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

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

Mary Meyer has another entry in the cartoon/nostalgia sweepstakes with Walter J. Lantz's maniacal Woody Woodpecker. For $10, you can carry him around the house and annoy everyone in sight and hearing by endlessly repeating his trademark cackle: "Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh."

CUDDLY BOOKS

Tots just beginning to be read to for the first time usually want to have physical contact with the book, either during or after the reading session. Ideal for tiny hands are Softbooks from Crocodile Creek, Portage, Ind. A combination stuffed toy and book, with the story under a velcro cover, they can be played with, cuddled, and chewed on without harm, and yes, they're washable.

Each Softbook is shaped like the nursery rhyme character featured in the story, so "Humpty Dumpty" is an egg (naturally), and the theme is carried on through "This Little Piggy," "The Queen of Hearts," "The Grand Old Duke of York," "Old King Cole," "Wee Willie Winkie," and "There Was a Crooked Man," while "1, 2, Buckle My Shoe" comes as a big fat hen (as in "9, 10, a ..."). The books measure five to seven inches in height and run about $7 apiece

STAR KOOSH

When Koosh first hit the market about a decade ago, they were mere balls of cut rubber bands, wonderful to squeeze as a mindless relaxant. In the ensuing years, heads and bodies were added to create images of familiar cartoon characters.

Most recently, creatures from the mega-hit "Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace" joined the Koosh stable. While the picture came and went this summer, sweeping up over $400,000,000 in box-office receipts en route, a quartet of Koosh versions of its computer-generated supporting actors lingers, ideal stocking stuffers for the holidays.

For $8.99 apiece, you can collect the sly trader Watto, Sebulba the podracer, a kaadu (sort of a cross between an ostrich and a camel) with a Gungan warrior on his back, and the perpetually annoying Jar Jar Binks.

SOFT TRANSPORT

The last thing toddlers need as they start grasping the concept of items that can be wheeled around the floor is a hard, sharp edge. No worry with the Huggy Buggies from Hooray!, New York. Soft, sponge-like cars, trains, and planes in primary colors come with donut-sized pneumatic wheels that allow them to be maneuvered across the floor even by small hands. These first vehicles go for around $10 each for the passengerless car and $18-20 for the plane piloted by Lucky Dog (with the traditional flying helmet) or a train carrying Baby Bear as the engineer.

CHOO CHOO CHOO

* Kids and trains, like peanut butter and jelly, just naturally seem to go together. The affinity begins at an early age and in many cases, continues into adulthood, with train sets getting more and more elaborate in the evolution from simple choo choos to complex model railroads. As soon as a toddler begins to toddle, another potential engineer is ready to embark on the adventure of traindom.

The simplest vehicle is the pull toy, best exemplified by the Name Train ($39) from TAG Toys, Compton, Calif. Beautifully crafted from smooth hardwood, lacquered in its natural tan shade, except for the cheery red engine, this very basic 21" train has room for seven square blocks on a flatbed behind the cab. Each block has three plain sides, a pair with pictures of toys and/or animals, and the sixth with a letter that (providing the child has less than a seven-letter name) can spell out the owner's name when put into the proper sequence, Welt-balanced on its long wheelbase, it can be pulled behind the tot practically from his or her first steps. A toll-free number (800488-4824) lets you custom order the train with the needed letters.