The best ideas really are the simple ones. Look at that funky-fresh font, too!

In 1969, an inventor by the name of Reyn Guyer approached Parker Brothers with an indoor volleyball idea. They weren’t interested in the game at all, but the soft foam ball that it included was a revelation. After all, how many parents would buy an inexpensive indoor toy that was safe for kids and mantelpiece chotchkies? A whole bunch of parents would. About four million, by the end of its debut year. Later on in toy history, Hasbro acquired Nerf when they bought out Tonka. Since then, Super Soakers (the fabled water gun that Chris and I have been squealing over) have been designated as Nerf products. I guess Hasbro has decided that a gun (Blaster) is a gun (Blaster, darn it).

While the original ball was made from polyurethane, the trademark foam that characterizes the product line has since been changed to a polyester mix with a special compound, and topped off with a carbon dioxide release. Sounds very scientifical, but it all amounts to one big detail: the carbon dioxide release is what causes the holes in the foam, making it light and soft.

Coming to a cubicle near you. Or possibly a waste basket, just to make file-destruction fun.

In 1972, a big staple of Nerf was released in the form of NerfHoop. Offices around the world became filled with cardboard-box backboards, plastic hoops, and ninnies trying to make a three-pointer from the water-cooler. Of course, they were shooting with a Nerf foam basketball.

This baby really brought new meaning to "long bomb." And it whistles...why not!

But the most lucrative toys to bear the Nerf name always will be the Nerf Blasters. Handheld toy guns, rifles, and even bow-and-arrows were developed primarily in the eighties. Each one fired foam darts, and came in gloriously bright colors.

My first Nerf Blaster. It had a super-secret barrel built into the grip...that they advertised on the side of the gun.

In the last few years, the Blasters have become so much more sophisticated, with entire arsenals being developed for more tactical battles. The Nerf N-Strike set now includes various beauties that still attract me in the toy aisles today. The genius of this product line is in the amount of customization and tactical choices that kids (of all ages, which includes me) can make.

There are different ammo types, ranging from slim, aerodynamic darts to flashy glow-in-the-dark ones to scare a burglar. Many of the N-Strike blasters come with rails for attachments (scopes, flashlights, extra ammo, etc.) and optional barrel extensions. Also, the folks over at Hasbro have finally eliminated the one drawback to Nerf Blasters: reload time. Instead of painstakingly gathering every dart, and loading each one manually into a Blaster—or worse, trying to find them in your pockets during a fight—the N-Strike rifles come with a hop-up magazine system. And every clip is universal for the other guns.

If there are two N-Strike weapons that really stand out, it is the Maverick pistol, and the Longshot C-6 sniper rifle.

The Maverick was a must-own for the dorky guys I hung out with in high school, because it is a Nerf revolver. That’s right, Dirty Harry is carrying foam ammo, suckers. Imagine the idiotic splendor of Russian roulette with Nerf. Yep, I did it.

Revolvers never go out of style. There's something romantic about them, even if they shoot foam darts.

As for the Longshot, I got so excited when I finally got to mess around with one. It has a bipod. It has a scope. It has a slot for an extra ammo clip. It also has a detachable barrel that becomes a back-up pistol. Did I mention that it works off of a spring-loaded bolt action, like a real sniper rifle? Don’t get me wrong, the scope and bipod are kind of rubbish, and the pistol part is useless, but any kid would be the proud owner of the three-foot-long behemoth.

I like to keep this one with me...for close encounters.

Kyle’s Big Idea: So, I’ve been kicking around the idea of a big, playful firefight with my buddies. Since laser-tag makes me sweat like Marlon Brando, and paintball is always full of jerks with their own equipment, I thought my future Bachelor Party should include an epic Nerf battle. This will be complete with slow-motion dodges, Oscar-caliber death scenes, and a mandatory Mexican Stand-Off. My arsenal will be thus: a Maverick revolver, an off-brand repeater rifle (made under the Air Blasters product name), and the newest N-Strike sniper rifle, the Longstrike CS-6.

Bah! Who came up with this?! Give that man a 21-dart salute...or maybe a 210-dart salute with this monster.

