Discount VTech V-Motion Smartridge: Snow Park Challenge

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We have the wave challenge, soccer challenge and this one. We love all of the games. It helps that we like these activities ourselves. Great skills for pre-schooler's in spelling/reading and counting. My husband and I enjoy playing with our three year old daughter and they are great intro's to the gaming world.

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I got this for grandchildren and they have had hours of enjoyment playing it, good game for 4-6 age kids.

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My 5-yr old son enjoys playing this game, especially the skiing game. It seems to be pretty well on target for his age (he'll be 6 in April and is in Kindergarten). No complaints.

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I purchase this game for my neice. My sister in-law says she loves it. She spends a few hours during the day having fun and learning at the same time. The price was great for the game. And not having to pay shipping was even better.

Discount GeoCentral Box of Rocks Kit

Customer Ratings:

Good, but not perfect. Some of the mineral specimens have been tumbled and polished, which makes them pretty, but removes the diagnostic criteria (cleavage, crystal shapes) that are a basis for identifying minerals. Quartz appears more than once in the collection. Partitions in the plastic box that the collection comes in are thin, and in both of the boxes I bought a heavy specimen had broken a partition in transit, damaging the more fragile specimen in the adjacent cubicle. The accompanying booklet is good, but it shows some minerals that are not in the collection. The small magnifying glass is a good touch.

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My son has really enjoyed this product and I like that it comes with a pamphlet that describes the different kinds of rocks. The container that the rocks came in has a few cracks on the bottom, however it is still very much usable.

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I was expecting the rocks to be labeled in the kit. They came with a book that you are supposed to use to identify them, but the book had a lot more rocks in it than were in the kit. I could not tell what half the rocks were, which totally defeated the purpose of the kit. I'm going to send it back.

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This is an awesome kit. I bought it for 2 of my grandchildren and they have spent hours with it. It is a perfect introduction to rocks and a great beginning for any child interested in things outside!

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The rocks will be interesting to study for my 5 year old. However, the rocks came in a bag instead of the handy box. I would have liked to have the box to keep the rocks organized.

Review of 38" Inch Student Beginners GREEN Acoustic Guitar with Carrying Case

Customer Ratings:

I am a beginner at guitar and this is my first guitar. I'll say this: if you want to learn guitar and you are looking for a first guitar, buy this one! It is an excellent guitar to learn on and you can't complain about the price! Others would say "Your getting what you pay for." but i disagree. I believe this guitar is much better than what i paid for! I would expect a guitar like this to sell for around at LEAST $80 or $85. This is why i am very much so pleased with this guitar. I have no regrets whats so ever on my purchase. Buy this! You'll get a great guitar for a learner for a fraction the cost of most beginners guitars out there. Do not hesitate! I definitely foresee me buying from this company again. With great customer treatment and fast delivery, i definitely have no second thoughts.

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I got this guitar for my ten year old son to start learning to play. Right out of the box, it may seem unplayable because it has't been tuned. Plenty of places online will show you exactly how to tune it. Email the seller for a link to the free ebook and you'll be on your way for a very reasonable price.The guitar sounds great and my son has been playing every day since he got it a month ago.

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This was a gift for Easter. Perfect timing in delivery and it is a great first guitar for a beginner. Color green was a beautiful green and included some accessories which was great too!

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This was purchased by my daughter. This is her review: "I wouldn't get this product again if given an opportunity. They made the guitar base and the neck in two separate pieces and the paint job was poor quality. Haven't had my guitar for a month and the neck is already separated from the guitar base. Looks great (colors wise) but doesn't tune well and has poor construction."

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This is a wonderful guitar for a beginner guitar player! I purchased this guitar for my 13 year old daughter to begin learning on. I know absolutely nothing about guitar, so when it came in I had to take it to my brother-in-law (who has played for years) to tune it and check it out. Even he was impressed with the quality of this guitar for the price!

Insect Box, Cardboard Review

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These black, hinged, cardboard storage/display boxes are attractive, durable, and well-designed for pinned insects. The boxes arrived quickly and were in mint condition.

