School’s out and it’s time to play. We’ve found some cool new ideas as well as some familiar toys with a fun twist, like a ball that can bounce 75 feet in the air. Most are available at toy stores. Web sites are given for specialty toys.
Fortamajig, Happy Kid Co., ages 6 and up, $70, available at www.thehappykidcompany.com: Build a tent, fort, clubhouse or just a sunshade with this eight-foot square of high-quality tent material loaded with fasteners and loops.
Maxi Kick Scooter, Kickboard USA, ages 6 to 10, $150: This super-smooth scooter is more like a skateboard: There’s a handle for balance and an excellent brake, but you lean your body to steer it.
Sky Ball, Maui Toys, all ages, $9. This ball looks like any other midsize bouncy ball — until it pops up over your head. The bounce in this ball is incredible.
Wind Chaser Stunt Kite, Spin Master, ages 8 and up, $30: This kite has built-in stunt action. The controller at the end of the line makes the kite dip and dive. You’ll need a pretty windy day for this one, though.
AquaGlider, Zing Toys, ages 5 and up, $10, available at www.aquaglider.us: For every foot deep it is released, this cool glider will travel 10 feet through water. (Release it three feet down, and watch it glide for 30.) Adjustable wings make it curve or go straight.
Submergency, Swimways, ages 6 and up, $20: Set this ball to float, sink or suspend in the middle of the water, then get to it before its timer goes off with an alarm that you can hear underwater. You can set the timer for 15 to 90 seconds.
Turbo Fill Blasters, Fisher-Price, ages 3 to 12, $35 (one gun, one filler) or $50 (two guns, one filler).
Water Splashers Water Bombs, Imperial Toy, ages 8 and up, $3 (for 175 balloons): Clever attachments fit directly on a hose, so refilling is quick and easy, allowing nonstop water-fight fun.
Motion and Sing Scene TV Games, Jakks Pacific, ages 5 to 10, $30: These are a huge step up for plug-and-play TV games and are easy to take along for a rainy day. The microphone loads a fun singing game on your TV with 20 pop or country songs. The motion-sensing controller gives Wii-style control (it’s not wireless, though) over the action on-screen.
TRIPtivities, Klutz, ages 8 and up, $10: This is a new edition of the travel activity book full of brainteasers, puzzles, tricks and games that will keep you busy for hours.
Boggle, Hasbro, ages 8 and up, $15: A fantastic revision of the original word-search game, with everything in one simple, sealed case, plus a built-in timer and smart turning mechanism that “sets” the letters after you shake them.
Scrabble Slam, Hasbro, ages 8 and up, from $7. Skip-Bo, Mattel, ages 7 and up, about $7: In Scrabble Slam, you change the word in play by adding your own card on top of one of the letters, for example, changing “plum” to “plus.” In Skip-Bo, you try to get rid of your cards by placing them in sequence on four piles.
Tic Tac Chec, Dream Green, ages 6 and up, $19, available at www.dreamgreen.org: This game is a cross between tic-tac-toe and chess. The object is to get your four pieces in a row, but you learn the basic rules of chess to get there.
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