Best Gifts of 2009: Tweens

The Best Tween Gifts Of 2009

The classic cube that drove kids crazy in the '80s gets an electronic upgrade. It's the game you've loved for years, updated with sliding pawns that light up and other new twists. Instead of getting hand cramps from hours spent trying to make all the sides the same color, all your tweenage puzzle solver needs to do is touch the squares to make them change. These kids today -- they've got it so easy.

Available at Amazon.com for $149.99.

TechnoSource

When children reach a certain age, they sometimes decide that they are too cool for the games you used to play as a family. One way to get them back to the dining room table for board-game fun is to replace the old stuff. Enter Sorry! Sliders. It's the Sorry! you've loved for years, updated with sliding pawns that light up and other new twists.

Available at Amazon.com for $19.33.

Courtesy of Mattel, Inc.

Being a musician is hard, but making music is easy with the Mattel Radica Ucreate Music. Anyone can build a song from the included collection of sounds and cool audio filters, and then share what they made at myucreate.com.

Available at Amazon.com for $49.99.

Courtesy of Mattel, Inc.

Maybe making music isn't your tween's thing. How about making a video game? The Mattel Radica Ucreate Games makes it possible for tweens to create a video game of their very own. It has everything they need to get started, including a booklet of game templates to help get the creative juices flowing.

Available at Amazon.com for $92.99.

Courtesy of Mattel, Inc

"Dad, I broke your camera. Again." Oh good. Rather than let your tween trash yet another expensive piece of electronic equipment, get them something of their own. The Coby SNAPP Cam3000 is a perfect starter video camera, with 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second, which is good enough for posting on that YouTube thing all the kids are crazy about these days. It's also priced so that you won't blow your stack if (when?) it gets broken. But maybe the kids will be more careful with their own stuff.

Available at Amazon.com for $34.76.

Coby Electronics

The new film "Avatar" promises to be the biggest release of year -- possibly of the century, if you believe the hype. The Mattel James Cameron's Avatar RDA Combat Amp Suit is one of the many cool new toys based on the sure-to-be-a-blockbuster movie from the director of "Aliens" and "Titanic."

Available at Amazon.com for $39.49.

Courtesy of Mattel, Inc.

Move objects with your mind! Sort of. With the new Mattel Mindflex, you can move a foam ball around using brain waves. How? The included helmet has special sensors that measure your level of concentration. For now, this is the closest you can get to telekinesis.

Available at Walmart.com for $59.97.

Courtesy of Mattel, Inc.

Madden 2009 is great, but it's not for everyone. Tecmo Family Fun Football is, in fact, football fun for the whole family. (Now say that 10 times fast.) It also includes lots of cool features, such as the ability for two people to play on the same team. This is an easy to learn, pick-up-and-play video game for the Nintendo Wii that can be enjoyed by up to four players at once.

Available at Amazon.com for $29.99.

Courtesy of Tecmo Inc.

Toys are great but sometimes you want the kids to do a little reading. How about a book series that's also a card game? The 6th book in Scholastic's "The 39 Clues" series came out this year, along with new batches of cards. There is also, of course, more fun to be had online; visit www.the39clues.com for more info.

Cards available at Amazon.com for $6.99.

"The 39 Clues Book 6: In Too Deep" available at Amazon.com for $8.47.

Scholastic

Nanovor is a new online game that is complicated enough to capture the minds of 8- to 12-year-olds everywhere. Listen to this: "In 1958, when silicon was embedded within a computer chip and electricity pulsed through it for the very first time, the Nanovor sprung back to life." Sound good so far? The Smith & Tinker Nanovor Nanoscope lets kids take the game with them offline -- it is also one of the coolest pieces of toy hardware we've seen in a long time, with a screen that is absolutely stunning.

Available at Amazon.com for $49.99.

Smith & Tinker