If you’ve got a child on your list this year, undoubtedly you are wondering two things: What are the hot new toys? Which ones can I afford?

The good news, says Jonathan Samet, co-publisher of The Toy Insider, a 4-year-old consumer toy guide, is that this year there will be plenty of great new toys with lower prices. Samet, who was in Dallas recently for the Toy Industry Association Fall Toy Preview, says that last year at this time, toy companies were promoting $300 dinosaurs and the like, “and then the market crashed and burned and companies got stuck. This year, companies are more prepared and have products at lower prices.”

Each year at this time, The Toy Insider comes up with a Hot 20 list of toys for the holiday season. This year, Samet and his team of experts rated the toys they saw according to the six trends they think are most important in the industry:

Lower prices (under $30);

Toys based on entertainment properties (for example, Transformers, Twilight, Elmo, Star Wars);

Internet-based and digital toys (with links to Web sites where play can continue a la Webkinz);

Animatronics (toys with light, sound and sensors);

Hands-on creativity (toys tied to artistic, math or science skills);

Exercise and activity (toys that make you move).

“We took a hard look at the economy for our top 20 list,” says Samet, who has been in the toy business for 25 years. “Thirteen of the 20 toys are under $30. We also did not pick a single toy that was over $100.” He also notes that there’s a big trend toward games families can play together, so he and his team took that into consideration, too. And while the toy industry as a whole is down about 1 percent, he says, two categories are growing: activity and construction toys.

Keeping all that information in mind — and doing the tough job of testing out the toys themselves — Toy Insider came up with the following list of hot 20 toys (for more info, go to www.thetoyinsider.com).

Ladies and gentlemen, start your listmaking:

Ages: newborn-2 years

1. Elmo Tickle Hands

Fisher-Price, $29.99

The Elmo phenomenon continues. Kids put on these Elmo-like fuzzy red gloves. When they touch something, the gloves make sounds and talk. You can also put them in “dance mode,” which gets kids moving.

2. MEGA Bloks Build’N Go Table

MEGA Brands, $39.99

An all-in-one blocks kit: Unfold the portable table and it becomes a base for creating a mini-world with blocks, stickers, a little person and even a car. This would be great for a weekend at Grandma’s.

3. My Pal Scout & My Pal Violet

LeapFrog, $19.99

These little plush doggies sing, talk and interact with your preschooler. There’s an online component, too: Parents can customize the tunes for their toddlers.

4. Tonka Chuck My Talking Truck

Tonka, $29.99

If your kid calls to him, this little interactive truck rolls toward your child, ready to play. Touch his bumper or lift the bed, and he’ll talk and make fun noises.

Ages: 3-5 years

5. 1-2-3 Stomp!

Wild Planet, $19.99

Stomp on the center of this toy, and the numbers attached to it go flying. The toy then asks your child to do activities: Find the number 7. Find a yellow number. Give me two numbers that add up to 7. Fun but also educational.

 6. Liv Dolls

Spin Master, $17.99

“This is a beautiful fashion doll,” says Samet, “with access to a whole Internet world.” A bit like Webkinz, these dolls have online lives in which you can buy them clothes, play games and watch Webisodes.

7. Rocky the Robot Truck

Matchbox, $59.99

This truck seems a lot like Tonka’s Chuck My Talking Truck, only geared to a slightly older set. Rocky tells jokes, dances, shakes and uses more than 100 phrases.

8. Tightrope Terror

JAKKS Pacific, $19.99

These fast mini-cars race over a threadlike 10-foot tightrope. Makes my son’s old Hot Wheels set seem positively prehistoric.

9. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime

Hasbro, $44.99

Look, it’s a talking robot! Wait, now it’s a revving truck! That’s the fun of Transformers.

Ages: 6-8 years

10. Zippity Learning System

LeapFrog, $79.99

With a waist-high joystick and a foldable mat that looks a little like a Dance, Dance Revolution pad, this one will get your child up and off the couch. The system wirelessly connects to the TV, on which kids play games with Disney characters.

11. Air Hogs Zero Gravity Laser

Spin Master, $39.99

An indoor remote-control car that goes up walls, past the confused cat or wherever you point the laser.

12. Bakugan 7 in 1 Maxus Dragonoid

Spin Master, $39.99

In case you don’t know, Bakugan is a Japanese anime cartoon, a card game and a toy enterprise – Pokemon for the next generation. This toy combines “six Bakugan Trap and one Dragonoid Bakugan,” whatever those may be. I imagine only your child can tell you why this is important.

13. Battle Strikers Turbo Tops Tournament Set

MEGA Brands, $14.99 starter; $34.99 deluxe

Kids move these battling tops by using magnetic finger controllers. The starter set includes tops and controllers; with the deluxe version you get the fighting arena.

14. Girl Gourmet Sweets Candy Jewel Factory

JAKKS Pacific, $29.99

This idea is sort of like Easy-Bake Oven for the budding fashionista. Press candy components into molds, then bake them into jewelry pieces. Wear them and eat them.

15. Moxie Girlz

MGA Entertainment, $19.99

By the folks who brought us Bratz, a new fashion doll to take on Mattel’s Barbie empire.

16. PRINTIES Design Studio Kit

Techno Source, $19.99

“You can create your own plush animals and characters with a special material that fits in your printer,” Samet says. “You design it, create the skin and stuff it yourself.” No sewing or cutting skills needed.

Ages: 9 and up

17. Power Miners Titanium Command Rig

LEGO, $99.99

This massive LEGO set is a vertical drilling platform and also a getaway truck. Bonus: a caged blue rock monster.

18. Star Wars The Force Trainer

Uncle Milton, $84.99

Use “The Force” and your powers of concentration to move a training ball up and down a tube. This high-tech toy reportedly uses a wireless headset and sensor technology to see what kind of brain waves — alpha, beta, gamma or delta — you’re using. Concentrate hard and it activates a fan that moves the ball up the tube. Perfect for dorm-room play.

19. Style Six Silk Screener

JAKKS Pacific, $39.99

“This is another good activity toy,” Samet says. Everything you need to make silk-screened T’s.

20. Twilight Scene It? The DVD Game: Deluxe Edition

Screenlife, $39.99

The newest version of Scene It relies on clips and trivia from the only movie that teenage girls cared about last year, Twilight, and the only one they’ll care about this fall, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.