Buy it: Enchanted Forest

I passed my own childhood game of Enchanted Forest down to my daughter and she loves it as much as I did.

This quality board game features a variety of classic fairy tales and a forest of trees with hidden clues. To play, players roll the dice and move around the board, landing next to little trees. When they lift the tree, there is a picture from a fairy tale underneath. It might be Cinderella’s slipper or boots worn by Puss in Boots. Players try to search the board to find out where each fairy tale picture is hidden.

Then they try to be the first one to reach the castle where they will earn cards for knowing what clues are under each tree. But if your guess is wrong, you are sent back to start over.

To speed up the game for my daughter, when someone lands on a tree, instead of keeping the clue a secret, we share it with all the players. It’s a great game for teaching memorization skills.

Buy it: Fish Stix

Fish Stix is one of the best games I have bought for my daughter Ally, age 6. This award-winning game is simple and easy to learn, but will grow with a child since it’s based on strategy.

In the game, there are cards or “stix” featuring different brightly-colored fish swimming in different directions. The point of the game is to lay down the cards to match the same fish and the same direction. Each player has a scoreboard with fish tokens. For each matched fish, the player moves their token that many spaces on the scoreboard. The winner is the player who gets each of their fish tokens to the end of the scoreboard first.

Our family loves to play this game together because it truly is fun for all ages. Ally loves the brightly-colored fish and making them “swim” ahead on her scoreboard. My husband and I love the strategy of trying to find places to make a match or multiple matches each turn. The more we play it, the more Ally gets the strategy of looking for the best match and even blocking other players.

The cards and game pieces are very sturdy. The game is easy to assemble and put away. I have bought this game as a gift for a number of my daughter’s friends and it’s always a hit. Love it!

We Are in a Book! (By Mo Willems) – Hands down, the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems are the best early reader books I’ve seen. The entire collection is so funny and clever that my daughter Ally, now 6, reads them over and over and still laughs every time. All of the Elephant and Piggie books offer sweet lessons about friendship and simple words to build early reader confidence. I also love that Elephant and Piggie’s conversations are color-coded, so readers always know who is saying what. We have several of these books, but one of our favorites is “We Are in a Book!” In this story, Elephant (Gerald) and Piggie discover that someone is watching them – a reader! Then they find out they can make the reader say funny words, until they find out (oh no!) the book ends! The story ends with them asking the reader to read their book again. A wonderful set of books for readers, ages 4-8, but Ally has found out that her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all find them pretty entertaining as well. A great collection to get your young child reading!

The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!

Buy it: Cranium Hullabaloo

If you have little kids ages 4 to 6, you should get them Cranium Hullabaloo. This is an incredibly fun and easy to follow game for young children that gets them up and doing what they do best – moving, bouncing, jumping, stretching and spinning.

When my daughter got this game as a gift at age 5, the whole family played it together no less than – and I’m not kidding – 30 times the first day. And thank goodness, this game is even fun for adults to play along with their kids.

The game comes with a speaker that gives directions during the game. There are also 16 pads, with different shapes, colors and pictures. During the game, players are asked to bounce to a blue, swim to a square or sit down on an animal. The kids must listen and follow the instructions until they are told to “freeze.” Then the player standing on a certain pad is named the winner and asked to do something silly – like a funky monkey dance.

My daughter always laughs through the whole game and wants to plays it often. It has been great for playdates and would also be fun for birthday parties. Since the rules allow for more than one player to stand on a pad, we have played the game with several players and it works just fine.

My only criticism of the game would be that the “game announcer” can sometimes be a little too quiet to hear, even at top volume, when several kids are talking and laughing. But that’s a great way to encourage kids to quiet down and be good listeners.

Buy it: Melissa & Doug Pasture Pals 12 Horses

This collection includes 12 miniature horses in a wooden case shaped like a barn. There are 12 different horse breeds and there is an identification key on the back of the case. Each horse has a fuzzy texture on their body and soft mane and tail. This gift is sure to please any little girl who loves horses!

Buy it: Our Generation Lipizzaner Horse Set

My daughter got this horse for her fifth birthday. It makes a great “Wow!” gift for not much money. This horse stands 20 inches high and for little girls who love horses, it’s dream come true. The horse comes with a saddle, blanket and reins, as well as a crown, hair accessories and instructions on how to style the horse’s mane and tail. This horse has held up very well to all kinds of play, including being “ridden” by my daughter.

Buy it: Breyer Classics Pinto Horse and Foal

Breyer horses are great quality model horses. And Breyer offers a great selection of the many horse breeds so you can find one that will interest your little girl. My daughter loves pinto horses, so we got her this set for Christmas last year. It was one of her favorite presents and very affordable.

Buy it: Melissa & Doug Horse Stable Stamp Set

This great, affordable gift allows little girls to create horse scenes, using these stamps of horses running, jumping and standing, as well as stamps of a stable, jumps and fences. The set includes colored pencils and a ink pad with washable black and brown ink.

Buy it: Enchantmints Horse Fairy Musical Jewelry Box

Little girls who love horses will also love this musical jewelry box, which plays “In the Good Old Summertime” when opened. The box features a horse that spins, a mirror and four drawers.

