And we say that with a history of silly that’s virtually unmatched. You slip on this pair of lens-less glasses with the tiny bucket and ball on a string attached, and try, while looking like a demented chipmunk, to swing the little ball on its cord and drop it into the cup. In red and blue plastic, you will be filmed on a smart phone, it will be put on social media, and you will be famous for it for the rest of your life. Best to order a couple so you’re not alone.

Pop one of these roughly 1-1/4" dia stones into the toe of a sock, smash it with a hammer, and be the first person ever to see your real-as-Nature-makes-it geode!! Ninety percent of them have the familiar beautiful white crystals inside. Formed by volcanic action, they are found all over the world, but ours are from Mexico. There is no way to tell from the outside if they have crystal centers, but we will send you two just to raise your odds, and we haven't had a dud yet in our stores!! Much much more fun and satisfaction than buying one already cracked.

About 30-40 highly polished stones, all shiny, translucent, or brightly colored, ranging from 3/4" long to 1/8" long. Great for mosaics, jewelry, or aquariums.

Just the one, actually, but it’s been sliced in half so the pair is perfectly symmetrical and mighty pretty. Although ammonites have been extinct for 65,000,000 years, we’ve got their approx 1” dia fossils for you. Our each is a book-matched pair of polished ammonites fossils of a single critter halved and polished to a bright symmetrical shininess. The colors vary from light tan to dark brown and we’ll pick because we have impeccable ammonitical color-shade taste. And yes, they’re just screaming to become cuff-links or earrings.

2" flywheel in well made metal frame. The trick is the same as it has been for 100 years. Wind the string through the spindle, pull it firmly to set the flywheel spinning, and perform effortless balancing magic on pencil tips, string tightropes, and the like. We tend to forget that bicycles and aircraft navigation both rely heavily on gyroscopic principles. It's never too early to tell the kids. Besides, it's fun.

Squeeze this squishy version of the eight-legged tardigrade, aks moss piglet, aka water bear, and it takes up to (9) seconds to slowly morph back into shape while you feel your stress disappear like the cashews in a bowl of mixed nuts. Measures 4-1/2” long in green with the squeezability of a marshmallow. You probably don’t even know you need it, but you’ll know you needed it once you start squeezing it.

Here's a little music box to crank. These are really cute, with a very nice sound, and they're in clear acrylic cases so you, or impressionable youngsters, can watch them work. They measure 2-1/4"x 2" x 1-1/4" with a 7/8" crank. We'll pick one that plays When You Wish upon a Star, Row, Row, Row your Boat, Brahms' Lullaby, or Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. We won't pick the one that plays the score from Die Walküre because the wheel is just enormous.

Stick a coin on top of the fishy plate on this plastic coin bank and it triggers a Hiya Kitty inside to mew some cat noises, then peeks out and reaches out a paw to snatch the coin. The box, which is mysteriously made to look like an fruit crate, measures 4-3/4" x 4" x 3-1/2". You’ll need to add a couple of “AA” batteries but that’s the standard price of kitten cuteness today. CLICK HERE for video.

Based on drawings from Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus, this Pathfinders catapult kit uses a pair of bent wooden arms as springs to launch clay balls (included) over (4) meters at enemy fortifications (not included, go make your own enemies). The assembled model will be approx 9" tall on a 10" x 7-1/4" base. Made from pre-cut, untreated wood from sustainable forests, and built with pegs for added strength and verisimilitude. A 2013 Creative Child Magazine Top Toy of the Year Winner and a great resource for STEM activities. For ages 12 and up.

Imagine a not-unteletubbyish space guy, but with a couple sets of rotors in his head, and the ability to hover. Has sensors on his feet so he knows where the ground (our your hand) is, and he’ll keep hovering. Plus his blue eyes flash on and off, like a short, intergalactic Frank Sinatra. Measures 5” tall with a 5-1/2” rotor-span. Powered by an internal battery, rechargeable via a USB port with the included 10” cord. Run time is 4-5 mins. Ages 6+.

Imagine the family competitions you could have with this floating ball game. Hours of fun, minutes at a time! The wooden pipe is approx 6” long, and the 1-3/8” Styrofoam balls are yours to levitate through the magic of steady breath and balance. Oh, the wonders! Ages 4+.

The real deal. 2-1/2" long red egg-shaped container with a blob of Silly PuttyTM inside. Does anyone need me to explain all the fun you'll have with Silly Putty? I thought not. Just get some today!

THE American classic novelty item (even ahead of the whoopee cushion and rubber vomit, we think) is a set of chattering choppers. Auto-dentures. Invented by Eddy Goldfarb in 1949, a man who made the Toy Industry Hall of Fame ahead of Milton Bradley, these are, not to put too fine a point on it, the sine qua non of gagdom, the ne plus ultra of spring-driven frivolity. Ours are 2-1/2" dia, with a wind-up key.

is best done with the sacred mother of all novelty items, the original Whoopee Cushion. Marlon Brando owned one. Of course he did, they're both American classics, except the cushion was born in Toronto. Ours is the classic 8" version.

Cutest drone ever. Shaped, and sized, like a chicken egg, just over 2-1/2” tall . Opens up to a 5” wide quad-rotor drone with a range of approx 100 feet, and it’ll fly for approx 6 minutes on a 45-minute charge. Features auto-hover and 360-degree roll, headless remote and (3) speeds. Includes charging cord, spare blades and a small screwdriver. Has a 2.4 GHz transmitter that uses (2) “AAA” batteries.

Very popular with elementary school teachers, these hardcover blank books let students create their own storybooks. (Middle-schoolers interviewing and making books for primary grade kids is a popular and civilizing project.) Also great for sketching, journaling or scrapbooking. Pure white blank covers with (14) sheets (28 pages) of 80-lb blank paper inside with a sewn-in binding. You pick the 6” x 8” books or the 8-1/2” x 11” versions.

These (7) small gemstones--quartz crystal, amethyst, tiger’s eye, sodalite, aventurine, orange calcite and jasper--are approx 1/2” to 1” and will serve as either geologic specimens, jewelry-making supplies, or help in restoring your harmonious flow of energy depending on how you roll and what you’re into.

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.