The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Till- WcdMdy CHRISTMAS GIFTS the season for hightech tots CHILDREN SANTA scored with this lad who TODDLER gets big girl look with em FASHIONSMART tot tries out his shows off his classic twopiece outfit top sweater with puffed new set of liecord mittens and hat with mock sport collar under crew sleeves and gathered shoulder Pleat with Hat with animal pat neck sweater By Boll Frog Knits with skirt picks up dominant color of tern and by The Village elastic waist for toddlers zipper embroidery by Bull Frog Knits in Knitter is about mittens slacks for bigger boys About Creslan for 29 to CONSUMER REPORTS Kids pick their favorite toys By the Editors of Consumer Reports If you want to find out what kids like best just leave the youngsters with a pile of toys You 11 soon learn which ones are played with most That s what the editors of Penny Power a consumer magazine for to yearolds have been doing with panels of youngsters To help you with your holiday shop ping the editors have listed some of the toys games and books that proved to be popular with many of the young panelists Fifteen battery powered trucks got a good goingover by one sixth grade class The Bully from Schapcr earned high marks be cause it was super fast and a good climber The Monster Machine from Tomy 25 moved slowly but and climbed Just about anything The Flex from Galoob 27 had tires that could expand and move it quickly and smoothly over bumps Prices Indicated for the trucks and other items are approximate retail before discounts In another toy test two dozen youngsters Judged the Casio electronic keyboard to be their favorite An adult must explain the complicated instructions But after that the kids can make up their own tunes or play those on a cassette The Casio lets you choose from eight tones such as piano or flute and a dozen rhythms including rock Two other highly rated toys were the Sonic Rangers from Fisher Price 50 and Table Hockey from Parker Brothers The Sonic Rangers is a pair head set walkietalkies Only one ear is covered so youngsters wearing the units can still be aware of outside sounds Each headset takes a 9 volt battery Nerf Table Hockey Is a fast action game that can be played on most tables Ten new board games were rated by another panel of young testers They looked lor games were easy to set up and easy to play once the rules were understood The panelists wanted games that two or more could play and that required both liik and skill They also looked for games that were challenging for young people age 10 and older The clear choice among the panel was WHODUNIT from and 14 While some were confused by the rules at first all ultl matcly enjoyed the game It takes an hour or longer to play Three other board games that got good marks were Advance to Board walk a shorter version Of Mo nopoly from Parker Brothers- Spy versus Spy from Bradley a game based on the zany Mad Maga zinc cartoon and the Walt Disney Family Version or Trivial Pursuit from Selchow and 22 TV often monopolizes a kid at ten Hon these days But many young peo ple are still turned on by books such as the one who asked a Penny Power editor Did you ever get so caught up In a book that you snuck it Into the shower to read Among the books reviewed by a panel of young readers those most enjoyed included The Secret Gar den by Frances Hodgson Burnett Sounder by William Armstrong Bridge to by Peterson Harriet the Spy by Louise Mama Going to Buy You a Mockingbird by Jean Little and Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia Paperbacks for young readers run from to 5 Move over plastic rattles Here comes the hightech baby You 11 find the tot of 80s nestled among a vast assortment of sophisti cated toys and stateoftheart elec tronic safety products Todays manu facturers offer a futuristic array of highly styled toys and technologically advanced designed to keep youngsters safe Our years of experience In this business have enabled us to create products that are a giant leap for ward in terms of technology says Norman Spiegel president of Industries a New York based toy manufacturer specializing In electronics Take the basic crib mobile for ex ample For years you d find this nurs ery staple attached to every babys crib waiting to be wound up or turned on Our My First Musical Mobile has gone one step further be continues This batteryoperated mobile Is voiceactivated to play a soothing tune when baby starts to cry then automatically turns itself off after one minute of play Sometimes that all It takes for a fussy baby to fall back to sleep Other toy manufacturers have also updated favorite toys of the past with theart features Interactive plush dolls that talk back to their own ers or even talk with each other have begun to take the place of yesterday popular stuffed animal teddy Bus pin the talking teddy bear from Worlds of Wonder broke new ground two years ago and led the way for manufacturers such as Axlon and SAFETY DEVICES are Ideal far sweats with ar cabinets are Lately toy manufacturers bat also begun to apply their hightech know how to child safety These days parents can from a wealth of sophisticated products that help them keep track of tholr children Meals Electronic Child Monitoring Line for example enables parents to with their children and monitor them both indoors and out Technological advances bets pro tect children and give parents a break from coostant watching Portable In tercom systems such as Baby Minder let parents hear any otd coming from baby s room up to test away And to keep little one away from potentially Items that might be drawers or medicine cabinets thefts Hands Off Alarm which a waging signal drawer or cabbMt opeaud Other hightech analects ran Nestauxlsjae the eTOttard Tab Alarm overflows by sonatina an alarm when hath water fills too high and the Safety Mat colorful vinyl mat that sown alarm When stepped or crawled warms parents that their Is Cast mm Buy great toys for less than 10 each If the only holiday you heard lately is the sound of the cash register ringing up high prices take heart Here are 10 terrific toys for Santa sleigh that should fit an budget WIN BY A NOSE Press man Toy Corp Mr Nose Is a new dice randomizer that gives kids and adults a fun new way to pop the dice Players pull on Mr Nose and move their noseshaped playing pieces around the threedimensional board in a fast paced race to com plete the face and win HG Toys Corp and These colorful collect able vinyl characters are perfect for the sports aficionados on your list Stick Horse one tough hockey horn bre- Stilts a long legged basketball bully- Rob Steal a fast footed base ball player and Hold M Tight from the gridiron are among the tlon a and 7 inch zany figures WEIRD WATCHES Indus tries They re the weirdest watches to ever tell time Bite Fright Retread Fred and Blob Slob watches have threedimensional rotating heads that can be twisted In any direc tion and opened to reveal an LED readout of the time and date THE BUGABOO Downtime 4 Made of genuine defective computer parts the liny Bugaboo guarantees to keep away all other bugs and glitches from your Housed in their own plastic coots no two Bugs are alike Perfect for anyone whose life has ever been bugged by computer Caffrey Inc The Is back But this time better The features a patent ed clutch that makes it spin longer than regular and returns It to the hand automatically Tough tricks like walk the dog and rach the baby are now easily mastered by even the most Inexperienced GRANDMAS TRUNK Products 4 This fan memory game comes with its own sturdy plas tic red trunk and playing cards wit a different colorful tlon The object To discard and then remember the correct order of all the cards bend In Grandmas Trunk SKITTLE BOWLING Pressman ToyCorL Skittles returns this year with Skittle Bowling Players try to knock down pins with a baQ that attached to the Skittle pole do for a strike Qo for a Mil A MRS POTATO HEAD Has bro each The comical duo are back now with bendable arms and bodies LEGO BASIC BUILDING SET Lego I Get kids started with tbia classic building toy In a basic set off colorful Interlocking pieced NEWBORN POUND PUPPIES Tonka Those cute n cuddly plush pups are even more adorable In their new newborn sixe Pat them all together and you have treat gifts for a total of less then guaranteed to brighten your holiday season without breaking tha bank-