Why? Because we can. Now I have to practice my catchphrases from “Hot Fuzz,” since I’ll have enough firepower to rival an entire English village. Sure, I’ll get pelted a lot while trying to put on my sunglasses in a cool way, but that’s what Nerf teaches us: how to cope with being hit by projectiles…and how to hit that sucker back. Positive play, eh?

What're you lookin' at ya hockey puck?

He’s a staple of many childhoods. He’s a supporting character in a successful blockbuster series. He’s a family man. And he’s a snappy dresser, too. Mr. Potato Head has had a long history, and is one of the most famous and instantly recognizable toys in the world. How did this mustachioed vegetable rise to super stardom? Well, let’s take a look…under the tater skin.

A Starchy History

Back in 1950, toy inventor George Lerner devised a set of body parts that could be affixed to real vegetables in order to make funny little dolls. The pieces made their debut as a prize in breakfast cereal packages, and the lucky kids that received them had to find their own potato, yam, or other produce in order to put together a funny-faced man.

The concept really took off in 1952, however, when Lerner sold the idea to what would become Hasbro. The company released body part kits under the product name Mr. Potato Head, for $0.98 per kit. Kids still had to provide the potato, but the toy took off like a shot and sold over one million kits in that first year. This is due to Mr. Potato Head’s milestone marketing: the first toy to be advertised on television.

Fun fact, they actually tried to market Oscar the Orange and Pete the Pepper. For some reason, they didn’t catch on…hmm.

By 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was released, and a number of other variations surfaced. But it was in 1964 that the entire line of toys got a facelift. The molded plastic potato body was introduced, and food was no longer used for tomfoolery (or so parents thought). In 1975, unsurprisingly, the parts of the toy doubled in size to prevent children from choking on them. This sparked a sales boom from the toddler market, where ol’ Spud Head is found today.

Aw, he’s so jovial looking. Makes me want to cuddle with my baked potato before dinner…um, forget that last part.

The toy really hit a high point with the release of the first Toy Story film in 1995, in which he was a supporting cast member. Due to a marketing tie-in with Burger King, Mr. P.H. was also the hardest “kid’s meal” toy to find ever, as well as the spokes-spud for Burger King’s infamous change of their fry recipe in 1997.

These days, Potato Heads are offered in many varieties. In 2006, he was given a variety of careers and outfits like firefighter, chef, mermaid, and Santa Claus. Recent years have seen him dressing up like other Hasbro toys, with a Star Wars run of Darth Tater, Spud Trooper, and R2-POTAT-OO, and a Transformers-themed Optomash Prime and Bumble Spud. There’s also a Tony Starch (Iron Man), Taters of the Lost Ark (Indiana Jones), and even a Spider-Spud/Peter Tater variant.

Wow, that is high-concept. This is like one of the Funky Bunch dressing up as Marky Mark.

Yep, things look good for Mr. Potato Head, as long as he remembers to pack his angry-eyes, just in case.

I predict the next big craze will be paperclips with crazy plaid and animal print patterns.

Remember that useless collection of objects that decided your status in grade school? Tell Beanie Babies to slide down the bench, because the new generation is hooked on Silly Bandz.

With Sales Like This, They’re Not So Silly

Available in any color, Silly Bandz are silicon-based rubber bands that kids can wear as bracelets and necklaces. The real selling point: when not stretched out, Silly Bandz are molded into funky shapes and letters. There are animal sets, rock band themed sets (dubbed “Rock Bandz”), and even princess themed sets. Like all standard rubber bands, Silly Bandz retain their shape when not stretched.

Kids enjoy trading them and showing off their collections by wearing them all like sleeves. Packs of 24 cost anywhere from five to eight dollars on Amazon, and Silly Bandz hold eight of the top ten bestseller slots in the Toys and Games category as I write this. Impressive. Most impressive.

So simple, but hey, whatever works.

Apparently, Silly Bandz have been causing a little ruckus in some schools, and have been banned due to distraction. Parents, don’t let this worry you. Every classroom has opportunities for distraction, and kids will make a toy out of anything. In fact, the banning has only made the craze more outrageous, just as it does for every tradable contraband item in schools.

