Buy Caregiver Cards - Communication Cue Cards (Visual Picture Cues That

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These cards are great there are so many subjects my son is autistic and noverbal. I took out about 20 of the most used cards for now and will add more as needed. The blank ones are great as well as I made one for school, more and help. I just label each card and hold in front of him he points and smiles it decreases meltdowns and helps with predictable directions. Cards are small enough that I keep them in my purse and on me at all times.

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Leap Frog Turbo Twist Math with COMPLETE Cartridge Set for Grades 1 Review

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I bought these for my 5 and 6 year old kids. They want to bring them everywhere. It is educational and fun. If they don't know an answer, they will ask. Sometimes I hear them asking each other if they know the answers.

My son wanted to play it in the car while it was dark but couldn't see the screen. Other than that, I'm impressed with it. Yet another great educational item from LeapFrog!

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3B Scientific A22/1 Plastic Painted 3 Part Classic Human Skull Reviews

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This skull is going to use to show dental patients some anatomy and how the TMJ works. Very nice looking clean and professional I would not drop it though.

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Cheap LeapFrog LeapPad Ultra eBook Learn to Read Collection: Fairy Tales

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program What is an Ultra eBook? The foundation is a traditional children's picture book, with short simple sentences. Now, add the ability to touch various items in the book to hear sound effects. For example, touch a bird and it chirps. This is like the LeapFrog Tag books, though the tablet (LeapPad or LeapPad 2) lacks the charm of a physical book. However, since it is built from the ground up for the tablet, the bird would also have a bit of animation. There are many things to click on, and it is fun to see what everything does. The tablet can also detect tilt, so you may see an egg roll across the screen if you tilt it to the side, or a character lose his balance if you shake it. Additionally, much like DS games, a few pages react to blowing on the microphone. In short, the books feel more alive than ever before in the LeapFrog line.

The Ultra eBooks also add periodic game breaks throughout the story (around 10 total). As always, you can adjust the difficulty for the age of the child. These games are very short and simple, but do add some solid assistance in learning to spell. It is not like a full lesson, so much as it is sneaking a little bit of extra meaning into the experience. This should work well for kids with short attention spans. The learning element is also supplemented with a list of all the words learned, and the ability to record your own reading of the book. The latter is a little clumsy and unintuitive, but it sounds okay when you get it working.

The two stories presented are basic interpretations of Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Little Pigs. The LeapFrog characters are used, which is great for kids that already know them. The animation style is very charming, somewhere between the LeapFrog DVDs and traditional story book art. There are not many frames of animation, but what is here is impressive. I can see kids falling in love with the stories and going back to them over and over. Music is pretty good quality and not annoying, with computer reproductions of an orchestra. You probably won't be humming them, but they set a nice tone. The narrator does a good job as well, though he reads it a bit straight, considering the material.

My only complaint about the material is that in adding the spelling lessons and cutifying these stories, they also largely lost their primary educational value. These classic fairy tales were strongly rooted in illustrating important life lessons. The moral of these LeapFrog versions? I'm not sure.

Overall, I think that most children will enjoy the Ultra eBook Fairy Tales and learn a little too. The production values are good and the interactive elements add a lot to the experience.

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This Ultra-eBook is certainly preferable to a mere game, since it offers some opportunity to read and learn story pacing. But it suffers from the significant shortcomings that afflict other digital "learning" toys. I wish programmers were required to study educational research carefully before designing these kinds of materials or persuading parents to trust their educational value.

Here's the problem: Sights, sounds, and animations may indeed help lure a child into reading and thus, may get him/her reading sooner. This makes it look like technology has "accelerated" the learning process. But it comes with a trade off. The multimedia experience also trains the brain to follow shorter attention cycles and become dependent on superficial audio/visual cues. Your child may start to recognize new words faster, but will also begin to develop a shorter, more media-dependent attention cycle that staunchly resists the quiet, sustained reading practices that enable much higher levels of thinking and reading later. The "head start" on reading that initially looks so positive may actually turn into attention-deficit types of problems in high school or college. That's because the brain literally becomes addicted to audio/visual stimuli, and thus, averse to quiet reading and less adept at decoding words without the benefit +of pictures and sounds.

