Preschoolers are passionate about their properties ... so which are tops with tots today? Strategic marketing and brand invention firm Funosophy Inc. recently conducted its annual preschool trend tracking survey to find out what's topping the charts with these pint-sized consumers.

A total of 200 moms with sons or daughters ages 3 to 5 were asked "What character is your child just starting to get really interested in? And what character is your child growing tired of?" The result: Nickelodeon continues to dominate the preschool category.

The top two properties that preschoolers are "just getting interested in" were Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, with 11 and 9 percent of the total votes, respectively, while another Nick series star, Diego from Go, Diego, Go!, also made the list with 5 percent of the votes. Also taking several places on the list was children's entertainment heavyweight Disney, with Disney Princess and Hannah Montana coming in at third and fourth place overall, with 7 and 6 percent of the votes, respectively. Disney's Minnie/Mickey Mouse also made the top 10 as well.

Although the same properties ranked in the top three spots this year (SpongeBob, Dora, Disney Princess), nearly every carry-over property was down slightly with kids in 2009 compared to Funosophy's 2008 study. The exception was Mattel's Barbie, which gained a few popularity points. Meanwhile, Minnie/Mickey Mouse, Scooby-Doo and Transformers were new to the top 10 this year. Star Wars and Power Rangers fell off it.

• Younger-skewing Dora is still tops with 3-year-olds, but silly SpongeBob moved into first place with 4- and 5-year-olds in this year's study. Also of note for 2009 is the appearance of Barbie in the top 3 for both 3-year-old and 5-year-old girls.
• Preschool boys' and girls' interests were fairly evenly divided between gender-specific and gender neutral properties.
• While Dora, Diego and SpongeBob were the properties most kids were just getting into, they continue to saturate the market, ranking 1 through 3, respectively, as the properties that kids are also most commonly growing tired of. Younger skewing Elmo and Barney were next on the list of properties fading fastest.
• Although mothers of preschoolers are aware of more than 60 different preschool-targeted properties, only about 10 of those carry real weight with kids and their parents.