Best Sunny Patch Bag of Bugs by Melissa & Doug Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $8.99
Sale Price: $7.71
Today's Bonus: 14% Off

Ordered these bugs for my two-year-old. They have turned out to be such a big hit and more fun than I would have anticipated. I ordered them in conjuction with the M&D snake magnifying glass. We play with these bugs all the time: we hide them in the grass and learn about camouflage; we hide them around the house and play detective; we give them baths in the pool or just a bucket of water; they are target practice for our spray bottles. Sometimes we catch them in nets or our dinosaurs eat them. These simple colorful bugs have given way to some great pretend play. They are good quality the legs won't rip off and the color doesn't chip. Highly recommend.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

These little bugs are perfect! My 3 year old daughter kept asking us for bugs. I hadn't purchased any because all the ones I had seen were tiny and would be choking hazards for our 10 month old. These are just big enough that they are not a hazard. They are also REALLY cute, not creepy looking bugs. Cute colors (not realistic), nicely made and have provided lots of fun for our daughter. Thanks to Melissa & Doug for another great product!

Best Deals for Sunny Patch Bag of Bugs by Melissa & Doug

If you know what to expect when ordering these, you will be very happy with your purchase.

This is a set of 10 colorful, plastic play bugs. They are each approximately 2-3 inches long. Very well sized for toddlers and young children. They vary in bright colors-our set included yellow, green, blue, orange, pink, and navy. They are made of rigid plastic. These bugs do NOT wiggle or move. They are sturdy, durable, and very well-made.

I bought these for warm-weather outdoors play. They are perfect to hide in the grass, play with in a water table, or use as a "hide and seek" with a magnifying glass in the garden. This is not a stand-alone toy-you will need some imagination, but they are great!!! Also wonderful for teaching counting, sorting, etc.

Honest reviews on Sunny Patch Bag of Bugs by Melissa & Doug

My Mom bought these for my older son when he was two. He was fascinated with "little guys" and would carry several around with him all the time. he had years of enjoyment with these and still picks them up to play pretending games. Now my youngest is three and he has taken to carrying the ants and grasshoppers wherever he goes. One of the ants has lost a leg or two (I'm pretty sure it was actually a forcible amputation ;) )and the centipedes got lost at the beach a couple summers back, but other than that they have held up remarkably well to almost five years of use. they are chunky, bright and sturdy for little hands. I actually am so excited that they still make them. I thought they were a big red bulls eye summer special from years ago. I am excited to find a second set because my little guy is very upset if he can't find one of them. I would definitely recommend them.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sunny Patch Bag of Bugs by Melissa & Doug

Good quality. Was given as a gift to a family with an infant and they are big enough to not be an immediate choking hazard.

Ereadbook World Classic Fairy Tales Collection 8 Books - Talking Review

Customer Ratings:

We just got this set of eight books and are having a lot of fun with them. Very colorful illustrated versions of Little Red Riding Hood (missing in the product detail images on this page), The Frog Prince, The Sad Prince, Snow White, Pinocchio, The Emperor's New Clothes, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty.

You set the eReadbook pen to each book by touching to the logo on the book's cover, then set the volume with the visible volume control printed inside the book. Then you read through the book by touching both the written (simplified chinese and pinyin) text and the images. They work together, with a lot of the dialogue not being in the text, but rather when you touch the characters illustrated on the page. This adds a lot of interest and fun for the child, as each character has a different voice and speaks his lines with great emotion! Many other details on the pages can be touched to add further sound input: most of the animals either speak or make animal sounds, flowers and backgrounds play music, water splashes etc.

There is no English, and much of the body of the storytelling is in touching the illustrations, so it takes a reasonable comprehension of Chinese to make good use of these books. Of course knowing these classic tales in advance helps a lot with understanding the chinese if you are a learner. We are at an elementary level (I have been learning for three years on my own) and can understand most if listened to several times.