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Best Interactive Learning Reading Fiction & Nonfiction Grade 3 CD-Rom Deals

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This is a nice resource for test prep. I really like that each story has a fiction and a nonfiction version. Each short story has a game or some other comprehension activity to go with it. The kids are really enjoying a break from the worksheet passages we had been doing, and like being able to come up to the white board to manipulate the activities.

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Thames & Kosmos Alternative Energy and Environmental Science Reviews

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List Price: $199.99
Sale Price: $132.89
Today's Bonus: 34% Off

This is the first time that I have ever purchased a product from this company and so far I have been impressed. I bought the Thames & Kosmos Stirling Engine Car and Experiment Kit from Amazon on sale around Christmas for $34.95. Since we have Amazon.prime, 2nd day shipping was "free." This was a real bargain since the full retail price for this thing is $199.95 and the cheapest that I was able to find it on eBay was around $54.95 plus shipping.

After placing the order, the kit arrived promptly from Amazon.com so I could package it under the tree without a problem. My wife's family is from the Los Angeles area and we always celebrate Christmas there with our son. We did not have time to assemble the kit after Christmas so I packaged the thing in my checked baggage for travel back to Michigan and here is where I want to point out one of the pluses. The factory box that this item is packaged in is very rugged and the foam packaging inside is very adequate for the rough abuse of airline baggage handling. The only problem was that, upon closer inspection at home, I found the parabolic mirror had been slightly scratched. This was not due to Thames & Kosmos but rather my fault for not properly securing the parabolic mirror mount when we first opened and examined the kit in California. So please not that if you intend to ship this item after inspecting, make sure that all of the parts are properly secured in their original positions and that all factory packaging is in its proper place.

Once back in Michigan, we assembled the kit with very little difficulty. In fact, the kit went together so easily that I don't really consider it a "kit" at all. Inspecting the Stirling Engine itself I was really amazed at how relatively simple it is and, thereby skeptical that it would work. I thought that the tolerances and heat involved would be above what the manufacturer could functionally provide with a simple plastic, glass and aluminum assembly.

The base piece is large enough to adequately support the entire assembly but I should point out that the little rubber foot pads on the bottom easily pop out and can "disappear" out of site. These feet help to keep the whole affair on firm footing because, as I found out later, the engine does vibrate quite a bit and needs to be secured on a table or level surface.

I found the sighting rod to be relatively useless. The instructions say that you should use it to position the parabolic dish properly but it is awkward to use. In order to mount the sighting rod you first have to remove one of the four screws that attach the parabolic dish to the mirror mount. This seems awkward and would be better if the designers simply placed a separate hole off to the side of the existing four mount holes where one could then easily mount the sighting rod. It is pretty easy to get the dish in position without the rod anyway so I simply tossed the sighting rod aside.

This Stirling Engine uses common steel wool as a "fuel source" meaning that the focal point of the parabolic dish is where the steel wool is positioned. The steel wool then absorbs the blunt of the heat and, as a result, eventually will turn to ash. The manufacturers provide an extra bundle of steel wool in the kit along with instructions on how to take apart the engine and replace it. However, if you run out, steel wool is pretty common and can be found at most hardware stores. I would not use an SOS pad since these pads contain soap and other byproducts which may dirty up the Stirling Engine.

Thames & Kosmos also provide an extra glass cylinder. I think this is mainly because the temper in the glass may become eventually weak due to the repeated heating/cooling and, eventually break. They say in the instructions that the focal point on the cylinder may get up to 482 degrees F. I have not yet had a chance to measure and confirm this. Also, they give good warnings not to screw the glass cylinder on too tightly as it will crack. I think this is another reason why they provide an extra one!

We had a rare sunny day here in Michigan after Christmas and we were able to set up the engine. It worked beautifully, making a nice loud clattering. I took a video which is attached to this review. You will note in the video that I mistakenly plugged the cable from the voltmeter jack and then into the car jack. The car does not come with an AAA battery and I had not had a chance to get one when I took the video. I thought at the time that I made the video that since the Stirling Engine was not under load, the voltmeter would not move and it didn't. However, it did not move because I did not have the cable plugged in properly. You see there are two cable jacks on the Stirling Engine. One jack is on the side near the generator part of the Stirling Engine proper (opposite the voltmeter). A second jack is located directly beneath the voltmeter on the base. A third jack is located onboard the little experimental electric car.