Buy it: Melissa & Doug Frolicking Horses Jigsaw Puzzle

This 48-piece wooden puzzle features five different frolicking horses. The pieces are sturdy and thicker than the cardboard variety, which means the puzzle will last a long time. My daughter likes that the pieces kind of “snap” together, which you don’t get with a cardboard puzzle.

Buy it: My First Horse and Pony Book

A wonderful, informative book for little girls who want to learn more about horses and ponies. The book features great pictures of horses and easy to understand descriptions of horse and pony care, riding and breeds. The pictures also show children riding and taking care of the horses.

Buy it: Playmobil Pony Ranch – Dressage

An affordable and fun Playmobil set, this includes four figures, two horses and several horse accessories so kids can play out different scenes like horse shows or horseback riding lessons.

Buy it: Horses Placemat

A fun way for kids to learn about all the different breeds of horses. This two-sided placemat, which can be wiped clean, features pictures and names of some of the most well-known breeds of horses.

Buy it: The Perfect Pony

“The Perfect Pony” is a book about a young girl named Katie who is looking for her perfect pony. But when she and her mom go to look at ponies, they find ponies that are too nervous, too young, too old, too fast or too stubborn. Katie wonders if she will ever find the pony that is right for her. Then one day, she and her mom find a round, filthy little pony. Katie is doubtful but she gets to work grooming the pony. And when she rides him, she discovers that he’s perfect.

Buy it: Melissa and Doug Sticker Collection

When I saw this sticker collection, I almost did a double take when I saw the price. This collection includes over 700 stickers featuring all the things girls love – horses, fairies, princesses, fashion, animals, ballerinas and tea parties. The stickers come off the pages easily so it makes a great gift for young girls.

Buy it: Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics Jewelry Box

My daughter got this for a gift and spent hours carefully sticking on all the jewels and stickers to make her own jewelry box with a butterfly pattern. Now she displays it proudly in her room and loves having a place for all her plastic jewelry and little treasures. This is a fun affordable gift for girls who like crafts.

Buy it: Alex Toys Crafty Fashion Show

This kit is so much fun for little girls and is practically fool-proof. It includes four very-sturdy 14″ paper dolls as well as pre-cut clothes and accessories for each. Each doll’s outfit, as well as any and-on accessories like stickers, ribbons and pom-poms, are all packaged together into four separate kits inside the box. Everything you need to make the dolls is in the box, including a glue stick, crayons and very simple instructions.

Buy it: Mudpuppy Mermaids Magnetic Figures

This toy is great for travel and in the car. The set comes with magnetic mermaid dolls, clothes and accessories and four background scenes. The magnets stick to the tin, which closes tight and keeps everything together. There are also sets with princess, horse and ballerina magnets available.

Buy it: Melissa and Doug Friendship Stamp Set

The Melissa and Doug stamp sets make a great gift for little girls. The stamps work great and come in shapes that girls love like hearts, rainbows and flowers. There are also other sets available with animals, horses or dinosaurs. The set includes a stamp pad with brightly colored, washable ink and colored pencils.

Buy it: Do-A-Dot Art Brilliant

This set is a fun and clever spin on traditional paints, markers and stamps, without the mess. Each set includes six sponge-tip bottles with the paint inside. Children can simply stamp the bottle down on the paper for a dot of paint or they can slide it across the paper to make lines or other designs. These applicators eliminate the need for cups and paintbrushes and they also eliminate any potential spills and messes.

Buy it: eeBoo Tea Party Game

This is a fun game for little girls who love tea parties. It comes with a real tablecloth and cardboard tea cups, plates and food. Players spin the teapot-shaped spinner and take turns to see who finishes their tea first. Very easy to learn and lots of fun!

Buy it: Pretty Pretty Princess Game

What’s more fun than a board game where you collect jewelry as you go around the board? In this game, girls move their pieces around the board, landing on pictures of necklaces, bracelets, rings and crowns. Players play dress-up as they play, and the first “princess” to collect each piece of jewelry wins.

Buy it: Shrinky Dinks Deluxe

It was a blast from the past when my daughter, age 5, first started doing Shrinky Dinks. But they are still just as much fun as they used to be and so easy. This set includes 10 sheets of Shrink film, colored pencils, sharpener and a hole puncher. Girls can use the set to make jewelry, beads, hair clips, greeting cards, key chains and charm bracelets. After they color the film, just bake the creations to shrink them down!

Buy it: Melissa & Doug Abby & Emma Deluxe Magnetic Dress-up

Two magnetic dolls with 60 pieces of clothing and accessories to mix and match and create hundreds of outfits. The magnetic clothing sticks to the dolls easily and it all stays organized in one wooden box.

Buy it: Disney Princess Shoe Boutique

This set includes four pairs of play dress-up shoes featuring Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Belle and Snow White. My daughter, age 5, and her friends have played dress up with these shoes for years.

Buy it: Disney Princess 8-piece Figurine Set

This set includes eight small figures of the princesses. My daughter has had these figures since she turned 3 and she still plays with them all the time at age 5. They are a great size for taking along in the car, to restaurants, on airplanes, etc.

