Review of Skullduggery Cast and Paint Trex Casting Kit with BloPens

Customer Ratings:

This was great for my 5 yr. old daughtres bday party, she's into it! and after it casted (easy out too) colored it, then coated with sealer, she uses in sandbox for scavenger hunts, and as a puzzle just don't get it wet or it will deteriorate! Can also make more with extra plaster of paris (party give-aways to take home & decorate with paint)

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This is so great and easy to use. I am gluing the mold to some paper and putting it in the bottom of a bin with sand on top for my son's dinosaur themed birthday party. It is perfect for a dino dig in the backyard. I hope the kids have a blast doing it.

Reviews of BRILLIANT BASICS TUG & GIGGLE PUPPY

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I needed to replace one that I had for many years. I treat young children in Early Intervention (Occupational Therapy). This toy is good for young children's muscle strengthening, bilateral motor integation, sensory input (vibration), etc. Kids LOVE IT!

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Review of Bird Lover Magnetic Poetry Kit

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I am a huge fan of these word games, and thus, I have become something of a collector of them this year! LOL This "Bird Lover" Magnetic Poetry kit is great for those who enjoy the beauty and grandeur of nature. It's the perfect little "refrigerator door" game that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Here's a quick sample of words that you can encounter in the "Bird Lover" word tiles kit:

jay, robin, soar, aerie, peep, hoot, talon, yard, beak, song, flock, observe, rookery, humming, window, feeder, forest, kestrel, mimic, spy, nest, habitat, serene, yellow, chick, sing, bough, roost, squirrel, tree, cardinal, plumage, migration, oriole, binoculars, feather, raptor---including various other adjective, verbs, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and word part to extend your ideas!

Note: If you are not into bird watching, don't worry! There's a wide variety of other Magnetic Poetry word kits to explore! To see more themed products, just search Amazon for "Magnetic Poetry." Also, visit the excellent Magnetic Poetry website, where you can try some word kits online as web games. Then, you can decide if these products suit your tastes or interests. Be sure to visit the other intriguing products that the Magnetic Poetry company produces.

Some of the "Magnetic Poetry" word kits are designed for "adults only," so please read product information carefully, especially if you are shopping for children. The company does make some age-appropriate magnetic word games for children.]

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Curious George - Peek-A-Boo George Review

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My 13 month old loves this toy. It is a little noisy but my son pushes the button on curios george himself to start him up. Very durable toy after being thrown around alot.

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I purchased this 2 years ago for our son who loves Curious George. It worked for less than a day (on regular mode. The demo mode is a strange feature) before not doing anything. He's adorable, pulling the hat over his head, then pushing it up, giggling as he goes. It comes on wheels, although ours never rolled. We have 4 other Curious George toys and they all worked wonderfully, so I'm sure this was a defective one. Unfortunately, I returned it for a replacement, but they didn't have them at the time. :(

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This toy was discontinued awhile back, making it hard to find for my George-crazy grandson! We ordered this thru Amazon, one of the few places that still had one. The toy was brand new in the box, they even included new batteries to replace the old ones in the toy. My grandson loves it! It arrived earlier than estimated, thank goodness, it made it here for my grandson's first birthday. All-in-all a very painless transaction.

Honest reviews on Curious George - Peek-A-Boo George

Love this toy. It has entertained my son for quite some time until he got to the age where he could pick it up and play with it himself. It's such a fun toy and as he aged, he began to imitate it as well!

One weird thing about the toy (maybe not so weird)... but there is a display only mode, and at first it made me think the monkey was broken because it didn't go thru a full cycle. Thank goodness I figured that out, but not until I bought a second one. (Yep, I have two and am selling one!)

However, my little guy just loves it and squeals when Curious George lifts his hat off his head. It's really a riot to watch!

So, the toy is great from age 8 months (adult operated) and has continued to entertain my son who is now 2 and 1/2....

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My 6 year old disabled child LOVES this toy! Shipped very quickly by Toy Ranch. Product was however, defective but Toy Ranch immediatly replaced the toy without cost to me. This toy and Toy Ranch are the best!

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.

Review of Learning Resources - Alphabet Toss n Play Activity Set

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List Price: $26.99
Sale Price: $26.59
Today's Bonus: 1% Off

This product comes with a booklet full of fun activities to do with your toddler to help them learn the alphabet. I've used many of their suggested games, and the children have enjoyed them all. It isn't the most requested alphabet game that I have in my preschool, but never fails to entertain the group when I pull it out. I'm pretty picky about what I use to teach, and I'd prefer that the letters weren't crooked and that a more basic font was used, but that doesn't bother the children at all. They seem attracted to the bright colors and they don't seem to have too much difficulty identifying the letters.

