Behold our version of the gravity-fed sliding woodpecker. Ours is a 1-3/4" standard black woodpecker, not counting his cute red plume, slowly pecking his way down a 16-1/2" tall metal rod. His super-rapid, lifelike pecking action is strangely compelling to adults, and draws belly laughs from toddlers!

Very Mad Men-ish, these fuzzy stick-on mustaches, with models on the package so you can see exactly how you'd have looked in 1963. You get (7) 'staches, including the Hollywood, Hero, Bruiser and Weasel in black, the Square and Sheriff in brown, and the gray, handlebar Grampa. Great disguises. Great costumes.

Us too, but then who doesn’t kazoo? These 5" long classic steel kazoos have 1-1/8” resonators, and come in (16) festive patterns. We’ll pick one because, really, who do you know who’s more festive than we are.

Yes, your desktop is made of atoms (you, too) but this is a 7" dia chrome and black model of an atomic structure (Boronish, Paul says) that keeps on turning via the magic of electromagnetics, at least until the 9V battery you put in it wears out. Stands approx 9" tall on its base.  Ignore that "perpetual motion" on the box, unless you have a perpetual battery. Minimal assembly required, but a maximum person like you won't have a problem with it.

Before there were stations to play at, when gameboys were just boys who played games, when fun was spelled “wheeee,” there was the Etch A Sketch®, the original small-motor-skills trainer. This classic, legendary design device allowed kids to create perfect right-angles in their pursuit of anything from simple boxes to full Frank Lloyd Wright house designs. Advanced sketchers with mad knob skills could even bend those lines. Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear and try it for yourself, or give it to a kid. Measures approx 9" x 7" x 1", and you still just shake it to erase.

It's nice to know that some things don't change. One is the Jacob's Ladder. Still made with (6) slabs of wood, each about 2" x 2" x 1/2", each a bright combination of colors, and all connected by a contrasting ribbon. Hold one end up and let the string of slabs dangle. When you flop the top block end for end, each lower slab in turn will flop end for end. Fascinating. Particularly if you are about 5 to 9 years old.

The original Joy Buzzer was called the Joke Buzzer (1932 U.S. patent #1845735, Soren Adams) and it replaced the more dangerous Zapper, which is lost to time, more's the pity. Our standard wind-up model is a 1-3/8" dia circle of perennial vibrating fun, with a 7/8" dia finger loop. (Watch for the solar-powered joy buzzer, still under development.)

Very much a classic magic trick set, but in a little 5-1/2” x 4” x 2-1/4” tin. Hardly seems possible, but it contains more than (25) tricks, including vase and ball, mystery computer, floating hearts, balls and cup, disappearing coin, nail box and a buncha card tricks. Includes a 32-page instruction booklet, too.

Why, when we were your age all we had to play with was a stick and an old tin can. But never mind that--now you too can make your own fun in the form of actual wind-up toys with this small wind-up motor with an attached pair of 9/16” dia wheels on a 1-1/8” wheelbase. The winding shaft is 1-1/8” long and the whole shebang measures 1-1/4" x 5/8" x 1/2" and has a good long running time of approx 10 seconds.

Newtonian demonstrator for science teachers. Mindless play for the rest of us. These are shiny, nicely balanced, high-performance examples of the classic Newton's Cradle - a ball on one end of a row of (5) suspended, barely touching balls swings into the others, and the ball at the opposite end reacts to the collision. The 11/16" dia balls in the small version (all-metal frame 6-1/2" high x 4" x 4-1/4") will collide about 30 times. The 7/8" dia balls in the large version (metal frame 5-1/4" high x 4" x 6", with a wooden base) will collide about 100 times. Awesome. Even more awesome that we paid someone to count the bounces just for you! (Unpacking note: Less awesome if you just yank it out by the suspension lines and pull a couple of balls loose. Be gentle.)

From France comes this fun mechanical plastic bird that really flies by flapping its wings. It is about 8" long and has a wingspan of 16" tip to tip. Snap the wings in place, wind up the rubberband drive and toss it gently into the air on its maiden flight. It flies up to fifty yards with a satisfying fluttering sound. Comes with a spare rubberband drive mechanism.

What makes these squeezable slime suckers so special is how cool they are when, after sucking up a goodly slurp of slime, they can be squozen to spit a blob of it back out. You’ll get a snail or monster head sucker, approx  2" long, plus a little tub of slime, in assorted colors. They could make 50 minutes of algebra just fly by.

Lego® goes crazy with this 100+ piece kit with everything you need to build (16) different contraptions (be pretty stupid if they made 16 of the same contraption) for your amusement. In the mix are gears, pulleys, belts and axles, which you could turn into a rocket racer, Lego® launcher, donkey cart or scissor grabber, among other things. Includes a 50-page spiral-bound graphically illustrated instruction booklet. And, yes, adding Lego® pieces of your own just ramps up the fun. For ages 7+.

A plastic pistol shaped toy that shoots slugs of raw potato. Push the barrel into a potato, break off the slug, aim and shoot up to fifteen feet. Loads of fun, environmentally harmless, and about as safe as any "projectile" toy can be!! Pulls apart for cleaning. For kids ages 5 and up.

Start them out right with this (profusely) hand-illustrated, 96-page book: The Story of Inventions. Includes toasters, toilets, television, computers, cars, chocolate bars, dishwashers, pianos, flying machines, bicycles and blue jeans among many others. Includes a timeline, glossary and index. No age recommendations, but we like it for pretty much anyone.

Interesting wire contraption that we played with as a child. A series of (4) tiers of overlapping and intertwined brass wire semicircular hoops are anchored at the open end to a pair of full circles. The whole can be shaped into a tube, double balls, a flower petal, etc, depending upon what areas are opened, which closed. A variety of colored beads on the hoops add a decorative touch. Fun, intriguing and decorative all at the same time.

Our each is one dozen gorgeous, glimmering glass gems, in a round cut in (12) different colors, including pink, green, blue, red, golden, white, and various shades of each. Think diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, amethyst, topaz, whatever. In dark blue book-like presentation boxes. You pick the Princess Pack, with (12) gems at 20mm across (approx 3/4” or a tad bigger than a nickel) by 13mm (approx 1/2”) deep, or the Queen collection at 40mm across (approx 1-1/2” or tad bigger than a silver dollar) by 27mm (approx 1”) deep.

Titled "The Field and Forest Handy Book," this volume has been justifiably in print since 1906. Written by Daniel C. "Uncle Dan" Beard, the founder of the Sons of Daniel Boone and one of the founders of the BSA, it's a compendium of eternally relevant woodland lore, from building cabins, sleds, boats, and bridges to camping in swamps. The only part we skipped was on how to cook a muskrat. (We know a place that delivers.) Loaded with illustrations. In soft cover from David Godine's Nonpareil Books, 428 pages.