Buy it: Disney Princess Doll 8-piece Gift Set

If you are looking for a “Wow!” gift for your Disney Princess fan, this is it. My daughter got this for Christmas two years ago and we have all been thrilled with it. The dolls are about the size of a Barbie and are great quality.

Buy it: Disney Princess Favorite Moments Mini-Doll and Playset

My daughter loves these little princess dolls because they come with different dresses and outfits. Over the past couple of years, we have collected these playsets for each of the different princesses and my daughter plays with them all the time. Now that she’s five years old, my daughter can change the dolls in and out of their rubber clothes by herself, but when she was younger, she had trouble with it. Parents will most likely have to change the doll’s clothes for younger children. Also these sets come with tiny shoes, which could be a choking hazard for young children, and usually get lost.

Buy it: Disney Princess Memory Game

For ages 3 and up, this is a great game for girls who love the Disney Princesses. The Memory cards feature different pictures of all the princesses and some of the other Disney characters like Flounder, Dopey, Mrs. Potts, etc. When my daughter was younger, we played with fewer pairs, but we added more as she got older.

Buy it: Disney Enchanted Tales Musical Carousel Coach Playset

This is another “Wow!” gift. These horse-drawn coach makes a great gift for girls who already have some of the Disney Princess dolls. Two dolls can sit inside the coach and as it is pulled, the coach spins 360 degrees while the horse hooves clomp and music plays. A princess can also ride on the horse. My daughter loves this toy! She has had it for almost 3 years and it is still in great shape. Good quality and lots of princess fun!

Buy it: Disney Princess Rhyme Time Book and CD

This is a fun and affordable gift for girls who like Disney Princesses. It’s a book of rhymes featuring several of the princesses, and readers are asked to guess the ending of each rhyme. My daughter loved figuring out the rhymes when she got the book at age 3, and now she loves reading it to herself. The book also comes with CD that provides read-long narration.

Buy it: Disney Princess Scratch and Design

This fun, affordable gift allows girls to decorate pictures of princesses with stickers of dresses, crowns and jewelry and then scratch the stickers to make designs and sparkles. For ages 4 and up, this set comes with over 200 stickers. I bought this for my daughter to keep her busy on an airplane, but I had no idea how many times she would be able to dress-up the princesses. The stickers peel off easily to change the princesses’ look and my daughter loved scratching the stickers to make them sparkle.

Buy it: Disney Princess 8-Game Set

My daughter, age 5, loves playing all the games in this set, which includes games like bingo, dominoes, checkers, Go Fish, Old Maid, etc. All of the games feature of the Disney Princesses and instructions for each game are included. I would recommend this for ages 4 and up, since some of the games can be a little complicated for younger kids.

Buy it: Disney Princess Deluxe Dress Up Trunk

You can’t go wrong with a gift of Disney Princess dress up clothes. My daughter and her friends love to dress up as the Disney princesses and this trunk gives you everything you need. This 19-piece set includes skirts, shirts, jewelry and shoes to let your little girl turn herself into her favorite princess. The clothes fit sizes 4-6.

Buy it: Left Right Center Dice Game

If you’re looking for a fun way to teach young children the difference between left and right, get the Left Right Center Dice Game.

My five-year-old daughter Ally loves this game and while she had already learned left from right before we started playing, I can see that it’s reinforcing that lesson every time we play.

But this game is a great purchase for so many reasons. It’s easy to play and fun for kids as well as adults. The game is recommended for ages 5 and up. It’s inexpensive and it’s small case makes it easy to take with you anywhere.

The game includes three dice and several plastic chips and can be played by three of more players.

The game is simple. Each player has three chips. When the player rolls the three dice, the dice will determine if the player has to pass his chips to the right, left, put them in the center of the table or keep them. But as play continues, chips are passed around between the players, until only one player has chips remaining. That player wins the game.

You can also replace the plastic chips with other items. For example, we’ve used M&M’s, letting the winner keep the whole “pot.”

Buy it: Play-doh Mr. Potato Head Playset

I picked up the Play-doh Mr. Potato Head playset for my daughter Ally, age 5, on a whim. But this is a great Play-doh toy.

The set comes with everything you need to make two small Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads. There’s brown, red, black and white Play-doh; molds to make eyes, noses, mouths and hair; and arms and shoes.

I’ve found that Play-doh toys often look like fun, but they aren’t realistic about what a young child can make with them. But this set is very fun and easy to use. Ally and I have made some great Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads together. And I have to say, our creations might actually be better than the ones they show on the box!

It’s easy for Ally to put Play-doh in the molds and create different features and hairstyles for her Potato Head. And of course, the arms and shoes just stick right into the Play-doh potato.

The toy is recommended for ages 3 and up but I would say, ages 5 and older would be the best recommendation for being able to use the toy and make the best creations from it.

Buy it: Can You See What I See?

Can You See What I See? Finders Keepers Game is hands down one of the best children’s games I have ever played.

And my daughter Ally, age 5, cannot get enough of this game either. I think we may actually play it every single day.

