Family

Sure, Hilary Duff makes several movies a year and Britney Spears travels the world filming commercials and performing for live audiences. But, most girls today can only dream about a mega-successful, superstar lifestyle – and they do. According to a Roper Youth Report, 56% of kids 8 to 17 fantasize about being rich and the second top-ranked wishes are being famous, beautiful and talented.

This colorful, sturdy new line of wooden toys is based on the classic storybook character ‘Miffy’. The Miffy Clock/Puzzle ($25 retail) comes with the book, Tell Time with Miffy, and is also a stacking puzzle. The Miffy Pathfinder ($15) captivates toddlers while encouraging logical thought process and problem solving. It can be used standing up or on its side. The Miffy Sailboat ($20) is a combination pull toy and rocking toy. Its sail puzzle develops eye-hand coordination, color and size sequence. Miffy toys are now available at Target.com and FAO Schwartz. They are designed for children ages 2-5.Read more

The perfect gift for budding American Idols or Idol wanabees! The Lead Singer Mike (Model: LS-3000) offers all the fun of Karaoke without having to haul around bulky machines and loads of CDs. Just plug this microphone into your TV, choose your tunes and the lyrics will pop up right there on the screen. Want more songs? There are 1,000's of 'em! The Lead Singer features a built-in video processor that displays high-resolution video graphics and highlighted lyrics right on your TV. Sing along to 300 popular built-in songs. ($150; www.leadsinger.com)

Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Smarthome today announced electronic toys for children this holiday season.Read more

November 30, 2004 -- All the pedalmoblies at www.pedalmobiles.com are classic reproductions of classic pedal cars designed for children from the ages of 2 to 8. The large selection consists of fire truck engine, estate wagon, pedal racing car, pink pedal sedan, coco cola pedal car, pedal racing car, police pedal car, vintage pedal car, aeroflite wagon, metal pedal car and many more.Read more

Stay in touch and save money too long after the holiday get together with the gift of an internet telephone. Any long distance family or college kids or bicoastal broods can benefit from this new low cost technology. AT&T is one of the first major carriers to embrace broadband phone service. All you need is a high speed modem and you can keep your own phone number and literally cut your long distance phone bills in half with unlimited nationwide and Canada calling for under $30/month. AT&T just announced retail partnerships with almost every major electronics retailer... Installation is simple, just plug phone into your cable modem or DSL and its ready to work. www.usa.att.com/callvantage/home.jsp Read more

November 2004 -- Kidz Gear, the Grown-up Performance, Built For Kids! brand, announced today that its Kidz Gear Headphones for Kids has won a coveted iParenting Media Award http://iparentingmediaawards.com/winners. Headphones for Kids are the first adult-featured stereo headphones made especially for children with the same high quality, high performance components found in many adult headphones available from top consumer electronics manufactures.

Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Judging by the spike in childhood obesity rates, it's never too early to get children interested in sports and fitness.Read more

Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The crown jewel of any home entertainment system has carbon-steel strings, felt hammers and 88 wooden keys, all in a rich wood cabinet. But it also has hot onboard circuitry and a touch-screen Wi-Fi controller that operates it from anywhere in your home. Nothing brings together new technology and traditional craftsmanship like the Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV player piano.

November 2004 -- Michael Freeman Ph.D., the Father of Interactive educational Toy Inventions, said that educational robots will be "the gift of choice" this Christmas because pricing has hit new low points and the demand for early tech teaching is up.