With so many different toys available on the market today, it becomes very difficult for you as a parent to determine exactly what your next purchase for your child should be in the toy department. Let us guide you through some of the hottest trends in toys today. Every kid loves video games. Companies like Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo are vying with each other to capture your kids' imagination. Microsoft with their XBOX, Sony with their Playstation 3 and Nintendo with what is the hottest machine out there -- Wii. There are so many games available for these machines, for every age and every interest. You can play tennis, kick a ball, demolish an entire army, be a professional baseball player, take a tour of a city while saving it from terrorists, even go fishing.

The next sets of Toys that have captured the child's imagination are toy guns. Yes children, especially boys, are drawn to guns like a magnet. If there is no toy gun in site, they will take a stick and pretend it is a gun. Toy manufacturers have taken advantage of this fascination and there are a million harmless toy variations of this dangerous weapon. Some are so real in their execution, that you have to make sure a few times it's not the real thing. The one company that leads all other by a mile when it comes to toy guns is Nerf. Not only do they have a wide variety of guns, crossbows, dart launchers, and other projectile weapons, but they're all made of safe, soft Nerf material. So parents don't have to worry about injuries. Another slight variation of the gun is the toy water gun that spells unlimited hours of fun for the youngsters. In summer especially, you can find one in almost every child's hand. If guns are for boys, then dolls are for girls. Dolls have come to spell Barbie, now the eternal favorite. The beautiful blue-eyed blonde is every girl's dream come true. She is a style icon too who wears the hottest and latest fashions. Companies have taken advantage of this pretend play that is so dear to girls and have designed dollhouses, kitchens, shopping malls and other playsets for Barbie to interact with. With a few dolls, a few accessories and one of these playsets, the girls can spend endless hours doing what they love to do -- pretend to be Mom! Remote controlled toys are another hot trend. Earlier remote control was limited to small cars. Now almost everything can be remote controlled. Even life-size toy robots like the RoboSapien, RoboReptile, and RoboRaptor. Watch as your child can make the robotic dinosaur run, leap, lunge, jump and even hunt. Remote controlled cars have gotten bigger and fancier with the latest fad being one that can climb walls, defying gravity. Watch as your child's face lights up as he maneuvers a car deftly on every surface possible.