By Good Housekeeping Research Institute
To find playthings worthy of our third annual awards, GHRI staff considered hundreds of new toys and board games — for their fun factor, of course, but also for skillbuilding and to spark imaginations.
We then checked our list twice, narrowing the field to the most promising 75 and vetting those for quality and safety.
Next, 98 kids, ages 4 to 16, played with every last one — and filled out over 750 questionnaires. Learn more about how we tested the toys, and check out some honorable mentions. Here are our 24 winners.
Screen Antics
Ages 3-5
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The Leapster Explorer from LeapFrog ($70, amazon.com; ages 4+) has a touch screen and a stylus, so kids can turn eBook pages with the flick of a finger and write on the screen. Parents see what their child learns on a personalized Web page. Choose from 40+ games ($25 each), and download free books and videos.
To Market, To Market
Ages 3-5
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Our pint-size shoppers were practically dancing in the aisles over iPlay Shop 'n Cart ($35, amazon.com; ages 3+). Stocked with lots of pretend food and play money, this child-size cart with a seat for a baby doll has all that's needed for a make-believe grocery trip.
Party Animal
Ages 3-5
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Don't let the low age rating of Fisher-Price's Dance Star Mickey ($90, amazon.com; ages 2+) deter you — everyone in our lab got in on the act when Mickey made his moves. The groovin' mouse brings down the house with games Mickey Says and Freeze Dance — and he does one mean moonwalk.
Lab Report
Ages 3-5
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Learning Resources' Primary Science Set ($30, amazon.com; ages 4+) sparks kids' curiosity as they gather household objects for the experiments. While using lemon juice to make dull pennies shine or getting raisins to "jump" with carbonated water, they'll pick up basic (shh!) scientific principles.
Call of the Wild
Ages 3-5
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With this play set from Playmobil, children can embark on an African safari in their living rooms. The deluxe Wildlife Care Station ($70, amazon.com; ages 4+) lets them play veterinarian to a wounded giraffe and imagine endless adventures with other jungle animals. Smaller kits ($13 to $40) are available.
Speed Demon
Ages 3-5
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Our thrilled testers sent the Silverlit Toys Iron Man 2 Iron Trike ($40; ages 5+) zooming down our halls. Lucky for us (and you), the big plastic wheels didn't mar walls during the inevitable bumps and head-on crashes.
No Hard Hats Needed
Ages 5-8
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Real Construction's Deluxe Tool Set ($25, amazon.com; ages 5+) has all the creativity of carpentry with none of the dangers. The foam "wood" cuts easily with plastic tools and attaches neatly together with plastic screws. Testers proudly built vehicles, buildings, and more.
Go Figure
Ages 5-8
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Melding art and technology, Creativity for Kids' Wind-Up Workshop Robots ($15, amazon.com; ages 7+) comes with the chassis, material to construct robot bodies, and decorative stickers to assemble a fleet of five mobile mini androids.
De-Fib-Relater
Ages 5-8
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With Spy Gear Lie Detector Kit ($17, amazon.com; ages 6+), honesty truly is the best policy. One child places two fingers on the sensor while another asks the tough questions. The clever contraption reads skin-surface moisture to determine if the "suspect" is on the up-and-up. Lights blaze to indicate the probability of deceit.
Clay Mate
Ages 5-8
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The smooth, squishy dough in Crayola Model Magic Presto Dots ($25, amazon.com; ages 5+) won't stick to most surfaces (like kids' skin or clothing), but molds easily to the monster-making forms. Load the dot-making tool to design colorfully bumpy creatures.
The Key Of T
Ages 5-8
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The ThinkGeek Electronic Guitar Shirt ($30, amazon.com; ages 6+) keeps music close to a child's heart — literally. The wearer turns on the amp and strums in front of the shirt with the magnetic pick to produce chords. Now that's a rockin' air guitar! Available in both children's and adults' sizes — you can start a band.
Design Within Reach
Ages 5-8
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Dressing up dolls is a lot more inspiring with Bandai's Harumika ($10 to $40, amazon.com; ages 6+). Each set includes fabrics and trims for styling runway-ready ensembles. And there's no cutting or sewing: A flat plastic tool helps insert the material into a groove in the back of each form.
