Kids Favor Noisy, Action Toys, Survey Finds : Games: A survey finds that while boys prefer heavy action toys, girls tend to favor the more intellectually challenging games.

Gone are the days of spinning tops and building blocks. Nowadays, children favor noisy, action-packed toys and games, and have an uncanny knack for choosing the most expensive, a survey found.

Topping the list of favorites were an electronic bowling alley costing $140 and a $50 fire engine with realistic horn and siren sounds, the Third Annual Duracell National Toy Survey found.

Nearly 600 children between the ages of 5 and 9 recently “play-tested” 22 toys at their local YMCA after-school programs for at least one hour per day over 10 consecutive school days.

Children in 30 programs nationwide voted for their favorites both on the first and the last day of play. Not all the toys used in the survey require batteries, the Bethel, Md.-based battery giant was quick to point out.

Most popular were top-ranked Power Alley Electronic Bowling by Marchon, an electronic extravaganza designed to turn a playroom into a bowling alley, and the Sound Machine Water Cannon fire engine by Nylint.

One 6-year-old boy described the appeal of the fire engine perfectly, saying he liked it “because it makes a lot of noise,” the survey said.

The third most popular toy was Sound FX by Mattel, a wrist speaker that produces sounds and music when cued by body movements.

The survey, analyzed by TrendSights, a consumer research and evaluation company, found a marked difference in the selections of boys and girls.

While boys voted in large numbers for the heavy action and mechanical toys like the top three, girls tended to favor low-intensity competitive group games and the more intellectually challenging games, the survey said.

The fourth and fifth most popular selections--Super Dough Magic Show, a game in which children perform magic tricks with modeling clay, and Rattle Me Bones, a hand-eye coordination game in which players must carefully remove objects from a skeleton without disturbing it--were heavily favored by girls, the survey said.

The top 12 list contains one or two variations on longtime childhood favorites.

Monopoly Junior by Parker Brothers--a simplified version of the classic board game, which revolves around life at an amusement park--was the sixth most popular toy on the list.

Lights Alive--a high-tech, multicolored version of the ever-popular sketch board, in which children can create pictures on a magic screen that can be easily wiped cleaned--ranked 11th.