What makes this game so much fun is its simplicity. There are a couple different ways to play, so I’ll describe the way we play it most often. Each player has 12 cards face-up in front of them, and each card shows four pictures of common items like a yo-yo, a domino, a block, a crayon, etc. The players take turns drawing from another set of cards that show one of these items. If a player has a card in front of them with that item on it, they flip it over. The object is to be the first player to flip all 12 of their cards face down.

Ally loves this game because of its I-Spy roots. She loves looking to see if either she or another player has the item that has been drawn.

And it’s so easy and fun for young children because it doesn’t require any reading, rolling of dice or waiting for your turn. Our games of Can You See What I See? usually last about five to 10 minutes, which is great because Ally generally loses interest when board games drag on too long.

The cards are thick and durable. This is a high quality, well thought-out game. And most importantly, it may be the only game in our collection that doesn’t make me groan when Ally suggests playing it.

Buy it: Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Blossom Bright Sprinkler

My five-year-old daughter Ally isn’t like most kids. She doesn’t like to just run through the sprinkler and get soaking wet and sprayed with water from every angle.

She’s pretty timid around water. She doesn’t like to get her face wet at all and she doesn’t enjoy any surprise splashes of water.

So when I went looking for a sprinkler for her to play in, I was disappointed to see that most children’s sprinkler toys today spin or flail around, spraying water unpredictably in any direction.

But my prayers were answered when I finally found the Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Blossom Bright Sprinkler. This sprinkler just sprays a nice simple fountain of water and nothing more. And since we can adjust the height of the water, Ally now happily jumps through a fountain that hits at about chest height.

Not only is this the perfect sprinkler for a more timid child like mine, but it’s also adorable, soft and durable. The sprinkler looks like a collection of pink flowers. The flowers are soft though, which is great when Ally accidentally steps right on the sprinkler.

I would highly recommend this sprinkler!

Buy it: iPlay Stomp Launcher

The iPlay Stomp Launcher is a very easy to operate and durable stomp rocket for young children.

I got this stomp launcher for my five-year-old daughter, Ally, for a camping trip. It turned out to be a fun outdoor toy for camping and continues to be fun in the backyard.

This toy is very simple to set-up and operate. Ally was immediately able to place the rocket on the launcher and launch it without any help. The safe foam rockets have stood up to being launched and crashed several times and they have held up great.

It has also been a wonderful science lesson since Ally quickly figured out that the strength of her stomp determines how much air is pushed through the tube which therefore determines how high the rockets fly.

This toy is very affordable and is recommended for ages 3 and up.

Buy it: Insect Lore Ladybug Land

For kids who enjoy watching bugs and trying to capture them, the Insect Lore Ladybug Land makes it easy and fun.

My daughter Ally, 5, loved taking care of a caterpillar last summer and watching it transform into a butterfly. So when she got the Ladybug Land, she was thrilled to try her hand at raising ladybugs.

And the Insect Lore Ladybug Land makes it so simple. Our Ladybug Land came with a coupon which allowed us to order the live ladybug larvae, shipped right to our mailbox. Then we simply opened the top of our Ladybug Land and dropped in the live larvae and food. All we had to do to maintain the ladybugs was to regularly add a few drops of water.

Each day, Ally and I watched as the larvae grew, explored the ladybug land, reached the pupa stage and hung from the dome, and eventually emerged as adult ladybugs. There is a magnifying glass built into the top of the dome, so kids can get a closer look.

Ally watched with amazement as the ladybugs went through each stage and loved dropping in raisins to feed the adult ladybugs. We ended up with seven adult ladybugs in the end.

This fun and educational toy is a great way to allow little ones to experience the wonders of nature up close.

Ally is looking forward to setting our ladybugs free in the backyard soon and can’t wait to try another of the Insect Lore kits. Who knows what creepy crawly creatures we’ll be raising next…

Buy it: Do-A-Dot Art Set

The Do-A-Dot Art Set is a fun and clever spin on traditional paints, markers and stamps, without the mess.

Each set includes six sponge-tip bottles with the paint inside. Children can simply stamp the bottle down on the paper for a dot of paint or they can slide it across the paper to make lines or other designs.

These applicators eliminate the need for cups and paintbrushes and they also eliminate any potential spills and messes.

And these paints last a long time. My daughter Ally got her set when she was 2 years old. Now at the age of 5, she’s still using that same set.

The paint is washable and the applicators are very easy to use and just the right size for young children. The set is recommended for ages 3 and up.

Ally loves these paints and the “dot” designs she can make with them. She has made some very creative art projects turning the dots into pictures.

Do-A-Dot books are also available, with pictures children can paint using these special applicators. But they are just as much fun on plain white paper.

Buy it: Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics Jewelry Box

The Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics Jewelry Box is a fun craft project and a great lesson in fine motor skills.

The jewelry box has a decorate-by-number pattern on each side. The child can stick on the included jewels and sticky foam pieces to create the butterfly designs.

My daughter Ally, who is almost 5 years old, loved this toy both as an art project and her first jewelry box. She happily peeled and stuck the jewels and foam pieces for hours. The toy’s recommended age is 6 and up and I would agree with that. Ally is still a little young to have the patience for a project like this and sometimes got frustrated trying to place some of the tiny pieces. But with my help, we were able to finish it.

