Pick Me Up (Book)

This unique and fabulous book is perfect for the coffee table in the homes of any family with children ages 9 and up. Called a "shuffle-pedia", Pick Me Up is a different kind of encyclopedia--very visual and mixed up. Shuffling through the graphically rich pages is fun and totally addictive. Kids learn diverse facts as they shuffle. Most importantly, they'll want to shuffle through. History, geography, science, natural history, and plenty of miscellaneous facts are all here. One spread asks, "While you were at school today, what were kids (age 12) doing in other parts of the world?" Other topics include "Was Freud a bit bonkers?", "How to tell when someone (really) likes you", "Why do Boats Float?", and "What are you standing on?" Truly fabulous!

[For user reviews, or to buy: Pick Me Up at Amazon]

Apples to Apples Junior

This is our favorite family game to date. It is fabulously social, fun for all ages (even adults!), and offers a great time. Children attempt to find the best item that fits the given adjective from their hand of 5 cards. The judge determines which object is the best fit--and the results are often unexpected, depending on the personality and personal perception of the current judge/player! See our full review of the game here. 

Apples to Apples Junior 9+ is also an excellent game, featuring slightly more advanced vocabulary and topics. It also makes a great choice. See our full review of the game here.

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: Apples to Apples Junior Game or at Amazon.com]

Nintendo Wii Gaming System

This fabulous new gaming system by Nintendo didn't fail to impress us. Gaming is truly a family affair with the Wii, a console that begs to be played. The Wii's controller is wireless and motion-sensitive. Selecting items on the TV screen is much like using a computer mouse--you point the controller to a "clickable" item and then press a button to select it. The system comes with a package of sports video games, Wii Sports, and includes bowling, tennis, boxing, and baseball. Kids and their parents create their own identity--a "Mii"--by selecting hair style and color, face shape, skin color, and so forth. These characters roam around and are featured in the sports games. Players can create their own family and friends, and, as Mom bowls, Dad and the kids cheer her on. Baseball teams consist of your own group of characters. Baseball is played by literally swinging the controller and imitating a pitch. Wii plays Nintendo Game Cube games as well as the new titles designed specifically for the Wii. A decent line-up of Wii games have already been released, but many kids will be waiting for more. Parents can purchase and download classic games for the NES, Super NES, and more older systems, right on-screen --they'll need to wirelessly connect to their wireless internet connection in order to do so. Eventually, families will be able to surf the web from their couch. It's a fantastic, appealing setup.

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: Nintendo Wii at Amazon.com]

Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2007 (DVD-ROM or CD-ROM)

This latest edition of an excellent reference software suite is not only beautiful to look at, it's filled with multimedia and helpful content and easy to use. This reference library—including an electronic encyclopedia, atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, and more—will help make any family's research efforts easier. It makes a fabulous gift for the family! The search feature is excellent, with content from all titles in the suite seamlessly integrated together. Streaming live media and easy updates contribute to an exceptional  product. With Encarta Kids added to the product, children younger than 12 can enjoy the encyclopedia as well. The dictionary/thesaurus/almanac is contemporary, the "extras" (such as games, curriculum guides, report-writing feature, 3D virtual tours, and the Discovery Channel content, etc.) are fabulous, and the integration between the handpicked web links and the encyclopedia itself is smooth. Of course, all of the features that won our hearts in previous versions make Encarta Premium 2007 a must-own family software program. DVD-ROM. Note also that the 2005 and 2006 editions are also excellent, so if you can get any of these for a cheaper price, all the better.

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: Microsoft Encarta Premium 2007 at Amazon.com]
 

 20Q by Radica Games

Here's a game tweeners and their parents will enjoy. This electronic toy attempts to guess, in 20 questions or less, what the player is thinking. Players answer the questions by pressing buttons that read "Unknown", "Yes", "No", or "Sometimes". The toy's ability to guess the answers is almost always surprising, and the game gets lots of laughs. The teasing commentary is cute at first, although it gets old fast. Otherwise, this game is great fun, and portable. Very entertaining!

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: Radica 20 Questions at Amazon.com]

VideoNow Color Personal Video Player

This fun system allows kids to watch Video Now videos (on PVD) on the go. It comes in a variety of colors (only orange is pictured), and VideoNow video discs are sold separately for approximately $6-$9 a piece. The system works well and is handy for car trips, for example, both short and long. ( A VIDEONOW Color Car Adaptor is also available for the latter.) 

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: VIDEONOW Color Personal Video Player at Amazon.com]

USAopoly Planet Earth Monopoly

As gorgeous as the photography is on this special edition Monopoly game, the game itself remains essentially the same...and so be it! Monopoly, of course, is a classic. We like it because of the time investment in the game. Most board games today cater to a child's short attention span rather than engaging and involving them over time. Includes rare photography.

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: USAopoly Planet Earth Monopoly at Amazon.com]

Celebration of Disco

Music For Little People's latest release in their Celebration series is Celebration of Disco. Compiling some of the biggest disco hits from the seventies' Disco era, carefully selected for kid-friendly lyrics, this new recording can be enjoyed by parents as well as children. Some of the songs included are Kool and the Gang's Celebration, KC & the Sunshine Band's That's The Way (I Like It), and Y.M.C.A performed by the MFLP singers. And, do you remember Disco Duck? It's here too! 

While most Celebration releases in the series are excellent, A Child's Celebration of Song is a family favorite. Paul Simon's St. Judy's Comet and Kenny Loggins' House at Pooh Corner are just a couple of the fantastic songs on this CD. 

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: Celebration of Disco or Child's Celebration of Song at Amazon.com]

This fun and easy art activity is appropriate for the whole family. The premise of Window Art is simple, but the results are nothing short of fabulous: slip an included plastic sheet over one of the book's pages of templates, use a black squirt-bottle to trace the outline of a design, then fill with more squirtable color. Each design--whether it's a family of colorful bugs, an ice cream sundae, or a collection of underwater creatures--takes about 24 hours to dry. Once set, the design becomes "clingable"--ready to display on any window of the house. The results are positively vibrant. Your windows (and view) will never look better.

A Christmas edition of the book/activity set is also available. It contains designs featuring Santa, stockings, icicles, whimsical animals, angels, and more. They range in difficulty from basic to intricate, so the whole family can participate!

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: Window Art or Christmas Window Art at Amazon.com] 

Family time is fun with a good game! Smart Mouth is exciting and educational. Its rules are simple: players use the Letter Getter that randomly "draws" two letters. The first player to call out a word that begins and ends with these letters wins the tiles.  

[For more information, user reviews, or to buy: Smart Mouth at Amazon.com]