kids' toys

As much as we love LEGO, and have even made a case for the benefit of LEGO Friends , the company has still got a fairly wide gender gap. Fortunately, it's clear they're still working to close it. So we are pretty happy to see that LEGO h…

If you haven't already heard, Disney Infinity is launching this summer. No, it's not the next installment of Toy Story (to infinity and beyond!), but rather a completely new gaming platform that will use cool Disney figurines to launch t…

Next up in our Holiday Tech Gifts series: the coolest games and tech toys for preschoolers and kindergartners. We always love tech toys that build imagination, educate and inspire--just like any toy. And how great that technology is offe…

I may not understand it all, but my eight year-old says the Minecraft game is awesomeness , and given how much he and his sisters play it on my iPad, I'll take his word for it. This is a evidently a huge deal among their elementary schoo…

It's no secret that I'm completely obsessed with the Instagram app , but now my kids can get in the action with this amazing new wooden toy I discovered. Anagram is an Instagram-inspired kids' play camera made from sustainable wood and c…

Remember when a kid's first camera wasn't an accidentally unlocked iPhone? We do, too. And we're glad it's available again, but without all those pesky dangerous bits from the original version. The Fisher-Price Changeable Disk Camera has…

As soon as my kids were old enough to hold a crayon, I started apologizing to the trees. Wow, they run through a ream of paper in no time at all with all their pictures, notes, and stories. And while I appreciate their creativity, I also…

If you've got a kid with a big love for gadgets, Star Wars, and having cooler things than other kids in the class, we think we've found the perfect thing. The R2-D2 watch is no mere digital wristwatch, it's got radio control powers too, …

File this one under "for the kid who has everything" -- unbelievably, outrageously, way super cool LED hula hoops. If it weren't for the splurgey price, I'd snatch up a few of these rechargeable LED hula hoops immediately. Should you nee…

'Tis the season to purchase baby pools, slides, and sandboxes-- oh my--but it can be hard knowing exactly which one will work best in your backyard space. So how smart of Toys 'R Us to use the technology of QR codes to make shopping for …

Even though our kids somehow get their hands on our own smart phones and tablets, these cool gadgets are made just for them. And guess what? They love them so much they actually leave ours alone. LeapPad Explorer Liz : First there was Ca…

Ask my son to write up his Christmas list, and he'll hand you the LEGO catalog with about a hundred things circled. While I love watching him sit and build everything from the Space Shuttle to a mulitcolored house for all his LEGO mini f…

If you made my kids narrow down to the two things they think are really cool about technology, they'd come up with: 1. Making really goofy videos of themselves, and 2. Angry Birds. Yeah, I'd have to agree, though I bet I have more people…

Holiday time is of course a photographer's paradise for capturing family memories. I encourage the kids in our family to take pictures, which provides a great "kid's eye view" into own traditions and activities--and the fact that my own …