Reviews of Geoworld Mining Kit - Crystals and Gems

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Our daughter chipped away at the talc and came up with 4 stones! AMethyst crystal, rock crystal, aventurine and another type crystal..it is a little messy but a lot of fun!

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AmScope New!! Binocular Stereo Microscope 10x-20x-30x-60x Reviews

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List Price: $700.00
Sale Price: $144.98
Today's Bonus: 79% Off

I worried about paying so little for a true binocular scope but this did not disappoint!

Amazingly clear, sharp images with a decent depth of field. Workmanship was not shabby and, if treated decently, would last for a long time. For a school kid or amateur enthusiast, this is a great buy and AmScope, in general.

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Review of Roly-Poly Playground

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My kids (4.5 and 3) have been picking up roly-polys all summer and I hadn't found a really good way to keep them. This toy is easy for the kids to open and even came with tips for keeping them. We have a release-bugs-at-night-so-they-can-go-back to-their-families rule at our house, but even if they were allowed in the house, bugs aren't getting out of this box.

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i've never written a review before but i love this and so does my son. we take it everywhere we go. i often carry bug catching containers in my purse and this is perfect. not to mention its been dropped many times and hasn't broken. we recently left it at the pool and so i'm about to order two more before he notices. one for him and one for the other kids that love to look at this when we are out bug catching!

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My girls are so excited to run out and catch bugs for their playground, but the lid is extremely difficult to open, even for out 5 year old.

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Very cute toy. All children love roly polies, and this way they can watch them without freaking out their mothers by having little bugs running around the house. LOL!!! Cool idea!

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We affectionately call this the Roly Poly Graveyard. My 5yo loves collecting Roly Polys to put into it. Works as expected.

Review of K'NEX Education - Forces, Energy & Motion

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This K'Nex kit is great for the classroom or homeschool unit. This is an excellent resource for kids. We had great fun putting together the cars in this kit. My 8th grade daughter had a great eye for the instructions and together we've had a lot of fun with this kit. The kids in Tech class enjoy these types of activities as well.

This is an inclusive teaching aide. The K'Nex Education Forces, Energy & Motion comes with all the parts needed to make several different types of car: motor driven, spring driven, air driven and rubber band driven all super engaging. The directions are such that kids have to focus and use logic to put together the units. They are not so detailed that a zombie could put them together so they do require brain power.

Also included in the kids are the detailed instruction books that included instructions for each type of K'Nex car, and a CD for teacher information to help teach kids the different aspects of force, motion and energy.

This kid provides hours of brain fueled fun great for groups and teams. The parts are sturdy, though some take a little muscle to click together. The building instructions are first rate and the projects are very clever. This also comes in a solid, sturdy case for safe keeping with plenty of room to gather the pieces for a project and do the work inside the case so no pieces get lost. This is for ages 10 plus, little kids would probably get frustrated unless an adult does the work from the instruction booklet and has the child gather the parts and participates in simple ways in the construction. This is a great kit for 6th grade through 9th grade aged kids.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I have used both Lego educational products and K'nex in my science and math classrooms. My general preference is for K'nex for middle school and up and Lego for elementary school (with the exception of the MindStorms Lego sets which are excellent for computer programing at the high school level). This is actually based on the physical difficulty of assembling K'nex vs Lego, which is probably why K'nex is marketed as age 10 and up. K'nex takes more physical force and dexterity to assemble, but the type, size and physical integrity of the of structures are much better with K'nex. One can build very large structures with K'nex (such as meter long bridges, meter high roller coasters and so on) that are precluded by the weight of the bricks for Lego.

K'nex lends itself far better to engineering and physics problems as it is much sturdier (although not a sturdy as Erector sets!) and one can build cars and structures that will hold together throughout testing. For physics and engineering projects (motion, machines, conservation of energy, structure building) K'nex is clearly better than Lego.

I also use K'nex in my math classes when I need to show 3D structure.

As a teacher you can register on the K'nex education site and receive access to lesson plans which are linked to the Common Core Standards. This is quite useful.