Also, according to an April 17 article in the New York Times, there is a Silly Bandz page on Facebook with over 83,000 fans…and counting.

Well, what can I say about these little buggers? They look like fun. It is so uplifting to see that the biggest craze in elementary classrooms isn’t technology-based. When you think about it, rubber bands have been around for so long, and kids have always been fascinated with the pliability of rubber. This product takes that basic childhood interest in an existing product and takes it in the next logical step (speaking of which, I vaguely remember the birth of duct tape wallets in school).

At first, I mused that Silly Bandz were a little expensive, especially considering the amount of labor and materials that goes into their creation. Then I remembered that video games are $60, and action figures are $10. Silly Bandz would certainly be a welcome alternative for parents and checkbooks alike. Keep in mind before buying them, they tend to break after a while, and naturally they are easily lost.

If there is one thing that really impresses me about Silly Bandz, it is the ability to wear a whole collection. When I was a kid, and yo-yos suddenly became the coolest thing ever (it was 1996, go figure), it wasn’t like you could bring thirty Duncan brand yo-yos to school. The Beanie Babies that every girl in my class collected were too cumbersome as well. Even a full deck of Pokemon cards required a large cargo pocket, coincidentally at the same time cargo pants were in vogue. But Silly Bandz don’t even need to be carried.

Grade school fads are mostly harmless, I think. Especially Silly Bandz, which prove to me that children still have imagination, and don’t require USB cords to have a good time.

This right here is one of the most popular education-based toy around. And it's a video game system.

If I were pressed to defend the educational value of video games, I probably couldn’t do much other than say they can teach reading, math, problem solving, community interaction, cause and effect, and hand-eye coordination skills, so really I’d have an uphill battle talking about their benefits (wink). However, there are a handful of very popular toys being sold this very second to parents wishing to give their kids a little boost in the learning aspect of playing while still making sure the toy is fun (gotta love parents). But just what are some of the most popular educational and learning toys right now?

Yay! A noise-maker for kids!

Heard of LeapFrog? You probably have since they’re selling tons upon tons of electronic toys aimed at teaching kids. It just so happens one of their best-selling products is a video game system called the Leapster. It looks like a mutant Game Boy but plays like something with the explicit purpose of learning in the foreground. However, you can easily fool a kid into forgetting he’s learning something when the character in the game is Batman. LeapFrog also has a wide variety of other electronic-type toys with the Learn & Groove Musical Table for kids (a thing that makes noise), the Spin and Sing Alphabet Zoo (a thing that makes noise), or the Scribble and Write (I’m sure it makes some sort of noise, it is a child’s toy after all).

Responsibilities! Exciting!

If, perhaps, you’d rather not futz with noise or electronics in general, our good friends Melissa & Doug have more than enough toys made of wood and magnets. Sometimes simple can be best, and Melissa & Doug tends to make very high-quality toys that last and last. It’s hard to beat a magnetic alphabet set or a magnetic responsibility chart. Sure, kids hate responsibility, but disguise it with magnets and they’re sold.

Dang that kid looks happy. I want some of those blocks!

Fisher-Price is still around and doing just fine, by the way. Do you remember them from your childhood? I sure do. I had all sorts of plastic blocks and shapes and steering wheels and things of that nature from Fisher-Price, and I’m happy to say they still make all those things with their Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks staying as a bestseller. Their Sesame Street Silly Sounds Remote may not really be in the same category though. It may say “Sesame Street: on it, but it also says “Silly Sounds” which is code for “Lots o’ Noise.” Just get the blocks.

Hooray for bugs! What, you don't like bugs? That's science!

It’s also cool to see that the Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden is up near the top in sales. Why is that? Bugs, while super gross, are also super cool. Plus, it’s impossible for kids to find bugs in the house, so they have to go outside. If they can find tons of bugs inside, you’re teaching your kids something wrong. I was always happy as a kid with a bug net and a jar to keep my findings in. I assume kids haven’t changed too much since my childhood.

This is an incomplete list of the bestselling Education and Learning toys, but it’s a good start for sure. If all else fails, I can’t think of a single kid that’d say no to “Imagination Time” with their loving parents. In fact, I might just call my dad and see if he’s up for a game of it right now.