The "Fairy Tales" Ultra-eBook is a perfect example of how this impoverishes the deeper reading and learning experience. It contains two fairy tales: "The Three Little Pigs" and "Jack and the Beanstalk," both retold with a frog theme and a more benign plot. In both stories, the reading experience is repeatedly interrupted by "Game Time." I suspect the programmer is influenced by a mid-1990s philosophy of instruction which was meant to be applied to multimedia CDs/DVDs used for training new employees. The prevailing view was that the trainee needed periodic breaks from information in order to organize his/her thoughts and refresh his/her attention. Brief quizzes and games were ideal for that purpose. But that philosophy only applied because the adults were watching CDs/DVDs with a lot of decontextualized and technical information. It is NOT applicable to literature/fiction as it pertains to a child's cognitive development. In a well-told story, the details are not decontextualized, so the information is easier and more enjoyable to process. In fact, a story is far MORE engaging when it is NOT interrupted, assuming that the plot is of sufficient quality to build drama and tension. In other words, if you are telling a good story in the first place, you don't need "breaks" from the information. Instead, you need the story to advance in a delightful, engaging, uninterrupted manner.

With that in mind, the Leap Frog fairy tales are problematic for at least three reasons. First, the periodic interruptions for "Game Time" (which occur three times per story) powerfully undermine the story's ability to build drama. (Just think about how it feels to you when you're interrupted while reading a good book or watching an engaging movie.) Besides breaking the child's concentration, the games interrupt the linear flow/coherence of the story. Neither effect is conducive to developing advanced reading skills or improved concentration. While your child may learn new words and manage to piece the story back together, he/she is losing the most important cognitive benefit of the experience. (You will still be impressed to see him/her learn new vocabulary, but what you won't be able to see is that certain attention-deficit patterns are also being reinforced. Those patterns may not surface in problematic ways until a much later stage of education, when quiet, sustained concentration suddenly becomes vitally important.)

Second, Leap Frog's version of each fairy tale strips away its most essential dramatic components. For example, in the story of the three little frogs (a retelling of "The Three Little Pigs"), the "wolf" is replaced by a friendly dog. The dog appears as a shadowy figure whose identity is concealed until the end of the story, but the classic, tension-building moments in which the wolf demands to be let into each pig's house are conspicuously missing. In Leap Frog's version, the three frogs still build houses from straw, wood, and bricks, but the first two houses simply fall down due to poor structural design (the dog never threatens to "huff and puff"). The original tension of a direct threat to each pig's personal security is replaced, in Leap Frog's version, by the dull fear of shoddy house construction. This ruins the literary quality of the tale and thus, teaches children nothing about the aesthetic quality and plot design of a well told story. Leap Frog throws out centuries of cultural evidence that children feel deeply engaged by the threat of a wolf at the door, and instead caters to the politically correct assumption that fear and conflict are unhealthy topics for children. In truth, fear and conflict are THE essential ingredients of a well-told story--the surest means of engaging a reader's attention and sympathies, as well as provoking personal/ethical reflection.

Third, Leap Frog's revised versions destroys the re-reading value. By making the plot so shallow and devoid of dramatic tension, the "Fairy Tales" eBook actually discourages the kind of close, repeated attention by which a reader learns to extract increasingly mature insights. For example, when the first two frogs run to join their sibling in his brick house, the shadowy dog shows up to reveal his friendly identity. This already-dull turn of events retains none of the original tale's conflict-resolution structure. It also ruins the story's "re-readability". In the original tale, the real threat of a hungry wolf at the door remains compellingly dramatic even on subsequent re-readings (that's why kids love to hear the story told again and again). In Leap Frog's version, once the identity of the shadowy dog is discovered, whatever modest tension was created by concealing his identity is lost for good. After the first read, the child will always know that the shadowy figure is a friend, not a threat at all. No hint of drama or suspense remains. Even very young kids will quickly understand that they're reading a story in which very little of importance happens. Two frogs build shoddy houses that collapse, they run to the third frog's nicer brick house, and then they chat (somewhat irrelevantly) with a friendly dog in a wolf costume who happened to follow them home. The most valuable reading experiences (dramatic tension, sustained concentration, conflict-resolution, AND the take-away lesson) have all been sacrificed for this cutesy retelling. Yet the only reader likely to notice the cutesiness is someone who already knows the original tale, and thus, is AWARE of the "cute" departures from that version (!).

