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Two short words describe many hot holiday toys this year: "retro" and "tech."
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Cabbage Patch kids are back. So is My Little Pony and Ms. Pac-Man. And remember the chunky, wobbly citizens of Weebleville? They've returned with a bright new look.

The biggest news in Toyland, however, is the ever-increasing impact of technology, including personal DVD players such as VideoNow Color and ETO, an innovative new plug and play system that lets kids create their own video games on their TV screens.

"Toys have to have more and more technology every year," says Jim Silver, a toy business expert and co-publisher of Toy Wishes magazine. "Look at how kids are growing up -- there's technology all around them."

Toy sellers also are looking for good sales this year from licensed toys -- those connected with movies and TV shows. "SpongeBob SquarePants" is the license leader this year; other popular characters include "Dora the Explorer" and "The Incredibles."

The battle for dominance of the $20 billion toy industry, meanwhile, may give parents a bit of a price break. Last year, Wal-Mart priced its toys so low that KB Toys was forced into bankruptcy, and Toys 'R Us has been searching for a new owner.

This year, Toys 'R Us is fighting back, cutting prices on its toys and offering toys that are available only at its stores.

But there are plenty of great toys to go around this holiday season.

These recommendations were drawn from a number of sources, especially three days of toy showroom tours at this year's International Toy Fair. Other sources include magazines: Toy Wishes; Family Fun, which tests toys with more than 1,000 kids; Parenting, which offers "Mom-tested" toys; Parents and Parent & Child.

One note: Some of the toys are available only at independent specialty toy stores. To find a store near you, use the store locator on the Web site of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, www.astratoy.org. Many of the toy companies also offer a store locator for their products on their Web sites.

Babies and toddlers

LEGO offers a couple of great new products for the youngest builders. Quattro ($20, 1-3) is a 75-piece set of blocks that are four times the size of regular LEGOs. Block-O-Dile is a crocodile-shaped toy that stores and "chomps" DUPLOs, the LEGO blocks for toddlers ($15, 2-5).

Sababa Toys has brought back two classic Fisher-Price pull toys, the Snoop 'N Sniff beagle and Dr. Duck ($25-$35, 1-3), while Scholastic offers an appropriately large-sized version of the big red dog with its Pull-Along Clifford ($30, 1-3).

It's beautiful and fun. It's the Retro Rocket, a classically styled ride-on toy (Radio Flyer, $60, 1-3).

Combining two favorite kid substances, the Naturally Playful Sand and Water Activity Center also comes with a cover that doubles as a racetrack and an umbrella to keep the sun away. (Step2, $70, 18 months up).

The Weebles are back in their updated Weebleville Town Center, which includes a playground and car, as well as three of those wobbly Weebles (Hasbro, $35, 18 months-3 years).

Preschoolers

With the rolling Kid K'NEX Roll 'N Go Pals, kids can build things anywhere. (K'NEX, $30, 3-7).

With 22 animals, Noah's Ark is the latest spectacular playset from Playmobil ($70, 4 up). Playmobil offers two other great sets for little ones: 1.2.3 Circus ($11, 18 months up) and Pirate Treasure Chest ($20, 4 up).

Out of 600 toys, the 1,300 kids who work as toy testers for Family Fun magazine chose Rescue Heroes Robotz Hyper Jet HQ as their favorite toy of the year. There are all kinds of things that kids can do with this sound-filled command center, which transforms from a jet to a robot (Fisher-Price, $60, 3 up).

Preschoolers can create some crazy 3-D creatures as they play the Wacky Wilderness game.(Discovery Toys, $20, 3-5).

With A Day at the Fair, preschoolers can build a 3-D puzzle and then use it as a playset (Infantino, $13, 3-5).

Crafts

The craft-loving folks at Klutz have come up with several fabulous new kits. Knitting teaches kids the basics as they complete six projects ($25, 8 up). Picture Tags lets kids display their own designs in 24 metal-ringed tags of various shapes and colors ($15, 8 up). T-Shirt Art gives youngsters all they need to make a unique iron-on fashion statement ($20, 8 up). Decorate Your Locker has all the supplies kids need to do something different with their lockers ($10, 8 up). And "The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes" includes 40 different sheets of paper and shows kids how to make 10 different awesome airplanes ($17, ages 8 up).

Kids can make cars from old crayons and then race them with the motor included in the Gadget Headz Car Factory (Binney & Smith, $30, 8 up.)

Young artists can really set their imagination to work with a quartet of wonderful kits created by a new company, Made-By-Hands. There's Make-Your-Own Cards, Make-Your-Own Frames, Make-Your-Own Puppets and Make-Your-Own Games. ($20 each, 5 up).

