Duracell believes that children have the power to be anything they want to be, and that play time is an important part of helping them achieve their goals. In partnership with toy experts Chris Byrne and Jim Silver from www.TimeToPlayMag.com, Duracell selected some of the most innovative toys that can help kids develop the skills they need to reach their goals. This past Spring, Duracell completed the Power to Be survey, which interviewed 507 U.S. children ages 8-12 to find out what they want to be when they grow up. Some of the top professions were:

• Athletes (10 percent of boys)
• Veterinarians (17 percent of girls)
• Teacher (14 percent of girls)
• Military professionals (11 percent of boys)

I surveyed my three kids, and the answers were Paleontologist (Ryan),  Scientist (or race car driver) (Nathan), and Mommy (Kaitlyn).  The results of the survey were published on Time to Play, the online toy magazine. Time to Play reviews pretty much every toy there is, then rounds them up by category as Editor’s Picks.  Time to Play contacted me about the Duracell survey, asked me what my kids had said they wanted to be when they grew up, then sent me toys that would reinforce the skills they would need to reach their goals. How cool is that?

For Ryan, who wants to be a Paleontologist, we received the board game Ruin. Two to four players move their pawns around a three-dimensional board towards the center of a Mayan ruin with every roll of the huge 20-sided die. By putting down cards, players change the path and can either help the player create a secret passage OR wall off their opponent so they have to turn around and go a different way. Ryan and I ended up giggling nonstop as we kept throwing down cards and turning each other around and around! Ruin won several awards last year including a Parent’s Choice and the iParenting Media Award for Greatest Product. Buy it directly from the manufacturer, Buffalo Games, for $24.95. Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Nathan’s career ambitions are still ambiguous, but he looked at the toy choices from Time to Play and picked the EyeClops Bionic Eye made by Jakks Pacific. EyeClops is a handheld magnification device that plugs into your TV with A/V jacks and then magnifies what you are looking at. Just plug it directly into the A/V jack on an ordinary television and use the adjustable multi-zoom lens with 100x, 200x and 400x magnification to turn ordinary objects into extraordinary images right on the TV screen. We looked at a clump of dog hair, a Cheerio, the skin on our hands. It’s a cool way to introduce kids to the idea of looking at ordinary objects up close to see what they are made of. Just don’t be surprised if your boys want to look at boogers    Buy it on the Jakks Pacific website for $39.99, recommended for ages 6 and up.

The toy we received for Kaitlyn is Caring Corners Mrs. Goodbee’s Dollhouse, which I reviewed separately here. Please come read the post to see why this is the ONLY dollhouse you need to buy this Christmas!