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Review of LEGO Education DUPLO Farm Set 779217 (150 Pieces)

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My husband and I purchased this set for our just-turned-five year old daughter for Christmas 2011... It is late March 2012 as I write this review and I can truthfully comment that not a day has gone by that she hasn't played with the animals, rearranged/rebuilt the farm, the house, the fences...and LEARNED about the different animals ~ what animals eat what food and why...which ones sleep standing up...which ones lay eggs and which have live babies...what baby animals are called in relation to their mommas and daddies... I mention all of this because I gave five stars for the educational value of this toy... This is not her first Lego set, but one we knew she'd love because of the new and different animals ~ her other sets have zoo animals and she has learned so much with those, too... My daughter is still so very much excited about this Lego set, so my husband and I are very excited, as well! We've introduced the smaller Legos to her ~ seasonally ~ and she loves those, too...but she's five...she wants to play...not worry that animal pieces will go flying if she drops something... It's a wonderful, durable, imagination-boosting toy that I know will keep her interest for some time yet... Go, Lego!!

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This is awesome, there are enough prices to build all sorts of things. Farms, out buildings, or whatever your imagination comes up with. Only problem is it didn't come with directions to build the farm like it is on the box. This is a source of frustration for me, but my kids don't care! They love it!

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If you purchase this set, i would reccomend you take the time to put it together prior to your child seeing the set. There are no instructions included. Just a small picture on the front of the box (which you cannot see everything). I had to sit down, and with trial and error, figure out. With instructions, I could have sat down with my 3 yr old and helped her along the way to putting pieces together.

Pieces are bagged in multiple packages. You would think that they would be bagged based on the pieces going togther (like older childrens legos). However, not the case. Random order in bags. Makes for more confusion.

Once together, toy is sturdy and my daughter has enjoyed playing with it. Animals and people are hard to put in place though.

Honest reviews on LEGO Education DUPLO Farm Set 779217 (150 Pieces)

I purchased this set for my son's 3rd birthday and it was a hit! He really enjoys putting it together and taking it apart. He does need a little help building the barn. It is a good value for a long lasting toy.

Cheap Manhattan Toy Brilliant Bear Magnetic Stack-up

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List Price: $20.00
Sale Price: $19.53
Today's Bonus: 2% Off

My son is turning 1 next month and he really likes this toy. I stack it for him and he knocks it down. He chews on the pieces and they are very durable, the paint doesn't chip and it doesn't show teeth marks. Now we have a game were I try to get it stacked before he can knock it down. We go back and forth like that and honestly it's fun for me too. We have electronic toys that light up and play music but I honestly think he prefers this, we can play with it for a long time without him getting bored. Also it's very attractive and bright. I think it would make a nice display piece on a shelf too.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I suggest checking the dimensions on this toy before purchasing. I did not do that and it's smaller than I expected. That is not the reason for the three stars. This is a cute little toy, and it will be a welcome addition to my baby sitting toy box. This toy looks exactly as pictured, the colors are nice and solidly painted. The little bear head gives it a little extra interest, beyond just a stack of rings. My concern is that the magnets don't seem to be as strong as I would expect for this type of toy. Since there is no shaft to stack them on, the rings depend on the magnets to keep them in place. Still, in my personal rating system three stars is a good solid item, and I'm not at all sorry to have taken a chance on it. This will provide my nephew with plenty of enjoyment and that is what counts. There isn't much else to say, except that for what it is, I would say take a chance on it. Magnets are always fun for kids!

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a super cute toy, with a fun twist on the typical stacking toy. Each piece is a solid piece, not the normal "donut" shape, and there is no vertical shaft that they all stack on. Each disc, including the base and the bear head has a magnet inside and each piece "sticks" to the one below and above it. The colors are bright and lovely, the little bear is sweet looking and I like how the base is curved so it rocks a little. The reason for only three stars is that the magnets are a little too weak in my opinion. One little swipe and they all tumble down. And It will be impossible for this set to stay even remotely together in the toy box because the magnetic force is so weak. I love the concept, but I wish it had the shaft also so that it would stay in place better. This toy is also a fun introduction to the concept of magnetism and the forces of attraction and repulsion.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program One thing I look for in a teddy bear is a smile! If it does not have a smile, I am

unlikely to choose it. This one has a nice smile!

I greatly prefer wooden toys to plastic, too, and bingo, this is wooden! I love the color choices, too.

The magnets are helpful, and not so strong as to be intrusive. If you are going to play with this, you will need to pay attention to put the magnets together the way they will come together instead of pushing apart. But they don't go falling all over the place, because the magnets are not so strong that they would push hard when backwards. They are strong enough to add stability when the little bear tower rocks on its gently rounded base.

I like this toy a LOT!