Admittedly, Leap Frog recovers some of each story's re-readability value (albeit marginally) by providing three reading levels of text. While this may get the child to re-read the book several times, it cannot restore the drama/tension lost to the shallow plot. Thus, it will not spur the child too look for the "deep meaning" of the story. In short, there is little here to teach kids that stories can be usefully instructive. Leap Frog's cutesy version probably advertises itself as non-threatening and undramatic to please parents who increasingly tend to think politically, rather than aesthetically or morally, about what makes for a "good" story. But as I tell my college students: The rules of drama are no different for children than for adults. The threat has to be REAL and SUBSTANTIAL or the story will falter. Don't underestimate your child's ability to know the difference.

My goal is not to berate Leap Frog or this particular Ultra-eBook. Leap Frog makes a very fine line of products and the production value of the "Fairy Tales" eBook is undeniably good. But parents need to recognize that "Ultra-eBooks" still have more in common with GAMES than with the cognitively-beneficial activity of reading PRINTED BOOKS. Certainly, kids can learn from this kind of technology, especially basic skills like word-recognition and pronunciation. But what parents don't understand is how much gets lost in the process when digital tools become a replacement for (or serious distraction from) traditional reading. Although digital multimedia tools can help pull your child into basic reading sooner, there is no "short cut" to intellectual growth.

BEWARE the cognitive losses that are also occurring. They can grow into serious obstacles later when your child reaches a more advanced reading level. I am a college English professor who is unusually well read on the subjects of digital technology and cognitive development. I see these problems firsthand in students of the present "digital generation". Regrettably, most educators have embraced digital tools (and marketing rhetoric) in a wholly uncritical way, and have made no real effort to inform the public about what the healthiest educational experiences truly require. To be clear, Leap Frog isn't doing anything wrong, and in my opinion, they make the best children's electronic learning products on the market. But do not make the mistake of believing such products are unequivocally "educational" or entirely harmless. Your child needs to spend as much time as possible on quiet, traditional reading, without multimedia distractions and the interruption of games. As I said in my review of the LeapPad2 tablet, the average teenager now experiences withdrawal-like symptoms (akin to substance abusers) if deprived of access to a screen-equipped digital device (smartphone, laptop, iPad, etc.) for more than 20 minutes. And they spend an average of 9 hours per day using media on screen-equipped devices! They are products of an entire generation of parents who unwittingly allowed them to become addicted to digital multimedia. As a result, their brains were never required to develop the capacity for quiet, sustained attention and nuanced reading that is absolutely indispensable for attaining the highest levels of education and precise thought.

The Leap Frog "Fairy Tales" Ultra-eBook's best features include its charming illustrations, its modest use of animations, its well-paced narration, and its ability to "sound out" words when they are tapped with the stylus. Had those elements been used to accentuate a more traditional version of each fairy tale, without the "Game Time" interruptions, the reading experience might have been truly outstanding. The games aren't bad, but they should be placed at the END of each story, not only to avoid interrupting the child's concentration, but to reinforce the story's vocabulary and to expand on the story's lessons. (I can imagine a wonderful game in which the child must select proper materials to build a house, and then arrange them into a stable structural design. It would assess their comprehension of the story and some of its implicit lessons, while also being fun.)