It would have been better if when the text was touched with the pen, that it was read sentence by sentence. Instead when you touch the text, it reads the whole page at once, rather quickly. You can touch a "stop" button at the top of each page, but that just stops where it is at when you stop it, and when you restart it begins all over from the start of the page. This can be quite annoying if you just don't catch the last four words: you have to listen to the whole paragraph over and over to catch the last words. You also cannot just click on just one character or pinyin word to hear it (at least that I understand: the instructions are in Chinese). The "beginning English" book included with the eReadbook Starter Set has the feature I wish they had put in these storybooks: it reads only a sentence at a time. So you can click on only the third sentence in a paragraph and hear that repeated. I guess they were made for fluent Chinese speakers learning English and not the other way round.

The illustrations vary from digital picturebook type drawings to quite flowery manga-type illustrations for the princess stories, but they are all very very full of details and brilliant color.

Each spread also has a "game" function. Once again you need to be able to understand spoken basic chinese, but when you touch the game icon at the top of each page, instead of reading the story, it prompts you to find things on the page, ie "there is a little caterpillar, little friend can you find it?" "There are six little birds on the page, can you count them?" and then says "great! good job! wonderful! you're so smart!" when you touch the right objects, or " sorry, try again! that's wrong! once more!" if you touch the wrong ones.

All in all, an excellent elementary/intermediate set for storytelling and listening practice in Chinese, with a lot of interaction, fun discoveries on the pages, colorful illustrations, engaging voices and games. Recommended.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Best Learning Resources Cuisenaire Rods Multipk Wood, Set of 6 (LER7503) Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $74.99
Sale Price: $45.39
Today's Bonus: 39% Off

I played with these as a child, but they're long gone. I remember no "official" teaching with them, but just naturally discovering trains, sequence, etc.

I bought these for my children, partially because I wanted to make sure we had plenty of extras. I do *not* think one set is really enough for one child.

One of the things I remember from my childhood set was that each color had its own compartment. Part of the fun was switching the compartments around, and figuring out what patterns you could fit in the same spaces. This set does NOT offer that opportunity, and it does NOT fit neatly back into the box as pictured. They end up vaguely piled in the box like the bulk lego bin.

All said, though, I'm glad I bought them. I think three sets will stay at our house, and three will be gifts.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Discount Dr Seuss Truffula Trees Trimmer

Customer Ratings:

I thought that I could use this for a baby's room, but it's only paper and tape doesnt work well. I guess it's my own fault for assuming.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I use it to decorate my sons's bedroom. There's not much dr Seus decorations stuffs on the market. But I did it with this and other stuffs and looks awesome. Ans my son loves his room.

Review of Geomag Kids Panels - 150 pieces

Customer Ratings:

I gave this set to my four-year-old son and he loves it, as do his daddy and I. The only problem is that he made something that took almost all the pieces and he likes it so much he won't take it apart! Now we have to get another set for his birthday so the grown-ups can play, too. If you get these (and I highly recommend them), get a lot; everyone will want them, especially if you have a house full of builders and geometers like we do.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

We bought this for our 8 year old who has some of the standard magnet sets. He really likes this one and it offers a new challenge with the sided pieces.

Best Deals for Geomag Kids Panels - 150 pieces

I used to like building things as a kid so I think this is a good introduction to planning and thinking ahead for young kids. If they like it, you can always add on to it and give them more stuff. If they hate it then well, the world needs ditch diggers in the future too.

Honest reviews on Geomag Kids Panels - 150 pieces

Yes. If you have a child who sticks things in his mouth don't buy this. However you may want to have a talk with him because that's a weird habit for an older child. My son is 7. He LOVES Geomag. We have many sets. He would never put one in his mouth because he needs every single piece to complete his creations! He makes tall buildings, automobiles, trains, things that spin, balls & everything you could imagine. He doesn't follow the included plans & just builds on his own. He sticks them on everything metal around our house. It's just a great toy. You can throw a bunch of the balls/sticks in a bag to take to the grandparents, set them at a table & they are good for an hour. Every child has different interests & attention spans, but if you have a little builder this is a great toy.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Geomag Kids Panels - 150 pieces

We babysit our 2 grandsons 3 days a week and wanted some magnets for them. These are awesome toys? My grandsons, their father, and my son's brother love to mess with them. Unbelievable strength to the magnets --get 2 or 3 sets so larger items can be made.

