You know that feeling you get when you give your child an "educational" toy and you see that brief look of disappointment flash over their face? (Just before they recover and give you that polite thank-you, hopefully.) And you know that puzzle is going to end up at the bottom of the toy chest, as usual. Well, I've just been to the International Toy Fair, and I combed the place for super-cool, non-electronic educational toys that got me excited. These are toys I think my kid would be excited about (or would have when he was younger). Here are eight fun toys that get your kids thinking way, way outside the box.

I don't care who you are, there's really nothing more satisfying than seeing a kid try something that seems impossible and succeed at it. And that's why you're absolutely going to love watching this video of a 9-year-old trying to score a hockey goal, which was taken at a fundraiser to benefit a school in Nova Scotia.

Before the East Coast Muscians hockey team started their game with the school's team, Tyson Greencorn came onto the ice to take a shot from the center of the rink to try and score a goal -- a goal that came with a prize of $5,000.

In further proof that it's hard out there for moms who want to celebrate their kids' birthdays without ending up in the poor house, allow me to present exhibit a: kids' spa parties. Yes, you read that right. Wee little children aren't just being spoiled with a day at the spa; they are bringing along a gaggle of their besties to be indulged!

I must be doing something wrong. Here I was married and pregnant before I stepped foot in a spa!

It's clear why kids enjoy video games so much. The bottom line, they are super fun. But there is so much more to the experience than cool graphics. They can be beneficial in so many ways. In fact, gaming can actually help make your kids better students in school. Here's how.

With the holidays just around the corner, it's a good bet that you'll either be buying your kid a video game system, or you'll be buying them a video game to play on their video game system. These things aren't cheap. Game consoles can cost hundreds of dollars, so you want to make sure that the one you buy or have already bought lasts for awhile. And you know how kids can be -- destructive little monsters! Haha. JK. Your kids are lovely. But they're probably stronger than they think, right? And you want to make sure that they don't accidentally destroy their lovely (and expensive) gift, amiright?

Her are 6 ways you can make your game console last forever.

How many events have you been to in the past year or so where there was an inflatable bounce house set up for the kids to play in? And how many birthday parties have you attended that were held at one of those bounce house centers with five or six inflatables for the kids to jump in to their hearts' content?

And one more question -- have you ever worried about your kids getting hurt while bouncing?

Well, as it turns out, a new report says that 30 children are treated for bounce-house related injuries in hospitals across the country each day.

(For real?)

From the first time I saw them and their blue and sliver poms poms shaking and big hairdoos bouncing, I desperately wanted to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. For years I dreamed of the day I'd be out there high kicking and dancing along with them, and pretty much considered it to be my destiny. Though my home was in Nebraska, my heart was out there on the field in Dallas strutting my stuff.

The nuns at my Catholic grade school weren't so impressed with this ambition, and wouldn't hang my drawing of my future self on the wall with the others during vocations week. But they couldn't convince me that being a nun would be more fun. My best friend who lived across the street shared my dream, and we practiced routines we made up for hours on end.