Ally loves the jewelry box and it seems pretty sturdy. It features a lift-up lid and a drawer that slides out. We’ve only had the jewelry box for a couple of weeks, but so far the jewels and foam pieces are staying on just fine.

I would definitely recommend this toy for girls 6 and up or for younger girls who have the patience and fine motor skills for the project.

Buy it: Alex Toys Crafty Fashion Show

The Alex Toys Crafty Fashion Show makes a great arts and crafts project, a wonderful rainy day toy and a perfect (and inexpensive) gift for little girls.

My daughter Ally, 4, loves doing craft projects and also loves fashion and dress-up so she was thrilled with this toy.

And as a mom who is not great at crafts, I loved that this kit is practically fool-proof. The kit includes four very-sturdy 14″ paper dolls as well as pre-cut clothes and accessories for each. Each doll’s outfit, as well as any and-on accessories like stickers, ribbons and pom-poms, are all packaged together into four separate kits inside the box, so you can work on making one doll at a time without making a mess of everything.

Everything you need to make the dolls is in the box, including a glue stick, crayons and very simple instructions.

But whether your child decides to follow the instructions exactly, or whether she decides to do her own thing, these paper dolls will turn out adorable either way. Ally followed some of the instructions, but also found ways to make them her own.

I love that the four dolls are ethnically-diverse and have a variety of clothing styles.

The dolls are certainly sturdy enough to hold up to being played with, but Ally likes to just display them as decorations in her room.

Buy it: Learning Resources Pretend & Play Cash Register

The Learning Resources Pretend & Play calculator cash register is an excellent toy and a great choice for little kids who like to play store.

My daughter Ally, age 4, got this for Christmas this year and I was really impressed with its quality. First of all, it is solar-powered so no batteries are required – ever!

It comes with realistic-looking play money in bills and coins, which fit nicely into the divided cash drawer. I’ve found it is a great toy for teaching that different bills and coins have different values. It also comes with a credit card, notepad and activity book.

The buttons beep when pushed and the drawers slides open with a satisfying ding. This is also a great toy for teaching children how to use a calculator.

Ally loves this toy and enjoys using it to play store. I love its great quality and knowing that it will never suffer from dead batteries. In fact, I chose this cash register over others because I saw it being used in my daughter’s preschool classroom and at our local children’s museum. I figured if it could stand up to that kind of daily wear and tear, than it would certainly hold up to Ally’s play-times.

Buy it: Pretend & Play Doctor Set

My daughter Ally, age 4, has recently become very interested doctors and the different tools they use to examine their patients.

So my husband and I shopped around for a good doctor set to give Ally for Christmas. And we found a great one in the Pretend & Play Doctor Set. The set includes 18 different doctor tools. It features a stethoscope that makes a heartbeat or coughing sound when pressed to a “patient’s” chest as well as a cell phone and beeper, which make realistic sounds.

In addition, the doctor set includes items like a thermometer, syringe, blood pressure cuff, ear scope, bandages and more. It also comes with a sturdy case to keep all the items together.

Ally has loved using this set to examine and operate on her dolls and stuffed animals. She loves listening to the “heartbeat” best of all.

My husband and I love that this toy has been great for Ally’s imaginative play. And it’s also teaching her about the different tools a doctor uses to examine her body and keep her healthy.

This is a high quality doctor set, with a great variety of items. I would definitely recommend it for any parent with a “little doctor” at home.

Buy it: CooCoo The Rocking Clown

CooCoo, the Rocking Clown, is a fun game for children and parents and makes a great addition to family game nights.

CooCoo is a wooden clown that rocks from side to side as players try to place wooden balls on his arms, head and feet. The different-sized balls add different weight, so if players aren’t careful they can cause CooCoo to tip over and drop all the balls.

This is a fun game that teaches children about the principles of balance and weight. My daughter Ally, age 4, quickly realized that the biggest ball would cause CooCoo to tip the most to one side.

What’s great about this game, which is for ages 3 and up, is my husband and I had just as much fun playing with CooCoo as Ally did. It’s rare to find a children’s game that appeals to both parents and children, but this one does.

Another great feature is that a child can also play with CooCoo by themselves. The game is for 1 to 6 players.

Buy it: eeBoo Tell Me a Story

The eeBoo Tell Me a Story cards are the perfect example of the most simple toys being the best.

A friend of mine gave my daughter Ally, age 4, the Tell Me a Story “Mystery in the Forest” cards for Christmas this year. The set includes 36 beautifully illustrated flash cards which show different scenes of a story. Ally’s set includes picture of a princess, forest animals, a castle and party scenes.

There are no words on the cards and the point of the game is to make up stories using just the pictures as a guide. Ally loved this game instantly. We played it over and over and were amazed that every time we made up with a completely different story to tell, even though the cards were the same.

The Tell Me a Story cards can be used in different ways. A child can use the cards to make up an entire story on their own. Or a parent can use the cards to create a story to tell their child. Or multiple players can take turns drawing cards and making up a piece of a story that everyone adds to.