Review of Snap Circuits PRO SC-500

Customer Ratings:

Very much to the manufacturer's credit, the manuals that come with most Snapz products are online as pdf files. See and click "User Manuals."

If you examine the manuals for this "Snapz Pro" product -which is apparently called the SC-500 on the manufacturer site -you will find that the entertainment value should be fairly high, there are a lot of whizzy gimmicks you can build. However the educational value -in terms of learning anything whatever about electronics -is about zero. All you do is match the color and shape of the components to a picture and snap them together. There is no attempt to differentiate the components other than by color and shape -the relative meanings and functions of, for example, a "resistor" versus a "capacitor" versus an "FM radio chip" are simply not explained. It's just so many brightly colored units that are to be connected in a directed pattern.

The projects are not graded from simple to complex, the first ones in the manual are quite elaborate but simpler ones appear later on.

The same company also offers electronic training courses using the same components but with teaching manuals that are graded from simple to complex and do teach the meanings of the components, but this is not one of those.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I just played with this (Snap Circuits Junior) for the first time and came looking to buy one for my kids.

In response to the person who said the manuals have errors, see the web site (and also as mentioned below.) In particular there is a page that gives corrections to all the manuals: .

Another concern I had is which kit to buy: Junior, Pro, etc.? On the snapcircuits web site they have a price list for replacement parts and upgrade kits. For the difference in price between the kits you can upgrade from one to the next so this takes some of the worry about of the purchase (for me at least).

Best Deals for Snap Circuits PRO SC-500

My eight year old son loves this toy, BUT...

The book is full of errors. I'm afraid that a child would quickly become frustrated without someone around to troubleshoot the mistakes. I estimate that about 50% of the projects contain some sort of error. They're all minor problems, but the projects won't work until they are corrected.

It's really amazing how many different kinds of problems seem to crop up. Examples are: Missing parts from diagram, wrong parts specified, circuits that no longer "fit" together because mechanical design was changed, some component values seem to have been changed causing some circuits to need adjustment, some illustrations make it impossible to tell which component they are using, etc. The manufacturer just needs to sit down and build each circuit and update the book.

I should stress, once again, that my son and I love this toy. If you have the necessary skills, you should definitely get it. It's just not something you can give a kid and walk away from.

Honest reviews on Snap Circuits PRO SC-500

This is a great toy! It is very educational, the direction books are easy to follow (our kids needed a 30 minute lesson before we left them on their own to make their discoveries), the snaps are a super idea (some of the other electronic sets I looked at which required twisting wires together), and it is FUN!

We gave it to our 8 year old for his birthday and he has been playing it ever since. His 10 year old brother is very jealous and wakes up early in the morning so he can play with it before his brother wakes up, however the experiments can get a bit noisy so he ends up waking all of us up with them. They both love showing off what they have made to us and their friends and they are learning about how electricity works.

Due to the nature of the toy a few of the pieces (such as light bulbs) have potential to break if not cared for properly so be sure when kids are finished playing with the set they put them away properly so they don't get stepped on.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Snap Circuits PRO SC-500

This is definitely a fun and creative toy, and by this virtue alone, it might be worth buying. That said, for a kit aimed at older children (8-10 years), it really disappoints when it comes to the educational value.

The included project booklets do virtually nothing to explain, in even the most rudimentary terms, the basics of electronics, and provide no narrative to explore with an adult. You are simply told to stack color-coded blocks in a particular order the blocks are often not even called by their proper names, and their function in a circuit is not explained in most cases. Schematics are not included, so when you genuinely want to understand how things work with the help of external resources, you actually need to go through some extra hops.

