My son (not pictured here) loves his ZipBin Mini Speedway from Neat Oh . And so do we. These very affordable storage bin toys are a good find for little kids who collect lots of little items like dolls, cars, or farm animals. The carrying case unfolds completely to reveal a play scene. And, the Zip Bin comes with 2 cars (or other item) so the child feels like he’s getting a toy, and not just a storage bin. $9.99 and up on Amazon.

Cards are a great accessory to have around when you have kids. They are portable, easy-to-find, and cheap. And, after the kids are in bed, you can play gin rummy or poker with your spouse. We like ThinkFun 4 Children’s Card Games, a boxed collection of the favorite children’s card games, including Crazy Eight, Old Maid, Animal Rummy, and Hearts. However, with just a simple pack of cards, you can play a lot of games.  Here are a few ideas: 1. For kids 2-3, you can just create a game yourself based on what interests your child. Let him or her group the cards by color, number or suit. Or, look for similar cards playing a simple version of “Memory” with just a few...

Astronomy and star-gazing has always been a great dad and child experience. Nothing beats lying on the grass on a warm August evening staring up in the sky and conveying the majesty and mystery of the heavens to a small child. This is a completely free activity, there are also plenty of accessories around if you’re so inclined. Here are a few of our favorites this year: 1. Moon in my room – $39 – This light up moon hangs on your wall and shows the moon in 12 different settings, controlled by an infrared remote control. An audio CD tells more about the moon. 2. Planisphere watch – $59.95 – This watch glows in the dark for 2-3 hours. It’s a great present for...

Guess Who Travel Game – Our kids loved this simple game that teaches kids deductive reasoning as they eliminate suspects to find the last person standing. By asking questions of their competitor like “does the person where glasses” or “have blond hair,” kids can easily play the game even before they can read. It’s an easy to pack travel game, or for playing at home. Unfortunately, the cards, however, are easily lost so it takes an adult around to keep from losing all the parts. My kids played this so many time though, they broke the pieces off the hinges before they lost any cards. $10.45 (a bit more expensive than you would think for a game built like this,...

Thomas Great Race is a fun game for small kids, especially those who love Thomas. The directions are very easy and involve moving Thomas characters up a hill based on correct answers to very simple questions. Because the questions have to be read, this is a game that requires close involvement with an adult or with an older child. Happily for bored parents, games are mercifully short because of the construction of the game. You push the trains up based on the numbers written on the cards drawn by players. Since just two or three correct answers send the trains down the hill, the game ends quickly As with a lot of games like this, adults have to quickly make peace with the fact this is not a...

As hard as it is to believe, I actually played with a Betty Crocker Easy Bake Oven when I was about six or seven years old. I was excited to try this out the Easy Bake Oven from Hasbro with my own kids, a four year old boy and eight year old girl. There was great excitement at the house when we opened it up, which was tempered a bit when we had to first search for a 100 W lightbulb to make it work. I could remember that we were always amazed that a simple light bulb could power an oven. The kit includes small pans to cook in and one measuring spoon. We had to assume to that the measuring spoon was the correct size for the recipes (2/3 T), but it was not. Three ingredients packages were also...

The Cloud B Sea Turtle is a fun addition to the nighttime routine. My kids say it helps them get to sleep because is has a soothing light. I like it because it turns their entire room into a planetarium, with choices of blue or green stars (and a moon). Stargazing has always been a special time for me with the kids and, while they can’t always figure out what I’m pointing at, they like the time lying on the grass staring up at the sky with daddy and talking about ’stuff.’ While the Cloud B Sea Turtle, and it’s other endangered animal constellation brothers, can’t replace that experience, it reminds of good times we’ve had and to come. The lights turn...

LEGO City Advent Calendar 2008 – If you wait very much longer this cool advent calendar will be sold out for Christmas. This calendar has absolutely nothing to do with the holiday, but kids love to open up the little parts every day at breakfast, counting down the days ’till they have more stuff to open. Make sure to get a little plastic box as well to hold all the little tiny parts. Once the tiny pieces are assembled, they come apart and end up all over the house. Lego CASTLE Advent Calendar 2008 LEGO City Advent Calendar (2007)

Play-doh Magic Swirl is a fun toy for kids over four years old. Kids like the many forms you can use to make ice cream-like objects and have a lot of fun playing waiter for hours on end. My kids made up menus and served us ice creams over and over. The play-doh colors are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and something like sprinkles. The machine part is the lever that pushes the play-doh into a soft-serve swirl. Smaller devices to the side make it easy to make “sprinkles” and gloppy “whipped cream.” Dads, even, will enjoy playing with this for a few minutes since it’s pretty captivating how play-doh can be manipulated into miniature, yet “life-like”...

Self propelled car – rides like magic.