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I love this stacker. The magnets are fairly week, which is great. My 15 month old daughter stacks the discs as if she were stacking any kind of blocks, but the difference is that these stay stacked. The magnets are NOT so strong that you feel like you're stacking magnets. You are stacking blocks, that just are much better at not toppling over. In my opinion, that's the perfect idea for a toddler fairly new to stacking.

I really love this toy for her. It's got the classic look and feel ... a great toy to keep on display on a shelf ... but it also has the smarts of a modern designed toy.

Reviews of Marvel Spider-Man Addition and Subtraction Learning/Flash Cards

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i bought this to put in my s on easter basket, hes 5 and we use these cards everyday.. i am going to be buying the times table ones also.. i have a wall where i place all the cards and give him the paper, he does subtraction on mondays and weds friday, and addition on tues, and sat... im really proud of him, if he gets stuck he keeps trying, i knew once he could count to 100 with hs eyes closed i new he was ready for adding and subtraction...

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Reviews of 3B Scientific A70/1 Lumbar Penholder

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I really liked how anatomically correct (close enough for a pen holder) this product is! I gave it as a gift to an anatomy professor. It's a unique gift that I'm sure will be a conversation starter. A plus: it's made in Germany, not China. Would have preferred a Made in USA, but Germany is still okay.

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Drip, Drop, Jingle, Jangle Toy Instruments Review

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List Price: $14.99
Sale Price: $7.99
Today's Bonus: 47% Off

We bought this awhile ago for my then 8 month old She is now 18 months, and still loves the instruments. I find that they are durable, have a high quality sound for a toy instrument, and will be perfect for when baby 2 arrives, with the contrasting colors.

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Discount Timed Math Drills: Multiplication; no. REM503

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We bought this book at the recommendation of my daughter's 5th grade teacher, as her math fact skills were not quite up to expectations. Having this book in her room near her bed is a perfect reminder for us to practice a few drills each night before bed, and the corresponding improvement in her skills has been notable.

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Plan Toys Dancing Alligator Review

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List Price: $20.99
Sale Price: $15.95
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Our son walked a little on the late side at 17 months, and this little alligator has become a great companion for him since. With a dog, we must go for walks daily, and he walks the alligator while I tend to his younger brother and walk the dog. That alligator has put some MILES on it. We got it as a gift from my aunt who is an avid Salvation Army shopper and were devastated when a wheel fell off (this is probably after at least 50 miles on the thing, not including its milage from previous owners), but we found a label on its clackity body and were ecstatic to have located a new one. The best part ... no batteries! Just a well-made and inexpensive toy that is, quite literally, willing to go the distance with your little one.

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I bought this cute little fellow for my nephew. When it came, I just HAD to get it out and play with it myself! The clapping (not overly annoying) intrigued and scared my cat, but I sure thought it was fun. The wheel axels are off-center, forcing the "worm"-like motion (like the 80s dance, which forces the plates to clap as it strolls along. It is smaller than I expected -box is only about 4"x4"x12", but I guess that makes it a little less intimidating for small children. Haven't given this to my nephew yet, but I sure think it's a great, timeless toy that can entertain for many years. For those who are interested, the paint is soy-based; the manufacturer really seemed to be dedcated to a natural, quality product.

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This is a great walking toy for toddlers. the alligator's wooden body moves as it walks, so it makes the kids giggle and interested in walking with it. My son loves to dance with it!

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My first daughter go this toy for Christmas when she was just 10 months old. She is now almost 5 and still loves this toy. It was been through 3 kids now and they all love to play with him. His name is clicker and he really gets around. When friends come over they also love to play with clicker and usually a fight will break out but he is very durable and has always come out on the other side in perfect condition!!!

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My girlfriend sent this to our daughter for her 1st birthday. She had just begun to walk, but she played with it often. Now that she is 18 months and running, she loves to pull the alligator around the house and especially loves the clacking noise it makes. I love that it is environmentally friendly and needs no batteries. This is a great toy for your own kids or as a gift for a 12+ month toddler. I will certainly buy more Plan Toys going forward

Best Thames and Kosmos Classic Science Archaeology: Pyramid Deals

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List Price: $24.99
Sale Price: $22.62
Today's Bonus: 9% Off

I purchased this archaeology kit for my daughter, who teaches fourth grade, and my grandsons, who are seven and nine years old. They loved it. It was educational, fun, and the boys loved helping Mom carefully excavate the inside of the pyramid. I don't believe my grandsons could have read the instructions and completed the tasks alone, but it was a great learning experience for all of them and a wonderful activity for the family.

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I bought this for a 12 year old. He absolutely loved it and spend many hours digging/excavating with it. It is something that will keep a child busy for hours and can be played with over and over again. I was very pleased.

