Disney Club Penguin Description: Based on the family friendly Club Penguin online community, Elite Penguin Force introduces the web-based characters and arctic island setting to a handheld audience. As a member of the Elite Penguin Force, you’ll use gadgets, vehicles, and other devices to complete various objectives.

Exploring different areas on the island will open up whimsical mini-games, from delivering pizzas and dancing to racing and fishing. The DS game also features wireless connectivity to the Club Penguin website, allowing owners to transfer items and unlock special features for use online.

Price: $27.99

Herd Your Horses Board Game Review: I played this with my 8 year old granddaughter and I know we will have years of playing this. The information on the many varieties of mustangs and ranch horses is priceless.

Herd Your Horses Board Game Description: Herd Your Horses allows you to experience life from the horse’s or the rancher’s point of view. Along the way, you’ll learn to appreciate more than just the majestic beauty of these animals.

Meet more than 50 horses, each fully illustrated in color on jumbo playing cards. Each game also includes four horse playing pieces, 42 adventure cards, a game board and game booklet with rules and information about horses.

Herd Your Horses Board Game Review: I have six siblings, and all of us like this game. Even my Dad likes it. There are actually three games in one, so you never get bored. The artwork on the horse cards is amazing. My siblings and I love to compete to see who can make it to the finish line with the prettiest horses. The names are cool too. It says ages 8 and over, but my five year old sister can play it with some help. It’s a great buy, and I would recommend it to anyone interested.

Herd Your Horses Board Game Review: I bought this game for my daughter at Christmas. She hasn’t played it much it is a little bit on the boring side for her. Maybe when she gets a little older it will appeal to her more. She is 9 now. She loves horses so anything with a horse appeals to her but not very exciting.

Herd Your Horses Board Game Review: This was a gift for my grandaughter. We were very pleased with the variety of options available with this game. It allows for solitary play as well as group play. And, there are three variations of the basic game under both the solitary and group play modes. The quality of the game board and the players is excellent. This is a great game for both younger and older children. And it is a fun family game.

Herd Your Horses Board Game Review: My mother got this game for my daughter’s 9th birthday and it has been SO much fun. My daughter is a horse nut and it can be hard to find horse related board games. We enjoy playing it as a family and my husband and I even broke it out the other day with no kids in sight,lol. The games are easy to learn but not so overly-simple as to be boring to older players. My daughter enjoys the one-player options at times when no one else is available to play and my husband uses the factoids on the cards to study up and be able to understand my daughter and I when we start talking about horses.

Price: $22.95

Also, she really has to pay attention and listen to play the game where you repeat the note patterns. I feel alot better paying this amount of money for an educational electronic game than paying a hundred or two or three hundred dollars for an electronic game that will likely be obsolete in 30 years.

Merlin Electronic Puzzle Game Review: I got my Merlin when they first came out. I still have it, and it still works almost 30 years later. As a teacher, I believe it does have educational value. It helps children improve their logical thinking, eye hand coordination and memory skills. I am of the original video game generation (Pong, Atari, etc) and still enjoy my Game Cube and Wii. However nothing beats some of the original hand held games, and this is one of my favorites. I am getting them for my niece and nephews so they will leave mine alone. They enjoy my Merlin and yes, they are avid players of Nintendo DS.

Merlin Electronic Puzzle Game Description: The original Electronic Wizard Game is back. It’s a classic handheld favorite that entertained millions when it was first launched. The new, sleeker Merlin game offers six different games of chance, memory and strategy, all in a self-contained electronic unit. Choose from Tic Tac Toe, Music Machine, Echo, Blackjack 13, Magic Square, or Mind Bender. Requires 3 “AAA” alkaline batteries, included.

Merlin Electronic Puzzle Game Review: I used to have one of these as a kid and it was much bigger so when I got this one I was set back a bit. Plus the buttons where different too. Well after playing with it and my entire family I don’t think the size or the different style buttons matter. The game is awesome. I always like it and my kids do too.

Merlin Electronic Puzzle Game Review: This is a very sturdy, not so educational but sort of fun kind of toy. My daughter had one as a child and she played with it for hours at a time. 30 years later she is requesting one for her daughter for Christmas.

