Welcome to the 2008 Punnybop Holiday Gift Guide! Below, find gift recommendations that span the artistic output of creators of kids' media - wonderful books, CDs, videos, and games - as well as resources for kids to get creative themselves, with unusual instruments and tech gadgets to help them learn, create, and share.

music & merriment

Various, Let the Good Times Rouler: French/Quebecois party music for kids. Sweet! $15 | Buy here


Music Box Kit: Kids can punch out an original composition, or replicate their favorite video game theme in music-box form (ThinkGeek has instrux for producing the theme to Super Mario Brothers.) $5 | Buy here


Belkin RockStar: A six-way splitter for audio, the RockStar's six jacks also function as either input or output jacks, meaning that not only can you share audio with up to six listeners on headphones, you can mix multiple audio sources. It's a great tool for helping kids share a portable DVD player on a trip, and an even better one for older children to engage with music socially with friends. $14 | Buy here


Sesame Street Playground from Putumayo Kids: Each of the 13 songs is produced in its country of origin, from Brazil and France to Palestine and Tanzania. Who knew you could sing along to “Rubber Ducky” in Chinese? $14 | Buy here2008


Okee Dokee Brothers, Kids With Beards: Awesome, funny, bluegrass-inspired music aimed squarely at kids. $16 | Buy here


Sansa Shaker: The Shaker is shaken to change tracks, has a 1.5" speaker plus dual headphone jacks, and holds either 512 MB or 1 GB worth of songs or audio stories. Although it's labeled for ages 8 and up, we think it transitions well from speaker use for kids age 3 and up to older children, who will enjoy the ability to share music with friends and will still think the design is cool. Review. $30-$40 | Buy here

Various, Dream Songs and Night Songs from Belgium to Brazil: An international collection of nighttime songs, not necessarily lullabies. Unique and lovely, and part of an ongoing series. $15 | Buy here


Yes to Running: Bill Harley Live: Stories, songs, and comedy for kids that parents can stand too from entertainer Bill Harley. Review | $15 | Buy here


The Terrible Twos, Jerzy the Giant: Great pop/rock from a great kids' pop/rock band. | Review $14 | Buy here


USB Drum Kit: Select from among 50 percussion sounds, 20 preprogrammed percussion sets and 100 preprogrammed beats for the six pad sections, and use the "learning mode" for beats to play along with. Can record to .wav format. Great for kids age 8 and up. $30 | Buy here

Justin Roberts, Pop Fly: Just plain good pop/rock for kids. $14 | Buy here


SweetPea3 MP3 Player: The SweetPea3 is the best designed portable music player we've seen for the youngest children - no proprietary format to monkey with, just plug it in via USB and download your MP3s onto it, and music plays through a large speaker. It's easy for little kids to carry around, and difficult to damage. Recommended for kids ages 1 to 3. $60 | Buy here


Stylophone: A small electronic keyboard with classic synth sounds played with a stylus. One of the simplest - and smallest - electronic instruments available, but favored by such iconic musicians as David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Erasure, and your six-year-old. $20 | Buy here

Making Musical Instruments with Kids by Bart Hopkin: Sixty-seven projects, from the basic to the obscure. $14 | Buy here

Ellis Paul, The Dragonfly Races: Thoughtful, reverent music about nature and family. | Review $14 | Buy here

Stephen Simon, The Story of Swan Lake: A top-notch (and shortened) narrated version of the ballet little girls swoon over. Bonus non-narrated track and metal version included. Review. $9 | Buy here

Danielle Samsone, Two Flowers: Our favorite lullaby album of the year. Almost as good as Renee & Jeremy's 2007 not-exactly-lullaby-album It's A Big, Big World. | Review | Buy here


The Hollow Trees, Welcome to Nelsonville: Kids' bluegrass for the whole family. $12 | Buy here


Medeski, Martin & Wood, Let’s Go Everywhere: The most danceable chunk of kids' groove music we've heard since the Sugar Free All Stars' Dos Ninos. Complex, funky, funny jams. | Buy here

moving pictures

Wall-E Three-Disc Special Edition: We were surprised to discover that this movie's hypnotically bleak dystopian future is surface-skimmable by a four-year-old fascinated by the budding friendship between two small robots. There is something about the way Wall-E pines for Eva's affection that reminds me of what siblings go through, or even young preschool peers, as they grope their way towards accepting or rejecting each other. $25 (from $41) | Buy here