In short, this is a great add-on for distracting and lightly educating your child, but it is NOT a valid replacement for traditional quiet reading. I gave it three stars overall because despite the high quality of the product, its design is clearly at odds with the high educational expectations that probably prompts most parents to buy it. I suspect the same critique applies to most or all of the Ultra-eBooks.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program We definitely like this! I would have paused about the price, but this included two stories, amazing graphics (it's kind of like an animated movie/story book), and some games. Definitely worth the price, though the cost can add up, so we'll have to pace ourselves in buying others.

When we clicked on the first story, we first got a song about how letters make sounds and sounds make words. It was catchy and fun (and not even annoying to me!).

Then it goes to the story, which has periodic breaks for games. I do agree with Leapfrog that this will help my daughter with phonics and sight words. (Sometimes they say something will, and I think it's a reach. Not this time!) Our little guy who is three likes to watch her play, so he's learning along with her. The difficulty can be adjusted to make it easier or harder; right now, as a new kindergarten student, we have it at the easiest and it's perfectly at the intersection of ability and challenge, so she's learning without getting frustrated. (She currently knows sounds of each letter and can identify a few basic words.)

The stories were definitely changed from the originals. They are the Leapfrog re-tellings, and for example The Three Little Frogs story has each frog build a house and then a wolf wants to play after they've built their houses. They don't let him in ("not by the green of my little frog skin"), but the wolf doesn't huff and puff. Instead, the inferior materials of some of the homes just fall apart when the frogs jump. At the end, the story is softened from the original by having the "wolf" actually just be their dog whose shadow looked like a scary wolf. I liked the new stories, and I think it could be a good critical thinking skills exercise for kids to compare and contrast the original story with this one.

I do wish the game times were separate from the story. Each game time was fun for our daughter (like one with spelling where she got to chose different vowels to complete a word and then the game read the new word to her and taught her a bit about phonics sounds in the process), but each time felt like an interruption to the story itself. My daughter didn't mind, but it still felt disjointed, and I don't think she retained as much of the story. (For example, she had difficulty re-telling it.) I think as she plays with it again and again it will be less distracting, so I don't think this is a major flaw.

Overall, I've been impressed with our Leappad experiences, and this ultra e-book is no exception.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is an excellent product for young readers and children learning to read. It combines a traditional illustrated storybook with interactivity and games. Two fairy tales are included: Three Little Frogs and Leap and the Beanstalk. They've both been Leap-ified so the main characters are frogs.

Parents can choose the reading level (or the child can choose for him/herself). Level 1 is for the youngest readers and 3 for older readers. In increasing complexity, for example, the same sentence:

1: The frogs want a home.

2: The frogs want a new place to live.

3: The frogs want to choose a new place to live.

Tapping the + icon pulls up a menu. Here, the child can change the reading level, navigate to a different page, record his/her voice to read along, and access the games. Left and right arrow icons change the page. A book icon re-reads the entire sentence. I find these icons a bit too small and perhaps not so intuitive to younger children. They should be large and easy to tap with a finger.

There's plenty to do. The characters are all animated ((akin to Flash animation), and some pages have more elaborate animation than others. The backgrounds look like watercolor artwork. Tapping on parts of the screen causes different animation effects to play, or hidden items to pop out. Spoken instructions tell you to shake the LeapPad to interact with the story's characters (like waking someone up or shake a cowbell). In the beanstalk story, you can use the stylus to shake some salt and pepper onto a pot of soup. Badges are sometimes awarded for uncovering hidden letters. All these encourage exploration.

There is no way to toggle between repeating whole words and individual letters. Swiping across a word quickly with the stylus repeats the whole word. Swiping slowly or clicking on letters sounds out individual letters or phonic groups (ea, ch). There is some inconsistency here. A few words are repeated whole (want, the) and the rest are broken into phonetic parts (f-r-o-g-s).