Ally and I like to take turns drawing a card out of the pile and finding a way for the scene that is pictured to fit into the story we’ve been telling.

This game is great for teaching children about sequencing, listening and vocabulary as well as using their imagination. There are a variety of these card sets available, including Fairy Tale Mix-Up and Little Robot’s Mission, so parents should be able to find one that their child will enjoy.

Buy it: Melissa & Doug Pasture Pals

Like many little girls, my daughter Ally loves horses. So she was thrilled to receive the Melissa & Doug Pasture Pals, which is a collection of 12 miniature horses in a wooden case shaped like a barn.

The set includes 12 different horse breeds and has an identification key on the back of the case. Each horse has a fuzzy texture on their body and soft mane and tail.

Ally loves playing with horse figures and this set was an easy and inexpensive way to increase her horse collection and get her a variety of horse breeds.

The horses are good quality and have stood up to over a year of play so far. The wooden case is a great way to keep track of all the horses and display them when not in use.

This is a great toy for any little girl who loves horses.

Buy it: Puzzle Pairs by eeboo

The Puzzle Pairs by eeboo is an educational, fun and high quality matching game for young children.

Each Puzzle Pairs includes several two-piece picture and word puzzles that children match up based on different subjects. For instance, baby animals are matched with their mothers in Baby Animals Puzzle Pairs. In Alphabet & Numbers Puzzle Pairs, children match a letter to a picture/word that starts with that letter or a number to a picture with that number of items shown.

The Puzzle Pairs are sturdy puzzles pieces that hold up well to lots of use, even by young children. Each colorful puzzle piece features a picture and a word, so children who aren’t reading yet are still able to play and can start recognizing words.

My daughter Ally received the Baby Animals Puzzle Pairs when she was 2 years old and it was one of her favorite toys. She loved the cute pictures of the animals and finding out which baby goes with which mother.  We played it so often that we also got her the Opposites Puzzle Pairs. In Opposites, children match up words like “day and night,” “wet and dry,” and “empty and full.” Each word is illustrated on the puzzle piece. For instance an empty drinking glass and a full drinking glass are shown for “empty” and “full.”

There are also Puzzle Pairs available with Simple Words, Rhyming Words and Read To Me Pictures and Words.

The recommended age for these toys is 3 years and up.

Buy it: Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel

My daughter Ally got the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel when she was almost 3 years old. And while she already loved to paint and draw, this easel took her to a whole new level of artistic creation.The easel, for ages 3 and up, has a dry erase board on one side and a chalkboard on the other, with sturdy plastic trays on both sides to

hold crayons, markers, paint and chalk. In the middle of the easel is a wooden rod, which can hold a roll of paper. That paper can be fed through a slot at the top of the easel, pulled over the dry erase board and secured with clips to give your budding artist a continuous supply of paper for drawing and painting.

Ally, as well as my husband and I, have all loved this easel from the moment we got it. We put it in the corner of our living room and Ally was able to create a masterpiece whenever the mood would strike. The trays kept everything she needed right at her fingertips. And because the easel and supplies were always out and waiting for her, we found she started to paint and draw all the time.

We love that the easel was just the right size for Ally at 3 and would continue to work for her as she grew. When Ally was 3, she found it easier to paint and draw at the easel because she was in a standing position and also because the paper was securely held in place for her by colorful clips. Now that Ally is 4, we use the easel as a place to practice letters or paint more elaborate creations. The cups inside the painting tray keep spills and mess to a minimum.

The easel does not come with any art supplies or rolls of paper, but the Melissa & Doug Easel Companion Set comes with everything you’ll need to get your little artist started – from chalk and paints to a roll of easel paper. The extra rolls of the easel paper can also easily be found at most toy stores. We’ve never had any trouble finding another roll when we needed one.

Buy it: Corolle Mon Premier Calin 12″ Baby Doll

Ally was 18 months old when I took her to pick out her very first baby doll. Without hesitation Ally reached out and picked the Corolle Mon Premier Calin 12″ Baby Doll. She named the doll “Baby” and it quickly became another member of our family.

But over the years I’ve realized what an excellent choice Ally made in that first doll.

The doll came with an adorable pink outfit and hat, which is machine washable. At our house her outfit has been washed countless times. This doll also has a very sweet face and eyes that open and close. Her head, arms and legs are vinyl but she has a soft body and she’s very easy to cuddle. Ally has slept with baby almost every night since we got her.

But what has amazed me is how well this little baby doll has stood up to years of play. Ally has taken “Baby” along to playdates, preschool, restaurants, grocery stores, camp-outs, doctor’s appointments and vacations and she’s still holding up great.

I would whole-heartedly recommend this as a first baby doll for any little girl.

Buy it: Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-piece jigsaw puzzle

My daughter Ally, 4, loves putting together puzzles. But dumping out the loose pieces of a cardboard puzzle onto the floor and trying to assemble the puzzle using only the picture on the box as a guide can be pretty challenging for a 4-year-old.

That’s why I’m so happy that a friend a mine told me about the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-piece jigsaw puzzles, which she had purchased for her 4-year-old daughter.

