I’m sure most of you had the opportunity to play with Pop-Up books when you were a child, but if you haven’t, then the experience will be even more fresh with Electronic Popables.

Jie Qi, with assitance from Leah Buechley and Tshen Chew from the MIT Meida Lab have taken the pop-up book to a whole new level. Their Electronic Popables book features plug-in power motors, so not only can stuff move at the pull of a tab, but it also glows with electronic light.

And that’s not all, certain creations will often light up when the user pushes down on the page, and there is even one instance where pop-up Venus Fly Traps actually open and close. There is a video here after the jump if you want to see it for yourself, and I highly recommend that you do.

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For those of you trying to find new ways to keep old games interesting.  This Football Keepy Uppy Counter could be the way to do that.  It’s a beanbag with an electronic counter inside of it, so basically, it’s a hacky sack with a new name and a counter.  I suppose it’s forgivable that they’re trying to disguise a game of hacky sack as something else, just as long as they keep it entertaining.

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This is something your mom (or anyone else suffering from ophidiophobia for that matter) would definitely scream the moment they see it – the RC Snake which is a vast improvement over the traditional rubber snake toys that kids used to try to fool their parents with.

It moves like the real thing, has scaley skin like the real thing, a flickering tongue like the real thing and it even has a terrifying rattle like the real thing. Because it’s radio-controlled, you can look all innocent while unassuming colleagues get terrorised by this realistic faux-predator. Its design is based on the largest and most dangerous real-life rattlesnake, the Eastern Diamondback, so the likeness is pretty remarkable, and the body is made up of segments, making the movement convincingly slithery.

Not too sure what kind of hiding kids would get when they try to fool their parents with this £29.99 device, but it ought to generate a fair number of laughs from the office.

It really is impossible to talk about Hyper Blast without talking about 1-2-3 Stomp. These two games are made by Wild Planet, and they have the same basic concept.

Each one comes with a talking base, powered by 3 AAA batteries (not included). At the base’s command, the player stomps on the center, and stuff goes flying. In the case of 1-2-3 Stomp, it was numbers that had to be put back in the proper place. In the case of Hyper Blast, it is numbered balls that also have to be put back in the proper place. You can’t see from the picture here, but each of the HyperBlast balls has a hole in the back so that it will only fit in its proper numerical order.

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This next product is for those parents who are tired of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show on Playhouse Disney, and really want to smash those annoying Disney characters once and for all.

Just kidding. Actually, it is a game designed for children ages three and up, and that mouse-eared masher that you see in the photo is something to merely cover the Disney characters. Mouse-ke Tag is a lot like the Hyper Dash game. In this case, the talking contraption orders the player to cover a certain character instead of smashing a numbered disc.

The first level is as easy as just smashing (covering) the characters who are called by name, but later levels involve learning levels, character voices, and descriptions. So not only is it fun, but it is a little bit educational.

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I think that most of us would agree that CSI: Crime Scene Investigation isn’t designed for six-year-olds. However, if you have a six-year-old that happened to watch it, then perhaps they would be inspired by the forensics people. This is assuming they wouldn’t have nightmares.

I am assuming that this is the target audience for the Spy Gear Evidence Kit. This All-in-One Inspection Set is designed for future detectives, as it highlights all the nifty aspects of it. For example, it has a 7 piece fingerprint kit that allows your kids to use lifting tape, glow in the dark powder, and an LED flashlight with UV Blacklight. This kit also has tiny ink case and a 2-sided fingerprint card for more fingerprint fun.

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Just a friendly reminder for Coolest Gadgets readers who have kids ages 3 and up: Christmas is less than three months away. You should also know that Wild Planet’s Stomp 1-2-3 might be a good gift to have under the tree.

1-2-3 Stomp is an amazingly simple game that includes a base plus numbers 1-10. These numbers look a lot like the magnetic ones found on a refrigerator door, but there is no magnet, and they are made for the 1-2-3 Stomp base. The game begins when the player stomps on the green button explicitly marked “Stomp”, and then the numbers go flying in ten different directions.

The base vocally says what number it wants on its base, and the player better find the right number and put it in its place. There is a musical tone that sounds once the number is put in place, and its on to the next number.

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For several years, Leap Frog has put out an assortment of electronics entertainment geared towards children, and the Zippity is the most original.

Leap Frog, makers of the Leapster, Leapster 2, and Didj describes the Zippity as a “high-energy learning system that gets preschoolers dancing, jumping, playing and learning with Disney characters”, but you probably can’t see how from the picture to the left. I had a chance to try it out, and an adult would see the Zippity as essentially a touch sensitive mat with a very large joystick sticking out of it.

This mat is completely wireless, and requires four C batteries. The mat requires a transmitter that hooks up to your television with the red, white, and yellow ports, and also requires four C batteries.

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