You'll Want to Get Your Hands on the Hottest Toys of the 2014 Holiday Season

Get these while you can! Last year Crazy Lights Magic Water Speakers ($43) hit the tail end of the holiday shopping season, and only a lucky few were able to purchase them in time for the holiday. This year, they're available earlier in the season, and if the squeals of excitement I witnessed as a group of tween girls came upon them is any indication, they're a guaranteed hit. Simply fill the speakers with water; plug them in to your computer, phone, or anything else with a USB port; and watch as the colors and bubbles move to the beat of your kids' favorite tunes.

Last year, Disney Infinity was one of our must-have items of the holiday season. The idea of playing an interactive video game where you can actually be your favorite Disney characters made it an instant hit — not to mention the toy box feature where characters from different Disney films can interact. This year Disney is expanding the line to include Marvel Super Heroes ($75), such as Hulk, Captain America, and Thor. The new characters are compatible with Disney Infinity 2.0, an upgrade to the previous system, meaning that for the first time ever, Captain America can team up with Buzz Lightyear for some fun.

You've never seen a remote-control animal quite like the Zoomer Dino ($110). With some work, your little one can actually "tame" this dinosaur. Onyx, who is exclusive to Toys "R" Us, can sense when his owner is nearby and actually interacts with humans. Pull his tail and watch him get angry. Listen to him burp and fart. Teach him to dance, chomp, roar, and chase. Using special True Balance Technology, Onyx balances on two wheels and smoothly moves around the room, making him the newest member of your family.

VTech's Kidizoom Smartwatch ($60) is the first smartwatch made just for kids. Designed for children as young as 4 years old, the watch provides an enriching, fun, and educational experience with all the functions of a traditional watch (analog clock, alarms, timer, stopwatch) and the ability to take photos and videos using the built-in camera and then upload them to the computer for safe keeping. The watch also comes with an assortment of games, which kids can play on the 1.4-inch touchscreen.

LeapFrog's LeapTV ($150) is a video gaming system specifically designed for kids ages 3 to 8 years old. It fuses educational concepts with familiar characters and active play. With three types of play — classic control, where the controller acts in the traditional fashion; pointer play, where the controller converts into an LED pointer; and body motion, where kids are put into the game to interact with the characters — there are plenty of features to keep even the youngest gamers engaged. One of the most exciting features of LeapTV is the user interface, which is truly designed for young tots. Instructions are presented graphically and via audio, so nonreaders can learn without the assistance of a grown-up. They're also easy to move between, so kids who are still working on their dexterity can toggle games on their own.

You can't be surprised to find a Frozen toy or two on our hot holiday toy list! The hit movie of the year has inspired more than a few fun toys. Tolly's Snow Glow Elsa Doll ($40) brings the character and the film to life at home as the doll sings "Let It Go," recites 15 phrases from the flick, and has her dress light up when her arms are raised or her necklace is pressed. Quite a blast for Frozen fans of all ages!

Roominate, created by two engineers out of Caltech, MIT, and Stanford, encourages girls to learn to use circuits to make their self-built dollhouses more realistic with moving elevators, working lights, and anything else they can create. The company just appeared on Shark Tank, where they received an investment from two of the top sharks. Given the publicity and hype, we're pretty sure the company's Roominate Studio ($30) will be flying off store shelves.

Few people anticipated the runaway success of Nickelodeon's Paw Patrol last year. But the network is finally catching up, and there is a suite of toys to accompany the show now. The Paw Patrol Look-Out Playset ($40) is the perfect piece for Chase fans and a great way for little ones to bring the show to life.

You've never seen Lego play quite like this. Lego Fusion Town Master ($35) fuses brick building and iPad play. Kids first build their own town with the two-dimensional bricks and then use the Fusion app (which can read the bricks) to photograph their collection and play with their new town in app mode. Once on the iPad, they can continue building their town and bring it to life as the minifigures enjoy their time in town.

The hottest character from last year's holiday season is back with another must-have item of the year. The Doc McStuffins Get Better Talking Mobile ($50) is everything little doctors in training could ever want — a siren, lights, doctors' tools, and the Doc Mobile song. Kids can take their stuffed animals' temperatures, give them an EKG, and check their hearing before calling it in to the home base with the working CB radio.

By far one of our favorite toys of the year is kinetic sand. Though not new, this is the first year that toy companies have found a way to really make it fun. Whether you buy a complete kit like Wacky-Tivities Kinetic Sand ($24) or individual packs ($12), this is one you'll want to add to your list (just ask your kids' teachers — ours have put it on their classroom wish lists)!

You won't believe the sheer size of the Imaginext Cosmic Chaos Super Nova Battle Rover ($120) — it's at least two feet tall — and it has tons of fun sounds and actions. Consider it an all-in-one playset, vehicle, and space shuttle! Aside from an alien-detecting chamber that lights up, the Battle Rover has 19 lights, disk launchers, 200 sounds and phrases, and a control panel that even toddlers can use.

The Hot Wheels brand moves off the track and into the air with its first-ever flying toy. The Hot Wheels RC Street Hawk ($60) is battery operated and flies up to 200 feet in the air. Light as a feather, it operates just like a remote-control car but does so off the ground! It truly is the coolest car around.

The latest incarnation of FurReal Friend's lifelike dogs is even more fun than the first. FurReal Friends Get Up and GoGo My Walking Pup Pet ($60) — yes, it has a crazy-long name — may be the most lifelike yet. The dog's head tilts as if she's listening to you, her tail wags, and she responds when her head is tapped or you talk to her. My kids can't stop playing with her — they've even surprised a few visitors into thinking that we had a new pet at home!

There's plenty of talk about Barbie's new fashion doll where kids can create and print clothes to outfit their dolls, but we think the Barbie Endless Curls ($25) is the one to get your hands on. Kids love playing with Barbie's hair, and with this doll, they can twirl and twist her hair all they want (with a curling iron that does not need to be heated — it's pretty miraculous) and then brush it out and start again. We predict hours of fun.