Arts Reviews

This was the best purchase! I bought this last year for my 5yr old as she was not interested in handheld GameBoy, altho she tried when her brother wasn't looking. Now, being 6, she still loves it. She has to tell her 8 yr old brother, No, I'm using it. My son also loves to use this, especially in the car on road trips--to the grocery store or 2hours plus trips. I'm thinking of buying another one, so I don't have to listen to the fighting who gets to use it! The volume is no problem and the variety of programs is fantastic for both the older and younger sets. I highly recommend this intriguingly educational and extremely fun game!

My 6-year-old and 9-year-old love playing this LeapPad toy very much, and I love buying LeapPad products for them. I'd rather have my kids play LeapPad than computer software or GameBoy. Keep up the good work, LeapFrog.

I bought this for my 3rd grader and it's a real hoot to play. The voice that talks you through is very funny and keeps him interested. It's also great that the game can be played alone because out of my 3 kids (4, 8 & 10) only the 8 yr old likes to play games often. The questions are challenging enough for them. What I like best is that the kids have to pay attention or they'll miss something (and hence answer incorrectly). It teaches them patience. The volume has been no problem for us...there is always a volume (- +) area on these leap pads to adjust. We just turn it up loud! A great buy for only $7!

An excellent project for your child's school report. We purchased the Velociraptor kit for our 8 year old daughter not knowing what to expect. After opening the package my wife came up with the clever idea of pouring melted chocolate chips into the dinosaur molds, instead of using the plaster mix that comes with the kit. We experimented with white chocolate chips and created realistic looking dinosaur bones! We buried these edible bones in ground up Oreo Cookies. What a thrill to see our daughter's 2nd grade class excavate these delectible prehistoric fossils! We can't wait to purchase other kits in the Eyewitness series!

I bought this product for my 6-year-old daughter. When I first opened the box, I was a little disappointed. I thought it was a little over priced for 2 small bags of powder and some instructions.

On top of that, the "mixture" didn't harden (even after 5 days it still wouldn't harden). So we threw it away and called the company's customer support number on the instructions. They were friendly and helpful. They shipped a new bag via 2 day air to Hawaii for free.

We tried it again, only this time used about 1/3rd the amount of water listed on the instructions and it worked perfectly. My daughter loved it. She created the mold and painted it.

Overall, it's a good product. It allows children to follow instructions and create something rather than simply "play."

Mold of hand turned out really well, could even see the fingerprints and fingernails.

My son (now almost 6) has been a dinosaur fanantic since the age of 2. He knows the names, where they lived, what they ate...you name it, he knows it! Or so we thought, until he got this for Christmas! After having a great time making and painting the "fossil" he read in the manual that each bone has it's own name--so now we're learning those as well! The only problem we have with it is when the smaller pieces get dropped on a hard surface they tend to break pretty easily. They are, however, also fixed easily with a dab of super glue.

An excellent project for your child's school report. We purchased the Velociraptor kit for our 8 year old daughter not knowing what to expect. After opening the package my wife came up with a clever idea of pouring melted chocolate chips it into the dinosaur molds, instead of using the plaster mix. We experimented with white chocolate chips and created realistic looking dinosaur bones! We buried these edible bones in ground up Oreo Cookies. What a thrill to see our daughter's 2nd grade class excavate these delectible prehistoric fossils!

I BOUGHT THIS FOR MY EIGHT YEAR OLD FOR CHRISTMAS WITH A BUNCH OF THE "WHATS POPULAR NOW" TOYS. THIS BY FAR IS THE TOY THAT HAS KEPT HIS ATTENTION FOR MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES. MORE LIKE NEARLY 2 HOURS THE FIRST TIME WE TOOK IT OUT. IT ALSO KEPT MY 6 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER AND THE EVERY ADVENTEROUS 4 YEAR OLD BUSY. I HAD TO KEEP DAD FROM DIGGING AND DUSTING OR ELSE THE KIDS WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN A TURN. AFTER FINDING THREE BONES - I TOLD THEM IT WAS TIME TO PUT IT AWAY AND SAVE IT FOR ANOTHER DAY. MY HUSBAND WOULDN'T QUIT FOR ANOTHER 30 MINUTES UNTIL THEY HAD FOUND AND UNEARTHED ONE MORE BONE. THEY HAVE MANY HOURS OF FUN LEFT WHICH IN RETURN WILL GIVE THEM AN ADDED BONUS--NOT ONLY ARE THEY HAVING FUN; BUT ARE LEARNING AT THE SAME TIME!! ONE CONSIDERATION IS THAT IT DOES SAY FOR AGES 8 AND ABOVE, BUT MY 4 YEAR OLD HAD HIS SUN GLASSES ON AND MANAGED QUITE WELL. HIS ONLY PROBLEM WAS GETTING DAD OUT OF THE WAY!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

Our family truly enjoys the Rush Hour game and tried this one as well - it is bigger and bulkly and convenient for travel. I alos find the puzzles to be a bit easier. The pieces don't slide as well as Rush Hour.

