Younger Kids

My First Battery Powered Railway Set (Brio) – Ages 1 ½ years and up, $39.99  According to our tester, "this is a very nice first railway set which includes a battery powered engine and 3 additional wagons. Our 20-month-old tester needed help putting together the wooden track pieces and connecting the wagons to the back of the engine. But he loved pushing the button to start the engine and watching the train move along the winding track – especially as it went through the padded “mountain” tunnel." The set also includes two special guide ramp tracks which lead the train from the floor on to the wooden tracks - very helpful for our young tester. Although it’s designed as a first railway set, his mother definitely see him playing with this for years to come.

Fantasy Blocks  (Haba) Ages 1 & Up $35 
Get your grandchild back to basics with these wonderful building blocks from Haba.  They are brightly colored, beautifully made and only limited by your grandchild's imagination.  Our testers went wild for these with their colors and whimsical patterns.  There are 26 blocks in all made of beech wood and plastic.  They will be played with for years!  

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Mega Bloks) Ages 3 - 5 years 
Although this is recommended for 12 months and up, our older tester liked it more and we've adjusted the age accordingly.  Our 3-year-old tester loves to build things and really enjoyed building the tower so could then knock it all down. Always lots of fun. His younger brother liked the noise and the lights, but that's about it.  It's a fun building toy for kids 3 and up.

Thomas Load and Carry Train Set (Lego)  Ages 2-5, $29.99  
This was placed in a classroom setting with age groups 3, 4, and 5.  It immediately attracted two four year old boys. They needed initial adult guidance putting together the track, but immediately after, were able to break down the setting and put it back together again without help.  The versatility of the pieces allows for many different scenes and settings.  As a result, the children never get tired of the activity.  This is just one more wonderful Lego activity!

LEGO CITY: Police Station  (Lego) Ages 5+, $69.99 
Our testers needed assistance putting this together, but it became a perfect father-son project. After it was built it provided hours of entertainment, reported our tester. The set includes a helicopter, a van, and a motorcycle. It also includes 4 police officers (one with a light-up flashlight), a bad guy, and a dog. It's a great set that kids of all ages (including adults) seem to enjoy! 

Older Kids

Dino Attack: T-1 Typhoon vs. T-Rex (Lego) Ages 8+ $69.99
According to our builders 8 and 10, this was a great set. "It's a real boys toy.  It was a challenging set to build and the reward was in the final product which includes guns, guys, a T-Rex whose eyes light up and mouth that moves and looks ferocious, a Pteranodon, working rotors that really spin, and rappel winch, and a working boom crane."  Although our tester has reported put the T-1 Typhoon up for "display only" he has the T-Rex and Pteranodon engaged in countless attacks.  Occasionally he pulls down the Typhoon for fun, but he prefers to have his work "on display!"

Wild Hunters (Lego)  Ages 6+, $29.99  "This set makes incredible creatures", commented our tester.  He particularly liked the Lion, which took hours to build, but was well worth every effort.  It stays together really well, looks amazing with features like a mouth that opens, and feet that flex.  You don't have to stop with the Lion though you can build any of the following creatures with this set, a lion, vulture, elephant, wild boar, crocodile, boa constrictor and more!  It's a great building set that boys, girls, parents and grandparents will all enjoy.

Friends 4-Ever Jewels & More - CLIKITS  (Lego)  Ages 6+, $9.99  There aren't many building things that are considered exclusively girls, but this CLIKITS set is pretty cool and although you don't "build" you do put the things together.  The 2-in-1 set has two identical collections of jewelry and hair clips that you and a best friend can share.  Our testers, best friends aged 7 and 8 had fun making their jewelry that included two rings, hair clips, jewelry boxes and two "Best Friend" bracelets.

Flex K’NEX Construction Squad (K'NEX) Ages 7 - 12 years, $29.99   Our tester thought this toy was a hit because it is so easy to build with K'NEX's new directions. This great set lets you build flat shapes and then "Flex" them into amazing 3D models! Each Flex K'NEX set includes EZ-Build mats that show kids how to build flat shapes that magically transform into impressive 3D models. Each set features 3 models to build, and comes complete with a storage case with handle for easy clean-up and storage. Our testers mom said she "agreed with the 7 years or older rating. It also is a toy that has small pieces that could be lost easily so the case was really handy."

ARC-170 Starfighter & Droid Tri Fighter (Lego) 
If you've already seen Star Wars Episode III then you and your grandson will have a fabulous time putting these great Lego Star Wars builds together.  They are involved, but well worth the effort.  There is such great satisfaction with completing these and you'll have great quality time together.  Our testers (father and son) couldn't decide who had more fun building these two.  The father remember his original Lego set from the 70's and really enjoyed each part of the intricate builds.  The son enjoyed helping, but had more fun playing with them when they were done.  It's a great rainy day, humid day, hot day or evening project! 

Pyrates: Dread Eye's Phantom (Mega Bloks) Ages 8+,  $49.00
"What fun this is!  First, it's a very easy build, only 100 pieces, secondly it has amazing detail from the bone mast and anchor to the fabric sails.  Everything about this set is just cool!  It stays together well and is great to play with while watching Pirates of the Caribbean.  It's a lot like the Black Pearl," reports our tester.  The ship has a mast that can collapse when battling and lights go off in the hull when you fire the cannons or drop a man down dead mans hole.  It's a great gift for any pirate enthusiast!

Magnetix Ferris Wheel (Rose Art Industries) Ages 5 and up, $39.99 
These magnets are so much fun that after your done building this working Ferris Wheel, you can build to your imaginations content.  Rose Art’s Magnetix line offers all the pieces to create a lot of different shapes.  We gave this to an aftercare program at a local school to review and the kids really enjoyed putting it together.  The teachers liked the fact that the kids were so absorbed at what these powerful magnets can do.

Pirate Park (K'NEX), Ages 9 and up, $49.99
The latest in K'NEX's line of giant theme park sets, Pirate Park can be used to build three different motorized models (but only one at a time!). These rides are quirkier than the roller coaster and ferris wheel of past years. Our 12-year-old tester is an expert K'NEX builder and was willing to tinker and adjust till he could make each of the models operate. He says, "You have to pay really close attention to the instructions. I had to build the first model twice to make it work. Even a little spacer can make a difference. It did get a little tedious but it paid off in the end. The boom ride and the gravity ride worked really well. The sound system is very realistic, and very sensitive -- if you drop it, it will start screaming!" This set would be best for an older builder who has had experience with other large K'NEX models and isn't afraid to experiment. The motor requires three C batteries; the sound module comes with three button cell batteries already installed.