Lamaze: Spin and Stack Rings (RC2 BRANDS) Age: 9 months - 2 years $24.99 
"My daughter really enjoys playing with the colorful rings. Each ring has a different, colorful, tags which she loves to touch. As my daughter gets older I think she will enjoy stacking the rings and I will be pleased because it is ideal for helping her with coordination."  

Lamaze Barn Yard Crawl Toy  (RC2 BRANDS) Ages 9-24 months $24.99
"Both my seven month old daughter and I LOVE this toy. She loves the bright lights, and colorful strings. When sitting up she enjoys spinning the cow and sheep sides. I believe it has also encouraged her to crawl by its rolling motion. I would recommend this toy especially for babies 6-12 months," reports the mother of our seven-month-old tester.

Learn Around Play Ground (Leap Frog) Ages 6 months - 3 years, $59.99 
The parents of our 8-month-old tester were concerned this toy would require too much standing for him, but he loves it. There are so many facets to the play station and lots of activities to keep him busy. His current favorite feature is the turning frog. The ball drop will be lots of fun when his coordination is a bit more mature. His mother reports, "I like the learning of the ABCs and numbers while playing interactively." Other features include shapes and textures, colors and rhyming, sing-along, first words, cause and effect, opposites, etc. For crawlers there’s lots to do as well. There are tabs to bat and shapes to look at. "Even when our son is tired, he’ll sit in front of it and play with the lower toys," mom reports. She added, "The music is pleasing. There is a volume control (2 settings), and sound choices. If you flip the smart book page, the sound transforms from learning to music. There is great dance music for a little one. The songs are catchy and you’ll find yourself learning the words quickly." She also really liked that this is a toy that he can grow with. One word of caution: The Learn-Around Playground is not as heavy as she would like. Her son pushes it across the carpet by leaning on it. She recommends butting it up against a couch or a wall so it’s more secure. Includes 3 AA batteries.

Baby Gymnastics Play Wall (Fisher-Price) Ages 6 months - 3 years, $59.99   
Here's a great way to have your little grandchild moving in a non-destructive way!  This three panel play wall encourages your grandchild to move.  They can play with it sitting, crawling, cruising or standing.  It requires quite a bit of space but is well worth it.  Our testers had fun crawling through openings and playing peek-a-boo.  There are some great accessories that can go with this set including an Activity Tunnel and Ball Toss.  It's a great system for helping to develop motor skills as it encourages crawling, cruising and walking.  The colors are bright and cheery too!

Learning Connections Train (Leap Frog) Ages 9 months - up  $24.99    
According to our mom-tester her 9-month-old is very engaged with this train. It comes with 5 cars and an engine. Each car has a certain number of different objects like three ducks, one teddy bear, etc.  The train encourages your child to learn to count and well as colors.   "For younger babies like our son, the train’s lots of fun to just drive around. He really enjoys stacking the cars as well," reports our mom-tester.  Leap is the conductor and has great songs. There are two volume settings. There are three music settings: counting, music and colors. All are pleasant to listen to but the music setting is the cutest.   This is a great toy that will get more than a few months worth of use. It teaches colors, counting, objects and stacking. 

B.C. Builders (Little Tikes)  Ages 3+ $9.99 - $29.99   
We gave a variety of these sets to a local Montessori School where they shared them with over forty kids.  The kids loved them and eventually they had to put a timer on the toy to monitor play time.  The teachers reported that "the entire Little Tykes Dinosaur Series is an excellent educational tool. They have been tested in a mixed-age group of 3's, 4's and 5's who have been learning about Dinosaurs for the past month. Besides teaching classification and identification, they are a wonderful hand-eye manipulative for this age group."  