Family Fun magazine now is selling two kits: Holiday Gift Workshop and Family Nights: Fun Activities for Stay-At-Home Nights -- complete with supplies for several projects or activities ($19, 3 up).

Games

Patch has developed a couple of fun new games. Giant Spoons, which comes with a deck of cards and seven large plastic spoons, takes a classic game and makes it even more entertaining ($15, 7 up). In Hedbanz, kids try to figure out what is pictured on the card they're wearing on their head ($18, 7 up).

It's a simple but terrific idea: Take a basic game and let people personalize it, creating playing cards and a game board from their own family memories. That's just what kids (and adults) can do with Birthday Gamesake and Christmas Gamesake (Jocapa Products, $30, 5 up).

The 20Q is a mind-reading ball that asks kids questions to try to guess what they are thinking about (Radica, $10, 8 up).

In Ticket to Ride, kids are transported back to 1900 and become part of a competition to try to win $1 million by traveling to the most U.S. cities within a week (Days of Wonder, $40, 10 up).

Take some mice, a cat and a large Swiss cheese -- all plastic, of course -- and you've got the wild and crazy game of Cat & Mouse (Ravensburger, $20, 5-10).

Candyland is celebrating its 55th anniversary with a bright new look (Hasbro, $8, 3-7).

Tech toys

Kids can craft their own video games, using the clip art and sounds of the plug-and-play ETO. (Ohio Art, $35, 5 up).

Wild Planet has some great new tech toys this year. To play the Spy Gear Lazer Chase, kids wear gloves that send out invisible beams to opponents; the gloves light up and sound an alarm when kids get tagged ($20, 8 up). The remote control Spy Robot picks things up and drops them off where you want them ($40, 8 up). With Beat Blenders, kids can create a beat and then blend it with other beats to make their own sound ($20, 8 up). And girls can record their own wake-up message with the purple-and-pink My Voice Alarm Clock ($15, 8 up).

He's 14 inches tall and has 67 pre-programmed functions, including dancing and whistling. He's Robosapien, the remote-controlled robot (Wow Wee, $100, 6 up).

Dolls/Action figures

Now that Ken's out, girls will want to add Barbie's new "friend" Blaine to their collection (Mattel, $15, 5 up).

That lovable loser Charlie Brown makes a unique 13-inch action figure who says 10 phrases when kids press his hand (Playing Mantis/Memory Lane, $25, 3 up).

Construction/Activity sets

With more than 300 pieces, the 3240 Zoo offers hours of fun (Playmobil, $100, 5 up). Another Playmobil set, 5746 Tree House, has a unique multilevel design and 10 play figures ($40, 5 up).

Kids can herd their horses into the beautiful wooden Large Barn With Corral (Maxim, $90, 7 up).

Food-based playsets offer edible fun. Try either the Life Savers Gummies Flavor Factory (Wham-O, $15, 8 up) or the Hershey's S'mores Maker (Spin Master, $25, 8 up).

Let kids learn some sleight of hand with the Deluxe Magic Set, which contains props and easy-to-follow instructions for 10 tricks (Melissa and Doug, $10, 8 up).

Vehicles

There are a couple of new ways to play with Hot Wheels. Kids can race their cars in the Hot Wheels Slimecano Playset (Mattel, $50, 6 up) or create their own "gas" with the Hot Wheels Formula Fuelers Racers (Mattel, $20, 5 up).

In the Matchbox Hero City Rocket Park, cars careen around a roller coaster, ride a Ferris wheel and then launch out of a cannon (Mattel, $40, 3 up).

Stocking stuffers

Tiny virtual beings called Aquapets chat and sing when they're happy, but ignore them at your peril (Wild Planet, $10, 6 up).

Just roll the 10 dice to play the entertaining game of Toss Up (Patch, $6, 8 up).

Car-Go Fun is a small-sized playset that fits in an auto cup-holder (Mattel, $6, 3 up).

Spinning a top takes on a fun new dimension with the electronic i-Top (Irwin Toys, $10, 8 up).

Licensed toys

SpongeBob SquarePants is the king of the licensed toys this year. Wild Planet offers a couple of fun SpongeBob items. With the SpongeBob Squarepants Krusty Krab Cash Register, kids can practice their money skills ($20, 3-7). The SpongeBob Sea Talkies are clamshell-shaped walkie talkies that make underwater sounds as kids talk ($20, 3 up).

With Dora's Talking House, fans of "Dora the Explorer" can learn some Spanish and English phrases as they play with the interactive appliances. Several posable family figures are included (Fisher-Price, $50, 3-6).

Copyright © 2004. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.