Then, there is another problem: the choice of electronic components in the kit is odd, and clearly aimed at cheap thrills. For example, you get just one NPN transistor, one PNP, and maybe five resistors which really is not much to experiment with; but no fewer than three different "mystery" IC modules that make funny sounds (!); one completely self-contained voice recorder module; and one self-contained FM radio, with integral "scan" and "reset" buttons. The internals of these units are not discussed, and they have *absolutely* no educational value. Connect batteries and watch the magic happen? Something perhaps acceptable in a toy for 2 years old kids, but that's about it: putting batteries in an MP3 player is about as much of a learning experience.

Because the number of general-purpose electronic components in the kit is fairly low merely around 30 you shouldn't expect to be able to build that much. Although the included booklet lists about 500 projects, most of them are just variations of a simple noise-making circuit ("space war sounds", "police car", "fire fan", "whiner", "lower pitch whiner", "hummer", "hissing foghorn", "siren", "steamship", "doorbell", etc). There is also an 8-segment LCD display in the kit, but all you can do with it is display a single pattern there are no ICs to implement a counter or anything else of that sort.

Bottom line is: if you want your kid to just have some harmless fun with electronics for a week or so, this kit may be OK for you. If your kid is genuinely curious about electronics well, a good book, a breadboard, and a handful of assorted components may be a better (and cheaper) option in this age range.

Cheap Hog Wild ROMP

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $13.99
Sale Price: $12.95
Today's Bonus: 7% Off

As the 9 included magnets both attract and repulse the swinging pendulum, the action is both jerky and fluid. The invisible fields act as an ethereal cushion as the pendulum never touches the magnets, but floats above them. Like a perpetual motion machine with no purpose, you can escape your duldrums as you stare at the swinging pendulum going on and on for minutes on end, getting bounced from one magnet to another. Comes with a book of games for the terminally bored. Make sure you keep this away from Television sets, CRT monitors, magnetic media and your CPU!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

We teach science as a linear action-reaction set of events, with the implicit idea that if we can know all of the details, we can predict any consequences. As 20th century physics demonstrated, it is theoretically impossible to know all of the details.

We typically look at a system from the outside, where everything is averaged out, or else simplify a system so that it can be managed (take a perfectly round cow goes the old physics joke), but if we need to look at the system itself, we are in a different realm. And, if we want to understand weather, global warming, nanotechnology, or genetic engineering, we are in the system itself.

The seemingly randomness of this simple toy is the basis for understanding how the world really works -and its chaotic behavior should be the basis for how we teach science.

Best Deals for Hog Wild ROMP

Mess around with magnetic fields with the ROMP basically a magnet on a string swinging over other magnets. A simple concept, but you can do a lot with it. Unfortunately, perpetual motion is impossible, but you can really get this thing to move and keep moving for a long time. Plus you can set it up to have the magnet sticking off at a weird angle so people's first impression is "What IS that thing?". If you like messing with magnets and want a cool thing to put on your shelf, get one of these.

Honest reviews on Hog Wild ROMP

The R.O.M.P. has been a disappointing purchase. I don't recommend it. My 12 yr old daughter had a Newton's Cradle Newtons Cradle Large that she loved. It was endlessly fascinating to her to drop the ball and watch it seem to ricochet off both sides. When the cradle finally broke, I thought I would find something different, yet similar. That is why I bought the R.O.M.P. The R.O.M.P does what it was advertised to do, but unfortunately it turns out that this is only (mildly) interesting the first time you see it. This isn't the sort of toy/device/equipment that you will find yourself playing with days later and then again days after that. Note that the pendulum is a pendulum-like; as on a grandfather clock, it is straight and stiff, not flexible like a string or a chain. I don't know why but I think that it is something about the pendulum's straight stiffness (as opposed to the flexibility of a string) that makes this toy less arresting than it might be.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Hog Wild ROMP

This simple and durable device is captivating in operation and lures children and adults alike to play with the magnets to get different patterns. It teaches the basics of magnetism and pendulums in one fun toy that had my 6 year old niece and several adults engaged in place of other more flashy and expensive toys. For the price, this is a real winner.

