Twisting & Turning Reviews

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This is a great toy keeping busy the little hands that are growing and learning. i gave this as a present to my friends little boy and I am not sure who finds it more fun him or his dad!

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Discount Discovery Kid Eco Systems-Hammer Head

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List Price: $9.99
Sale Price: $9.89
Today's Bonus: 1% Off

This toy is very good in all respects except its size the inside of each eco sphere is too small.

Everything is done in wonderful detail, but it's hard to see.

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Touch Reading Pen English-Chinese (Books Not Included) Reviews

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We just got this pen (the E2003 version) a couple days ago, and we like it very much. It is very easy for my four year old son to use himself, simple off/on, touch to the logo on the book cover to sync the pen to the individual book, touch the pen to the visual volume controls inside any book to set it from very quiet to quite loud.

It doesn't use batteries but rather is recharged by plugging in the USB cable (used for uploading the audio files which are available from cd that comes with the books, or downloadable at ereadbook online) into an adapter that plugs into any electrical socket. Needs recharging after a few days (about 6 hours) for under 3 hours. When the pen is left without using for a couple minutes, it reminds you, and if you don't interact with it, it has autoshutoff.

The pen is very light to hold, and comes with a lanyard for the neck so your child won't drop it. It has been dropped a couple times already and seems to be quite solidly made.

There is a large variety of materials available for the pen, from wall posters to "radio plays" (there is a long long Monkey King radio play that comes on little credit-card sized cards that come with the pen) to dictionaries and longer books, suitable for kids from toddlers to preteens and beyond. The voices in the pen are quite clear, and range from cutesie animal voices and small children, to men and women, so you get a whole variety. I find this pen to be great to practice our listening comprehension and also to learn how to properly pronounce words and sentences in Chinese. I am not sure if this particular set on Amazon comes with eight books, but the set we got did, and they cover math (adding, subtraction, multiplication etc) in Chinese, English (one letter per page, with words and sentences and poems that are said by a native english speaker and repeated in Chinese), games, fairy tales (these read whole paragraphs at a time, so not so great for newbie Chinese students), Chinese tales and fables (ditto), music (has nursery rhymes and little ditties as well as pages about different musical instruments), Science (short sections on different topics), Beginning chinese characters. So one doesn't really need to get other books right away to try out the pen.

There is also an "Easy Readbook" digital book that comes in the Starter Kit (E2003), that has a lot of audio files. Unfortunately all the instructions are only in Chinese so I can't get the most out of it.

All in all, we love this pen, and find it very good for both entertainment and education. We look forward to getting even more books (see my reviews under 600 Words books and English Chinese dictionary)

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Buy Hape - Mini Van - Solid Maple in Red

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I love this little van. My daughter does, too. It was a little smaller than I expected it to be, but it's still a perfect size for grasping.

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My son loves the color and it is easy for him to grab and play with. He had the toy first at 7months.

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This is just a simple, classic, all around good toy. Our 10 month old loves it. Well made & nice looking.

Cheap Skip Hop Alphabet Zoo Match and Play Puzzle

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List Price: $25.00
Sale Price: $21.22
Today's Bonus: 15% Off

I have such a fun time playing with my Granddaughter, this puzzle/game has been a wonderful learning tool for her. So glad I made this purchase!

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This puzzle is so cute and unique. I just had to get one for my son. He seems to like this too. Nice quality and cute design. It's a great addition to his toy box. About 12 in x 8.5 in so, not too small or big for him. I think $25 for a wooden puzzle is a bit pricy... But this is so cute!

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There are little images under the puzzle pieces, related to the piece that goes in each spot. I gifted this puzzle to a 2-year-old, and she loved it, even though the puzzle was far too simplistic for her. I would recommend this for an 18-month old, even though the age is specified as 2 years.

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My 2.5 year old adores this puzzle. He's very into animals and is delighted by the variety. The alphabet part escapes him at the moment, but oh well

Buy Kid's Board Game - Buzz! By Peaceable Kingdom - The Bizzy Buzzy

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It is so wonderful to hear my kids (4 year old twins and 7 year old) cheer for each other during game! This is an awesome game where you work together to try and fill your hive particular colored circles from flowers and make it to the hive before the bear does. Another great cooperative game.

As an aside when we bought this game one of the pieces was sightly chipped and I had read on Amazon that Peaceable Kingdom has fantastic customer service. I couldn't agree more. I contacted the company and had a new set sent to our house a couple days later. Solid customer service is so hard to find these days and this company went above and beyond very happy all around.