For this specific set I was pleasantly surprised by the included teacher's manual (on CD as a pdf). The writer clearly understands that students should not simply be given a set of instructions to follow but instead the students are led through the steps of the scientific method and not ordered to collect data in a certain manner. This is actually inquiry based learning. A word of warning, these sort of labs take a long time, but the time is not wasted. Students are engaged in actually DOING science, rather than following some recipe. For higher level thinkers who stay on task I actually completely abandon the worksheets and tell them to design a lab to test, say, how weight and number of windings of the rubber band motor impact distance traveled. However, if time is very tight in your class, using the provided lab outlines would provide enough structure to make certain that the students are progressing and will ensure that there are enough K'nex parts for each group. In the past I have simply bought the K'nex parts via retail (they are fully compatible with the educational versions). You can order replacement parts but I have actually found that I can often get the pieces I need more cheaply by scrounging from other sets. What I do really like about these educational sets is that there are enough parts to build multiple of the same model (say rubber band powered car) at a time for direct comparison. K'nex parts are pretty sturdy, and I rarely have students break them.

I would not suggest this specific set for an individual child. Since many of the parts are identical, for your money you could get a larger selection of different parts by buying less specific sets.

The set specifies that you can organize the parts, but the case itself does not actually have any dividers, which is strange as the bottom was clearly designed to accept movable dividers.

There are two battery powered motors (batteries not included), two flywheel powered motors and 4 rubber band powered motors included. These are usually the limiting factors when building (along with the wheels).

Four books of building instructions are supplied. I would suggest groups of 2-3 ideally, but 4 at the maximum, otherwise some students simply stand around and watch. So for a large class you will need more than one kit.

(Hint: many of these labs require a stopwatch, if your students have smart phones they can download stopwatch apps (they may have them already) which actually work better than cheap stopwatches)

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I find this K'Nex set to be a wonderful teaching tool. Something that the kids don't mind learning about. It's quite enjoyable for them to build the variety of vehicles that can be made with this set and make predictions before they test their creations.

The directions are very easy to follow. There is a bit of difficulty at times snapping the pieces together. This may make it a bit more challenging for the younger age level that is recommended but the older kids should enjoy the challenge.

This set comes with a wonderful Teacher's Guide on disc that is very beneficial and it comes in a very durable storage tub.

The variety of vehicles that can be made with this set is very nice. They're all lots of fun and the kids seem to enjoy making all of them and racing each other.

I find this to be a very nice teaching set that would be great for classroom, daycare, home school or even a great summer activity to keep kids learning. I would highly recommend it.

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I purchased this kit as part of University class requirement but can't wait to incorporate the kit into my regular classroom. The building instructions and teacher information is easy to read and very helpful.

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I bought this for my boy and they loved this toy, especially the motors and springs. Though they played with this toy at home, I think it would be great in a classroom. I think their teachers would like the concept too.

Reviews of Wooden Trebuchet Kit

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List Price: $25.00
Sale Price: $24.95
Today's Bonus: $0.05 Off

I'm still fine tuning this model. In the out of the box and assembled configuration the ball does not launch. The arm swings around with an impressive whip-like speed, then the ball just falls out of the vinyl sling on to the table and rolls away. I'll keep playing with it to see if I can get it to work.

Incidentally the one I received did not come with instructions, but they are available on the manufacturer website. The wood also needed sanded and the holes re-bored to fit the dowels on the pivot arms, and bushings to make the dowels snug on the basket arms.

ADDENDUM After some tinkering, improved results have been obtained. Some photos of this item show a small slit in the sling near the throwing arm, that allow the eye-ring trigger loop to pass through the sling, allowing the sling to lay flat. After adding this slit, and insuring that it is wide enough to not impede the release of the sling strap when firing, the sling releases correctly, and the projectile launches instead of falling on the table.

When using fishing sinkers for the counterweight basket, a 2.5 cm ball bearing(aka a Pinball) will leave a 5mm dent in a plaster wall. Excellent.

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My 11 yr old son built this by himself with minimal assistance from me (I worked the clamps). Very sturdy construction. And a great price. Highly recommend.