Another potentially annoying feature is the interruption of phonics games every 5 or 6 pages. The child can cancel the game, but it disrupts the reading experience. Overall, this is a very high quality product and an excellent value. There's a lot for your child to do and explore for the money.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program My 6 year-old has about 15 games and apps for her LeapPad, and this one is a favorite of both of ours. The Fairy Tales eBook contains two stories, Leapfrog versions of The Three Little Pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk, and has the same basic format as the other Ultra eBooks we own... full-color, interactive, narrated story pages, interspersed with educational mini-games. Leapfrog's versions of the fairy tales are fairly far-removed from the originals, very inoffensive and mild. Though they definitely aren't my favorite retellings, they're not bad stories, and I think my 6 year-old who knows the original Grimm versions inside and out actually enjoys spotting and telling me about the differences between the "real" stories and the Leapfrog ones.

Anyway, the thing that sets this eBook above the others we own are the learning games... they are much more interesting and far more educational than the others we've tried, as well as being perfectly targeted for the true beginning reader. My favorite activity is one where your child is given an incomplete sentence and asked to drag and drop the missing word into the appropriate spot... it is perfect for learning Kindergarten sight words! Overall, this is one of the better LeapPad learning tools out there and very definitely recommended for Kindergarten-level readers.

Buy Woodstock Percussion Musical Triangle

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This triangle just exactly as I remembered from my childhood. If you're looking for a fun percussion instrument for a child, try this one. Love it!

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a great simple instrument that encourages fine motor skills and auditory recognition.

my 3 year old loves it!

Cheap Lauri Toys Phonics Center Kit-Building Words

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I bought this item for my 5 year old kindergartener. It wasn't what I expected. The cards are pretty durable however the letters are styrofoam and could be easily destroyed. I was expecting the letters to be made out of plastic for more durability.

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I like that they are ALL the same colors. The letters look much better than any of the magnetic letter sets I have purchased in past years. They have no odor. The word cards that come with this set are fun to use....there arent many even though they are double sided. Unless you have a huge classroom to display the drawlike box it comes in, the box is too big to have around and a waste of paper to toss. I would like to see packaging be minimized for this.

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I was pleased the letter pieces are very thick. The drawers and cards seem to be holding up well also, so far. If younger children are around, the entire box needs to be out of their reach. It's just a cardboard box, so little ones trying to sit on it will destroy it. And the cards would definitely be bent. But for my five year old, we love this set to reinforce sounds learned at school. There are a lot of cards too, so you can chose the ones your child is ready for. There are plenty of letters too, so I can also create words directly from my daughter's school work. Great product.

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Bought for my youngest granddaughter who is 17 months old and this was a perfect gift that her 4 year old sister could help her with.

Uncle Milton National Geographic Expedition Shoe Lights Review

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I was disappointed in this as a gift to a 9 year old. The system to secure the batteries was solid, but poorly explained and we nearly disassembled the whole thing trying to figure it out. The clip needs to be stronger. Given the power of most head lamps I was also disappointed in the range this shoe light provided.

I LOVE the idea and look forward to an improved version.

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Have not given the shoe lights to my grandchildren yet saving till Christmas. However I know for certain they will love them. We live in Australia and recently took the girls on a wildlife walk in the dark, when they searched for small furry animals (woylies, kangaroos, etc) under bushes etc. The excitement level was enormous when just using a torch. I can't wait to take them again with lights on their shoes so they can look again and find all the creatures they missed. Know just by looking at the shoe lights that the kids are going to be ecastatic.

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love them! daughter has a blast with them, a little smaller than I expected but actually glad for that :)

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Dual-option lights are high tech, bright, and work well, but they kept falling off my 4 year old's shoes unless he walked in a very careful flat manner. We use them more like flashlights inside the house, not so much outdoors as a result.

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Ad stated this came with batteries but it did not. Also, the booklet that was supposed to be enclosed was missing. I returned it for exchange but the new one also came without batteries and booklet. With regard to the shoe lights--they are a cool idea but the attachment was a bit awkward. The 6 year old who received them liked them anyway...

