Holiday Toys & Games - gift-buying guide - Buyers Guide

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Nov, 1999

Finally, back safely in the yard, it's time for a ride on the Tigger Totter Teeter Totter ($35) for two, since teetering is what Tiggers do best--as the soft, squeezable Tigger toy spins and sways with each rock of the teeter.

Yet, we've forgotten two things that kids love to do best: climbing and sliding. Easily fixed. Just set up the Jungle Climber ($180). It snaps together--no hardware required to construct the waterfall slide, multilevel platforms, spinning door, and sturdy spiderweb-like rope. Now us old folks can finally rest while the kids have at it.

JIGSAW JAMBOREE

Nothing is so calming for kids--as well as their parents--as a jigsaw puzzle when inclement weather or illness dictates indoor activities. A good source is Briarpatch Inc., Millburn, N.J., which we have a very special reason for recommending--it offers replacements for lost puzzle pieces. Better to spend a dollar for a missing piece than to throw out all the other ones!

Briarpatch puzzles range from the simple (a 10-piece bunny-filled version of the book, Guess How Much I Love You, and an 18-piece one based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar, each $7.99) to the medium complex (a 33-piece Caterpillar floor puzzle or a 37-piece Guess, each covering a 2' x 3' area for $14.99) to the brain-teasing I Spy City Blocks floor puzzle ($14.95) with 35 pieces and the challenge of "spying" various objects named in the rhyme that frames the completed picture.

Another excellent group of floor puzzles come from Ravensburger-F.X. Schmid USA, Inc., Newton, N.H. These 24-piece, roughly 2' x 3' puzzles are large enough to make assembly relatively easy for little hands. Moreover, the themes are based on favorite familiar characters that should be instantly recognizable: Curious George at the Circus, Busytown Parade, Count with Maisy, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Spot ABC, and Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. The puzzles ($12-14 apiece) can be assembled in about 15 minutes by two- and three-year-olds, long enough to be a challenge and build self-esteem without being frustrating by proving too difficult.

THE MOOSE IS BACK IN TOWN

Rare is the grown-up who does not look back fondly to the days when the cartoon characters of Jay Ward made Saturday mornings a delight. The lunacy was two-tiered --entertaining for kids, while slyly amusing for their parents. Ward is gone, alas, but his work--which continued to linger in odd corners of cable TV--is staging a comeback. Witness the cinematic success of live-action versions of "George of the Jungle" and "Dudley Do-Right."

Currently, a combination live-action/computer-generated-cartoon film is in the works starring Ward's most beloved creations--Rocket J. Squirrel (Rocky to his friends) and his dim-witted buddy, Bullwinkle Moose, who ultimately stole the hearts of the audience away from the flying squirrel. To tie in with the forthcoming movie and capitalize on the nostalgia craze, the Mary Meyer Corp., Townshend, Vt., has come out with stuffed versions of our two heroes, as well as their perpetually bumbling nemeses--arch spies Boris and Natasha. Roughly nine inches high, they run about $10 each.