Toys of the Year 2011

Attention shoppers: Don't hit the mall without reading this first! These 26 toys are the year's best -- we're sure of it because we asked kids around the country to test more than 100 playthings for us, and these were their favorites. 

We also listened to their moms, who rated their kids' picks for safety and durability (and clued us in if anything was too tough to assemble or made annoying noises. Next!)

Here, Parenting's roundup of what's tops for '11.