Reviews of House Of Marbles Push Along Pig

Customer Ratings:

this toy is beyond cute, seems well made and the colors are spot on. I did receive the toy in two days like i was supposed to, only to find out that i only got the pig part not the rod. i returned it and called amazon, and it happened two more times. I waited almost a month to have this problem fixed. but i'm glad i waited, since i really like the toy itself.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

It is a sweet, wooden toy that does not make a huge noise (bonus for the adults). We gave it as a gift for a new walker and I have heard she really likes it. We got the Pig. Very cute.

Best Deals for House Of Marbles Push Along Pig

My granddaughter, age 21 months, loves this toy. It is easy for her to push or pull. The details are cute, the quality is excellent, and the clicking of the wooden disks is fun for her and not too loud for adults.

Learning Resources Magnetic Wands, Set of 24 (LER0805) Reviews

Customer Ratings:

These wands were great for a science project on magnetism I did with my class. The magnets are quite strong, stronger than I thought they'd be. Lots of uses for these, highly recommended.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I bought these wands as part of a science demonstration on magnetism, and let each of the classroom kids take one home. My own children still play with them even after a year, and I've run into another mother who says her daughter still uses hers too. I also got these at a great price, like a dollar fifty per wand.

Best Deals for Learning Resources Magnetic Wands, Set of 24 (LER0805)

These were great for the project that I used them for. Very strong magnets and the kiddos love them. These will last forever. I loved the loop that you could tie a string to so they can be kept with the project that you use them with. We used them with pipe cleaners cut up in the bottom of a 2 liter bottle and made a game of trying to pick up a certain number of pieces of pipe cleaner. The kids loved this game.

Honest reviews on Learning Resources Magnetic Wands, Set of 24 (LER0805)

Looked for awhile to find a bin of magnet wands. Some magnet wands are better then others. These are very strong and the design is nice. They were perfect to share with a group of children learning about magnetism.

Cheap VTech InnoTab Software - Thomas & Friends

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $24.99
Sale Price: $15.79
Today's Bonus: 37% Off

Bought this for our 3 year old Grandson and he loves it. He's able to play by himself with it, he loves the stories and the Thomas songs. Really great!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

It was present for my grant soon and the news from him are very good .I don't have a personal opinion

Best Deals for VTech InnoTab Software - Thomas & Friends

My kid cant stop playing with it. your kid can creat music videos, has shape games, up, daown, right or left game.

Honest reviews on VTech InnoTab Software - Thomas & Friends

My son love Thomas the Train. This was a great addition to his collection of toys. Thanks for such a great product.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for VTech InnoTab Software - Thomas & Friends

Kept my grandson occupied and interested worked as hoped. Great gift for young ones.

Is a favorite take along item.

Discount Learning Resources - Attribute Sorting Hoops

Customer Ratings:

We have been playing with these with my preschooler and an older sibling. They are shockingly wonderfully huge when laid out. (as indicated in the size description) Perfect for sorting tasks of all types. They also make great rings for jumping into, rainy days will never be as quiet again. They fold up nicely into eliptical shapes for storage. I'm not 100% on how long we will be able to keep them intact as they are thin plastic rings, but we are super enjoying them now, and trying not to abuse them. We defiantly would recommend them as part of a preschool-kinder curriculum. (I imagine they'd even be useful for the older child with idea sorting for stories)

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

My students were so excited to use these. They stay constantly up on my wall in the classroom. We use post it notes to compare and contrast. We even used them in math just for a simple survey. They allow the word to be up and visible for the students to see...plus it gets them out of their seats! Best part is that you get 6 rings total. I have three in my room and was able to give three to another teacher! For the price, one of the best resources you can get!

Buy Wonderworld New Stacking Rings

Customer Ratings:

My wife and I both had fond, vivid memories of the Fisher Price plastic version of this toy from our childhood. It had apparently made such an impact on us in our formative years that we definitely wanted to share that experience with our new baby. But we also love wooden toys, so when we saw this, it was the perfect meeting of the two.

