MGA is rolling out a new line of dolls called Moxie Girlz as Mattel Inc. plans to take over MGA’s former marquee product, the saucy Bratz dolls, following a four-year legal struggle.

This time of year, I am frequently amazed at the variety of toys available in stores. The explosion of electronics such as game consoles and remote-controlled vehicles, the quantity of dolls and their hundreds (if not thousands) of outfits and accessories. I was born at the end of the baby boom, not in the Stone Age, contrary to what my daughter thinks, and the contrast between what was available then and what is available now is astonishing. Which got me thinking—what evidence do we have for toys in the Virginia archaeological record before European settlement?

Mom-and-pop makers of toys and other products for children fear that costly new government regulations could put them out of business soon after Christmas. After recalls of millions of tainted toys from China over the past two years, Congress approved a new law in August limiting the amount of lead and other chemicals in children’s products.