Pick a number between 1 and 10. Close your eyes and spin around once. Open your eyes. You were thinking of the number 5, right?  Ok, OK, so we’re not as advanced as master magician/illusionist Criss Angel. But we do have some suggestions for getting into the spirit of magic in advance of Wednesday’s (7/23) Season 4 premiere of Criss Angel Mindfreak on A&E. Catch up on Season 1, Season 2 and Season 3 via DVD  ($15-$25). Pick up Criss Angel Mindfreak: Secret Revelations Book for $22 at A&E’s Angel shop. It includes 304 pages of intimate revelations and magical insights, plus reveals the secrets behind 40 mindfreaks. The Criss Angel Official Store sells everything from Criss Angel shotglasses to sweatshirts to belly button rings. The Angel 13 sweatshirt comes in 4 sizes and sells for $70. The shot glass set includes 5 glasses with different logos ($22), while the belly button ring features three CA Logos on baby cable chains dangling from a single 6mm crystal stone. For your little aspiriring magician, pick up a My First Magic Set ($15). The set includes 12 tricks created for small hands, plus the carrying case can be personalized. Magic-inspired gifts might be applicable for the casual fan. The magic wand letter opener is handmade to resemble a wand popular in the ’80s — Moon and star cutouts float along with shimmering metallic beads in the opener’s base ($50). The Magic 16 magnetic puzzle, a perfect accent for the executive’s desk, is like a spherical version of Tetris. And while it doesn’t take a magician to solve, it’ll take your own brand of abracadabra to find the solution.

We hear a lot about the decline of reading, often blamed on competing entertainment such as computer games. But for those who devour bestselling crime novels and science fiction/fantasy books, reading and computer games go hand in hand. Wildly popular author, James Patterson (€œAmerica€™s #1 storyteller,€ according to press releases), has expanded his brand to include an interactive game called €œDeath in Scarlet,€ based on his Women€™s Murder Club series of novels. The game, which is downloadable on PCs and available all over the web for a free trial, will be released for Windows Vista/XP on Aug. 26 for $29 (preorder at Amazon). It offers gamers a brand new Patterson story about a chilling series of murders in San Francisco. The investigation allows players to find hidden objects inside nine investigations full of brain-bending puzzles and €œstrikingly beautiful artwork€ on their way to solving the psychotic killer€™s identity. First of a planned series based on Patterson€™s Women’s Murder Club novels, €œDeath in Scarlet€ is aimed at female ”casual gamers” who like simple rules and ease of play. Fans of bestselling writer, Orson Scott Card, will soon have their own video game to enjoy. €œEnder€™s Game: Battle Room€ (based on his novel) is coming to most downloadable platforms, though the release date is unannounced. Card will be a chief consultant on adapting the novel into a game.

Club Penguin, Toontown and Webkinz are online virtual worlds created for children, where kids can safely pretend they are a host of different cartoon or animal-like characters. They can play games, adopt pets and make friends. At Disney€™s Club Penguin, a child can create a penguin, name it, dance, wave and send greeting cards or €œtalk€ with other penguins. Before your child starts to play, be sure to read the Parent€™s Guide. Club Penguin is for kids 6 to 14. They can play for free, but membership ($5.95 a month, $57.95 a year) lets them dress up their penguin and adopt more than one Puffle (a fuzzy round pet).  Toontown Online (screenshot pictured), also from Disney, is another online multiplayer role-playing game, designed for kids 7 and older. (What is Toontown is helpful for parents.) Children create a character (usually an animal), and explore Toontown. As they run, walk, swim and climb in this brightly colored animated world, they can compete in games and battle evil robot Cogs (which aren’t really scary). Kids can play for free, but a bigger world for members is $80 annually or $10 a month. At Webkinz, by Ganz, you begin by buying a Webkinz toy. The plush pets each come with their own code. By entering the code, players get access to the games and activities at Webkinz. Bbtoystore is one of the sites where you can buy the toys online. For example, a set of four stuffed toys (the Siamese cat, Lemon Lime gecko, Pink Googles the duck and Striped Snake) is $60.  A bullfrog is $12, and a single spotted leopard is $16. At the Webkinz e-store, you can buy accessories for your stuffed animal, like a super bed ($9). Log into Webkinz, enter the code and the pet €œcomes to life.€ Then kids can feed, dress and play with it.