If you just want to observe what operating voltage the Stirling Engine is providing you are supposed to plug one end of the cable into the Stirling Engine jack and the other end into the jack beneath the voltmeter. If you want to charge the car, you then need to plug one end of the cable into the Stirling Engine jack and the other end into the jack onboard electric car.

I was so excited when the engine started to run in the sun that I failed to read the instructions properly. Since the video was made I bought some AAA batteries but we have not had a sunny day so that I can try to run the engine again to properly charge the car. What is neat is that you can use the voltmeter on the base to check the voltage of the car's battery. Simply plug one end of the cable into the voltmeter jack and the other end into the car jack.

For the little amount of time that I have had the system running, I have been impressed. However, I am curious about the long-term "play value" of this item. The instructions explain that you will need 2-3 hours of charging time for the single onboard electric car's AAA battery to run for about 5 minutes. That means you will need to continually track the sun which require constant adjustments. The same instructions also explain that "for smooth operation (of the Stirling Engine), maintenance is required after 10-30 minutes of use." So if one needs to run the engine for 2-3 hours to properly charge the car's battery... you see I'm scratching my head a little. I have not yet run the engine for more than about 10 minutes and, during that time, the engine ran fine.

The engine does come completely apart relatively easily and I have taken it apart and reassembled it several times prior to first having it operate in the sun. And as I stated above, it ran fine the first and only time so far that I've run it.

The only major design flaw that I have seen in the kit is not related to the Stirling Engine proper, but to the little electric car. The car is pretty rugged and assembled with screws, (yes screws!!!) so that you can easily take it apart. I also love the European look and design (almost IKEA like) of the car. My complaint is that the car has a little A-shaped cover that hides the lone AAA battery compartment. The cover simply lays on top. There are no latches or anything to keep it in place so when you "play" with the car or transport it, the cover easily falls off. Why they did not include screws or some other latching mechanism is a mystery. I easily fixed this by simply placing some plumber's putty underneath to help hold the cover in place. Awkward, but functional.

I also found the accompanying Experiment Manual very well written and illustrated. It was easy to follow and seemed to address most questions and or possible problems that one may have or encounter.

Overall, I would say at this point "hats off" to a very nice kit. I would not pay full retail for it but I would shell out a max of say around $60. I felt I got a real deal with Amazon's $34.95 price... a price I have not seen listed since I bought mine.

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The Thames and Kosmos Stirling Engine Science Kit is a good demonstration of how electricity can be generated from solar energy. The kit is well packaged and comes with an excellent instruction manual that includes ideas for how to use your solar generator as part of a science fair exhibit.

The engine is completely assembled. You only need to assemble the major components and you are up and running very quickly. The kit includes spare parts so that your science fair project won't be ruined at the last minute by a part failure.

You will have an opportunity to disassemble and reassemble the engine if you run it very long. It uses a steel wool displacer, which creates a need for periodic cleaning of the interior of the engine. There are detailed instructions for how to disassemble the motor for servicing. The main downside of this kit is that the performance does deteriorate after a while.

The generator puts out enough voltage to prove that the concept is possible, but it does not create enough current to be very usable. I don't think you will be charging your cell phone from this device.

The kit includes a small alcohol burner (smaller than the one you see in my video) so you can operate the motor in doors.

If you are looking for an affordable kit that is ready to go out of the box, this is it. The current Amazon price is around $80, which is a really good deal for an kit of this quality. If you want a kit that will be rock-solid reliable and will run for years and years, then you should plan on spending a lot more money.

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Well, this is the first stirling engine we have purchased. We looked at many stirling engines, and we liked the fact that it had a built in generator, burner, car, and parabolic mirror. It comes in a very nice package, easy to assembly with just 6 screws and 4 nuts. The booklet really helps. We tried it in the Arizona sun and after a few minutes it generated electricity and would have kept running until the sun went down. The cost is easily in line with all the hardware and support in the booklet. I suppose there is some way this could be better, but not sure how.

We would like to build a big unit for the backyard to generate electricity or store water. But, this is easy kit to demonstrate the real idea behind stirling engines.

