Duck! From Marshmallows?

Item: Marshmallow Shooter

Price: $24.95

Where to Buy: Marshmallowville.com

Review: Lots of leftover marshmallows from your Easter basket?

How about a healthier-- and much more fun-- way to get rid of a few?

The marshmallow shooter is safer than a BB gun and drier (although stickier) than a squirt gun. Your child will be the star of recess.

On second thought, maybe this is a toy that's best used at home.

The shooter holds up to 25 mini marshmallows, and they blast up to 30 feet away. Pretty powerful stuff for a mass of sugary goodness. The best part for moms and dads? The shooter is dishwasher-safe.

And maybe you should consider getting two marshmallow shooters. You have to defend yourself, right?

Image from: Marshmallowville.com

Throw Your Worries Away

Item: Worry Dolls

Price: $2

Where to Buy: Global Marketplace

Review: It's the first day of spring-- throw your concerns to the wind with worry dolls from Guatamala.

Legend has it that you tell one of the dolls a worry and then place it under your pillow before you fall asleep. While you sleep, the worry disappears.

I should try this more often.

With six dolls to a box, you can get rid of no less than 42 worries a week. What a deal! In economic times like these, maybe worry dolls should be a necessity right up there with food, drink and shelter.

Image from: Globalmarketstore.com

Classic Toy for the Young & Young-At-Heart

Item: Etch-A-Sketch

Price: $17.99

Where to Buy: World-of-Toys

Review: My end table has the obligatory pile of books for us or our guests to peruse in spare moments of boredom. But the place of honor at the top of that stack goes not to a book, but a toy: the Etch-A-Sketch.

Maybe location is why I have a special affinity for this toy-- the first Etch-A-Sketch rolled off a production line in 1960 in Bryan, Ohio, just one city over and 21 years before I was born in nearby Defiance.

But really-- who can resist trying to write their name in cursive, carefully turning the white knobs that at once seem too sensitive and not sensitive enough? I was never too interested in drawing pictures with the Etch-A-Sketch, but I was fascinated by the geometric possibilities. More than once have I filled the entire screen with lines mere millimeters apart, yet never touching.

The Etch-A-Sketch is a classic toy that doesn't go out of style. Introduce it to a child for the first time, or buy it as a coffee table knick knack for your sibling or best friend.

Image from: World of Toys