My wife is completely satisfied and says the stacking rings are exactly what she expected, but I had hoped the center post would be conical, and that the rings would be toroidal. Instead, the rings are more like discs, with a uniform hole drilled through each one, and the pole is cylindrical. This means the rings can be put on in any order. It's not a big deal, and I still really like the toy, but a big part of the educational experience I wanted from this toy was the idea that the rings only go on in a certain order. It's a profound logical/mathematical lesson.

Maybe I'm just not enough of a free spirit. I am very happy with the toy; I just wish I'd known ahead of time how it was constructed.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

This toy is a favorite of my 13-month old. Even though the toy seems rather primitive for a grown-up, he stacks it and plays with the rings endlessly. The colors on the picture look somewhat "chemical", but in fact they're not as glossy and are very natural-looking yet bright. As others have also noted, the paint does not chip (it is very similar to the paint on Haba blocks). I couldn't find the country of origin listed on the site, but, if anyone's interested, the toy is made in Thailand (at least mine is).

It also feels safe to play with since the rod is very thick with a rounded end. The surface is very smooth. It's a classic toy and I'm sure will be enjoyed and will last for quite a while.

Best Deals for Wonderworld New Stacking Rings

I just love wooden toys and purchased a bunch of Wonderworld and Melissa & Doug toys for our son's first Christmas. As one other reviewer mentioned, this is great for toddlers but our son is 8 months old and still plays with it. The rings are nice and chunky (not too thick) and right now are being used as chew toys. I, on the other hand, play with this toy too in front of our son so he can watch. I stack the rings up without the pole and let him knock the stack over. I twirl the rings around really fast on their sides (hard floor) and he watches them smack into each other. I stack them on the pole randomly and he just watches. I also say the colors as I pick the rings up. Yeah, I know he's too young to understand but he watches and looks attentive when I play with them!

The best thing about this stacker is the pole is a uniform width. For example, the small purple ring fits all the way to the bottom. So you can stack them anyway you like, mixing up the colors and sizes. Someone got us the Fisher Price stacker (many people consider this the classic toy but I like wooden toys best) and the pole is fat on the bottom and small at the top so you can't put the small ring on the bottom. Also, the rings for the Fisher Price stacker are wider and our son can't grasp it well (yet).

A toy that I enjoy playing with totally gets 5 stars and I enjoy playing with it as much as our son loves chewing on it.

Honest reviews on Wonderworld New Stacking Rings

I bought this for our 1 year old granddaughter, and she likes it well. It is sturdy and interesting in a classic toy way. The wood has a nice tactile feel that is superior to plastics, in my opinion, or at least a nice change from all the plastic stuff out there. A child can put it together, take it apart, or play with the pieces. It doesn't light up or make music, but it does what it should and will last until she tires of it, when it can be passed along. The paints are nontoxic, and the workmanship is good, with no rough edges.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Wonderworld New Stacking Rings

I bought this for my baby when she was only 10 months. After working with her, she figured out how to stack the rings on her own. Now that she is over a year, she still plays with it. It is durable, the paint has not come off, and I have had no problems with it. The quality is much better than the plastic ones out there.

Best Discover Insects Mini Bulletin Board Set Deals

Customer Ratings:

I bought these to decorate for my nephews birthday party. They were perfect, educational and great decorations. My niece, his mom, also is using them for a school project for one of her early education classes. Good value and arrived as promise.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Best Savannah Safari Placemat Deals

Customer Ratings:

Awesome placemat!! The laminated surface is so heavy-duty, multiple sponge cleanings every day haven't marred the surface at all. This is far and away the most durable children's placemat we have tried. Also, when I purchased it, I thought the pattern was two busy for my two-year olds but they LOVE looking at all the animals, learning their names, and searching for their favorites. Cannot recommend this product enough!!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Makes meal time a little more interesting for the kids, my daughter loves learning the names of the animals on the mat if she doesn't already know them. Also likes finding letters of interest to her. Super study mat, easy to clean.

Best Deals for Savannah Safari Placemat

We bought these placemats to be used under coloring or art projects. They are cute and educational, and my girls enjoy them.