BEST SELLERS

Maybe. Could also be a stegosaurus, triceratops or something else--that’s part of the fun of paleontological parenthood. Just submerge the 4-1/2” tall ersatz dinosaur egg into cool water and wait 48-72 hours while it cracks like a real egg and the baby dino grows to a be a foot long. If your mother won’t let you skip your bath for a few days (they’re like that, mothers, no scientific discipline), just use any container bigger than a 12” dinosaur.

The Song of the Open Rails. Nothing sets a young person 's heart a-flutter like the mournful cry of a train whistle. A sound that promises adventure, mystery, freedom... Well, we cant offer you any of that, but this may be the next best thing. You've likely seen wooden train whistles like this before-roughly 6" long, with holes in the top you blow into to create a high pitched 'moving out' signal, but you've probably never seen them at such a good surplus price like this before. Allons!

Numerate, are you? Find out with this Ninja Assassin Sudoku book of (248) puzzles--(2) per page, plus solutions--in a 176-page paperback. Puzzles are intermediate level, easy to easy medium, by Frank Longo from Puzzle Wright Press. Best part is you can ignore the $6.95 cover price.

The Shape of Cool™ is trademarked. Really. And its owner is Lava® brand lamps. Accept no substitutes, we always say. Usually. Sometimes. Certainly in this case. These assorted Lava® Lamps are 14-1/2" tall in silver aluminum and it may have blue liquid with green lava; purple liquid with pink lava; or blue liquid with purple lava (our choice). All classic Lava® combos. Includes the 25W bulb in the base. Replacement bulbs are also sold by the 2-pack. UL.

Jarvis says: Lava Lamps are not expected to be available until Springtime, when it's warm enough that they don't freeze in transit.

Keep your place with this gold foil replica of a US $100 bill. Looks like the real thing, including counterfeit-foiling color additions. Measures approx 6" x 2-1/2," which is just half a smidgen smaller than a real C-note. Franklin looks a little like a very old C-3PO in resplendent gold.

From the harmonica kings themselves at the Hohner company, comes this 4" long, 3-octave plus, plastic harmonica, in C, the people's key. We'll pick one in an attractive shade of red, green, blue, yellow or whatever color shows up next, and send it in a little vinyl case.

Spin this spindle and watch it turn in perpetuity!!  Well, for a long time anyway.  Inside the 5-1/2" long colored plastic spindle are magnets which are repelled by magnets in the 5" x 3" black plastic base.  The variously colored spindle floats in the air above the base thus virtually free of normal friction. Nifty desk toy named "Revolution".

OK, chicken plucking and how to build an igloo, but you could combine them if you needed to. How To is a book of wilderness skills with instructions on over (75) things you might need to know someday, including the two above, plus opening coconuts with a rock, sheep-shearing, crossing deserts (with the associated treating a snakebite), surviving bear attacks, starting fires in the rain, cleaning fish, tanning hides, and shoeing horses. Takes a nice, fun look at desperation in the woods. We've already used a bunch in the office.

Much as you’d like to keep Junior occupied with real snakes at this point, preferably rattlers, “society” has a real problem with that. Instead, keep the kid occupied with this plastic multi-colored snake-like fidget toy. It’s 3/8" wide x 20” long fully extended, with green, blue and orange links that make satisfying clicking sounds and allow Junior to make various shapes. Hours of fun! Ages 5+.

If ever the day comes when a kid doesn’t need more stickers, we don’t want any part of it. We have (4) new sets, mostly all critters. You pick—or better yet, let the kid pick: the (21)-piece dog set including Chihuahua, Golden Retriever, and Sheltie amongst many others; the (37)-piece ant set including the classic black critters in various poses or the collection of (16) baby print stickers: (4) sets of handprints and (4) sets of footprints, roughly 1” to 2” in fingerprint-dust color.

At least that’s what someone told us in junior high. And now we can do it again with this giant rubber earthworm that’s 1" wide at its plumpest x 15" long. Unlike our worm in junior high, this one stretches to more than 7 feet! Don’t stretch it too long or you might rip it. And keep it off painted walls, fabric and wood, because like real worms, it might stain. Also comes with educational facts on the package so you can learn while you pull. Ages 3+. ! WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD–Small Parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.

The mouse is back! After an extended absence (due more to supply problems than to any rodent-eradication program) the gray rubber mouse is once again available. A hair under 3" long with a 4" long tail, he's diminutive and detailed -- and ready to move into Sis's underwear drawer!

If Werner Von Braun had used these, Londonwould have just gotten wet. Have somegood clean fun with this Hydrotech"Aquazone" rocket set. You get (2) 5-3/4" tall water rockets and (1) 8-3/4" rocket, plus (2) filling funnelsand a piston pump for power. Includes a 6-page pamphlet on rocketry. For ages 8+, for good clean outside fun.

Rattlebacks are plastic semi-elliptical shapes, 3-7/8" long, that illustrate Newton's laws of motion, while mystifying kids. Set them down (the rattlebacks, not the kids) and their offset center of gravity makes them spin. Spin them in one direction and they stop and reverse themselves. You get a package of (10) in assorted colors, along with a lesson plan and suggested activities.

You may well have wondered where the boneless chicken breasts in your local supermarket come from. The answer is from boneless chickens. And we have some life sized rubber models of the birds to prove it. Modeled from life, they are shown plucked and as they might appear hanging in the poultry store window. Seeing is believing, at least in Missouri, so get one and look.

A real desktop mesmerizer. This 7"x 5" moving sand sculpture creates endless sand-dune vistas, and can be so easily flipped to start over that you need never go back to actually working. The sand is so fine it's nearly liquid; the current version is called Polar Dessert and is white and blue with a touch of black mixed in, plus a little glitter. Black metal base and frame brings the total size to 8"x 5-5/8". If Roald Amundsen had one of these he never would have left Borge, Østfold.

Lots of people had piano keyboard neckties in the '80s, but no one could play them--not even the piano players! That's because they weren't actual musical instruments. Can you imagine a time like that? Thankfully, those days are long gone. Our piano tie is a working keyboard with (8) different electronic notes that you can play through the tiny speaker hidden in the knot. Polyester and 16-1/2" long, the tie has a quick-release for easy attachment and removal. Also has an on-off switch, for when you decide you're done playing for the night. Runs on button cell batteries (included). Lessons not included, but trust us, you don't need lessons for this thing to kill at parties. Great addition to dad's neck tie collection.

Even if you're not a female flamingo yourself, you can still hatch an adorable hot pink flamingo. You’ll get an equally hot pink, 4-1/4" egg, which you immerse in water and wait a couple-three days while it hatches and grows to 8”+ tall. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Take Pinky out of the water and it will shrink back to egg-size and regrow endless times. (The egg, however, will be history.)