Tic tac toe is frustrating because the first move is always made by the child, the Merlin move ALWAYS blocks the childs moves, so it is impossible to win this game. This is very frustrating to a child.

The one good thing I have to say is that you are not purchasing from Amazon, but through them. If you have a problem with the item, your money will be refunded, unlike Amazom, where they will take your money but never return it, no matter what the reason.

Price: $29.99

With Picture Words: Things Outside, your child can play with Dora and her friends and: build awareness about animals and objects outside; recognize how animals and objects are alike and different; develop early reading and spelling skills. This set includes animal words in Spanish. Contains 26 two-sided cards.

Price: $7.50

All-American Car-i-oke Review: This was good for at least an hour of no-bickering drive time. It isn’t “kiddie” music, so it’s entertaining for the adults, as well. Several extra copies of the lyrics mean you can lose one without harm. The cover and binding are durable, to put up with the abuses of living in a family vehicle. I’m looking at the holiday version next.

All-American Car-i-oke Description: This kit has a book with lyrics, singing tips, quizzes, travel trivia and lessons in back seat drumming. There are lyric books for those in the back, and a CD of the music for 15 tunes including “Give My Regards to Broadway”, “When The Saints Come Marching In” and “Are We There Yet Blues”.

All-American Car-i-oke Review: This was a great idea and I bought it for a road trip with the kids last summer. We enjoyed parts of it. But most of it, unless you know every single song by heart, is hard to follow. It would be nice to have the singers singing back up through more of the songs, or at least have better intrances cues. I am fairly comfortable with music and singing with my kids, but I have never learned ‘Cielita Linda’ well enough to sing it with only the words.

All in all, not worth the money for me, though my kids do love the drum solo song where all they have to do is bang on stuff to a cool beat.

All-American Car-i-oke Review: I wasn’t sure how this would go over with my 7 and 9 year old girls, but we had a lot of fun with it on a l-o-n-g car ride home from vacation this summer. Not all the songs were familiar to us, but learning the lyrics was part of the fun.

This gets three thumbs up from the girls and me and one from my husband, who was driving, and glad no one was complaining about being in the car so long.

Price: $9.95

Nerf-N-Strike Bundle Review: Bought this for my wife for her birthday. She loves it. Tons of fun multiplayer action. It only comes with three microdarts, too easy to lose them all. Good game, though.

Nerf-N-Strike Bundle Description: The Search for the N-Strike Elite Begins…Through the din of a popular arcade, one player has emerged as the best N-Strike gamer his friends have ever seen. But even as Shane smashes through the game’s record, something far more mysterious is happening: his success is being tracked and recorded. Shane is the perfect candidate for an ultra-exclusive invitation to become an N-Strike Elite. Later that night, he’s awakened to find the Nomad C Series Recruitment bot hovering silently over his bed. “B.O.B.” has a challenge for Shane. Join the quest to become an Elite Striker and he’ll have access to Top Secret Blasters.

Nerf-N-Strike Bundle Review: My boys, ages 5 and 6, desperately wanted this game. We have Nerf Wars at home all the time, and they were originally thinking you shot nerf darts at the tv as part of the game. We purchased the game, and they have played it for quite some time. As for the gameplay, there are boy friendly graphics and sounds. The voices that speak to you are futuristically robotic, but they do provide directions which is nice since the boys can’t read them yet. You unlock Nerf weapons along the way as you score points.

Each weapon shoots differently: think firing speed, power, and accuracy. There are a ton of guns to earn, and we don’t have all of them yet. If you have problems passing one of the game levels, you can go back to choose a different weapon and try again. Maybe you need more firing power or better aim. There are portions where you have to shoot at only certain colored robots and miss the others, as well as a portion that resembles Boom Blox as you topple towers of blocks with your shots. Most of the time we play games as family. This one bored my husband and I pretty quickly, but the boys are still really enjoying it. I was hoping for a little more from it, especially after all the hype and coming from such a big name like Nerf. In conclusion, not a bad game, but not a house favorite.

Price: $56.82

PlayTV Skateboarding Review: This was a Christmas gift for my son. He seems to enjoy the game but sometimes becomes frustrated when he doesn’t advance the levels as quickly as he would like but that is typical behavior for him. I do not regret the purchase and feel that I received like value for the amount paid.