This year, Scrabble celebrated its 60th anniversary. For the past six decades, Americans of all ages have been playing this famous crossword game, with its blue €œdouble letter score,€ pink €œdouble word score€ and red and much-sought-after €œtriple word score€ squares. Millions of adults and children have wracked their brains (and improved their spelling skills) trying to come up with words from odd combination of wooden tiles like K, N, R, Q, Z, L and S — try making a word out of that. Hasbro is releasing the Deluxe Diamond Anniversary Edition of the game this summer ($48), with a more modern look and a carrying case and two slide-and-store trays for the letter tiles. Scrabble fans can enter the €œDiamond Initial Necklace€ sweepstakes, where a few lucky people will win a necklace spelling out €œDIAMOND€ in jewel-encrusted letter tiles — just the thing for your next Scrabble party. For those of you who can’t wait, you can find Scrabble tile jewelry, cufflinks and key chains at Uncommon Goods. I€™m a big fan of the classic Scrabble game ($13) with its homespun wooden letter tile racks. Another good choice is Scrabble Deluxe ($30), which has a rotating board so that none of the players have to look at the board upside-down. Scrabble Edicion en Espanol ($13) is the Spanish-language version of the game. For children, Scrabble Junior: The Dora Explorer Edition ($12) has an English-language board on one side and a Spanish-language version on the other. One of the fanciest versions of the game is Scrabble Onyx Edition ($50; pictured), exclusively from Barnes & Noble. It has a rotating board, is colored black and silver, comes with a tiny hourglass filled with black sand, and is accompanied by a silver-accented score book. Of course, any Scrabble fan needs a copy of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary ($7.50), which contains more than 100,000 playable two- to eight-letter words.

Step aside, ladies of the sizzling summer hit Sex and the City. Another long-awaited summer chick flick opens nationwide this week, and this one€™s for the tweens — girls 7 to 12 years old. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, is the first theatrical release connected to the American Girl phenomenon. American Girl is a hugely popular line of products that center around fairly pricey dolls of various ethnicities who come of age at turning points in U.S. history. Each doll comes with period-specific clothes and some accessories, and there is a book about her life that involves triumph over adversity with humor, grace and loyal friendships. Though the tone is gentle, American Girl tales touch on child abuse, child labor, slavery, war, and much more. Beyond the dolls and the books, the wildly successful line comes with more clothing, accessories and furniture for additional dollars. The movie, produced by Julia Roberts, revolves around the American Girl character Kit, who lives in Cincinnati at the dawn of the Great Depression, and wants to be a “girl reporter.” Get Kit and her best friend Ruthie (on sale for $205) and the tree house ($250) where they spend much of their time. Kit pounds furiously on a typewriter ($22), that €œdings€ like the real thing when she gets to the end of a line. Her roll top desk ($70) has a pullout writing board. The top rolls down to hide clutter, and the set includes a swivel chair so she can take a little spin to get her ideas moving. Like all the other American Girl dolls, Kit has her own online games and downloadable computer wallpaper. American Girl also has its own magazine, line of custom Just Like You dolls, Bitty Baby for ages 3 and older, and Doll Hospital. The dolls have become such popular collectibles on eBay.com that the site offers a buyer’s guide. American Girl does have its naysayers, but most film critics, such as Roger Ebert, give Kit and her cohorts a big thumbs up. This much I know: American Girl €“ I was a Julie — is an improvement over the Barbie of my youth.

Universal acclaim is greeting WALL-E, the daring new film from the Pixar animators who brought us Finding Nemo. And as with previous computer-hatched adventures The Incredibles and Cars (see the full collection here), programmers find this fable particularly well suited to video games. In the WALL-E game, which is available on all platforms, kids can go scavenger hunting for health-restoring sunbeams and forgotten cultural artifacts or just fly through space zapping debris. Games are just the tip of the product tie-in iceberg, of course, despite the fact that the movie’s theme is human overconsumption and the ecological damage done by limitless consumer goods: Kids seduced by the E.T.-like robot can buy either elaborate remote-controlled robo-toys or low-tech ones like this robotic arm; they can get themed bedspreads or read bedtime tales from a Little Golden Book. While this glut of goods may serve to cancel out the story’s eco-friendly message, marketers are expert at making adults feel joyless when the kids complain: After all, who could refuse a roomful of tykes wearing these (pictured) low-tech but heartstring-tugging WALL-E masks?

Origami is the art of folding paper intricately into decorative shapes, with origins in China and Japan. Not only is it often beautiful, but it can double as way to teach children geometry, sequencing (you have to fold the paper in certain steps) and fractions (they€™ll need to know how to figure out a third or half of the paper to follow origami directions). Best of all for parents, origami can be done inside and quietly. A good place to start is with the Origami Fun Kit for Beginners, which includes three books with instructions, 55 different origami projects and 96 sheets of origami paper ($12). If your child is more motivated by specific themes, Origami Corner is worth a visit. The Dinosaur Deluxe Box Kit contains sheets of patterned paper resembling the skin of various dinosaurs, along with practice paper, instructions with diagrams and background scenery for displaying the finished dinosaurs ($7). Other sets focus on insects, sea life, birds and farm animals, along with the classic 1,000 Cranes (according to origami tradition, if you fold 1,000 cranes, like the one pictured, your wish will come true). Children who like playing with dolls will love making as many as 12 dolls with the Kimono Doll Making Kit ($14). Adults who enjoy origami can make their own children€™s furniture out of pieces of cardboard, thanks to an innovative website called Foldschool. Here, you€™ll find free downloadable instructions on how to make kid-size origami furniture, such as a stool, a chair or a rocker. A lesser-known branch of origami is €œtowel origami€ (no, really, I€™m serious.) At Folding Magic, you can order a DVD to show you how to make funny animals out of towels. Some cruise ships leave these cute critters in staterooms as a perk to guests €“ now you can make your own.