Ten Counter by Anatex Reviews

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It is solidly constructed from wood and thick coated wire with wooden beads. They provide a great introduction to counting for toddlers and up. I love that there are no pieces to lose, it is self contained. If you children like bead mazes this is a great compromise between pure fun and educational fun for a great price. My only disapointment, which was not enough to detract overall, was that the "written" numbers to correspond to each number of beads are simply stickers stuck to the wood. They haven't peeled or become damaged at all, I just would have preferred them to be painted on.

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Buy Young Scientists Frog Dissection Kit

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My son is fascinated by nature and he and his grandfather had a good time dissecting this frog. The delivery was timely and the product as promised. We have used Carolina before and always been happy with them.

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The only thing that was not up to our satisfaction was the cutting tool. The sissors were dull and made the operation difficult.

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I did this with my seven year old who is very curious about the way things work. It had very clear instructions and was very informative. It comes with everything needed so I didn't have to purchase any additional supplies. It does take awhile to complete but gives the option of completing one section first and then the rest later. All in all, it's a great product and I recommend.

Best Fascinations AntWorks Colors of Life Deals

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This ant farm has proved to have a learning curve, but overall it has been a great experience and my kids love this ant farm!

The good:

1. Seeing the ants make and use the tunnels, and seeing how ant colonies work is really neat.

2. The lights provide a wonderful, colorful nightlight. I am not sure if the ants really appreciate them, but they are aesthetically pleasing for humans to look at. There isn't much instruction on how to change between the 2 modes (keeping it on one color or letting the colors rotate) in the instructions but it was easy to figure out by myself.

3. The construction seems to be pretty durable. It has been dropped at least once onto a tile floor and it survived without any cracks. We also have not had any problems with the light and it has been on for weeks.

The learning curve:

1. I tried collecting my own ants, but they were too small and they would escape out of the air vents before I could get more than five of them into the habitat. I resorted to ordering them and the escape problem was solved. The ants I received were a lot larger and kind of neat to look at. You can distinctly see all the little parts, which is a great teaching aid.

2. The gel is a foreign substance to the ants and they don't realize that they are supposed to dig into and eat the gel. You are supposed to encourage digging by priming the gel (putting a few holes into the gel before you put the ants in). I did so, but after the ants were in the habitat and were not tunneling, I realized the holes were probably too small. I attempted to make them bigger, but the ants went into attack mode and the top quickly went back on. It took 3-4 days before the ants realized that they were supposed to dig into the stuff. In the mean time, about half of the colony died.

The bad:

The gel can only be used twice. I am hoping that the next colony will utilize the pre made tunnels and realize what they are supposed to do a bit quicker before half the colony dies. I also hope that I can find a refill of the clear gel. I have found where to get the blue gel but I am not sure how the lights will look with the blue gel.

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I bought this for my 5 year old son! Best gift ever! He loves it. I ordered one for my niece and nephew and my sister ordered one for some friends of hers! These are awesome and durable! Highly recommended!

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I bought this for my 10 year old and my 4 year old has dropped it twice so far on day two of having the ants in it! The ants lived and the top didn't even pop off!!!! It's awesome. Some of the colors are almost too bright to look at, but you have the option to keep it on one color if you want. I had to pay $14 for ants because of winter, but they are only 6 in the summer. I know that sounds like a lot, but it is worth it! It is so cool to see the ants digging in the gel:)

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I bought this for my daughter's 9th birthday after she had said she wanted an ant farm. She was thrilled with the lights and had it plugged in for the entire week that we waited for out ants to arrive. The lights are very cool they either cycle rainbow colors or you can stop it on your favorite color, all with an optical sensor that you only have to wave your finger in front of! If you leave your ant farm in a sunny place (which you aren't supposed to because I think the ants don't like full sun) the sunlight is enough to trigger the sensor.

So after less than a week of anxiously waiting our ants arrived. We ordered the harvester ants, which are recommended because they are good tunnelers and they have giant mandibles that are much easier to see. I placed my order from Life Studies. It was $5 and they arrived pretty quickly. I was seriously scared of those ants because they looked like they could inflict some serious pain. Within one hour of having them in the habitat, they had started to dig up and move some gel. Within 3 hours we could see a good start on their first tunnel. The instructions say to poke some holes in the gel and they even give you a special tool for it so that the ants can start tunneling there. Oddly enough, our ants chose their own spot and ignored our poke holes completely.

For the entire first week we would check on the habitat every couple hours. Our house was filled with someone shouting "Hey you guys come look at the ants now!" I also bought The Life and Times of the Ant which proved to be a wonderful reference, and actually explained why the ants did some of the things that we would have otherwise thought weird.

