Testing council picks best toys

A richer, greener Monopoly game, a "cool" dinosaur set and a child-friendly MP3 player are among the top toys this year, as chosen by kids.
The Canadian Toy Testing Council, a non-profit group that ranks toys by farming them out to youngsters, has a list of 11 choice playthings this year.
Among them is Monopoly Tropical Island. It's the inflation version of the Hasbro-Parker Brothers classic, with all the traditional values, rents and payouts multiplied by 1,000.
But it has new twists. The old-style utilities, the water and electric companies, have become a solar station and a wind farm. Boardwalk and Park Place have become Vista Beach and Gentle Sands.
There's also a DVD to move the action along.
The Playmobil Dinosaur set was also a hit.
Its hefty reptiles, human action figures and other accessories won top marks from seven-year-old Malcolm, one of the testers.
"It has cool dinosaurs and a realistic volcano to play with," he said. "The volcano, you press the little button and it explodes."
The eruption pops off the top of the mountain in four pieces.
The human figures are "paleontologists and they're searching for stuff and they're figuring out stuff about dinosaurs."
The company Step 2 has produced a 1950s-era diner, complete with juke box and retro tunes. One side is a kitchen, where kids can pretend to whip up burgers and fries or sundaes. The other side is the diner booth.
"They're incorporating the old theme of the kitchen type, but it's also for boys and girls," said Leigh Poirier, executive director of the council. "They've incorporated electronics with it.
"The kids really love that, right to the juke box."
The Vtech Kidijamz is a junior DJ set, which combines the familiar electronic keyboard with other features that allow kids to mix their own music.
It goes well beyond just the keyboard.
"They've jazzed it up, and they have the turntable and they have the headphones for it and they have the different music and the kids really enjoyed that," said Poirier.
"It's the same kind of idea where you have the old, but it's got the new techno to it."

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Following is a list of the top toys of the year as selected by the Canadian Toy Testing Council, along with suggested retail prices:
- 1950s Diner from Step2. A 54-piece set for ages two and up. $149.99
- Kidijamz from Vtech. A DJ set allowing children to mix their own music, for ages three and up. $79.99
- Fix the Mix Sequencing Game from LeapFrog. A battery-operated game that challenges children to find the correct order for everything from parts of the alphabet to days of the week. Ages three-six. $24.99
- Playmobil Dinosaur Set from Playmobil Canada. A multi-piece set with dinosaurs and humans, as well as an exploding volcano. Ages four and up. $45.99
- LeapFrog TAG reading system from LeapFrog. An electronic pen that reads along with children from a selection of story books. Ages four to eight. $59.99
- Gouaches Art by Numbers from DJECO. A painting kit with canvas-type boards and generous supplies of pastel paints. Ages six and up. $30.99
- Karito Kids from Kids Give. Six different dolls from various parts of the world with a charitable connection. Ages six and up. $98.60
- OOPS! from Foxmind. A multi-level puzzle game. $19.95
- The Encyclopedia of Immaturity by Klutz. A collection of activities ranging from how to hang a spoon from your nose to how to make pancake art. Ages eight and up. $22.99
- Monopoly Tropical Tycoon from Hasbro-Parker Brothers. An updated version of Monopoly, with a DVD and some new twists. Ages eight and up. $39.99
- SweetPea3 from SweetPea Toy Co. A child-friendly MP3 player with simple controls and pre-loaded songs. It can also hold four hours of downloads. Ages infant to six. $69.95 plus a $5 AC adapter.