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I can't believe this thing ever sold for the list price, as I feel I overspent at 80% off. Took forever to get the generator running even in midday sunlight in Southern California (yes it's winter, but still). Even when we did get it running it mostly petered out or couldn't sustain more than 1 volt output. When we plugged in the electric car toy all of a sudden the generator picked up a bunch of speed, because the battery in the car was powering the generator instead of the reverse! I don't know if it's bad design or just poor build quality (both the car and the generator station are made of light plastic and have a very cheap feel), but this thing fails big time.

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This one has it all. It is an eye opener to power of the sun and what we can do with it. I have always been fascinated by those large solar power plants and I wanted to see one in action. This Thames & Kosmos Alternative Energy and Environmental Science Stirling Engine gave me a working replica of those power plants. It is a great tool to show young kids (in a very simple and fun way) a new trend in renewable energy.

Review of Dora Find It Two Ways Backpack

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My 2 year old daughter loves this toy! We bought it for her last week, and she has played with it every day. There are three modes of playnaming the object in English and Spanish, finding the object, and deductive reasoning (the object is red, there are three of these. I do have two problems with the toy though. I think the taped voice is sometimes difficult to understand, especially for one who is just beginning to understand different words, and the pictures are sometimes difficul to recognizefor example the balloons and the maracas look very similar, and do not accurately represent what these objcts actually look like.

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Hi everyone! I just bought this toy for my daughter a couple weeks ago-and I'm so glad I did. My daughter is 16 months and she is soooo into Dora the Explorer-she's thinks she's the coolest chica on 2 feet, next to mommy of course,wink wink. So, I picked this toy up because it seemed to scream to me on the shelf with all of it's pretty colors and lights..and Dora. I was going to save it until xmas but we(meaning I) couldn't resist. The different modes are great so you don't get sick of the same old thing. We can both learn some Spanish and listen to Doras backpack sing, and watch the lights and try to find the objects Dora is looking for in Spanish. Very durable-my daughter stands on it a lot(its her new thing) and it's held up like the best. We both love this toy, I recommend it to all DORA fans!

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My 2 year old loves this toy and it is great for learning a bit of Spanish. The only thing wrong with it is that that once your child learns all that the toy teaches, that's it. There are only about 50 different interactions with this toy. Otherwise, it's cute and great for 18 30 months.

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I agree with the review by Manhattan Mom stating that some of the pictures are hard to tell what they are, and sometimes the voice is a little hard to understand. That being said, it hasn't deterred my 2-year old daughter at all, and she seems to understand it just fine. She plays with this toy on a daily basis and loves it. She loves the fact that it plays short snippets of the Backpack song and the We Did It song too. Great purchase for us.

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My daughter likes Dora and we had a Dora party for her 2nd birthday. She was always interested in my son's Blues Clues light up alphabet toy so this toy seemed like it would be a hit. She plays with it a few minutes each day but then abandons it. I think she has trouble because she doesn't recognize the spanish words. My soon to be 5-year-old son has played with it more. She definitely prefers the Dora Floating Island bathtub toy she got. She plays with it both in and out of the bathtub. Perhaps she will get more into it as she gets older and she becomes more familiar with the Spanish words.

Best Rhythm Band 8-Note Diatonic Hand/Desk Bell Set Deals

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I bought this set of handbells for educational/therapy purposes.

The deskbell component works great with those who have trouble gripping or difficulty with forearm swing motion.

The pitches are tuned right and the handbells sound good in ensembles with other instruments.

These handbells can produce surprisingly loud rings, and sometimes they can be a little pain inducing for sensitive ears.

I love how the bell, when used as a deskbell, rings just fine when it's placed on a carpeted floor.

If you are looking to use other colored instruments (like boomwhackers and resonator bells), I highly recommend double-checking the colors before purchasing so all the instruments have matching colors per pitch. I liked how this set has the same red color for the low C and high C, however, did end up making an adaptation to the handle part to visibly demonstrate the difference between the two red handbells.

Durability is at a reasonable level.

Children seem to love to pull on the spherical clapper (the part that flings to hit the bell) and as a result of consistent pulling,

few of the bells have become a little inconsistent when it comes to producing a ring everytime the button is pushed (bell rings just fine when

it's used as a traditional handbell).