We did experience the light not working, but after an email to the company the problem was resolved within a day. Great customer service!

The only thing that I can complain about is the size of the habitat. It seemed like our ants dug most around the sides and bottom. They spent a lot of time at the bottom, like maybe they wanted to be able to dig deeper. I felt a little sorry for them. They also tried to tunnel upwards and were able to chew off the corners of the rubber seal. I do not feel like they would be able to get out of the habitat without the seal though.

Most of the ants lived for about a month and a half (there is still one ant alive after 2 months), but most of the excitement happened in the first couple weeks. I absolutely plan to order ants again soon, and I'll probably order a gel refill kit at some point too. Our entire family, from parents to 2 year old, loved seeing the progress and I think we all learned a little something too!

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I figured that if an educational toy is good enough for a child, than it's good enough for me. My wife thought differently. She wasn't too upset with my purchase until the ants arrived, than she very nicely asked me to give it away. Well, for the 2 weeks that I owned this, I was totally fascinated by the activity of the ants. They really are a remarkable insect and watching them dig tunnels as a group is simply amazing. The final straw came when I placed the ant farm in the kitchen. My granddaughter now owns it and is fascinated with it as I was. My wife is very relieved that it is no longer around.

Buy Theme Book: Community Helpers; Grades PK-K; no. TEC3234

Customer Ratings:

This is a great resource for creating a lot of projects for learning about our community and its helpers. I would have given it a five star rating but you have to make copies of the pages in order to use it because the pages are back to back. They should have made the pages blank on the back so you could have just pulled them out to use them but it is still a great resource.

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Reviews of Safari Ltd Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly Model Kit

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This set of 3-D butterfly life cycle models is beautiful. They come handpainted, a perfect size for a child to handle and look at. It really helps children who may not understand or have a complete idea about the life cycle of a butterfly, particularly when you may have a class where live butterflies are not easily accessible. It's quite lifelike. However, it's not as durable as I would have wanted. When one of my younger students (3 years old) was looking at the cocoon, it broke off from the twig. The butterfly seems quite flexible but was also broken. I would suggest that a set like this be used for older children who have conceputal ideas of working gently with their materials -perhaps 5 and 6 years old. Other than that, a great classroom tool!

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Better quality than I 'd imagined! Lifelike but larger. A great educational or decorative tool. Very pleased with my purchase.

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To flimsy it was broken by the second day probably should make your product out of better material!!!!! Should think about that when you are making something for a child

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I do some teaching of preschoolers through second grade. This "toy" was a great addition to my lessons on metamorphosis! Children could handle the life-like items and see the different cycles described in the book. A great teaching tool for all ages! I purchased other similar products, which also were well received by my students.

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The moldings are Gi-Hugic! The set is very representative of the monarch's life cycle, but the scale is WAY off. The butterfly is too small, and the rest of the pieces are just crazy big. I guess if you're 9 years old the sizes might not bother you.

Hape Rock and Ride Rocking Horse Reviews

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Quick shipment! Easy set up..... Awesome quality!!! My 2 year old girl is in love. You get exactly what you see in the picture. Love it and would buy again.

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Think it is a bit over priced. It did go together well. I would not buy again, as I feel it is not very comfortable

Discount Safari Ltd Carnegie Collection - Woolly Mammoth

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I brought this for my 3 year old son at the T-Rex Cafe. I have never seen him so excited about a toy. He hasn't put it down yet and has carried it everywhere. It is heavy and well constructed so it puts up with abuse. I plan on buying the female mammoth and the sabretooth tiger so my son can have the "Ice Age" animals!

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I got this woolly mammoth along with the smaller saber tooth tiger as a teaching aid so that the young people could see why the tiger's tooth "evolved" the way we find them in ice age mammoth skulls today. Just looking at a model of the skull itself with the long teeth makes it difficult for them to picture what was going on. This is a great teaching aid to show that the relationship was very much the same as we find between the elephant and tigers in Africa today.

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I bought this wooly mammoth along with several dinosaurs for my 3 year old son. It's very realistic and a great educational toy. Great for introducing the concepts of evolution and extinction. Plus, very durable for rough 3 year old play!

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This wooly mammoth is a particular favorite. He is substantial and balanced so that he stands up to play and holds his position when placed in his imaginary scene. I would recommend these models to anyone who is looking for toys that engage a child's imagination and interest while representing prehistoric creatures realistically. These models are so durable they could easily outlast your child's childhood.

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More like a 3.5 star but it isn't possible to rate that. It seems durable and detailed enough. Price was lower than similar toys at tractor supply or retail.

