Arts Reviews

This is a good mental exercise of spatial reasoning. But that's not all. My 2.5 year old likes to line up the colorful trains. My 4.5 year old likes to set up the board, according to the cards. I enjoy solving the puzzles, and hope my kids will follow suit some day.

Like Rush Hour, Railroad Rush Hour has you "escaping" the traffic jam... this time in the railroad yard, where the traffic can include rail cars and cargo. Rearrange the pieces to get the engine out.

40 challanges included; nylon bag stores pieces when not in use. Larger than Rush Hour pieces makes this puzzle easier to handle for eager young solvers. And with the new pieces, the challanges are all new and different, even for Rush Hour lovers!

This game really is great. My autistic 11-year-old gets
a good mental challenge and feeling of accomplishment out of it,
and I have fun as well. My only negative comment is regarding
travel. We've taken it on many plane trips, and it's great
because it fits in a small area to play as well as store, but
it has a lot of small parts (duh! :-), and they are easy to lose
track of when travelling. So be vigilant, and find all those
train cars when putting it away! :-)

There is a thing to hold paper and it is not good enough to hold it. Paper keeps falling down and kids will have tough time with it. Also, it is not easy to write in a that position. I do not recommend this item!

i am not saying that is worth,but,it is good is not the best toy but,it is a fun and creative toy

This is non-toxic with the markers and paint washable. The crayons and watercolors are certified CP with the markers and pencils certified AP. To clean the clothing that might have the watercolor paint on, it is advised to not use pre-wash or chlorine bleach. This should also be kept away from wallpaper, painted walls, finished and unfinished wood and vinyl.

My son had this from the time he was four to seven and liked it but did prefer his magna doodle over it. The set up is easy with all the pieces fitting into each other by slots. In order to use the easel correctly the two purple trays must be situated just right in the red container. This can work two ways because if you do not want to use the green stand you can move the trays out a bit and turn around to then slide the paper under the clip and start drawing, painting or coloring. The clip is also removable and easy to snap into place. When you are storing this you place the clip and paper supplies under the trays. We had paint stains on many spots, but they were easy to remove with a cloth or a wipe.

To use the stand you would lift up the red and blue sections and place the stand in the slots provided. The two purple trays can be removed before doing this to have the supplies close at hand and not having to turn this around and over.

Both of the purple trays have a small section for the watercolor tray. When the easel is being used there is a small groove that will hold two markers and one pencil. The trays can even slide in upside down. The one down fall to this is if you are using it for portable reasons it gets loud with the items moving about in there.

this game is kindof like pitionary.You are on a team and the other team tries to geuss the topic you are drawing about. Even if you are not a very good drawer this game is still lots of fun.

I must admit that I am a game adict and it is difficult to find games that everyone will agree to play. There are many drawing games that many will refuse to play because they think they "can't draw". A game that is super fun to play is "Who, What, Where", but since it is 5 minutes of actual drawing a picture, most people refuse to play. This is not a problem with this game, since it is doodling and fast paced, people will agree to doodle out their best interpretation of an object.

In Oodles of Doodles, you select a card that has a subject matter on it. Now, there can be up to eight objects on the back of the card (sometimes less) and each drawing item fits into the clue on the front of the card. So, we are already starting off with an understanding of where the drawer is going. Then there is a whiteboard with 8 boxes for drawing 1 item in each box. For example, the card might say: "Items found in a classroom". You turn over the 90 second timer, and start drawing item #1: desk (in box #1), #2: pencil (in box #2), #3: teacher(in box #3), #4: crayons (in box #4), etc. There are varying levels of difficulty, the hardest one I had was types of Parties, and has to draw a retirement party, however, since you only have 90 seconds to draw all 8 pictures, you'll never be stuck on the same drawing for too long, you just keep the pace going, and laugh, laugh, laugh!!

Final Verdict: Definately recommended to anyone and everyone. Is sure to be a blast at the next get together.

The first time my friends and I opened this game, we ended up playing for four hours straight. They've asked to play it frequently since then. Easily the most fun game I've purchased in years. Because your team knows the subject you're drawing, it's easier to guess each of the doodles than it would be trying to guess out of the blue, and some of the resulting drawings are side-splittingly funny. If you feel like more of a challenge, you can even keep the subject a secret and have the team try to guess it for extra points after you've finished drawing all the objects. Buy this game--you won't regret it!

I bought this for my 7 y.o., whose spelling skills lag her math/logic skills. I was looking for fun ways to practice spelling. She finds the game fun, and enjoys the challenge of the hard letter combinations that come up (though we added our own rule that we can "pass" if we both agree). I believe it does help reinforce spelling skills. However, the letter dispenser sometimes sticks, which is annoying. Tip: make sure you separate the letter tiles really carefully before you stack them--if they are stuck together, they will jam.