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The combination of no instructions and parts that *almost* fit together will leave an 10 year old frustrated. So rule out a feel-good build for a young one. I cant help but think adding an 6 extra 3/4' length dowels and pre drilling the joints would have allowed the tower to be assembled and glued at once, instead of butting diagonal sticks together that defy clamping (I ended up drilling and screwing with wood screws so we only had one drying session).

Imagine trying to glue the ends to form the plywood ballast box just by butting them together as suggested by the instructions when the pieces aren't the correct size. And the holes for the dowels that need to be glued are drilled too large and result in crooked pivots for the ballast box and throwing arm.

Cool idea, but free yourself from the idea of a kit and assemble your own. If there is some secret inherent in this design, it is overshadowed by the poor fitment and less than elegant joints that defy glue alone.

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The kit goes together well and yes, it works and boy does it work. Although they provide a small rubber ball to hurl, i've launched just about anything and everything that will fit in the sling. I bought this for my office shelf thinking it would be an interesting conversational piece but my employees and I have found ourselves taking a break by deciding on new things to chuck across the room. It's been launching office supplies for well over 4 months and it's held up perfectly.

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Nice product here. My 9-yr old son and I built it in two sessions (to let the glue dry), and we really love it. Unlike the catapult we built, this is sturdy. The design is inherently durable because the throwing action does not exert high forces on the arm, unlike the catapult where the throwing arm tends to break against the wooden crossbar. I ultimately took this design and scaled it up by 3 times. Just have to get the right strength of cross member holding the throwing arm. Very hapy with this product from Amazon.

Cheap LeapFrog Explorer Learning Game: LeapSchool Reading (works

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List Price: $24.99
Sale Price: $16.57
Today's Bonus: 34% Off

We bought this game for my daughter's sixth birthday. She is an early reader and is very eager to read and play reading games. After ten minutes of playing the game, she told me that she had not played any reading games yet. After she went to bed, I played the entire game (as my newborn slept in my arms). This is what I found:

A. There are many characters that get introduced and there is a predetermined sequence to the quests (which are short games). Each character has his/her own game. As you complete these short games more characters and year book photos become unlocked.

B. There are five main themes to the games

1. Games where you need to aim at a target with a moving obstacle in the way. Example, mini golf type games where the windmill is the obstacle. The object in the way is very slow and there is not much of a challenge to these games.

2. wack a mole type games where you need to touch the animals as quick as possible. One of the many characters is a magician and you need to tap the hat when it wiggles to find the frog (only place where there is magic). There is a degree of challenge because you need to be pretty quick towards the end.

3. Slicing games: wood, paper, or eggs move across the screen and you need to slice the objects in half.

4. Get the object to land between 2 points; you need to bring the stylus back the correct amount to send it flying with the goal to land between 2 points. I found these games frustrating because the unit did not always register my activity.

5. Reading games These games are very few but are good games when you do encounter them. Also, when you finish a reading game it does ask the question, "Do you want to play again?"

I played the game straight through and kept accepting the next quest. I found out later, as you complete quests you unlock photos in the "year book" section. When you click on the photos, they all look blank. The photos are like a scratch card with a picture underneath. There are three characters in each picture with their names on the bottom of the page. You need to match the name tag to the correct character.

In a nutshell: I completed the quest games in maybe an hour. Of that hour, only about 10 minutes involved games with reading or letter recognition. I did not find a way to select just reading games. After completing the games, it took about 8 minutes (being generous) to match the name tags to the characters. Players can go to the photo section anytime and scratch the pictures they have unlocked.

Our goal was to purchase a game with a focus on reading which is why I gave it a 2. I do feel that we will find use for the game in other ways:

1. In the car, my daughter was frustrated with moving Tinker Bell through some gears and felt she was no good. Her confidence was immediately restored with this Leap School Reading game because the games are short and after each game they give you very positive feedback. Within moments she responded, "I am good at this."

2. Leap School Reading may be a good learning tool for my almost three year old. Not with the focus of reading but rather how to use the stylus in different ways.

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There are lots of things you do in this game.

You have to match letters that are facing the correct way. You have to tap on Hats when they wiggle, you learn about Cause and Effect, Counting and searching for things. There is plenty to keep the kid interested with several different characters that get introduced.