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I bought this as a gift for my 13 year old, to get him interested in electronics. The kit instructions are well written: they give practical advice, and two example circuits. The circuits, though simple, gave my son a sense of accomplishment when finish. This kit helps develop those skills needed for doing more advanced kits and projects. It's a great way, at a low cost/risk, to get the amateur hobbyist into electronics.

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I needed some help assembling a few robotics boards so I enlisted the aid of my 15 year old son. He had never soldered before and this kit taught him the basics of printed circuit assembly. Immediately after he finished this "soldering course" he was helping me. Soldering is not hard at all, but it's great having something like this to teach the correct terminology and techniques.

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My preteen twin boys love everything electrical. I wanted something simple that they could build that required some soldering. This kit was exactly what I wanted. Each boy built his own under my close supervision. They just loved building the kits. Next we will design and create our own circuit boards!

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I bought this for my 7yr-old so he could learn to solder and end up with something that would interest him. The device has two LEDs that flash alternately, and a siren that oscillates. It comes with everything you need but a soldering iron.

The thing I loved about this was the practice pads on the back, and the very large, widely spaced pads throughout the board. With the practice pads, your kid can easily get the hang of what it means to solder and how it should go before they have to feel like they're starting on the project. Then, once they start on the project, there is plenty of space for them to build their confidence. The kit was put together well, easy to use and understand.

For older kids with longer attention spans, the kit comes with a booklet with quite a bit of information, and a quiz. If you have a kid that is maybe 10-14, this would be for them.

The one thing that bothered me about the kit was the lack of an on-off switchso to stop the noise/lights you have to pull the battery, which annoyed my son as well. We'll add one on of course, but I think it would be the perfect addition to make the kit complete.

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My parents were kind enough to buy this kit for me 15 years ago, and since then i've grown up and gotten an electrical engineering degree/career. It's a simple and wonderful way to introduce anyone to the basics of electronics both in the activity of soldering, and in the high level understanding of resistors, capacitors, etc. A worthy investment in ones future.

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I bought Destination: Oceans, Castles and Rainforest for my gifted 5 y.o. He loves these programs and especially the oceans. It really has promoted his interest in story telling and improved his spelling and typing skills. He really loves being able to have the pictures move, add sound and narrate his own story hearing his voice when viewing his completed book. My 3 y.o. is also really interested in being able to learn this program as well but, at this time, it is just above her ability. I believe the labeling of this product as K-8 is a good assessment. Great programs!!!!!

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This is an excellent resource for motivating children to write imaginative stories and develop their multi-media skills. I have used the software with pupils aged from 7 to 11 with great success.

Reviews of LeapFrog Creativity Camera App with Protective Case

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Ok, so who doesn't hand their kids their phone to keep them from fussing when you are waiting in line, having an important conversation, or stuck on the bus, train, etc? I live in NYC and I have over an hour commute each way with my kids to their classes. So, I've been desperate to find things to keep them occupied on this commute. Before I got this case, I had my phone in a toddler proof case that worked fine. However, in the past, when I handed my kids my phone to entertain them, after a few minutes of scrolling through the camera roll on my iphone they were usually bored with the phone and handed it right back to me (or threw it on the floor, depending on their mood). So, I decided to give this Leapfrog camera case a go.

The way that you use this case is that you download the iTunes Leapfrog creativity app onto your phone. The app is free but you need this camera case to fully utilize the app. Then you pop your iphone or ipod into the case. The great thing about the case is that kids can't access anything else on your phone but this app when your phone is in this case. So, you don't need to fear that they will be sending your boss an email of gibberish or friending random people on your phone's facebook account as they use your phone. Instead, with the creativity case, kids are locked into the Leapfrog creativity app which has six modes for them to choose from. With the app they can do things like take photos, play matching type games, add graphics to their photos to make silly faces, or do photo missions to create albums of their photos.