These puzzles come on a wooden board that acts as a frame. The board keeps the puzzle together when it’s not in use; gives an instant hard surface to assemble the puzzle on; and most of all gives a frame for the puzzle so kids can have a better idea of where the pieces will go.

The wooden puzzle pieces are sturdy and thicker than the cardboard variety, which means the puzzle will last a long time. And Ally likes that the pieces kind of “snap” together, which you don’t get with a cardboard puzzle. The Melissa & Doug 48-piece puzzles feature colorful pictures with subjects such as pirates, horses, fairies, space or the rain forest.

These are the first puzzles that Ally has been able to assemble by herself. She has three of them and I’m sure we’ll be getting more.

Buy it: Cookin’ Cookies Lunch Box Game

My daughter Ally, 4, loves to “help” me cook. And I always make a point of showing her how to follow a recipe and how you need all of the ingredients listed to make the finished product.

And one of Ally’s favorite games teaches the same lesson. Cookin’ Cookies Lunch Box Game is based on the idea of following a recipe and collecting ingredients, and Ally loves it.

Each player picks a recipe card at the beginning of the game to find out which kind of cookies they will be making. The ingredient cards are placed face down in the middle. Each player has a spoon with a suction cup attached, which the players use to grab and pick up the ingredient cards after everyone says “Ready, set, bake!” This is repeated until one player has collected all of their ingredients and wins the game. 

There are also Rotten Egg Cards. In the rules, if a player gets a Rotten Egg Card they put all their cards back and start over. But since Ally’s 4 and doesn’t like to lose, we’ve used the Rotten Eggs to mean that you just don’t get a card for that turn. And sometimes we don’t play with the Rotten Eggs at all.

Cookin’ Cookies, for ages 4 and up, is such a sweet, simple and inexpensive game. It teaches children how to follow a recipe but really, Ally just loves slapping her suction-cup spoon down on the cards and saying “Ready, set, bake!”

Buy it: Real Home Innovations Storage Organizer

Being a 4-year-old means having lots of toys with lots of little pieces. There’s Playmobil, Legos, Hot Wheels, My Little Ponies as well as little dolls with all their little doll clothes, just to name a few.

To keep all of my daughter Ally’s little toys together and organized, I bought the Real Home Innovations Storage Organizer. This is a great product that fits easily into playrooms or kids’ bedrooms. Each organizer comes with 12 plastic bins, in two sizes, which can sit flat on the shelves or at an angle.

The bins are the perfect size for separating all your child’s little toys and keeping similar toys together. Ally has no trouble getting the bins on or off the shelves. I like that if she wants to play My Little Ponies, she can remove the whole bin of them at once and carry it to the rug to play.

And the bins make picking up a breeze. Since we keep our bins slanted, she can see which toys go in which bin. And even if your kids end up putting the toys away randomly, this organizer will still make things look neat. 

This organizer comes in pastel or primary colors and the bins can be arranged on the shelves in a variety of ways. The bins wipe clean easily and as of writing this, Ally’s organizer has stood up to two years of use and still looks like new. 

This organizer would also be great for sorting art supplies, since the smaller bins would be great for separating markers, crayons, scissors, paints, glue, etc. while the bigger bins could hold paper and coloring books.

Buy it: Juvi Touch Table Lamp

When we tuck our daughter Ally, 4, in bed at night, she loves to look at her books for a while before falling asleep. 

However, since Ally can’t fall asleep with her light on, she used to call me or my husband upstairs to turn off her lamp when she was done looking at her books. Her old lamp used to have a switch that twisted on or off and it was too difficult for her little fingers to master. And while it wasn’t a big deal for my husband and I to go back upstairs to turn off the lamp, I found myself thinking that maybe it would make more sense to get Ally a lamp she could operate herself. 

So I started looking into touch lamps for Ally, which she could touch to turn on or off by herself. And I found a great one – the Juvi Touch Table Lamp.

This white lamp with a pink gingham shade fits in perfectly with our daughter’s room decor and best of all, it’s so easy to operate. Ally simply touches the base or the stand to turn the lamp on at three different brightness levels or to turn it off.

The other thing I love about this lamp is its price. At $39.99, which also includes the lampshade, it was by far the most affordable touch lamp I found. For some, the lampshade alone was that much. 

I would definitely recommend this lamp for any little girls’ room. Just be sure to note the dimensions of the lamp before purchasing it. I didn’t read the dimensions before we bought it and it was a little bigger than I expected. But we made it work.

Buy it: KidKraft Large Kitchen

My husband and I bought our daughter Ally the KidKraft Large Kitchen for Christmas when she was about 20 months old. This has been one of those great toys that has grown with her and she continues to play with it every day.

When I decided that I wanted to get Ally a play kitchen, I went shopping around. Unfortunately I had a hard time finding a kitchen I liked. Some featured lights and sound effects, like a sizzling skillet and a beeping microwave. But I wanted a kitchen that would allow Ally’s imagination to take over and let her play her own way. Other kitchens featured certain characters, but I figured that as soon as Ally outgrew her love affair with Dora, than she would also outgrow her Dora kitchen. And some play kitchens seemed like they were the perfect size for toddlers, but would then be too small for Ally has she grew.