ABC3D: The variety, whimsy, and frequent surprises in this alphabet pop-up book make this book a joy. $13 | Buy here


The Electric Company: For those of us looking for high-quality, language-driven classic edutainment for our kids, this classic series is unbeatable. These four-disc sets (Vols. 1 and 2) each contain 630 minutes of great Electric Company goodness. Review. $37 | Buy here


Faerie Tale Theatre: What do Paul Reubens, Mick Jagger, Matthew Broderick, Gregory Hines, and Susan Sarandon have in common? They all appeared in this extensive series of hour-long retellings of fairy tales produced for Showtime from 1982-87. Twenty-six classic tales stick to the true tone and tenor of the original, sometimes frightening tales, so this collection is best for kids age 6 and up, or younger if not easily spooked. $50 (down from $100) | Buy here


Microcosmos: An amazing, close-up, and highly narrative series of encounters with insects, arthropods, and the other tiny creatures that surround us. Unforgettable, dramatic, and equally mesmerizing to children and adults. $15 | Buy here

Yummyfun Kooking: Truly kooky cooking with Clare Crespo, who treats foodstuffs as "an art supply" in the home-based studio where she produces her independent kids' cooking series.Review. $15 | Buy here

stories and words

Best Behavior books: Positive messages that affect great change, offering gentle guidance and friendly behavioral modeling than preaching. Review. $8 | Buy here

The Frog and Toad Collection: Classic stories read aloud by their author, Arnold Lobel. $12 | Buy here


Half An Elephant: A beautiful, playful book with collage illustrations. Review. $12 | Buy here

Heather Forest, Tales Around The Hearth: Evocative tellings of classic children's stories and songs. Review $15 | Buy here


LeapFrog Tag Reading System: Review. $50 (comes with a book) | Buy here

BOB Books: Box sets of short booklets focused on teaching specific types of words and sounds for new readers. Highly effective and fun to read. $12 | Buy here


An Awesome Book: More than anything, this is a book for reminding adults, on a daily basis if necessary, that their child's imagination is a precious thing, and that imagination and dreaming big dreams go hand in hand. $15 | Preview / Buy here


Wabi Sabi: A cat explores the meaning of her name and discovers the beauty of the imperfect. $12 | Out of stock everywhere online, find it in a store


LeapFrog Crammer: About the size of a deck of cards, the Crammer is a portable device that stores downloadable flash card and quiz content and serves it up item by item, with its display screen doubling as a four-way toggle (up/down/left/right) for answering questions and navigating through simple menus. A headphone jack supplies the audio offered in some flash card sets (for foreign-language learning, for example), making this a versatile self-study device for older kids in need of something portable that offers a break from the books. $60 | Buy here

games

Endless Ocean: Open-ended enough for four-year-olds, with simple controls (hold the "B" button to swim, and point the Wiimote in the direction you want to go) and fascinating creatures. Plenty of engaging activities for older players, too. A great early Wii game for kids. $34 | Buy here


Pet Pals: Animal Doctor: Diagnose, soothe, sedate, then turn your Wiimote into a scalpel. Great for playing with kids ages 5 and up with logical skills and an interest in animals, or for kids 8 and up by themselves. $30 | Buy here


Samba de Amigo: Wii and nunchuck become maracas in this rhythm-based game that's great for kids 5 and up. $20 | Buy here

somewhere in between

Nursery Tap: By focusing attention on a close-up view of one or a pair of dancers' leg and foot movements, Nursery Tap effectively "spotlights" the key area of interest in dance - what the body does when dancing - in a way that makes light bulbs - cannons, even - go off in young children's heads. Review. $15. [read review|buy on Amazon]Review. $20 | Buy here

One Night In Frogtown: This book and CD combo tells the story of a frog who loved all genres of music. The swinging soundtrack and captivating illustrations will fascinate kids and grownups alike, and the book and CD are designed to be enjoyed together or apart; lyrics for each song are presented in the book at their proper point in the story, so they can be read, sung along with, or listened to. $20 | Buy here


Wii Music: Easily play up to 60 different instruments gesturally in a freeform exploration of making music with your Wii. $47 | Buy here


The Money Mammals: Personal finance for the pre-K set. Solid puppetry, good tunes, and sound advice for saving, spending, and sharing your moolah. Review. $15 | Buy now

ZRecs.com photo by eurok, shared via Flickr. - Jeremiah