Oh yeah, forget those video games because things just got awesome.

I’ve been hung up on video games a lot lately, and I apologize for that. There’s just been an abundance of games getting released in such a short time frame. Plus, it sounds as if half the US has been snowed in for a while. To make up for all this sitting around in front of the TV, I think it’s time to take a look at the complete opposite here and talk about getting those kids outside and on something that moves. No, not a car, not even a bike, but one of these handy active outdoor toys. Grab your helmets and kneepads and let’s talk about some popular ride-on toys.

So first off, the products I’m about to bring up are entirely safe for your child, but there will no doubt be numerous scrapes and bruises caused by using said products. Don’t worry! This is actually a good thing! Why, when I was a child, I’d injure myself on a regular basis. You ask any parent and they’ll tell you they nearly destroyed themselves as a child with the amount of outside activity they participated in, but would they change it? Of course not. Like I said, remember the helmet and you should be fine.

Some Toys Never Go Out of Style

Some of you might remember the big Razor Scooter craze that set in a few years back. Did you know that Razor Scooters are still one of the highest selling ride-on toys at this moment? It makes sense, too, as the lightweight scooters are only around $50 and provide simple entertainment for the energetic kid. I had one a few years back and found it to be pretty snazzy, despite my lack of skillz. It is a great way to get exercise and encourages families to go to parks and wander around for a bit.

Expect your kid to build at least one ramp after getting a Razor Scooter.

You want to know another ride-on toy I’m happy is still selling well? Radio Flyers. Heck yes. Also known as a little red wagon, the Radio Flyer brand is just built to withstand the test of time. Every kid worth his snuff needs a Radio Flyer at some point for either transporting mischief or racing down steep inclines towards doom and more scrapes. And that’s the way we liked it! A no-hassle Radio Flyer can price just under $80 if you know where to look.

For the more advanced kids out there, the option of the magnificent pogo stick is readily available to increase the chance of phenomenal wipeouts. Pogo sticks can cost anywhere from $30 to $150, but as long as it pogos you’re in for fun/frustration. The only thing deadlier on a frustration level is a paddleball toy.

If you can figure this thing out, congrats, you've surpassed me as a true kid.

I don’t particularly care what you’re riding as long as it’s outside away from TV’s and such. Oh, and no cheating kids! The iPod counts as a TV if you have videos on it, so no using those either! Time for fresh air and scrapped knees. If I don’t see more scraped knees by the end of the week, I’m going to be disappointed in each and every one of you.

Melissa and Doug have hundreds of toys, but most of their toys can be put into easy-to-remember categories.  To help you navigate their vast toy empire, here is a breakdown of my favorite toy categories from Melissa and Doug:

Arts & crafts:  While a necessity for any household, arts and craft items can be annoyingly difficult and messy.  With the M&D items I have found the instructions on the craft items easily understandable and the options include stamps, beads, and painting.  My favorite:  an art easel that adjusts as my kid grows (plus, it keeps her from coloring on the dining room table).

Classic toys:  These are wooden toys such as blocks, or that hammer and peg workbench you had as a kid, as well as lacing items (great for quiet car rides).  The items withstand the poundings of a three year old easily and still manage to look good after a beating.

Puzzles:  I LOVE these puzzles.  Once we moved beyond their wooden puzzles I was equally impressed with the floor puzzles, both the designs offered as well as the quality.  The variety in the number of puzzle pieces is also a great thing since the increased challenge keeps the kids occupied.

Puppets:  The variety offered from hand puppets to marionettes to “full size” puppets is going to allow us to grow into some of the larger, more coordination-challenging styles.  The detail on these items is often quite stunning.

Play food:  This is perhaps my daughter’s favorite item.  She will spend a good hour preparing dinner for people with the cutting food, bringing us our sandwiches and apple slices.  The food uses hook and loop fasteners to stick together and is put together in such a way that she could figure it out even at 2 years old.

The motto of Melissa and Doug is to create educational toys that are heirloom quality.  In my book, I would have to say that they’ve wildly succeeded.