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Peaceable Kingdom games are wonderful! I love the cooperative games. It's a great way for kids to have fun together playing a game, without getting too competitive. Buzz! is a fun game, and I recommend it to anyone with young kids.

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This is another awesome Peaceable Kingdom game that gets requested far more often than other, more complicated games. It is a great, fun way to teach cooperation skills, patience and self esteem, as well as being a very fun game for the kiddos! My kids like to make sound effects while playing, (what kid doesn't) so our house sounds like a busy hive and a roaring bear when this game comes out! :)

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I love the cooperative game concept. Why? Because my children fight all.the.time. But when playing this game, they work together and I LOVE to see that. Buzz teaches patience and sharing and my kids need that! It's a hit in our house.

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I love how Buzz! helps boost self esteem for even the youngest players. Working together instead of against each other while collecting the nectar drops makes this game a winner! I love how these cooperative games from Peaceable Kingdom foster a positive learning environment instead of a competitive one.

Buy LeapFrog® Brightlings Builders

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List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $13.39
Today's Bonus: 33% Off

I bought Brightling Builders (this product) and Brightlings Dancers for my 6-month old daughter. Overall I think the Brightlings collection is pretty cute, but I didn't want to buy the Exploration Station .... just didn't think it has much to do especially since my daughter has similar toys. The Brightling Builders and Brightlings Dancers are much cheaper, but if you want to choose one of these two I would recommend the Builders (see my review of Dancers). The Builders come with 9 pieces overall (3 bases, 3 heads and 3 other pieces) that can be stacked and rattled one of them lights up when pressed and one has a tiny mirror. Personally I think it's a nice alternaive to the common stacker with the rings. Also, the pieces are neither too heavy nor too big for baby's hands to pick up. When stacked (3 pieces on top of each other) they are probably about 6-8 inches tall.

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I have a developmentally delayed 2 year old, so I pay a great deal of attention to the educational value of a toy. This one is great. According to my son's physical therapist stacking toys, particularly ones that can be stacked many different ways are important to aid in cognitive development. Plus my son just enjoys stacking them up and knocking them down! They are cute and I don't think it would be possible to break them.

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We bought these along with the brightlings matchers for our 8 month old and she really likes them. She is too young to really play with them but they do attract her as she will reach for them when presented with many toy options. As mentioned in my matchers review they are great for the diaper bag because they are small and offer a distraction when needed. I think for the price they are a good value.

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My 7 month old son was INSTANTLY excited by these toys.

Again these are a PERFECT size for him to grab and manipulate.

Right now he loves to knock them over if I stack them, or just have them piled in his lap and kick, grab and toss around.

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Quite simply, this toy is boring. Just something else for you to step on. Doesn't hold my child's interest for even a minute. Waste of money.

Reviews of Lite Brite Refill: Letters (26 SQUARE SHEETS)

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The sheets are really nice perfect for my 5 year old daughter. I'm happy to see some additional educational value to an already educational toy (having the letters is great for a child just learning them).

My only gripe is that the packaging is not very good. I would have expected these to be in their cardboard box, however they arrived inside a much larger box just in some plastic. A few wrong shakes of the box, and these could have been bent. Fortunately they were perfectly fine though in my order.

Highly recommend these if you have a Light Bright.

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My three year old enjoys creating the pictures that match up with the letter sound and it is a good reinforcing fun activity after our "school time." It would be nice if this company came out with a lower case version as often most kids starting school are only familiar with the capital recognition of their letters.

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Bought these refill papers for an original Lite Brite at grandma's house. My 4-year-old has a lot of fun playing with this. My only complaint is some of the designs are hard to make out for a small child (and an adult). At the bottom of the sheet is a list of the shapes included on that page (in the picture of the A on this Amazon product page, for example, it tells you the refill page is for the letter A and the pictures are of an apple, arrow and alligator.) frankly it's needed because some of these pictures are hard to make out, especially for young kids! My daughter had no idea what the apple and alligator were on the A page.

If you are a buying these for an original Lite Brite like us, they do not fit the original. Note that they only fit the Cube, Flat Screen and Four Share (LED) Lite Brites (6.75" Square, not Rectangular). The designs don't line-up over the holes correctly. My daughter's done a few of the designs without altering the sheet and it's not a huge problem, but the lights sometimes end up in the wrong holes. They can work for the original when I carefully cut and tape the sheets to fit it's worth it, since the sheets for the original Lite Brite can only be found on eBay for a small fortune.

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Fit perfectly in my kids Lite Brite Flatscreen. Love having the alphabet and the letter associations so they are learning while playing.

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It does just what it used to do when I was a kid! I still love this toy. The compact size is nice, but I wish the lights were brighter and more consistant across the entire screen.