My daughter who is 6 and is in Kindergarten really enjoys this.

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My 3 year old daughter loves this game. She's been glued to it since she got it 10 days ago, and has most of it completed. All of the Explorer games are well made and very educational.

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Most of this game consists of listening to characters introduce themselves or playing games that involve cutting objects in half with the stylus or tapping objects, and only a few games involve any word recognition. I am extremely disappointed in the amount of educational content, and I think the name of the game is misleading.

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Previous 2 star reviewer hit it right on the head. Lots of mini games with mostly easy speed and coordination games and one out of every 4 games in the sequence are "educational" as far as reading goes. Yes you can read some stuff while setting up the mini games but there is also a narrator so its not that educational. My 6 year old is a VERY good reader (reading 100 page chapter books in 3 days or less now) so this has no educational value to him. His younger brother (will be 4 in a month) has little interest in the leappad so far. My 6 year old played this game once in the 6 months he has had it. I played it today and found it to be LAME. They watched me play the game so maybe it sparked some interest? Get puzzled is by far my 6 year olds FAVORITE game.

Cheap Hohner Kids HO4002 Shake, Rattle and Roll Music Discovery Set

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List Price: $30.00
Sale Price: $25.14
Today's Bonus: 16% Off

He is 13 months old and he really enjoys all of the instruments in this set. I highly recommend it.

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I bought this set as a gift for my daughter's first birthday.

The instruments are pretty rudementary, but colorful and fun.

It's recommended for 12 months +... but the kiddios on the box are obviously much younger.

My daughter enjoys the set, but she would have been kept entertained for much longer stretches if I had bought this sooner.

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This is perfect size for our one year old. Very well made. I have seen the same toys sold individually in baby stores like buy buy baby, gymboree etc and buying just two of those (cylinder one and green one) from there will cost you what you pay for all four here. Great deal.

AmScope 50pc Home School Student Biology Science Glass Slide Reviews

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List Price: $150.00
Sale Price: $35.50
Today's Bonus: 76% Off

This kit contains a great selection of slides, mostly insect and plant parts.

This is good for reference but, for my youngsters (11 and 13 years old) also has a great entertaining value.

After running through these slides the kids quickly became experts on the operation of the microscope.

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Best The Family Dinner Box of Questions Deals

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I bought The Family Dinner Box of Questions for my family for a cute little add-on Christmas present. Christmas morning it was tossed aside... but EVERY DAY since, we eat dinner & get a card out! My kids (ages 7,8,9) LOVE this and when their friends come over... it's a HIT! It's very durable, coated cardboard so no worry if you spill something on it. 1 easy thought provoking question per card... One of my kids reads it & everyone at the table has to give their answer. VERY INTERESTING TO SEE WHAT YOUR KIDS WILL SAY!!! I'm buying MANY more for Christmas presents for family-friends!

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This is good for getting the members of the dinner table to talk. So far I have been using it with my 8 year old grand daughter and son the few times that we have had the opportunity to eat together. It does bring some conversation and enlightenment about each person.

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We get these out every Thanksgiving (two so far) and the whole family loves the game around the table. It's a family tradition and has created some fun memories for the family. The kids like picking out questions for each family member before and putting them underneath the plate for after dessert.

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We use these nightly. Sometimes we groan when my daughter puts them on the table. Everyone is tired, dinner took longer to make than we thought, traffic was bad, everyone is grumpy..We start doing the cards and we can reconnect and get back in touch and leave the worries and world behind. Love these.

Review of Large Buttlerfly Net

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I have reptiles (FL Anoles) I keep as pets. I bought this to help me catch live grasshoppers (not butterflies) to feed my Anoles. Works great and is a huge help. Has saved me well over what I paid for it if I had gone to the pet store and bought live crickets. The handle is plastic, so it's lightweight. Because of this, I know it will eventually break (the handle), but if you're careful and don't slam it down too hard, it will last a reasonable amount of time. I'm totally pleased with this item.

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This net is a good buy for what you pay. However,if you want a good quality, sturdy net, you may want to look elsewhere.

