Thinker Toys
Seventh and San Carlos, Carmel
(831) 624-0441
480 Del Monte Center, Monterey
(831) 643-0907, www.thinkertoys.com
While big-box stores line their aisles with nearly disposable doodads, Thinker Toys stocks new products of old-school quality. Imagination blossoms in the presence of sturdy instruments, dolls, kites and puzzles, many of them made with eco-friendly materials. Big this year among 10-to-15-year-olds: the Rainbow Loom, allowing kids to create colorful bracelets and necklaces out of rubber bands. Legos still reign among littler siblings; check out the architectural bent in the Creator series. Your kid will have so much fun, she won’t even realize how much she’s learning.