All-Terrain Vehicle
Ages 8+
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There's not much that will slow down the Tonka Garage Ricochet RC ($70, amazon.com; ages 8+), a dual-sided remote-controlled vehicle that's designed to flip and keep on racing. The touch of a button activates the hydraulics, moving the car's body upward so it can speed right over small objects.
Eye From The Sky
Ages 8+
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It's a bird, it's a plane...no, it's Air Hogs Hawk Eye helicopter ($80, amazon.com; ages 12+). This super chopper takes color video (up to five minutes' worth) or photos (hundreds) while in flight. Once it's grounded, plug it into a computer to recharge (in about 15 minutes) and to download and edit footage with the included software.
Wrist With a Twist
Ages 8+
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An aspiring secret agent is always armed for an undercover mission. Jakks Pacific Spy Net Video Watch ($50, amazon.com; ages 8+) is a wearable video camera and sound recorder in disguise, capable of taking and storing up to 20 minutes of color video, four hours of audio, or 2,000 photos — or a combo of all three.
Scientific Scent-Sation
Ages 8+
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The Wild Science Perfect Perfume Laboratory ($15, amazon.com; ages 8+) lets kids choose among rose, mint, eucalyptus, and jasmine to create a signature fragrance. Or make rock-candy-like potpourri crystals and "sublime-smelling slime." Instilled during the fun: chemistry skills such as extraction, filtration, and measuring.
No Strings Attached
Ages 8+
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The elastic-free version of paddleball, Hasbro Bop-It! Bounce ($20, amazon.com; ages 8+) combines electronic gaming with good old-fashioned active play. Bounce the foam ball off the flat side of the base, playing games that offer time and speed challenges, among others.
Steer Here
Ages 8+
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Win at the carnival in Jakks Pacific Toy Story Mania ($50, amazon.com; ages 5+). Plug it into a TV, don 3D glasses, and move the Wii-like controller to steer Buzz and friends through on-screen obstacle courses and more. Though it's rated younger, older children have the hand-eye and reaction skills for mastery.
Top 3 of 6 for Beating Cabin Fever
Spell Bound
Good Housekeeping
For anyone who's ever found a Scrabble board constricting, there's Wiggles 3D's Lexigo ($25, amazon.com). This free-form word game starts with a ring of hexagonal letter tiles. Players build off those letters, making word chains and building spelling and vocab skills. Two to four players.
Comic Relief
Ages 8+
A sense of humor and knowing your competition win points in Techno Source's Bubble Talk ($20, amazon.com). Players pick the caption from their hand that they find funniest for the upturned photo card. The judge looks at them all to select the match that's most amusing. Three to eight players.
Mouthing Off
Ages 7+
To win Educational Insights' Blurt! ($30, amazon.com), you'll need to think on your toes and speak up fast. A clue is read aloud: "The day before today." The person or team to shout the answer ("Yesterday!") first moves ahead on the board — harder clues are worth more spaces. Three to 12 players.
3 more for Beating Cabin Fever
A-Mazing Race
Ages 7+
In Lego Minotaurus ($25, amazon.com), players build the board, then roll a die to see how many spaces or which Lego-block walls to move to hinder opponents. The goal: Reach the temple first, but avoid the minotaur figurine; an encounter sends you back to the start. Two to four players.
Unhampered Fun
Ages 4+
Educational Insights' Laundry Jumble ($25, amazon.com) was a huge hit with kids, despite its chore-like theme. There's a mess of miniature clothing in the dryer, and players must remove an item (hat, pants, etc.) by feel alone. Snag the dreaded skunk's undies and lose points. Two to four players.
Color Coded
Ages 3+
Before playing Crayola Doodle Match ($15, amazon.com), children shade in a color spinner and the game-card pictures. Spin both the picture-selecting and colored-in spinners, and flip up a card to find a match. No luck? Replace the card. Soon, memory comes into play. Two to four players.
More from Good Housekeeping:
Go to Good Housekeeping for gift ideas, recipes
Complete list of their Best Toy Awards for 2010
Learn about Good Housekeeping's product testing
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