by Dawn Rutt

Created on: November 28, 2010

Parents are inundated with commercials for the best toys of the year and the hottest gadgets for Christmas 2010. Leave the child in front of the TV and within an hour, their list of “must-have” toys for Santa will be a mile long. Hand the child a toy catalog and a marker and they will circle everything in it.

Finding toys is not hard, but selecting the right toy, the one that combines the “must-have” factor with a reasonable price and playability? That’s the tricky part.

Kids have notoriously short attention spans, so any toy that allows many ways to play will be a sure fire winner. For those with a larger budget, the Xbox Kinect will be under many Christmas trees this year. The Kinect is different from the other similar interactive games that are currently on the market. It connects to the existing Xbox and there is not a controller. By way of 3-D camera and microphones, the players themselves are the remotes and immersion into the games is accomplished by voice control and movement. It’s also a good choice for all ages.

Another popular choice this year is the Fisher Price iXL. This 6-in-1 handheld Learning System offers an MP3 player, a digital reader and a game player. Connect it to a computer and download music, photos and extra features. It’s ideal for children in the 3 to 7 age group. Another popular toy in this category is the V-Tech MobiGo Touch Learning System which uses a touch screen and keyboard for gameplay.

While the Nook and Kindle are widely used by adults, there is now a child friendly version. The V-Tech V-Reader narrates stories in different character voices, has touch screen capabilities and detailed illustrations. New content can be downloaded and the material can be tailored to the child’s reading levels.

Imaginext Bigfoot is sure to make a huge impression come Christmas morning. This 14 inch tall, remote control monster comes with a kid-friendly remote. He can walk backward, forward, breathes, burps and does flips. He also comes with rechargeable batteries. The recommended age is 3 to 5 years old. He’s the perfect companion to "Spike", the company’s remote control dinosaur.

Paper Jamz offers an inventive new take on musical instruments and are high on the Christmas wish list. While thin as paper, embedded circuits allow the player to make music by simply touching the frets and strumming the image on the guitar. The different settings allow for many modes of play and parents can

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