By popular demand from every 12-year-old in our database, our remote-control rat is back, this time in a new, improved model with an infrared sensor on his little rat back. Measures an alarming 7-1/2” long (almost 11” with the tail) and is powered by (5) “AAA” batteries, which you’ll have to add, because it’s your rat. Improved 25-foot range will reach well into your mother’s walk-in closet or the teachers’ lounge. In luxurious black velour (another first), it runs straight ahead and spins backwards. The red LED eyes just add to the rodential verisimilitude. For (non-squeamish) ages 5 and up.

Good clean fun for trips to the beach or pool. This 4-3/4” rubber shark has a small human foot sticking out of its maw. Give him a good squeeze and the leg pops out up to the shin. Quickly repeated squeezes make it look like the shark is having lunch.

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.

The draw-it-yourself jigsaw puzzle, just begging to have an invitation written on it, and then be mailed to potential guests as a handful of pieces. But this 28-piece cardboard puzzle also measures a desktop or car-friendly 6-3/4" x 4-3/4" in plain white, so it's also begging to have kids add a picture for the fun of it. It's even suggesting that you mix the 336 blank pieces in a pile, explain it's a dozen pictures of an albino moose in a snowstorm puzzle, which it might very well be for all we know, and award a prize for the first finished puzzle. Note the classroom and party-friendly bulk price.

Just like our famous cow popper, but this guy is a 5-1/4” tall rubber axolotl with a mouth big enough to take a 1-1/8” dia foam ball and spit it 20 feet when you squeeze it, as you will want to do. And if you’re axolotl-ignorant, they’re neotenic salamanders, the world’s cutest amphibians, and they also answer to “Mexican walking fish.” Ours come with (6) foam balls for your axolotl-squeezing convenience. For ages 4+.

Introducing the Aeromax 2000. This update of the classic parachute toy has mesh under the canopy instead of lines, so it's tangle-free. Big 20" chute floats the little 3-1/2" tall trooper gently to the ground. In assorted colors, which we'll pick because we have really good color sense.

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.

Go fly a kite. We highly recommend this rainbow-colored nylon parafoil version, measures 20" x 23" at its widest with a 14-foot tail (over three times longer than a tiger's) on a spindle with a couple hundred feet of string. Includes a carrying pouch, too, making it a very practical, portable parafoil.

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.

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!

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.)

Shoot one of these little plastic arrow-helicopter-rotor gismos straight up with the included rubber band launcher and watch it soar as far as 300 feet! A fun outdoor toy that grows in sophistication as you learn how to adjust the arrowcopter for wind conditions and flight patterns: distance, return, circular descent etc. Our "each" contains a package of two (2). Recommended for kids over the age of 9.

These little 2” pullback race cars are quick and extra-zippy--great for kids and foodies of all ages, as they’re all food-related. Come in a bunch of different styles, including a milk carton, corncob, BBQ chip bag, peanut butter jar, hunk of cheese, ketchup bottle, juice box, watermelon, egg, lemon and more. We’ll pick (4) different ones guaranteed to be cute. Or you can buy (28) at once and save lots of money that you can spend on trophies--or dinner. Ages 4+.

You never know when you might find yourself in a ramen noodle gang fight. This switchblade spork is 6-1/2" long and snaps open to 11". Has a pushbutton trigger switch and a sliding safety so you don't spork yourself by mistake. If Russ Tamblyn had had one of these, he might still be a Jet.

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 he or she will shrink back to egg-size and regrow endless times. (The egg, however, will be history.)

Fluxx, the card game with the rules that keeps changing, is now available in an anatomical version, with (100) cards depicting bones, blood vessels, brains, hearts, lungs--all of your favorite organs and more. For ages 12+ and especially for medical and nursing students.

Surprise your parents with a little science at home. “Science Surprises” is a 192-page paperback in its third edition with over 100 experiments that can be done using common household goodies. OK, a couple of things might require a trip to the hardware store, but still.  The science ranges from the Bernoulli principle and Stroop effect to making your own perfume and cold cream. (And remember what Shaw said: “Science never solves a problem without creating ten more,” so that makes a thousand experiments.)

Naked squirrels always trouble us. For your instagrammatic pleasure, this 7-3/4" tall laminated squirrel cut-out stands on a folding easel and comes with (39) assorted, reusable vinyl clothing stickers, including tighty whities, pearls, a propeller beanie, sneakers, an argyle sweater and a whole bunch of holiday costumes. Easter bunny with a chain saw, anyone?