VTech - InnoTab Software - Penguins Of Madagascar Review

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Bought this by mistake for my three year old grandson. He wanted the Kung Fu Panda, and I wasn't paying attention. But his parents said he played it New Years eve and shared it with a friend and they had a lot of fun and learned problem solving skills without even knowing it.

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We bought this thru Amazon.com and gave it to our granddaughter for Christmas and she loved it. Now that we know,we want to get her some other titles. Very easy to order, good price, and quick shipping.

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Kids liked it at first, but they don't really play on the innotab. They lost interest in the innotab with all the anroid devices around, should have saved my money.

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Fun for my 4 and 6 year old boys. Has some educational games and lots of fun ones too. They like the characters and it keeps them busy when I'm busy with our baby.

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Im so happy that I found amazon, it's simply amazing this is my greatest shopping site...so happy?amazon saves Americans lots of money..

Reviews of Safari Ltd Carnegie Collection- Deinosuchus

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List Price: $12.99
Sale Price: $11.23
Today's Bonus: 14% Off

This deinosuchus looks very good in detail, way more realistic than its discontinued Schleich equivalent, albeit smaller. Its as accurate as it can be, since only the skull and other parts of the skeleton have been found. Now, if only Carnegie would produce a Sarcosuchus replica...

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An Excellent replica of Deinosuchus as seen in the Nigel Marvin series, Prehistoric Park. Unique item, very accurate, educational.

A great addition to any Dino figure collection.

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This specimen was LARGE and well made. Will last for a life time. The features had great detail. Can't wait to give this to my little paleontologist for his birthday. Packaging was great and arrived in a timely manner.

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My five and six years old cousins really enjoy these dinosaurs. To be honest, when these toys arrived in the mail I did not want to give 'em to my cousins. I wanted to keep them for myself. I never had dinosaur toys this good as a kid.

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Ok this is agubly the best model of Deinosuchus around. It might not look like much, but this Alligator was big enough to take on Tyrannosaurus, and is the star of the film, Lake Placid. The colors are made to match those of modern gator species, and it is set to scale with most of the Carnegi Collection. Other models of this creture come off as lazy, but This one truly the best.

As a Reminder, this, along with the rest of the Carnegi models are not really met for rough childs play, will break easily if you do so. They are ment as Educational aids, not for rough play

Review of Fisher-Price Dora the Explorer Tunes Microphone

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I am so disappointed with this toy. I have never written a review this harsh, but this toy is basically a cheap piece of junky plastic. It doesn't work well. You have to practically put the ball section into your mouth for the voice amplification to work, and even then it functions very poorly. Bystanders might notice a slight voice amplification, but the user can't tell it at all except for some static sounds. Of course, my 3-year-old granddaughter wants to be able to hear her own voice being amplified when she sings into it. There is a button to push to hear Dora sing, and that works fine, but we bought this for the microphone part. I know the other reviews here on Amazon are 5 stars, which is why I purchased this toy, but I now notice that none of the previous reviews are Verified Amazon Purchases. That's all I have to say about that. My advice...don't waste your money on this.

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My 3 year old daughter got this for her birthday. She loves to sing and dance so we thought a microphone would be a great gift... and it was. Works great and seems durable. Very cute toy that comes with 4 Dora tunes. My daughter loves it.

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Gave it to my grandaughter for her 2nd birthday. As soon as she opened it she became the life of the party. We didn't even know she would know how to hold the microphone but she did. She started dancing and singing immediately. She's had it for a while now and it is still proforming as good as the first day. I have never seen her more animated!

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She is in to music right now.. she loves this my dad who is watching her says it is loud~! but other than that she loves it..

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As many of the other reviews have stated the microphone part of it is not the best quality. It does produce a lot of static and your mouth has to be right over the top of it to hear yourself. Dora's voice and the music is also really loud. A volume control would have been nice. The thing is the kids don't care about any of these complaints. Dora's songs and music are great. My childen sing and dance to the Dora songs while holding the microphone. I would recomend this product to Dora lovers.

Best John Deere Mini Farm Projector Deals

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I rated this projecting flashlight with 5 stars because of its battery-saving feature: The "on" button works only when the button is held down. Once the button is released, the flashlight turns off. From past experience with kids and flashlights, I know that this is a money-saving feature! In addition, the animal designs are realistic and cute. The light bulb strength is comparable to other small penlights. The "tire" that surrounds the neck of the flashlight helps to keep the flashlight from rolling off a flat surface. Kids love it!

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We had a cheaper version of similar projector that I got from a chain store but it quit working within a week. This one is much much better and my 3 years old daughter loves it. We play with it every night before bed time. I'm going to get another one for my nephew too!