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i was very happy with this excavation kit. although it created a bit of dust, i was able to do it in my living room on some newspaper with little clean up. the pyramid is clay with hardened sand inside. the artifacts are ceramic. 4 canopic jars, a sarcophagus containing a real-looking mummy with a death mask! this kit is good for kids 8 and older, i would even recommend this kit for adults, i'm 25 and i had alot of fun with it and the pyramid and the artifacts make great decorations for my Egypt themed living room! it was defiantly worth the price!

Honest reviews on Thames and Kosmos Classic Science Archaeology: Pyramid

This is a great toy, but once my daughter found the "artifacts" it lost it's lustre... It's fun for a bit, though.

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My 5 1/2 yr old nephew absolutely loved it. Lots of competition but this one took top toy honors at Christmas he put on the safety goggles & left his other gifts alone for about an hour. He's very much into anything Egypt and this was not only fun for him, but educational. He had fun cracking the pyramid open and loved the mummy. It is a one-time find but he had fun and he is still playing with it.

Cheap Kidoozie Super Spiral Play Tower

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List Price: $35.99
Sale Price: $28.07
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We looked at a lot of "marble towers" and decided on this one because it does not have any annoying electronic music or lights to over stimulate my daughter. We read reviews and talked to other parents before we purchased this product. Other brands of similar products have problems with the tower coming apart. This one has the tower firmly attached and it has not come apart despite a rambunctious toddler pulling on it. My daughter loves the little penguin that goes down the spiral ramp. It's a great cause-and -effect toy and a fine motor skills toy. We love that it doesn't take batteries and is all "kid powered!"

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I was so happy to see this toy on Amazon. I have a child with developmental disabilities and this is something I've seen in her therapy catalogs. It is always priced much higher in them. So, I was thrilled to see it here, with of course a good price and fast shipping (lower than all the therapy stores too!). This toy is great for any child--typically developing or not. Even my older child gets a kick out of. It's lots of fun & kid-powered.

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I do like this toy. No Batteries which is great and fun activities which my one year old is really enjoying. However it is made of fairly brittle plastic and he has managed to crack the main tube for the frog to go down. It isn't so bad that I feel I must take it away but has made me keep a more watchful eye on him. He also has managed to take several sections of the spiral apart, initially by leaning on them too heavily and once he realised it came apart pulling it deliberately. Only the frog goes down the inner tube and it makes a small sound...nothing too noisy that is until my little guy puts it in his mouth and breathes through it when it gets louder and more annoying. My little guy finds this toy immense fun, but it could be improved.

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My 1 year old loves this toy. She loves putting the penguin and balls down the slide. However, her favorite part of the toy is the squeaking frog. But the problem is that the little button that releases the frog is REALLY hard to push. We had a 3 year old over tonight and she had a hard time pushing it too. So it is a great toy but it doesn't really lend itself to independent play if your child likes the frog.

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We decided on this ball toy because A) our son LOVES balls, B) it didn't require batteries, and C) it doesn't make noise. (We have enough toys that make noise, thank you very much.)

The first thing I noticed is that the item we received was a bit different color-wise. Of course this doesn't hamper the use of the product at all, but just know that it might not look exactly like the picture. The ramp is not all yellow--it's half yellow and half orange. Me being the anal person that I am, it bothered me a bit because the bottommost piece is yellow and the topmost piece is yellow, so I couldn't make the top or bottom half all yellow. Oh well, I'll get over it.

I usually leave construction to hubby since I suck at it, but this was really very easy to snap together--pieces can only go in one place and there were only 11 pieces to put together, 10 of which were tower pieces.

This toy is rated for 18 months and up, but my 14-month old son enjoys it. (And we've always been told to get toys just a bit advanced for his age.) He's only been playing with a few days, but within the first 10 minutes he understood how to press the button to get the frog out, and within 20 minutes he knew how to put the frog in the top. We're still working on getting the balls onto the track, although he loves to set them on the top of the tube. I also like how the balls are shaped JUST differently enough that they each go into their respective columns at the end of the run.

So overall, we really like this toy, but:

1) I do wish it came with more than two balls, one penguin, and one frog. We do have other balls in the toybox that we can use, but they're just not quite the same.

2) It would be great if the frog also went down the track AND if the balls could go down the tube (my son is constantly putting them up there--but then, he also loves stacking).

3) My son (14 months) has no problems pushing the button to get the frog out, so for those that had trouble, maybe you just got a stickier version or maybe the kids just aren't strong enough?!

4) If you have a chewer, be prepared for the paint to come off the penguin beak pretty quickly. Yes, I speak from experience. :)

5) Beware that the penguin can get stuck under the frog door (your toddler will surely shove it in there) and it will take your futzing to get it out.

So, a solid four stars...and we're glad we got it.