Kids and kids-at-heart love to play with building toys. Check out Magnext, LEGO, Fantasy Blocks, Tinkertoys and Eames House of Cards.

Our favorite books for pre-readers. Check out Stuff on My Cats Presents: Cats A to Z, cats paired with a different item, one for each letter of the alphabet. Because cats really, really love having their pictures taken, especially if you dress them in a sweater first.

I love globes. I think they make great gifts for anyone. Sometimes I like to look for countries I’ve hardly heard of… countries like Turkmenistan and Gabon and Canada.

But the Kids Glow Star Globe doesn’t stop at giving you the world. Turn off the lights, and you’ve got the moon and the stars and the planets as well, as the globe converts to a personal planetarium.

Susan writes:

I’m trying to come up with a good gift for an entire famiy. Two parents and six kids (ages 2-11). I’ve given up on trying to get them individual gifts and now would like to come up with something they can use as a family. Got any ideas?

Hi, Susan! Try a DVD boxed set–one with plenty of content for the whole family to enjoy for many years to come.

The Pasture Pals set from Melissa and Doug includes 12 adorable, fuzzy nuzzly horses, each with their own little cubby. An identification key offers fun facts about each breed of horse. A perfect gift for a more stable environment.

Mario Kart for Wii follows the tradition of addictive racing fun fans have come to expect from the zippy little plumber Mario and his gang. But the game only comes with one racing wheel–not a controller in itself, but a wheel you can slip a regular Wii controller into for more authentic game play. (Because, you know, nothing says authentic like cars that slip on magic bananas and shoot guided turtle shells at their opponents.)

A spare wheel is a great gift for someone who’s already got the game–and I love this soft wheel by Nerf.

DICEcapades is the board game that challenges you to answer the question: Whoa. What’s with all the dice?

As in, the game comes with 133 of them. Take that, Pop-O-Matic Trouble!

The object of the game is to advance on the game board by performing different tasks with the variety of dice.