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This was a great stocking stuff for my 3 yr old. He loves making the animals on the ceiling. It really is a cute product! And very well priced!

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This was a recommended add on from Amazon for another gift I had bought. I am so glad that I got it because this has turned out to be my three year old neighbor boys favorite toy.

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We bought this for our son, who is 2. Initially it is cool simply because it is a flashlight. It projects the image onto the ceiling / wall / whatever well enough.

The tips simply slide onto the bulb end of the light. At that point the "tire" goes over them. As far as I can tell, the tire appears simply cosmetic, and apparently my son is not a fan of non-functional parts of his toys because the tire got dropped quickly. The piece that is on the light remains on fairly soundly, but you need to keep up with the remaining caps. We used a simple zip lock bag to keep all the parts together. After about 45 seconds of play with a cap on, my son removes the cap (and tire if attached), drops them to the floor, and puts his hand into the beam to play with the shadow. I'm not sure that is the fault of the toy, but I think I should have gotten a simple flashlight instead of this. This doesn't hold his interest, and the caps will be lost very soon.

Best Skeletons in the Closet Game Deals

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Usually I'm really pleased and impressed with the flexibility and educational value of Imaginarium toys, so I expected no less from this game. It claims to have 6 games in one, and it sort of does, but they're all variations on the same idea: memorize the "major" bones of the body: skull, spine, humerous, radius, ulna, hand, foot, pelvis, tibia, fibula, and femur. That's it. I was sorely disappointed that it didn't include other bones, like scapula, coccyx, phalanges, etc.

On the plus side, this limitation of bones meant that even my 4 year old daughter could play the game and learn the names of major bones.

I was willing to go along with this oversight, as the game appeared to have sacrificed bone detail in favor of trivia questions printed on true/false game cards used in one of the game versions. However, after only one game using the cards with 3 people showed us that there are not enough trivia cards in the deck. We ran out of cards before we'd finished the game, and there were so few cards that when we shuffled the deck and kept playing, even my 4 year old daughter could remember the answer to the questions that had been posed earlier. I doubt we'll be playing the game much more, because after 2 days of play, we've already memorized all the bones and the answers to the trivia questions.

The game is educational if you only want your child to know the names of the major skeletal bones and a few trivia facts. It does not have the flexibility or expandability of other Learning Resourcse games, however. I'd recommend a Visible Man or Visible Woman if your child is really interested in anatomy.

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This game may be fine for a reading 5 or 6 year old, maybe a 7 yr old. We have played it one time with our 8 year old and will probably play about 2 or 3 more times with the variants and then I will get rid of it. The skeleton is not that detailed which didn't concern me because I thought the quiz cards would be more in depth. They are not. They are simple and we went through all the questions about half way through the game, getting most of them right that first time through including the eight year old who has had no concentrated "Human Body" studies at all yet. Unless the quiz cards got harder by degrees, this game wouldn't last a family for very long. Might be of use to reuse in a grade school setting every year.

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I homeschool my 4 kids: ages 4, 5, 9, and 10. We played the simple version (there are six different versions/games) and all of us could participate (I helped the littlest child, it's only up to 4 players). It was great for learning the major bones of the body, and we found it very easy to learn and fun to play!

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For a child that is fascinated with the human skeleton, this was an awesome game. Even for my other child who isn't as enthusiastic with the subject, it was enjoyable. It can be played as young as age for though it says age 7+. We love it!

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This interesting game teaches children the names and identification of the basic bones in our body, such as rib cage, skull, hand, radius, ulna, femur, humerus, foot, pelvis, spinal column, tibia and fibula in a fun way. Players spin to determine which bone to collect from the closet to build their own skeleton. There are also playing cards with true or false statements (with provided answers) to help children explore facts about our skeletal system. This is a great way to introduce the study of anatomy in an exciting and understandable way.

Gretchen Thinks: "It's nice how you can build your own little person out of plastic bones." (Age 6)

Walter Says: "I like how you get to build your own little man. I think it's fun to use the directions on the cards to figure out which bones to put on my man." (Age 7)

Daddy Declares: "I have fun playing this game with my children because we like building the skeletons together. It can be a little tricky to build because the arm and leg pieces are designed to fit specifically on the right or on the left, not interchangeably. We like to make our skeletons dance around the floor once they are built!"

Discount Famemaster 4D-Vision Human Stomach Anatomy Model

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Its excellent toy for education, is important to show ours child how is the human body and all organs for see how we funcion and care.

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really cool havent used it to study yet but its hecka nice and looks perfectomodo for my med school studying material