

Develops logic and spacial perception while kids learn to be tactical Players take turns placing pieces on their board, each starting from their corner. Each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners! The goal is to get rid of all your pieces. The game ends when all players are blocked from laying down any more of their pieces. Includes one gameboard with 400 squares, 84 game pieces in four bright translucent colors, and an instruction guide.

Fun for both kids and adults, Blokus is a strategy board game that challenges spatial thinking. Bright colors and simple rules make it ideal for ages five and up, but adults will certainly be engrossed by this unique and challenging game.

Not Your Average Board Game
Blokus encourages creative thinking and has received a Mensa award for promoting healthy brain activity. The goal of this game is for players to fit all of their pieces onto the board. When placing a piece it may not lie adjacent to the player's other pieces, but must be placed touching at least one corner of their pieces already on the board. The player who gets rid of all of their tiles first is the winner and strategic thinking helps as you block moves from your opponent. Blokus sometimes comes to an end because there are no more possible moves.

Four players make this abstract game especially fast and exciting; however, it can be just as fun for two or three players. Blokus has come up with a number of different ways to play the game to make it more thrilling when playing with less than four players. Draft Blokus allows a player to use more than one color and Reverse Blokus reverses the entire game so that the person who places the least amount of tiles on the board is the winner. It can even be played in a solitaire version when one player attempts to place all of their pieces in a single sitting. A game of Blokus typically lasts a 30 minutes. As a practical feature, raised edges on the board help keep the tiles in place and allow convenient clean-up. This game includes 84 pieces in four vibrant colors, an instruction guide, and one gameboard with 400 squares.

Blokus is simple to understand, but the game's complexity is revealed shortly after everyone begins to play. It can be addictive, even for those not normally into abstract games. Blokus is a catalyst for spatial thinking, as players form images in their mind before placing the pieces on the board. Children and adults can play together for hours of competitive family fun. As Europe's 2003 Game of the Year, Blokus is adored by many and even played in professional tournaments.

What's in the Box
84 pieces in four colors, gameboard with 400 squares, and an instruction guide.

Once a piece has been placed on the board it can't be moved, so plan your moves carefully.

Adding to the game's challenges, each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners.

Live Butterfly Garden

Witness one of nature's most spectacular transformations up close with this reusable, collapsible habitat. Fine, transparent mesh lets you see butterfly metamorphosis up close. Product includes easy-to-use feeder and complete instructions for habitat. Butterfly larvae with food shipped directly to your home. The habitat collapses for storage when not in use. You can adopt and raise a handful of caterpillars, watch them transform into painted lady butterflies, then lift the garden cover to release your beautiful specimens into the wild. This exciting habitat makes a fabulous introduction to the miracles of nature. The larvae and food available round the year.

Did you know that painted ladies (the butterflies, that is) taste with their feet and have 10,000 eyes? You and your kids will be fascinated by all you learn about these beautiful creatures with the Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore. The kit comes with a relatively easy-to-assemble observation chamber; supplies for feeding the butterflies (you provide only sugar and water); an informative booklet of clear instructions and butterfly facts; and a certificate for three to five free painted lady caterpillars. The metamorphosis from larva to butterfly takes about three weeks from when you receive the caterpillar larvae (which arrive in a small container with all the nutrients they need). Your children can watch the larvae increase dramatically in size, form chrysalides, and finally emerge into full-fledged painted ladies (it's suggested that they release the butterflies after a few days of observation). This would make a wonderful activity for families with kids of any age, but younger children will need help assembling the observation chamber and reading the instruction booklet. (Note: The manufacturer recommends that butterflies should not be set free in temperatures lower than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.) --Rachel Radway

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is a fast and fun word game that requires no pencil, paper or board. All you need is a table. One hand can be played in as little as five minutes. It is a great for family fun as well as being educational. Bananagrams portability makes it perfect for travel. Just grab the pouch and go.

Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes

Promote music appreciation and auditory development by introducing your little one to baby-friendly versions of classical masterpieces by Mozart, Vivaldi, Chopin and Rossini with the Baby Einstein¨ Takealong Tunes! A large, easy to press button allows your baby to toggle through 7 high quality and enjoyable classical melodies at home, or for on-the-go fun! This baby¨s version of an ¨MP3 player¨ has colorful lights that dance across the screen to enhance each entertaining melody and promote visual perception.

Parker Brothers Scrabble Slam Cards

Show off for your friends! Build your vocabulary! Tell your parents its almost like studying!It's the Scrabble Slam Card Game! You're gonna love this fun twist on America's favorite word game-- Scrabble! Impress all your friends with your vast vocabulary and extensive knowledge of the English language! Ages 8 and up. Batteries not required.

Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Baby's First Blocks

Ten bright blocks are ready for baby to drop into the open bucket or through the shape-sorting lid. Baby will love filling the bucket with blocks, dumping them out, then starting over again. Great for eye-hand coordination and other early skills. Then baby can move on to sorting and stacking and learning about identifying and matching shapes. Includes plastic shape-sorting box with take-anywhere handle and ten colorful blocks.

Wild Planet Hyper Dash

It's the electronic game that's as fast as you are. Test your speed and agility in a race against time using five targets and an electronic handheld unit. To start, set up your targets on the table, around the room, around the house or throughout the yard. Then, follow the announcer's commands as you zip around your racecourse to tag your targets with the handheld unit. The fastest time wins. Features four game modes that challenge your speed, skill, memory, coordination and teamwork. Includes ergonomically designed Hyper Dash unit and five labelled targets. Requires 3 "AAA" batteries, not included. Measures 4.5"L x 12"W x 10"H.

Hyper Dash is an award-winning fast-paced race course game from Wild Planet that encourages kids to be active and think on their feet. Designed to improve listening, coordination and math skills, this exciting game is easy to set up and is an ideal way to help kids aged six and above to practice addition and subtraction while exercising and having fun.

The Hyper Dash helps kids develop basic math and color and number recognition skills. View larger.

The Hyper Dash uses RFID to wirelessly recognize targets. View larger.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Award-winning way to stay active; improves listening, memory and math skills The Bad: Plastic unit may not hold up to lots and lots of rough play In a Nutshell: Hyper Dash is a fun way for kids to exercise their bodies and their minds At a Glance Ages: 7 and up Requires: 3 AAA batteries

Fast, Easy Set-Up
The only set-up required is to install three AA batteries. Opening the battery compartment requires a small Phillips head screw driver, which means an adult needs to change the batteries. This keeps batteries in the right place during active play, but it also means that changing batteries on the fly requires you to have a screwdriver with you.

The manual is clear and concise, with descriptions of how to play and a list of all the special commands the Hyper Voice issues, so any child can be up and running in just a few minutes. There's no button to turn the unit off, but it quickly shuts itself off when not in use to save battery life.

Getting Moving Quickly
The electronic tagger plays upbeat music and calls out voice commands to control the game, while players following the commands race against the clock to tag targets identified by color and number. Kids can play solo, up to four players can compete head-to-head, or up to eight players can work cooperatively in teams of two. There's even a level where kids need to solve addition and subtraction problems to figure out which target to strike next.

With no complex set-up and no complicated directions to follow, younger children get started playing Hyper Dash quickly. Since players control where the five targets are positioned, there are infinite ways to play Hyper Dash. Combined with the fact that Hyper Dash offers four games to choose from with increasingly difficult levels to master, and it's easy to see why even older, more experienced players (including parents!) stay excited about this game.

Four-Games-in-One
The original game, Hyper Dash, features the Hyper Voice calling out commands. Four different levels allow the players' skills to progress. Level one includes only colors in the calls. The calls on level two are a little faster and include both colors and numbers, while level three adds special commands like "Double Strike," "Triple Strike," and "Reverse. " Level four features the "CompuStrike" call, which require kids to solve basic math problems, such as "four plus one" or "three minus two. "

In Team Dash, a special command indicates when the Hyper Dash unit should be handed off, turning the race against the clock into a relay. The games Micro Dash and Team Micro Dash set out sequences that get progressively longer and trickier, providing a challenging test of memory.

The Hyper Dash unit keeps track of times and scores, and the Hyper Voice announces the winner at the end of the game, cutting down on arguments. With only one Hyper Dash tagger, kids will have to wait their turn to play in multiple player games. This can be both a lesson in patience and an opportunity to cheer others on.

RFID Technology for a Flexible, Durable Game
Hyper Dash uses radio frequency identification (RFID) to recognize the targets. The same technology is used to track packages and to identify books and DVDs in many libraries. This means that a wireless signal connects the Hyper Dash unit and the targets, so there's no need to strike targets with force.

While the Hyper Dash tagger unit seems incredibly durable, it is made of plastic. Just because RFID technology means kids can tag targets lightly, it doesn't mean they will. Our one concern about the game is the possibility that hard play will damage the tagger over time.

With RFID, there's no limit to how far apart you set the targets. You can set them up at opposite ends of a football field for a serious test of endurance, or close together requiring fancy footwork. You can even them up next to each other to see who has the quickest hands. This flexibility makes Hyper Dash appropriate for both indoor and outdoor spaces.

Award-Winning Educational Fun
Kids have so much fun playing Hyper Dash that they don't realize how much they're learning. Parents will love the way Hyper Dash combines active play with lessons that support color and number recognition, basic math skills. The game's format also inspires better listening and improves kids' coordination. It's no wonder that Hyper Dash has won an iParenting Award and a Seal of Excellence Award from Creative Child Magazine, along with several other honors recognizing it as an innovative, educational toy.

What's in the Box
Hyper Dash unit and five plastic targets.