10 Hot Holiday Toys for GeekKids

Is it too soon to start thinking about the toys you should be tracking down for your GeekKids this holiday season? Time to Play Magazine doesn't think so. Every year around this time they host the Time To Play Holiday Showcase to show off what they will believe will be the hottest toys of the season based on their kid testing and reviews. Among these were ten that are sure to appeal to your geeklets.

Readers of this blog know how excited we are for Skylanders Giants. In addition to the game itself, Mega Bloks is coming out with Skylanders building sets. I really wanted to grab this off the display and run home with it. Kids will love the details from the video game as they bring their Skylands fun offline.

Innovation First, the creative minds that gave us Hexbugs, have expanded their line to include cars. Oh, but these are no ordinary cars. These Tagamoto motorized vehicles use Hexbug technology to send cars around the track you build. But they don't stop there. Stickers and signs that you place along the raceway cause the cars to follow traffic signs and turn on their headlights.

I loved Shrinky Dinks as a kid, and I've gotten my 7-year-old daughter hooked on them. Trouble is, it drives me crazy to heat up my oven for a handful of Shrinky Dinks. Enter The Incredible Shrinky Dinks Maker from Big Time Toys. It's like my old Easy-Bake Oven, but for Shrinky Dinks. My daughter can make them all on her own now.

I don't know if you've heard, but there's a little movie coming out called The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Act it out after you see it with action figures from The Bridge Direct.

One of movies I'm most eagerly awaiting is Wreck-It Ralph. Thinkway Toys has done an awesome job of creating a Wreck-It Ralph figure that actually looks like he could do some wrecking. The deluxe action figure even comes with a wall to smash, though I'm sure kids will quickly find other things for Ralph to destroy.

Last year Spinmaster gave us the AppFinity AppBlaster, and this year they let you slip your iPhone into a steering wheel for a satisfying driving game experience with the Appfinity AppDrive. Don't expect the comic mischief of a Mario Kart, though. With realistic-looking car crashes, this one is best for older kids.

Football is getting geekier with Hasbro's Nerf Firevision line. Pictures don't do this one justice. When you play at night wearing your Firevision glasses (er... I mean Sports Frames), the football glows in your team color using their microprism technology.

If your home is like mine and floor space is at a premium, you'll enjoy the new line of die-cast Chuggington toys from Tomy. Instead of spreading out so no one can walk, kids can build and build and build until their train is riding as high as their little hands can reach.

Need to add a little Vegas style to your brick building? Grab some Lite Brix from Cra-Z-Art. They're compatible with your other bricks, and the battery powered LEDs cycle through four different colors. You can pretend to send your minifigs to Times Square, or build your own Griswold house for under the tree.

And finally, there's the perfectly-executed line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys from Playmates Toys. You can say they're for your kid, but we all really know the truth.