With so many toys on the market–ranging from old-fashion wooden blocks to pop-star dolls to virtual reality headsets–parents, grandparents and anyone ever invited to a child’s birthday party has probably stood in front of a wall of toys at a toy store scratching their heads. But if you’ve got a balloon-animal-filled event coming up and need suggestions, look no further than the National Parenting Publications Awards. For the last 18 years, judges, parents, kids and professionals who work with children put all kinds of products to the test to determine the best, most beneficial, age-appropriate toys on the market. They recently gave out the 2009 awards, and these products were among the top in the ‘Bang for the Buck’ category.

Infants and Toddlers: The Potty Caddy, by Rachel Gordon

Add a little fun to the most basic of human functions! According to NAPPA, this kit contains “a funny little book for kids teaches “The Potty Song” and answers questions like, “How do I know when I have to pee?” and “My poop looks like clay. Is it OK if I play with it?” The kit also includes an informative pamphlet, written by a professor of pediatricians, that offers practical tips for parents, such as throwing a “good-bye diapers!” party to help your child transition to the toilet. A helpful chart with stickers that cheer “hurray for poop” and “yippee for pee,” accompanied by a pack of 100 “toilet targets,” add motivation, positive reinforcement and fun to the process.”

Preschoolers & Up: Make Your Own Animal Puppets

Some toys are classics for a reason! In this sock-puppet kit, three soft socks get reincarnated as cows, elephants, pigs or your own wacky creation with felt shapes, googly eyes and fun fur, just peel and stick (careful! They can’t be repositioned once adhered). From NAPPA: “Parents will appreciate that his art kit leaves little mess to clean up and sparks imaginative play even after the activity of creating is done.”

Ages 6 & Up: Crayola Art Studio

Leave it to Crayola to create a PC program to nurture creativity and tech savvy all at once. NAPPA says: “This powerful creativity application for the PC invites kids to learn to create, edit and transform digital images with fun-to-use digital tools, such as Crayola Pencils, Paints, Markers and Crayons. The easy-to-learn interface provides a perfect introduction to the standard layout of tools, features and functions found across computer applications that kids will encounter as they grow older.”

Ages 9 & Up: Quelf

Kids (and parents) get goofy in this hilarious board game combining stunts, quiz questions, wacky rules and kooky topics. From NAPPA: “In this game, the word “random” takes on new meaning… Hundreds of hilarious game cards cover everything from barnyard sing-alongs to dancing prison guards; origami dinosaurs to spooky ghost stories; presidents to chickens; bellydancing to thumb wrestling … and more. Whether you win or lose, the non-stop laughter is what keeps everybody playing. Quelf is simultaneously bizarre, perplexing, occasionally embarrassing, generally silly, and never the same game twice.”

Ages 12 & Up: It’s All Too Much, So Get It Together: Less Junk, Cleaner Mind, Better Life, by Peter Walsh

Best known for his role on TLC’S Clean Sweep, Peter Walsh helps teens clear the mental and physical clutter they accumulate from their moving-at-the-speed-of-Twitter lives. NAPPA says that “this book has so many great suggestions that parents may want to sneak it out of their teen’s room for their own reading. The good news is that the entire family will quickly start applying Walsh’s organizational secrets to create calmer surroundings and increase peace of mind.”

For more great products, check out all of the NAPPA winners.