Ages 4 - 8 

L-Max by Leap Frog (Leap Frog) Ages 4-7, $99.99 
We have loved the Leapster for a couple of years, and now Leap Frog has taken educational gaming one step further to your TV.  Our tester loved the large screen, with good color graphics.  She commented that the sound is excellent and the games are great.  The one thing that L-Max offers that the Leapster didn't is the interactivity with the TV.  In dual-screen mode your grandchild can interact with the handheld screen and watch the learning unfold on the TV.  For example you can write the letter on your handheld and watch it appear on the TV.  If you have a Leapster, don't despair many of the games are backwards compatible including: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, Batman, Bratz World, I-Spy, and more.  

Light ‘n’ strike math – (Learning Resources) – Ages 6-11 $29.95 
According to the mother of our two testers, "This math game reminded us of the carnival game 'wack-a mole.'  With three levels of difficulty, kids choose their level, read the math equation and then strike the answer once the correct answer lights up.  The tricky part is to wait for the correct answer to light up and to strike it with the foam mallet while it is still lit.  It was an exciting game, with good music that reinforced math skills."

V.Smile Pocket  (VTech) Ages 5-8, $89.99 
Our 7-year-old tester has been having a blast with the V.Smile Pocket ever since she received it to review. She loves that she can play the same games (sold separately) that she was playing on her V.Smile TV Learning System before, but now she can take it with her. She commented, "It's good because there are things in the game that are too hard for me now, which means that I'll be able to play with it for a long time. My younger sister can also play some of the easier games, so we can share it." The screen is large, the resolution is great, and the buttons are comfortable to press. We love the fact that it can be switched for right-handed or left-handed play. If your grandchildren already have a V.Smile system, they will love this. It can be played as a handheld or on a TV, and, if you have a TV in your car, you can plug it in and play educational games for hours on the road! It's educational and it's fun -- a great combination! Requires 4 AA batteries.

Teaching Cash Register (Learning Resources) Ages 3 -12, $44.95   
Tested by two girls aged 6 and 8 this toy was a winner.  They have been using it to not only hone in on their math skills, but learn about the value of money, giving change, adding and subtracting and more.  The coin reader identifies the included play pieces which feel real - and it accepts and recognizes real money.  There is a checkout scanner with sound, a working scale and more! It's a toy that gets used daily according their mother.  Click here for a retailer near you.

Ages 8 and up

FLY Pentop Computer  (Leap Frog)  Ages 8 and up $99.99   
This is a pretty amazing gadget that kids will not only use to learn with, but have fun playing with.  The FLY pentop requires special paper that has a dot-matrix that the optical eye reads so you draw a calculator, it recognizes it as one and then you can use it for adding.  If you draw a keyboard or drums it recognizes that too and will play the music!  You can even record your own tunes.  It's a really fun gadget that will have friends and family talking! Included with the Pentop are Earbuds, a Carrying Case FLY Launch Pad Guide, 17 Games, 35 FLY Paper Pages, 3 Interactive FLY-FX Cards, Interactive Map, 1 Silver Face Plate and  1 AAA Alkaline Battery.  You'll want to purchase the FLYstyle: Speaker a $14.99 accessory so you can hear it better.  

Smart Globe (Oregon Scientific)  Ages 7 and up, $129.99   
This is a great gift for not only the grandchildren in your life, but parents and grandparents.  Everyone seems to love this educational toy.  The globe features tons of learning activities including country capitals, currency conversion and national anthems. There's a time challenge that was particularly fun where you had to locate the state or the capital.  This is good for younger kids.  The SmartGlobe is the only learning globe on the market that can be updated using USB and information can be customized for three age groups.  Our testers ranging in age from 4 to 62 had a blast!

Turbo Twist Extreme (Leap Frog)  Ages 6-10, $34.99   
This is a great educational tool.  It takes learning and makes it a game.  It combines math, science, social studies and spelling and is great if your grandchild likes turning learning into games.  Players use the directional pad, the twist dial and the "slam" button to jump, duck, scroll or select answers. There are five game modes to choose from.  Our 8-year-old tester, a reluctant reader used this to work on her spelling skills -- and enjoyed it reported her mother.