DuneCraft Science Fun Kits - Tornado Reviews

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I appreciate this product for it's different ways to show children how to create funnel clouds. It was beyond my expectations. Works wonderfully for hours of entertainment... even for the big kids!

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These worked great...the kids loved them. I did try using smaller bottles so it would be easier for the kiddos to use, but it did not work as well. So I had to use the big 2 liter bottles. It did make it difficult for the 1st graders to turn over on their own...but they eventually got the hang of it. There was a bit of water leaking out, so I just put a towel on the science table and it was no biggy. Worth the price to liven up the science table a bit!

Discount Hasbro Playskool T.J. Bearytales - My Beary First Day of School

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Since our granddaughters love the TJ bearytales bear so much, I thought it would be fitting for us to get my daughter's oldest

girl this one since she starts school this year and all the girls loved it!

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Very sweet comforting book and great to prepare for school for the first time. I love these books or my children

Leapster Arcade: Cosmic Math Review

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Because I am not a teacher, but I'm interested in doing everything I can to constantly help my 6-year-old son learn some simple math skills, I am always looking for little ways to trick some learning into him.

Also, I'm one of those "crazy" parents who is sort of against video games -I mean, he's only six, he doesn't need to sit in front of the tv for hours. However, I do like the Leapster games. It satisfies his need to play video games like some of his friends, but the cartridges are reliably G-rated and they always teach something.

Cosmic Math is very much like the old Asteroids game we had when I was young. You're given an equation, like "2+6=" and then your ship is surrounded by asteroids that circle the ship getting closer and closer. Each asteroid contains a number and only one contains the correct answer. Try to destroy it before the asteroids destroy the ship. So it drills my son on simple math problems, helping him to learn to figure them out faster. There are different levels with subtraction, multiplication and I think division (we're not there yet). He likes to travel with it and play it for a little while on rainy days -that kind of thing. It's a great little toy and a good game.

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My son loves this game. He is 6 years old and is learning multiplication thru this game. This is well worth the money.

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My 8 yr. old son received this before leaving on a long car trip just a few days ago. So far he loves it. I thought it would a great way for him to review math facts over the summer so they're not forgotten. It looks like it will be good for that use if not played too often. Although he enjoys it, I was disappointed that there is only one game on the cartridge and there is no incentive to answer the questions quickly, which is what I was hoping for since so many schools require timed testing of math facts. Also there is no correction or assistance if the answer is incorrect, so kids can just keep on guessing with no thought to the correct answer. Also, each level is simply a different type of math function, but within each level there is no easy, medium or hard option. It's just random facts, which I was a bit disappointed with as well. I have a feeling he will be bored from it quickly. If only a few more game variations were offered on the cartridge along with more difficulty levels, it could have been great one. But I would still recommend it for basic fact practice.

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With Leapsters Cosmic Math, it is!!!!!!!!!!! We have 3 Leapsters and tons of the games, and my kids LOVE learning this way!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I got this for my 7 year old 2nd grader as a fun way to practice math facts (she hates flash cards). She and her 9 year old 4th grade sister agree that it's fun, but it moves too slowly to really be engaging for very long. There is only one activity on it, and it is very much like another title "Number Raiders" that they have. They don't play with either very much, and when they do they don't play for very long (20 minutes, maybe?). So in the end not very many math facts get learned or practiced, although as a game it's good for a bit of fun occasionally. Might be good on a trip or a rainy day to occupy some time.

Discount Dora the Explorer Bilingual Flash Cards: Eyes, Ears, Toes

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This is a set of 50 cards that covers numerous body parts and various articles of clothing. This set really focuses on these two subjects. I have run across another set that covers body parts (FlashKids produces a set called "Spanish") but it only minimally covers them. I have yet to run across a set that covers clothing. So if you want these two subjects to be your focus, this is a good set.

The graphics are engaging with various Dora characters. I recognized Dora, Diego and Boots on the cards. On both sides of the cards, a picture of an item and/or character is shown along with an arrow that points to some body part or piece of clothing. So, for eye/oreja, Boots is shown and an arrow points to his eye. An image of an arrow pointing at Boot's eye is on both sides of the card. In addition to this image, the word "ear" appears on one side and the word "la oreja" appears on the other. For the word coat/abrigo, a picture of a coat is shown on one side of the card and the word "coat" appears. On the other side, Diego is seen wearing a coat and an arrow points to the coat. The word "el abrigo" appears above Diego.

