I always had blocks growing up. It seems like every kid has them at some point, whether they have the standard letters on them to spell out words or painted on windows and doors to make houses.

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I’ve seen a ton of the new types of inflatable pools at Target. If you haven’t they look very sturdy and range in size from small, for the kiddies, to huge. Big enough for several adults. They are built from Dura-Tech, which is a very strong kind of rubber. This new generation of pools seem to be built around that same principal that allows your neighbors to have those huge, inflatable lawn ornaments for the holidays. Basically they stay inflated via powerful fan that runs continuously.

Backyard fun has really reached a new level of fun (beyond inflatable pools) with the Banzai Sidewinder Falls from Manly. It was not too long ago that fun water rides and pool slides were only assessable at amusement parks and your ultra rich relatives’ house. Now you can have a ten foot tall water slide in less than 3 minutes. Yes three minutes. The Banzai Sidewinder Falls has a waterfall climbing wall, a slide and a shallow pool at the bottom of the slide. Kids can scale the waterfall and then slide down into the pool.

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Suit up and lock and load for Dart Tag! Hasbro’s very popular Nerf dart gun line has gone to a new and very ingenious level with Nerf’s newest toy/game; Dart Tag. Finally a safe way to shoot your friends in the house! Dart Tag allows two players to shoot foam, Velcro tipped darts from Nerf guns (blasters) Each player wears a scoring vest that the darts stick to. The darts fire from the Dart Blasters that hold six darts each and can hit targets from up to 30 feet away.

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Beginning in the 90’s Lego finally started to partner with popular brands like Star Wars and Batman. When I fist saw that I could build an X-Wing fighter out of Legos I was pretty jazzed. That’s a toy a Lego/Star Wars fan simply cannot pass up, no matter what your age. As the years rolled on Lego expanded their line to include brands like Spongebob.

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Who didn’t use the coffee table and couch cousins to build a fort in the living room? For some reason forts and clubhouses has always been a part of being a kid. Weather it was with cardboard boxes, sheets, or pillows; kids have the innate need to build fortifications. In 2007 Cranium is making building a fort that won’t damage the living room furniture fun and easy. With Cranium’s Mega Fort your kids can construct over 100 different structures including a castle, boat, and clubhouse.

Using the Mega Fort requires very little parental involvement. Connecting pieces together is easy and safe with the magnetic connectors and foam tubes. Clean up is just as easy with all the parts fitting conveniently into provided storage bags.

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If your toddlers are anything like mine, they will do just about anything to get their messy hands on your precious cell phone or Blackberry. The little ones seem to always want to play with Mom and Dad’s button laden, noise making, flashy things. Our cell phones were probably the most sought after (expensive) gadget our kids want.

After trying to distract the kids with various toy cell phones and old real cell phones; I had an inspiration while looking at the retro toy section of my local Target. Merlin was the answer. Most of us probably played this simple, talking game when we were young.

For those you who don’t know about the magic of Merlin; is a bright red, hand held toy that can play a variety of games. The games range from pretty basic, like blackjack and tick tac toe to totally convoluted like magic square. To this day I still don’t know how to play the later. Merlin also makes tons of noises and the play buttons flash constantly.

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