Toy Safety is on everyone’s mind, and rightfully so. Every year, The Toy Works screens thousands of toys for safety, durability and creativity and selects the best to inspire and entertain your children.

Please enjoy the following "Best-For-Kids" Toy List for 2007 and have a safe and happy holiday season.

-John Goehring

BEST FOR INFANT PLAY

Everything to a baby is brand new. Using senses and developing motor abilities, a newborn reaches out, explores, and starts to figure out the "new" world. Infant playthings should nourish a young child's innate curiosity and encourage repeat play.

Kathe Kruse Towel Dolls
Ages 0-18 mos.

These German-made hand-crafted cotton blanket dolls make perfect first "comfies." Check out the new organic selection.

Learn more about Kathe Kruse

TODDLER PLAY

Busy, busy, busy, there is no life busier than a toddler's. At this age, all neurons are firing and the connections are fast and furious.

Toddlers need truly interactive toys – toys that engage, are child-powered and as imaginative as their minds.

Melissa & Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks
Ages 1 1/2 - 4 yrs.

Make pretty pictures and master basic colors and shapes as you do. This wood pattern play set has become a modern classic.

Read more about Melissa and Doug Toys

ACTIVE PLAY

No more couch potatoes! Physical activity is important for the whole child – building body muscles, pumping blood to the mind, developing vital motor skills and promoting self-esteem.

Stuff Design BeamO
Ages 6 yrs-adult.

Big, soft, and beautiful, BeamO is a giant flying ring that you throw with your hand and catch with your whole body.

Check out the BeamO!

CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY

Turn off the laptop and video. Nothing equips kids to face the technological challenges of tomorrow like hands-on manipulative building. Research has shown that playing with blocks, puzzles, and other construction toys helps build 3-D math reasoning, spatial and problem-solving skills.

Rokenbok Start Sets
Ages 6-10 yrs.

Take the control pad in your hand and rev up! Trust us, it takes far more brain than brawn power to control this construction site.

Build some fun with Rokenbok

CREATIVE PLAY

In its most natural, child-initiated form, play is miraculously creative: unstructured, open-ended, imaginative, carefree, and fun. And children come by it naturally – seeing the world with fresh, new eyes and then using what they see in original ways. Visual arts and other creative activities provide children outlets to express themselves.

Educational Insights PlayFoam
Jumbo Pack
Ages 3 yrs+

Squish it, shape it, save it – then start all over again! Last year's miracle molding material returns with more colors in a 12-piece pack.

PlayFoam is very cool!

FANTASY & PRETEND PLAY

Fantasy play fires up kids' creative juices and helps them grow socially and emotionally. As children invent and act out imaginary stories, dreams, and desires, they are able to express their own strong feelings in acceptable ways.

Playmobil Passenger Plane
Ages 4-8 yrs

Ready for takeoff! The new Playmobil Jet Plane is packed with such realistic detail it's certain to pass any little pilot's inspection.

Playmobil's tradition of exceptional toys

GAME PLAY

Learn to play and play to learn: Games teach us all how to take turns, how to win and lose, how to calculate, how to plan ahead, and how to have fun with family and friends.

Bananagrams
Ages 7-adult

No pencil, no paper, no bulky board – Bananagrams is fast and fun and the most delicious new word game in years.

Connect the words to spell, "awesomely great toy"!

INVESTIGATIVE PLAY

Kids are born scientists. From infancy, children seek out and explore, inquire and investigate, and learn from hands-on experience and experimentation how the world works. Science and applied math are simply child's play.

Learning Resources Teaching Cash Register
Ages 3-10 yrs

Simple enough for a three year old and sophisticated enough for your yard sale, this amazing talking machine is a coin wizard, calculator, and 4-level game machine.

Chik-cheeng! Cash in on imagination

Special acknowledgements to: AMERICAN SPECIALTY TOY RETAILING ASSOCIATION (ASTRA)