PlayTV Skateboarding Description: Pull off a radical half pipe move from the comfort of your living room couch. This action-packed game plugs directly into your TV and lets you play through a series of mini-games in two different game modes. Choose from three different skaters and pull off terrific tricks and moves with a combination of joystick buttons and board movements. Requires 6 “AA” batteries, not included. Shipping varies by location. Please allow 3-4 days + shipping time.

PlayTV Skateboarding Review: My son loves skateboarding, but I am terrified of him being injured. This toy is a safe alternative to the real thing and is lots and lots of fun! The graphics are great and the player can do lots of tricks to make points. Game simply plugs directly into any television set no programming or extra cords does require a few batteries. Skateboard is pretty durable small adult can safely stand on the board w/out damaging the toy. Good buy if you have an avid skateboarder in the family. Girls love to play the game too!

Price: $60.00

20Q Sports Review: The 20Q Sports is not as thorough as the original 20Q. It makes a lot more errors. For example, when you answer that the item is not a person, one of the questions it asks is whether it is black. In the case of a baseball, when you enter “no”, it still asks if the item is…and it proceeds to name an African American sports person.

20Q Sports Description: Whether you’re between innings at a night baseball game, between rounds of a morning golf tournament, or just kicking back watching the contest on your big-screen TV, you can fill your mind and moments with the sports trivia challenge 20Q Sports. This mind-reading robot knows what sports are on your mind. Sports heroes, events, teams and more challenge the 20Q Sports and see if it can read your mind. You think of the event, hero or game, and then let 20Q ask all the questions. They’ll be easy-to-read because the words are short and the screen is big! With a new variety of answers, from yes to no to unknown, from sometimes to rarely, the 20Q just gets smarter and more fun.

20Q Sports Review: I bought this for my husband’s birthday he is a sports trivia nut. Not such a good choice! Even with specific questions and answers it rarely guesses correctly. The Sports version is now collecting dust on the coffee table.

Price: $8.92

Illuminated Mega Sudoku Puzzle Game Review: I’ve owned this handheld for a week and already the ‘pause’ and ‘clear’ touch portions of the upper right hand of the screen won’t work most of the time — >90%. Other than that, I love the backlight feature. I would prefer that the division between the 9 main blocks was clearer, with bolder lines.

Illuminated Mega Sudoku Puzzle Game Description: Prepare to be obsessed. Try the addictive puzzle game, Sudoku, on this new easy-to-use, extra-large touch screen. It features over 2 million world-class computer-generated puzzles, eight levels of difficulty to challenge your logic skills and a tutorial mode for beginners. There’s even a Sudoku Solver that lets you input puzzles from your favorite source to solve or play. Plus, it’s fully illuminated, so you can play anytime, anywhere. Requires 2 “AAA” batteries, included. Measures 4.25″W x 5.75″H.

Illuminated Mega Sudoku Puzzle Game Review: This may be a toy but, at age 62, it helps keeps my mind honed. It is intuitively easy to use and comes with an extra pointer for when the original one is temporarily misplaced. It has eight optional levels of play. The only negative comment is that the screen can be difficult to read and is best used where the light level and orientation can be adjusted.

Illuminated Mega Sudoku Puzzle Game Review: I purchased this game for a relative for Christmas. She seems pleased with the game overall. The only thing, so far, she has found that she doesn’t care for is the way you put the multiple numbers in one square when you are still unsure of which one is correct. It will accept the multiple choices however after they are entered the square just continually blinks the numbers you have put in one number at a time. instead of just showing them in small print all together. This is very distracting and not very helpful. All other features are pretty nice. It is well lit and easy to read. Comes with an extra stylus. Overall nice product for a fair price.

Price: $29.99

Anyhow, he’s now interested in the cards, several months after I purchased them. He’s really learning from the questions. One drawback is that the actual cards are made from paper stock that doesn’t seem durable and are a little too precious.

Eeboo Good Manners Flash Cards Description: Beautifully illustrated by Saxton Freymann for eeBoo, Good Manners Responsibility Flash Cards is a lovely way to reinforce polite behavior. One side of the card sets the scene while the back of the card models the appropriate behavior.

Price: $11.40