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We bought two of these nets. One of them fell apart when we opened the packaging. It is a wire loop that sticks into a thin plastic tube for the handle. Not stuck together very well at all. I glued the ring back into the handle with hot glue and it seems to be staying together for now. They are very cheaply made, but will probably last fine for catching bugs and minnows for a year or so. I guess we got what we paid for.

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I loved the butterfly net, it was a Christmas present for a grandchild. The only negative is that the shipping and handling cost more than the net, however, it was worth it, since neither were very expensive.

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By nature an inexpensive net is a bit flimsy but you don't need a monolith to wave around in your garden. This was used as a stage prop and was perfect.

Best Japan Japanese Standard Abacus Soroban Tomoe Four balls 23 figures Deals

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It arrived nicely boxed. It was about a week late, but I was wondering what Japan Post was. The item came from Japan. I payed the expedited shipping and so it arrived only a few days later that I thought it should, but had I not it could easily have taken a month extra time. I got a soroban it is high quality and looking at how efficient it is made to work no wonder the Japanese beat the US's best with an adding machine. Anyway I am very happy with what I got, and how they shipped it.

PDK

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This Abacus is very spectacular. I never thought I could be so interesting, I recommend it to achieve mental agility at any age.

Grover/Trophy Duplex 3276 Rhythm Sticks - 2 Plain Sticks Reviews

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List Price: $1.80
Sale Price: $1.39
Today's Bonus: 23% Off

Perfect for story time. Long, but easy to handle, for toddlers. My kids have enjoyed using these for songs like "Tap your Sticks" by Hap Palmer!

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LOVE these sticks! I use them for my fitness classes (my kids love them too!) and they hold up better than I expected for being so inexpensive! Shipped fast, colors are nice, wood is strong. I will definitely be purchasing more of these!

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I ordered these for Christmas and when the package came it was empty. When we called they sent new ones out but they took almost two weeks and long after Christmas. From the picture the sticks looked like they were ribbed like the ones in our music class but they weren't so my son doesn't really like them. For less than $2 not really worth the hassle.

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Looking for a rhythm stick to hit somebody with? This will do quite well, love.

Discount Schylling Musical Hand Bells

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I purchased these bells for a 4 year old. She loves the bells. She is able to play songs.The colors are bright.The bells are very durable.They are good quality. Can't wait to purchase more.

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I bought these bells for my 7-year-old nephew. There are stickers naming the note on the handle of each bell. One of the stickers had already fallen off when I examined the bells upon receipt. Eventually my brother will probably have to write the notes on each bell with a permanent marker.

These bells do not come with a songbook. Included is a folded piece of paper with 2 or 3 songs on it. I could not find any color-coded handbell music online. I purchased the songbook that Amazon advertises along with the bells, but I had to color-code the notes myself with colored pencils. Do not buy the cards that are advertised with the bells. They are for learning chords.

The bells' packaging is not suitable for long-term storage. I ended up decorating a shoebox with stickers. Amazon does sell a case for around $12.

In spite of everything, I am happy with the bells. My nephew started playing songs immediately after he opened them and I could see his intuitive musical skills breaking through!

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Good product except the kids have ended up causing some of the letters to come off the handles. It would have been better if the letters were stamped on the handles instead of placing stickers with the letters on it.

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This set is great for my use as a special education teacher (elementary) and Sunday school. My students like the color coding with the lettering on top as well as the sounds. It is an inexpensive but an effective alternative to teach and expose my students to the joy of music.

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This is a good inexpensive handbell set for children to learn the basics of ringing; it's makes a good musical toy for youngsters. Unfortunately, the tuning, especially of the middle C, is not good. It is not noticeable, certainly not by untrained ears, until you play the middle C and high C together a cringe-producing sound. Good fun but not much of a musical learning tool.

Buy ImagiPLAY Planet Pixies ? Maia

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List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $19.99
Today's Bonus: 33% Off

I love this doll and it's story. It's cute and funky without being like the other "trampy Tween" dolls. Teach your girls self respect rather than self exposure and they'll make better decisions! Hooray for pixie dolls! Very well made and sturdy for the young ones and pretty enough for young tweens. Cool in any environment!

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