Dropping/throwing the bells from standing position onto the floor hasn't damaged these bells at this point (I've used them for about 3 months).

Overall, I'm quite happy with this product. I love the glossy appearance, and so do everybody (young and mature!) who get to use these bells.

Bells are durable, considering the non-instrument-friendly environment I use them in.

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Very pleased with quality of items purchased, shipping time very quick and well packed. Bells seem well made and work in hand and desk positions. We are new to this hobby and hope that this will be a spring board into "real" hand bells! : )

Buy Anatex Traffic Jam Rollercoaster Table

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List Price: $119.99
Sale Price: $89.99
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

I am very disappointed in the condition of this product and the fact that amazon would send it out this way. The table itself is a great idea and a wonderful gift. However Amazon shipped it out to me with a good number of the pieces having paint chips and scratching on the metal wires. This is unfortunate because the table is over a hundred dollars and is in poor condition and my son was there when I opened the box. A side note for the table itself is that the beads are made larger than the ends of thee wire so they don't fit properly all the way down. they need to lower the price on this product!!!

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The photo for this product shows what looks to be a 2-3 year old boy and the table coming up to his hip-level; my son is 14 months old and it hits at the same level on him! He is tall for his age but still, I think the picture is misleading. It is otherwise a very cute and well-made play table. It doesn't slide and scoot around on our wood floors, the legs are heavy and sturdy and there are rubber bottoms on the legs. I think the weight is just right. It stays put for play but isn't difficult for mom to lift and move out of the way. I like the vehicles on the toy, they're utility vans and trucks of different kinds not just cars so kids will like that as they get older and understand what kind of truck is what. And in that regard I think my son will enjoy it better when he's older. I got it for him as he's learning to cruise and walk, to help him, but it doesn't hold his interest all that long yet.

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It is an excellent product in entertainment and education. My son is 2 and a half years old and love it, through the colors and shapes learn and develop their psychomotor skills, and when friends come play together.

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This was bought for my grandson as a Christmas present. He is only two, but he has a very bright and inquiring mind. He loves cars, too, so this was the perfect activity table for him. The beads on the wires are different types of traffic signs, a train with several cars, and cars. He and his siblings play together on it at times, having races across the beads. There are also cars permanently attached to the table part with nuts and bolts, and these have their own tracks to run in. It has been a great toy, one that even the 8-year-old plays with.

Best ETA hand2mind Connecting Color Tiles Periodic Table Set Deals

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List Price: $22.95
Sale Price: $18.67
Today's Bonus: 19% Off

This may sound weird, but I gave this to my man for his 40th birthday and well... boys will be boys... he loved it!! We were actually late for our dinner reservation because he got so into reading the booklet and checking out the colored tiles. I even got a little into it -randomly picking up tiles, we tried to remember which chemical it corresponded to and which chemicals it bonded well with. And the tiles great quality and lock together nicely! This is a fun game that brings out the boy in your man!! And I suppose it could be good for kids too. Ha... Yes, great for kids to learn too!

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Cheap Numbers Shapes Colors Flash Cards

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Only these are diffent, lauguage shapes colors wow, all on one card. i do them every night and my daughter loves them. thank you and i highly recommend to all children

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Buy LeapPad® Educational Game: Ratatouille

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My grandkids are enjoying this very much and are learning a lot (Ages 3 and 4). Would recommend it to other parents or grandparents.

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My son loves it. He was scare (I do not know why) to watch Ratatouille cartoon. He watched after this book

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I got this book on sale at an amazing price. My son likes to play with it often. I am very happy I bought this.

Mohs Scale of Hardness w/ Diamond Rock Mineral Review

Customer Ratings:

There is no value to having the diamond in this set because it is too small to pick up, even with tweezers, so there is no way to test its hardness on anything.The rest of the kit is a good learning tool.

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Buy 4D Vision Hercules Beetle Anatomy Model 3D CutAway Puzzle

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Model came broken, but besides that-model is advertised as a puzzle, made to take apart and reassemble;however, parts fit too snugly and are too delicate for using as a puzzle.Detail is very good and is very acceptable if used as a display model.

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The model is really amazing! The big size helps to show all the details and the fact you have to build the beetle like a puzzle is good for paying attention in every part.