Then I found the KidKraft Kitchen and I loved it immediately for its size, its look and its simplicity.

The kitchen, which is listed online for about $155-$180, is made of very kid-friendly and durable wood in sweet pastel colors. My husband found it very easy to assemble. The kitchen features a refrigerator and freezer, stove, oven, microwave, sink, cupboard and clock. The doors open and close easily and the knobs on the stove and the hands on the clock can be turned.

As soon as we gave Ally her kitchen she started “cooking” up a storm. She mixed and stirred, “washed” her dishes, “cooked” her play food and stocked her refrigerator. And the kitchen didn’t make a sound. It was all Ally’s imagination at work.

Ally is now four year old and finds new ways to play with her kitchen all the time. And when Ally has friends over to play, the KidKraft kitchen is big enough to allow two or three children to play with it at the same time. The kitchen measures 42 inches tall, so Ally will not be outgrowing it any time soon.

The kitchen is recommended for ages 3 and up.

KidKraft also offers a variety of other play kitchens in different designs and colors. Each of Ally’s good friends has a different KidKraft kitchen and they have all gotten rave reviews from the kids and moms.

My husband loves that KidKraft can provide replacement parts, usually free of charge, if a part should break. But that hasn’t happened yet. The KidKraft Kitchen is one toy I know we’ll be handing down to Ally’s future cousins or even saving for our grandchildren. It’s a great buy.

Buy it: Step 2 Sand and Water Activity Center

On a warm summer day, what could be more fun than sand and water? For my daughter Ally, age 4, the Step 2 Sand and Water Activity Center has been a go-to toy on warm days.

She received the sand and water table as a present on her second birthday and she’s has only loved it more as she has gotten older. The sturdy plastic table, which stands at just the right height for little kids, is divided into two sides – one for sand and one for water. Although Ally’s favorite part is mixing them together.

The table features roads and ramps and two bridges, and Ally enjoys running her toy cars and boats over and under them. The table comes with 2 bridges, 2 boats, 2 pots, 1 shovel and an umbrella for shade. The umbrella has held up well to our two years of use.

We’ve added a variety of sand toys over the years which keep the table age appropriate. As a two-year-old, Ally just loved digging in the sand with her shovel and splashing on the water side. Now she likes to mix the sand and water to make mini-sand castles; sift for rocks that she has buried in the sand and make up stories with her cars and boats that travel on the roads and under the bridges.

The table has a drain also and includes a cover that snaps on to keep the sand and toys contained and protected.

One of my good friends, a mother of a 2-year-old and a four-year-old, also got this table and loves it. She even empties it and moves it inside the house when the weather turns colder as an activity table for her girls. She puts the table in the corner of her kitchen and one week it will be filled with Matchbox Cars and the next week with Legos. She explained that it was a great way to contain these small toys and make the toys seem new and exciting by giving her daughters a new way to play with them.

Online I found the table listed at around $80 (depending on the seller) and it is definitely worth the price. The table holds up well to wear and tear. Our table still looks like new two years later.

The table is designed for ages 2-7.

Buy it: Leapfrog Clickstart My First Computer

When my daughter Ally turned four, I thought it would be a good time to start teaching her some basic computer skills. But since Ally likes to push all the computer keys down at once and has even been known to try typing with her feet, I wasn’t ready to put my own laptop in the line of fire.

So I needed to find a durable, kid-friendly solution. And I found it – the Leapfrog Clickstart My First Computer.

For ages 3-6, the Clickstart is a keyboard and mouse that plugs right into your TV, turning it into a computer.

From the moment we plugged it in, Ally was able to play each of the games, which are completely age appropriate, and teach letters, numbers, colors, phonics and counting.

But I was most impressed with how the games make it fun for kids to practice clicking a mouse, using a keyboard and moving around a computer screen.

One of Ally’s favorite games, 1-2-3 Click, features colorful balls bouncing across the screen, which splat like paint when she clicks on them with the mouse. Another game, Type Time, has her typing letters and numbers, which appear on the screen with pictures and sounds.

One of the great features of this system is that the keyboard is wireless and the mouse is attached, so Ally can play sitting on the couch, on the floor or wherever she wants. It’s also easy to turn on and off.

The Clickstart sells for about $45 and includes five games. Other games are sold separately and range in price from about $15-$20 each.

Scout’s Puppy Pals, which is one of the games that is sold separately, lets children create, name and take care of their own puppy. When they give the puppy a bath, they learn

sequencing skills. When they take the dog for a walk, they learn how to use the arrow keys to move the dog around.

And as they play, the children earn coins which can be spent at the “pet shop” to buy clothes for their puppy. This part of the game teaches children about saving and spending money. This was a great lesson for my daughter to learn – that she needed to save up her coins if she wanted to buy a pink tutu for her puppy to wear.

Animal Art Studio, another great game that is sold separately, allows children to mix colors and “paint” pictures, solve puzzles and learn fun animal facts.

My daughter and I love the Leapfrog Clickstart My First Computer and I would definitely recommend it.