There isn't a lot of clutter on the cards and kids can focus exclusively on clothing and body pars. I like that this are actually flash cards. One side has English and the other Spanish. For some reason, flash card markers are starting to adopt a system where both English and Spanish appears on one side of the card. Having to place my hand over the word I don't want my child to see can be an annoying. I like that this Dora set doesn't make me do that.

The cards are of decent quality and could take some minor abuse from young learners. When they see their favorite Dora characters, it may be difficult to pull the cards away.

This set of cards is made in China.

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LeapFrog Leapster 2 Special Edition Star Wars Gift Pack Review

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List Price: $89.99
Sale Price: $89.95
Today's Bonus: $0.04 Off

We purchased the black Star Wars bundle Leapster 2 from Target. The software loaded perfectly, the SD card worked even though I installed a 512mb instead of the recommended 256 or less, the games downloaded from Leapfrog's website easily.

I wonder how many of the issues others have had with the software are due to the increased Christmas holiday traffic on Leapfrog's Website? Not sure, but our Leapster 2 works perfectly. Either Leapfrog is working out and correcting the software bugs, or we got lucky with a good device. Either way, we are very pleased with the Leapster 2.

The games that you download are very simple and best suited for pre-k age kids (number recognition, shoot the number 8, etc...) The graphics are basic, not the super detailed graphics of other hand held gaming systems. However,totally acceptable for the younger child. The Leapster 2 is a nice balance between gaming and educational content for a young child. I think it definitely fits the advertised age range, 4-8, beyond that kids are looking for something 'cooler.'

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This is a great learning tool for pre-schoolers and older. Games are designed with fun and education in mind. My son and I are happy with this product.

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The funny thing is, I bought this for my 4 year old for Christmas knowing that it was not going to last more than 6 months. I knew this not because of all the reviews that say this, but I was the proud owner of 2 other Leapsters which I bought for my now 7 year old twins when they were 4. Each of their Leapsters worked for approximately 6-9 months. They ate up batteries and would turn off randomly, but the kids still liked them and they seemed to be learning things from the games. I thought since I have all these games and I don't think a 4 year old needs DS, let's go for the Leapster again. After all, time has passed and it is called Leapster 2, so they had to have improved on it-right?! WRONG!!!!! This one didn't even get us into January. I bought the rechargeable battery pack to avoid the eating of batteries problem. The problem has been, it doesn't work with cartridges and only sometimes works to play the silly little coloring dragon games already installed on the machine. It restarts randomly and seems to only play a cartridge game when you cross your fingers, say the magic words, and blow on it (that always works with electronics, right?!). I cannot express how disappointed I am! My 4 year old has been so good about not getting the DS like his big brother and sister and was happy to have his Leapster, but IT JUST DOESN'T WORK. I am an educator and have always been a BIG FAN of the Leap Frog company. I keep coming back only to be disappointed. I bought all the leap pads as well and they never worked well either. I think Leap Frog has some great ideas and I love how they are educational and fun, but it's not all that fun or educational if it doesn't work!

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The Leapster 2 was listed as a tough toy for young hands. The body has held up fine, yet the touchscreen quit working after about 6 months of use. Of course this was after the ability to return or exchange the item with Amazon. If you have children that you are thinking of getting this for, I would suggest getting an Ipad and buying the heavy duty case for it. Then you will not be wasting your hard earned money.

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Leapfrog makes some of the best games out there. Educational, but fun or quirky. 2 kids love them.

We own many Leapster systems. Of course after a while you get to experience sometimes problems with the pen and the contact with the screen, but in the end they will still work.

This specific Leapster was bought for DS. He loves Star Wars and the price for the cute design and the Star Wars game was still pretty good.

We were all impressed by the cool look. I will say though that this specific machine did not last as long as the other Leapster systems.

the sound went off (speakers wiring faulty, maybe?) and we got it replaced. Yet there was some sound variations. Although it still worked, we got tired of explaining to the kid why the system may fail again.

In the end, he plays that game with the other system. The game itself has kept him entertained.

Cheap Introductory Earth Science Collection

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We ordered this rock collection for our Grandson who is in 2nd grade. He enjoys looking at and handling each rock. It is a wonderful educational tool and toy.

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Cheap Learning Resources Reading Fluency Cards Grade 3

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As a former teacher and current home schooling parent I'm very pleased with this program. The program is easy to use, includes engaging topics (even to my 'behind' reader) and its easily organized and not overwhelming. We're using this program 3-4 x a week with one of our kiddos to build his fluency. The laminated cards are a huge plus over some of the other fluency programs that require you to photocopy.

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This really is not a toy. It is a reading resource that any parent can use at home. It is easy to use and very helpful. However, it is strictly about fluency. This does not work to directly impact vocabulary, phonics, or comprehension.