Whether you have kids of your own, know someone with kids, or were a kid once yourself, it can be hard to find just the right game for the tiny little snot factories in your life. So as we continue our gift guides, we're going to give you some of our favorite new and old games you can pick up for the kiddos—all of which are in print. And on a few of them we've linked to our review of the game, so you can investigate yourself if it's a game you'd be interested in. We'll give you the MSRP, and age/audience as it's appropriate. So without further ado, here's the list!

Cheeky Monkey—This is a cute little press-your-luck set-collection game involving exotic animals. It even comes in an adorable (albeit legless) stuffed monkey. Our youngest kids really love this game.

Cost: $29.99 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-vM

Candle Quest—We haven’t forgotten our Jewish readers! (Okay, we don’t know if we have any of them, but still…) This auction game has you trying to be the first to complete your menorah. It’s a retheme (actually, the original theme) of the game It’s Alive.

Cost: $21.99 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

Review: Coming Soon!

Pick-a-Pig/Pick-a-Dog—In this game you’re trying to quickly spot the differences in the portraits of dogs (or pigs). It’s cheap, and fast. If you grab a copy of both (pig and dog) versions you can combine them for even more animal selecting enjoyment!

Cost: $10 (Find it online)

Ages: 7 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-Fu

Catan: Junior—This game is designed to teach kids the basics of Settlers Of Catan, and it does so marvelously. It plays quickly, and there are decisions to be made—but they’re manageable. The colorful and chunky components only add to the appeal.

Cost: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-qC

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Crazy Creatures Dr. Gloom—This cute little card game has you adding creatures from your hand to Dr. Gloom’s machines. It helps kids with their counting, and learning about higher and lower numbers.

Cost: $15 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-A1

Looping Louie—This is a holdover from last year's list, but it's just so stinking good it deserves to be on every list. This is a kids game, but I can tell you that I've played just as many games with adults as I have with kids. It's a super-fun game where Louie whirls around on a pivot, trying to knock out your chicken tokens. You're trying to keep him away from your chickens and send him at your opponents' chickens. Sounds crazy. Is crazy. Is also crazy fun.

Cost: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: My 5-year-old plays it, but he's probably too young by just a bit. Six or 7 and up, I'd say.

The Magic Labyrinth—This clever little game lets you build a different hidden labyrinth under the board every game, and then you're trying to be the first to make it to tokens without running into one of the hidden barriers. There's a big memory aspect to this, and some luck. But best of all, there's no David Bowie in super-tight tights. *shudder*

Cost: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

There it is, our highly recommended list of kids games for this 2013 Christmas season! Stay tuned as we unveil more of our 2013 Christmas Holiday Gift Guide this week!

As the holiday season fast approaches, we thought we'd work up a (hopefully) helpful list of games for people who are looking to give a board game as a gift, but have no idea what to get or where to get it. This isn't exhaustive, and it's full of our own biases, but it should give you some ideas. (We're only mentioning games that are in print, so cool games such as Gulo Gulo, and The Magic Labyinth aren't here.) And please feel free to contact either one of us if you have specific questions. About board games. Not your Calculus homework... We're going to start with Kids Games. We'll have a separate list for Family Games, but these are games specifically meant for kids—even though many of them are great fun for adults, too.

Loopin' Louie—This fantastic game has gone through many cycles of being in print and then out of print—I had to order a copy from Germany! But you're in luck! It's in print, and I've seen this on the shelves of Toys R Us, so snatch one up before they're hard-to-find again. There's a crazed pilot trying to knock off your chickens, and you have to bounce him away. It's as insane as it sounds—and I mean that in a good way. My 4-year-old wants to play this all the time. And my group of adult gamers has Loopin' Louie tournaments on a fairly regular basis.

Cost: ~$20

Available From: Toys R Us (online and in-store), Amazon , and your friendly local board game store

Ages: My 4-year-old plays, but if I'm being honest, he's a tad young. Probably 5 or 6 and up on this one. (But seriously, snag one now.)

Animal Upon Animal—The publisher HABA makes some really cool kids games, and this is no exception. It's a bunch of carved and painted animals of varying sizes and shapes, and each person is trying to stack their set of animals without it falling over. It's simple, and kids are good at it—I think because they're so fearless.

Cost: ~$20

Available From: Amazon, and your friendly local board game store

Ages: 4 and up. Unlike some other games, this doesn't have a whole lot of appeal for older kids or adults. Definitely a kids game.

Chicken Cha Cha Cha—This is a memory game. You're moving your chickens along a path, and trying to remember where various tiles are. If you pick the right tile, you move forward, and if you move over another chicken, you steal one of their feathers. The winner is the person who manages to get one of every feather. Kids are ridiculously good at this—probably because they still have a decent memory. Unlike, say...me! There's a small, hard-to-find expansion for this that introduces small wooden piles of chicken poop. Yes, it's weird. Yes, my kids love it.

Cost: ~$35

Available From: Amazon , and your friendly local board game store

Ages: 4 and up. I don't think older kids would like this, and there's no crossover appeal for adults, either. But parents will enjoy playing with their little ones.

Sorry Sliders!—Sorry is a game many of us played as kids, but it's dice-driven, so ultimately unsatisfying (in my opinion). But take out the dice and add a dexterity element, and it turns into a fun game! The pieces each have a ball bearing in them, so they sliiiiiiiide on boards. And the boards can be moved and swapped and changed depending on the number of players, or the variant you're playing.

Cost: ~$20

Available From: Amazon, big box stores (such as Target or Wal-Mart), and your friendly local board game store

Ages: 6 and up—though my 4-year-old does fine with it. Families, teenagers and adults will have fun with this, too.

Hula Hippos—This is a fast, easy dexterity filler. There's a polished wooden ring, and a bunch of small wooden hippos. You spin the ring, and people try and slide their hippos into the ring as it falls. If you can manage that, your hippo goes away; if you're the first to get rid of your hippos, you win. There's enough chaos and uncertainty that it's good for all ages.

Cost: ~$10

Available From: Amazon , and your friendly local board game store