I knew this game at a friend's house and love it even I was 30 already at that time. I bought several when I went back to visit my family and they all love it. When I told my mom that I would give my brother's 1st grad boy a set, she told me he won't like it since he doesn't like the brain games. But he loves it soon after my sister explain to him the rules and he enjoys to do it. My little one, almost 23 months old now, likes those animals and loves to put all of those animals to the board one by one and kind of learn the size and arrange the place. It's not only for 8 and up.

I bought this for my 6 year old. She played with it for an hour the first time. It is a game she can play solo. After using the Junior cards, she went on to the beginner. She is still progressing. This is a great thinking game. I highly recommend it.

I bought this for my 2-year-old and he likes it a lot (I keep the markers in a safe place, though....markers and 2-year-olds are a dangerous combination). I especially like the reverse side of the workspace; you can put paper over it and lightly rub the crayon to see images come through. I like it as much as he does. I think it will be used for a long time.

The only thing I don't like is the price....I got it on clearance. I don't think it's worth the full price.

I don't usually get taken in by commercials, but apparently I was blindsided by this one. Although this had such great promise to be a wonderful outlet for creativity, it proved to be an excercise in frustration. We even read and followed the directions (dilute the paint!). In a nutshell: it takes a long time for the paint to travel down the tube and splatter out the end; adding too much paint will create a runny mess; the funnel easily becomes unbalanced, shakes, stops and is difficult to control; the colors are very weak, contrary to the commercial; my kids (ages 2, 4, 6, and 8) all quickly moved on; the paint congealed and now appears to be a permanent part of the inside of the tube; and last (but not least!) it stains even promptly laundered clothing. I expected so much more from a trusted name like Crayola. Your money would be better spent buying basic chalk. You'll even have enough left over to treat the whole family to goodies from the ice cream truck. Perhaps a melting popsicle would provide better entertainment than the Color Cyclone!

Just as the previous review states: I bought this toy for my daughter, age 3.5. At that age, kids are supposed to LOVE paint or anything to do with it. Well, after trying for half an hour to make it work for her in the 90+ degree heat in Florida, she asked to go inside.(that should be your first clue)

It wasn't any fun at all, and here's why:

1) The paint is very thick. I thought it might just be from sitting inside in the cold air conditioning. But after being outside (in 90+ degree heat), the paint didn't thin out at all, and when we turned the machine on, hardly any paint came out. I was *expecting* a Spin Art for the sidewalk. We got some little paint splatters, but nothing like is shown on the commercials.

I called the Toys R Us I bought it from and they agreed to take it back: being used with a destroyed box...

I've noticed other reviewers saying they have had a lot of trouble using this toy. My brother, mother, and I purchased one and have fallen in love with it. Our combined age is 89. :)

Most important is to simply read the directions. The paint isn't ready to go right away and there is a line on the bottles to show how high to fill the bottle with water. Then make sure you shake the bottles a lot.

When getting the paint into the machine drop it directly into the hole and play with the motor speed to make different sizes of circles. Another way to change circle size is to move the swirly blue leg up and down. This will move the motor higher and lower from the ground, creating looser and tighter circles.

Even if it isn't as perfect as what you think it may be, just enjoy the time you have playing with your friends or loved ones.

I purchased this set as a Christmas present for my girlfriend's 4 year old son. He is really into art and loves to draw, so I thought that this would be a great way to encourage his artistic talent. Well not only was this gift a hit with her son, but her 2 year old daughter loved it as well. While he was busy making pictures with the crayons and markers, she was having a ball with all of the paints. And they haven't even gotten around to the chalk and clay yet. This is a great set for a house with young children and is a great value for the price.

I got this for my 4 year old daughter for Christmas and she found it early so I went ahead and let her have it. She is quite an aspiring artist and this was like a dream come true for her. Her whole life for the past week has been revolving around using her new art supplies. It comes with PLENTY of paint (3 sets), 4 nice samples of Crayolas version of Play-Doh, markers, crayons, sidewalk chalk, paintbrushes, little figurines you paint, construction paper, scissors, glitter pens, and maybe more but that is all I can remember right now. The only negative is that the markers and crayons are not the washable version. You also only get 8 crayons who know why! I would think that if you had to buy the individual components in the store that it would cost much more than the price here on amazon. We also got the Super Art Chest but luckily that one will be under the tree! This case is REALLY BIG and will easily hold everything that is included plus any art supplies your child already has.