Overall, the case is very sturdy. My kids drop it constantly and it keeps my iphone safe. The only downside to this case is that whenever I put my phone in and out of the Leapfrog case, I then have to take it out or put it back in my other toddler proof case, that I typically use. Also, when my kids have had the phone in this case I have missed some important texts and notifications. So, keep in mind that you can't just quickly grab the phone from your kids in this Leapfrog case and respond to texts, etc. Also, if you are out in public, you have to make sure that your kids don't drop or leave this case anywhere because if so, you also lose your expensive iphone.

Nevertheless, the pros of this Leapfrog creativity case certainly outweigh any negatives. Unlike before when my iphone would only hold their interest for a few minutes, now with the creativity case/app where they can take and edit photos or play games my kids will play with my phone for a much longer time. All in all, my kids think it is so cool to have their own camera type toy and I think the bright colors of this case and child friendly design and features continue keep my kids engaged.

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The Creativity Camera is the perfect first camera for toddlers of a new generation. All kids love using their phones and iPads to capture special moments, but I have an iPad with a cracked screen that proves little ones may need a little extra support in this area. The Creativity Camera provides a protective case over the device, so even if it gets dropped or banged, it will probably survive. But that's only the beginning of what it does. Placing the case over the iPad or iPhone makes it like a real camera, allowing kids to focus and press a button when they're ready to take a snapshot. The large buttons are much easier for little fingers to master. But there's still more! Included with the camera are apps that allow kids to enhance their photos with silly decorations and even play fun learning games that will teach them the alphabet or just provide a little action without any violence. My daughter is 3 1/2, and while she needed a little guidance initially, she has now mastered all the features of the phone and can play independently. The Creativity Camera is a great way to set kids on the path of photography and fun and would definitely make a fun and affordable gift his holiday season.

***Complimentary product received in exchange for an honest review***

LeapFrog LittleTouch LeapPad Educational Book: Let's Get Busy, Baby Review

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My daughter (26 mos now) has 6 book/cartridge sets for the Little Touch and the Let's Get Busy Baby book gets a lot of use!

She really enjoyed this starting at an early age, too! It has everyday recognizable objects for little onesarticles of clothing, food, toys, body parts, sounds and movement: clapping, waving, dancing, jumping, on the food page, she loves hearing the baby crunching on the apple.

oh.. and the emotions! She loves to hear the babies laugh & giggle, cry, make car noises & silly noises, play peek-a-boo, there's a page of musical instruments that she loves... and then there's a good night page.... not to mention that you can do the whole thing in spanish, too!

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I purchased the Little Touch system along with the other books for my 11 mos. old daughter. While she is not yet interested in the other books, she LOVES this one. I think the pictures of real life babies and real objects are more appealing to her than the animation art in the other books. She claps, dances, etc. along with the babies in the book. Though she is too young to "push" on the pages to activate them, I push on the objects she reaches toward. I would encourage anyone who purchased the Little Touch for an infant or young toddler to try this book before giving up and putting the toy aside. This is the Little Touch book for little ones!

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I love the book and the way it reads to you, but the age group is off. at 6 months and now at 14 months my son just trys to tear it up. he does love the noices though. maybe he will be ready for it a little later on.

Honest reviews on LeapFrog LittleTouch LeapPad Educational Book: Let's Get Busy, Baby

I Purchased the Little Touch LeapPad for DD's 1st Birthday (September 2005). I was worried after reading the reviews on the system that she was too young and would not take to the system. She loves the system and this book! I think Let's get Busy Baby,& Animal Dance are great for children under 18 months b/c it is colorful, has other babies or (animals), singing, clapping, and jumping. These books are age approicate! My daughter also enjoys the book that came with the system One Bear in the Bedroom. She has some of the other books but they do not captivate her like the ones mention above. I am saving those for when she turns 18 months.

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We have a lot of these books and this is the best one. My 16 month old has been playing with it for a few months but now can "remember" favorite pages. This book teaches children to categorize objects and teaches them the names of many everyday items. We use all three levels (sounds, words/phrases, stories) depending on his mood. The goodnight page is last, perfect for before bed.

