Ready for some holiday shopping?
Wait, you already spent Thanksgiving night sleeping in a tent to get a great deal at Target on Black Friday?
I’m too late and you’re already done?
Yikes.
Okay, well for those of you who know that the deals only get better as it gets closer to the holidays, I’m ready with some great suggestions for toys for kids ages 0-9. I give you Black Friday shoppers a lot of credit for braving those crazy lines and people. I totally understand the desire to get the hot toys before the sell out and to get those family and workplace gifts out of the way so you can avoid the December Dash. That being said, I’ve spent the last few weeks scouring some of the top toy store and internet sites, coupled with reviews from toy experts, parents and most importantly - the kiddos themselves! The lovely people at Toys ‘R Us and Target along with online retailer Amazon.com assured me that the merchandise that flew off the shelves over the past week will continue to be restocked daily so (for the most part) don’t fret!
I’m a fan of classic children’s movies and especially fond of books, but for the sake of brevity here, I’m going to stick with toys (no video games, either). But please, while you’re at your favorite store or shopping online – don’t forget to grab a few books (nothing like a book to stimulate a child’s ever-growing imagination) and maybe a movie or two!
And if you are fortunate enough that you can give, please consider donating toys to children in need. Nothing demonstrates the spirit of the holidays (and teaches children about compassion) more than the act of giving. 
So without further ado, here are my choices for Top 10 Toys for Girls and Boys in 3 age categories (there is category overlap as children have different levels of fun with toys regardless of the recommended age range). Some of these are new and trendy picks for 2011. Enjoy and feel free to weigh in with your own reviews or add some to the list!
(Note: Some links are to specific retailers – this is in no way an endorsement for the lowest prices available, as they change daily.)
Top 10 Toys – 0-3 Years
- Sesame Street Let’s Rock Elmo
- Little People Zoo Talkers Animal Sounds Zoo
- LeapFrog My Own Story Time Pad
- VTech Touch and Learn Musical Bee
- Fisher Price My First Dollhouse
- Dora Fiesta Favorites Kitchen
- Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Soothe & Glow Seahorse
- LeapFrog Shapes and Sharing Picnic Basket
- Weebles Playsets
- Fur Real Friends Cookie
Top 10 Toys – 3-6 Years
- LeapPad Explorer
- Barbie Princess Charm School dolls and accessories
- Hot Wheels Wall Tracks
- Lalaloopsy Dolls, Accessories and Playsets
- Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle
- Fisher Price Imaginext DC Super Friends Batcave
- VTech Innotab
- Matchbox Smokey The Fire Truck
- Crayola Glow products
- Matchbox Mega Rig Shark Adventure
Top 10 Toys – 6-9 Years
- LEGO Ninjago Series
- Angry Birds Knock on Wood Game
- Nerf Vortex
- Fijit Friends
- Rory\’s Story Cubes
- LEGO City Garbage Truck and other building sets
- Crayola Model Magic Jewelry Studio
- Air Swimmers
- Simon Flash
- Hedbanz Game
If you haven’t found what you’re looking for in the lists above, you may want to look at the list below for additional ideas… (There are thousands of great classic toys that aren’t on these lists – if you want even more ideas, feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I have lots of fun thinking of toys that will make great gifts!)
- Cloud B Twilight Turtle/Ladybug
- Power Wheels or Fisher Price ride-ons
- Train sets and train table
- Melissa and Doug puzzles, cutting food, arts and crafts, magnetic dress-up, standard unit blocks, See and Spell and more
- Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Home
- Sit n Spin
- My Keepon
- Kidkraft wooden toys – dollhouses, firehouses, kitchens and more
- Shopping cart, play food and kitchen
- Baseball, T-Ball, football, basketball, soccer and other sports equipment
- Lego
- Easel and arts & crafts
- Magic Set
- Angry Birds Plush with Sound
- Bikes, skates and scooters
- Dolls and playsets
- Perplexus
- Action figures – Transformers, Super Heroes, etc.
- Baby dolls, strollers and doll furniture
- Cooking set
- Marble run
- My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
- Talking Planetarium
- Vanity
- Colorforms
- LiteBrite
- Leapfrog’s LeapPad/Leapster/Scribble and Write/Tag Reader/Text and Learn and more
- Step 2 Up and Down Roller Coaster
- Fisher Price Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks
- Learn & Groove Musical Table
- Piano/keyboard/guitar/drums and other instruments
- Cash register
- Doctor’s kit
- Monster High
- Nerf
- Teaching time clock
- Styling head
- Rocking horse
- Fashion studio/car studio with lightbox
- Puppet Theatre
- Karaoke machine
- Radio Flyer wagons
- Stomp rockets
- Snap n Style
- Cardboard playhouse
- Telescope
- Snap Circuits SC-300
- School set/responsibility chart
- Playskool Alphie
- Lite Sprites
- Bananagrams, Blokus, Qwirkle, Bop It, Chutes and Ladders, Spot It, Scrabble Flash and other board games
- Plasmacar
- Digital camera – Kid Tough See Yourself camera
- Fridge Phonics/Fridge DJ
- Tunnels and tents
- Imaginext playsets
- Train sets, cars, buses, planes and things that go
- Easy Bake Oven
- Talking USA Map/geography puzzles
- Science kits
- Zillionz Savings Goal ATM
- Musical Pass the Pickle
- R/C Cars and Trucks
- Soccer Guys/Baseball Guys, etc.
- Polly Pockets
- Art table
- Dress up clothes and accessories
- Tea set
- Shrinky Dinks
- Lacing toys
- Make your own jewelry sets
- Pillow Pets/Happy Nappers
- Laptop
- Purse/wallet
- Sticker books
- Toolbench and tools/construction set
- Zoobles
- Vtech Mobigo
- Play Doh, Moon Dough
- Animal Planet
- Eduscience
HAPPY SHOPPING, EVERYONE!