Word games are typically fun but don't play with someone who will just dominate the game. We had somewhat of a good time with this one but we rate games by how easily we are distracted by things other than the game. The premise of the game is to quickly make a word from the two dispensed tiles that begins with one of the letters and ends with the other, e.g. "D" and "L" are dispensed you could say "drill". "Deal" would not work because the word has to be at least 5 letters. I'll tell you one thing, you never realize just how many four letters there are until you play this game and you are guessing but you can't score.

It is a thinking game, and unless you are an English buff or just love words, it is a game that can have you stumped quite often.

This game is terrific for kids. They love the dispenser and the resulting surprise of the letters each turn. It has turned out to be a fantastic way to get my son thinking and forming words quickly; something he has difficulty with usually. I gave one to his teacher and they use it in the third grade with great success, and fun, regularly.

There are many ways to vary the game such as requiring a minimum number of letters in each word (for example,no three letter words).

A great way to encourage children to make firends with language.

I bought this because of a review that said it was perfect to use for making cards, Well... It is marginal at best.The light only illuminates a 1/4 of the work surface that being the area directly above the small bulb. As for a kid using it it is fine as they aren't concerned too much about their work area!

This product produced a few hours of fun for my 7-year-old daughter. She was attracted to the included, tracable clothing patterns. The product uses "D" batteries, which provide a long lasting, strong light. Since this is basically a light table, it works best with thin paper where the image is only on one side. A small pad of tracing paper is included and everything fits back into the 12" x 11" x 2.25" container. My only concern is the ability to leave the light on and run the batteries down. I recommend it for any child between ages 6 and 8. It can also come in handy for adults.

Husband is tattoo artist and this has proved very useful for him

This notebook is handy when you have the FLY. I think it is easier for me to handle the FLY when this notebook is in use! I highly reccomend this notebook!

These plates encouraged my kids 6 and 4 to express themselves and then enjoy their art each day with dinner. They love setting the table with their own "special" plates that they created. It makes them feel special that they created something that will last forever. The plates are easy to clean and can go into the dishwasher. Enjoy these fabulous dishes!!

This is really a fun project for kids. I made a plate similar to these when I was in preschool (30-something years ago) and I used it for 13 years every single night and I still have it! So when I saw this kit I had to get it for my 8-year-old stepdaugther. She loved it, and while I did not get to see the finished project, she was absolutely thrilled with it and couldn't wait to make another one. It's a great idea and a really nice keepsake for children and their parents. I am going to buy one this Christmas for my 4 year old son.

Plate Works is a great idea if you are looking for a personalized and lasting gift. In the package, you get special sheets to do your art work on and an envelope to send it in to. In no time, you receive it back on a great melamine plate.

My kids made a couple of these over the summer. My oldest took great care in deciding what he would want to see on his plate every day (race cars, of course), while the youngest just went straight to doodling. We packed their artwork into the envelope with great care and took a trip to the post office to say "goodbye for now" to their creations. Of course, they immediately started waiting for the mail man to arrive - uckily the plates were returned in a super fast two and a half weeks (much less time than expected!).

They like that their plates are truely their own. I like that their art is preserved and that the plates are durable enough to last a very long time. These are definitely things that I will pack away and save forever.

In fact, my kids had so much fun doing their own plates, that we have ordered more for them to decorate for special Christmas presents.

i am a hair dresser and have children come in with their parents or to get cut themselves. these magna doodles are a life saver! we didn't want toys all over so we picked these to entertain the kids while waiting, they are a hit!!!! keeps the kids busy and no mess for us!!

I encountered this toy last Sunday when I helped with childcare for some toddlers at my church. I couldn't stop playing with it! And no batteries or power needed! The kids loved it too. Even the kids too young to make representational art loved simply to scribble.

Part of the charm of this art toy is the effortless way the entire screen can be erased: by sliding a simple thumb tab. It takes less than a second to do. Drawing with the magnetic pen can be done with any degree of pressure, from effortless and not even touching the screen surface to pushing very firmly; a spring protects the screen from undue pressure.

The drawn lines are dark and easily visible, although being formed of magnetic filings they are a bit broad and blurry.

You might think the screen surface is delicate, but no, this toy can take being dropped, kicked, and hit. At worst, if gouged, the screen can only be ruined in the area of the gouge.

My only regrets are: (1) The tiny hexagonal pattern on the screen (needed to hold the magnetic filings in place between the plastic layers of the screen) is black, so it is very visible. If they had made it transparent, the toy would be even more amazing. (2) Drawn lines or dark areas cannot be erased using the pen or an eraser; only the entire drawing can be erased. (3) Drawings are black; no other colors, not even grays, can be drawn. (4) The toy configuration is very uncomfortable for left-handed people; it cannot be changed. (5) Only large areas of the screen can be darkened with the magnetic tools provided; for example, it is impossible to draw half-inch or quarter-inch circles or squares. There is no reason the manufacturer couldn't fix these problems with only a small increase in price.

In spite of these few imperfections, I recommend this toy for all children, and many adults as well.

Similar (identical?) toys are available from Fisher-Price and from Playskool. The Fisher-Price version used to be called the Magna Doodle.

David