Valencia Classical Kit 1/2 Size Left Handed with DVD Reviews

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I teach guitar. I have one of these Valencia classical guitars in the 1/4 size, and I recommend this guitar to my students. This guitar is an excellent value for the beginning guitarist, or anyone who wants an inexpensive, playable, decent sounding guitar. They aren't concert instruments, but they do play well and stay in tune (as much as any nylon string guitar stays in tune). The tone is very good for an instrument that costs less than $300. The overall workmanship is clean and smooth, and the string spacing and action is correct. This guitar isn't gorgeous, the rosette is the decal you would expect to find on a cheap guitar. No inlays here, but for the price it is an attractive, functional instrument. This guitar is an excellent value.

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Guitar arrived in original box which was slightly damaged due to transport. Luckily, guitar was fine and undamaged when opened. I have to say that I was impressed with the finish, size, and general assembly. For this rather inexpensive option for my 4-year-old daughter, it is of very good quality. The polished wood finish is smooth and with no blemishes. The base strings are of nylon while the higher pitched strings are metal. This is better for younger fingers, especially when kids are just starting out with strumming, plucking, and learning chords. It is also a perfect size for children players. My daughter can sit comfortably while placing the guitar in her lap with no problems. Granted, after paying for shipping, the price was very inexpensive (~$50 when I purchased it). I know that store retailers were having a hard time giving me advice about where to buy such a guitar (a left-handed one no less), so this online purchase was the best option. I have no regrets with this purchase. It is a good quality guitar, sound is bright with good tone, easy to tune (may have to tune every once in a while due to quality of strings) and the wood/construction are very well crafted (it actually looks and feels like a more expensive guitar-not like the toy store brands you see at popular retailers). Very happy with this purchase. In terms of its accessories, they are very elementary especially the case (vinyl cover) and the DVD. I ended up buying a guitar stand from a local guitar shop so the guitar can sit next to my two full-size guitars.

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This guitar was a Christmas present for my 4 1/2 year old. It is great! It isn't a toy, it sounds wonderful for the money. He loves it, he is watching the video that was included & trying to learn to play.

Honest reviews on Valencia Classical Kit 1/2 Size Left Handed with DVD

Bought this for my six year old. Took a while to find a left handed child's guitar. We hack the strings together. The quality is nice. I have a friend who is a professional guitarist and he tuned it for me. He said it was a good little starter guitar.

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You will not find a better beginner classical guitar for the price. I loved that it came set up in left hand. This is a correct beginners instrument for kids.

Buy Educational Insights Word Ladder Phonics Activity Center

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List Price: $32.99
Sale Price: $28.99
Today's Bonus: 12% Off

Just received this as a gift and can't wait to use it in the classroom. It is even better up close. Even has a couple extra storage pockets at the bottom.

Kids are gonna love it.

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As a literacy specialist, I do reading intervention with many ELLs. The colorful pictures really help support my students and expand their daily vocabulary. We already do other forms of word ladders (on whiteboards, using context on worksheets, etc.). It's nice for them to make words kinesthetically and see how words are phonetically related. My students have told me that they really like using this word ladder; it is very engaging even to third graders. I was, however, surprised at how large it is. It's the perfect size for a classroom, but a bit large for a little office.

Fisher-Price: Fun-2-Learn - CalcuBot Calculator Reviews

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Manufacturer and amazon recommend this for up to age 7. My opinion is that this is a cute game for a younger crowd, 2-5. My step-son is 6 years old and in kindergarten. He knows most of the answers to the games so it's not very challenging and he doesn't seem to be learning anything from it. The Apple Picking game is fun but not enough to entertain him for long. I'm thinking this game will be abandoned quickly but adored by his younger sister.

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Our little boy is 2. He loves numbers and letters. He received this for Christmas and it holds his attention for 30 minutes or more, which is extremely unusual. It's also great for the car. He really loves the "apple picking" game and picked it up quickly. I was surprised that it actually has real calculator capabilities, too. It adds and subtracts, even using large or negative numbers. This is a winner for us!