Editors Best of 2010: The coolest toys, dolls, games and baby toys
'We have the best time every year seeking out amazing toys and games for babies and kids that we can recommend completely. Our favorites are generally made with love and care by small companies or independent designers. Although we do love those video games too!
Big Kid Toys
With a son who's obsessed with Transformers, the
Cubebot Wooden Robot toy is a welcome diversion from the plastic ones that require a PhD to work.
Honorable mention to the new eco-friendly
Tegu Blocks with genius magnets hidden inside, that have taken the toy world by storm.
-
KristenI am blown away by the card table forts and secret playhouses kids can create with these
custom kids playhouses, all handmade by Imaginative Play Toys. The felt folds up and stores away easily for small, playhouse-unfriendly spaces like, say, Grandma's condo. -
Liz[see more favorites after the jump]
Baby Toys
I love the new organic cotton
soft books from Wee Gallery, in baby-friendly black and white. Just exquisite. And such a fantastic new baby gift with the sweet pouch it comes in. -
Liz
As if I couldn't love Green Toys enough, they added a stellar new baby line called
My First Green Toys. I can't wait until my littlest one is old enough to play with them! -
KristenDolls
I went on a mad online
finger puppet hunt this year, and my favorite discovery has to be the upcycled
Finger Dolls by Loopy Dolls. Part teeny puppet, part doll, all handmade, and all adorable. -
Liz
Games
Rory's Story Cubes are ingeniously simple: Drawings on dice that lead to story prompts and imagination-building. They're the perfect travel size too. -
Christina
Any video game that has all of Team Cool Mom Picks having so much fun
(including an 8-month pregnant Kristen) that we're willing to be filmed
looking like idiots and archived on YouTube for all the world to see,
needs a mention. Thanks Ubisoft for
Just Dance 2 for Wii. Thanks a lot. -
Liz + Kristen
For more toys and games, see our archives under toys and other playthings.
Or compare with our favorite toys, dolls and playthings of 2009
Find More: Toys and Other Playthings
I love that wooden transformer toy and the card table tent. Very cool, I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the info.
I love the idea of green toys! It's great to get our kids started early thinking about the environment.