Activity Toy Reviews

My granddaughter started making this window art at 6yrs old very successfully. If a child that young has any problem you can do the black outline for them and then let them fill in the colors. www.klutz.com had both the regular window art & the christmas window art book available online along with several paint refill selections to order. Including silver & gold outline colors to use instead of the black and fill in colors not included with the books. Also on most of the webpages for each window art item there is a "Click here for an exclusive window art design" link you can click for a whole page of designs to print out that aren't in the books. Each page is different and even include lots of designs for the different holidays.
My granddaughter is now 8 and a window art devotee.
Enjoy!
ps: can you tell I like making them too?! Fun to do together.

I originally bought the Christmas kit 2 years ago and each year have added a few more pieces of "art" to my windows. However, now my 5 year old is producing his own charming drawings, which I trace into window art. This is when the fun really started. He loves seeing his art work on the windows and now all the relatives want some. If you let the black outline dry younger kids can fill in.

Cause this is so much fun you're kids will not want to stop making projects!

There is much misinformation in the Editorial Review.

Go is not a particular "bloody" game at all. Rather it accentuates elements such as "balance" & "harmony", "efficiency" and "shape". Unlike Chess it is not concerned at all with the killing or capture of a King. Indeed, the game does not revolve around killing or capture at all. While the game is won by the player with the most territory, interestingly the acquisition of territory is almost an afterthought in a game played by experienced players!

There are no "squares" - it is a grid.
The stones are played on the intersections.

Unlike Chess, Go has an effective handicap system so that weaker players can play with much stronger players on an even footing.

Bloody games include things like the typical "video game", fwiw.

So, this "product" is probably sufficiently good to provide a playing surface and stones to start to play... although I have not seen the product myself.

We like this game. The instructions are clear and play can begin quickly after reading them with out a lot of refering back. The wooden board is sturdy, but the plastic pieces feel a little cheesey. It would be nice if the game came with a couple small pouches to keep the playing pieces separate.

I bought mine some years ago, just the box art tells you what you will find, the board is ample, the beads are plastics but very solid, the wood is supreme... I noticed it was out-of-stock for some years, good to see it back

If you are looking for a durable Go board, this is a good choise

It's probably a year ahead of where she is right now. I think my daughter knew that too, because I can't find the cartridge. The games are a little too pricey, for how little amount of activities are on them, and how easily they are lost.

I just gave this game to my twins for their 4th birthday. They fight over who gets to play it. It took some time to master the L-max and the Leapster controller (we have both), but once they figured that out, going up and down the pipes and jumping over the digits was a breeze. They both knew their numbers to 20 before playing, but now they understand the concept of "before" and "after" such as "What number comes before 5?" They will hunt to find the numbers and knock over the "Widgets". They love to figure out the questions. The game also teaches them to write their numbers, which was something they didn't have interest in before. This morning, Anika learned how to write '65' and Alex learned how to write '43'. That's how many 'Widgets' they collected, I guess.

The game has 3 technical levels to work from. They are doing great on level 1. I'm confident that in about a week or two, they will be on level 2.

This game is so far beyond the Gameboy and Playstation for educational purposes (neither of which we own). It makes me feel a little better knowing that they are actually learning something useful for school while entranced in the game. They earn time on the Leapster/L-Max for doing different chores around the house (see my review of the Pink/Purple Leapster.) My home has never been more orderly and quiet. They don't understand the concept of allowance for doing chores, but they sure do understand 'game time' on their Leapsters.

The only thing that I can say that is bad about the game is that is way overpriced. I wish there were more levels for $30. It's a really big hit to the pocket for a month or two of game time.

My son got this for Christmas along with leapster l-max. He loves this game. He had trouble with his numbers and now he is recogniziing numbers past 10! I enjoy playing with it also!

This is the cutest little doll and my 3 month old daughter absolutely loves it! It has bright colors, the "crinkly" fabric that babies love, and lots of different textures. Plus, it has the little link so you can clip it on to a carseat, play gym, stroller, etc. My daughter's face lights right up and she smiles when I bring out "Emily".

We have travelled a bit with our daugther. We would bring one toy and it was this doll and it would, and still does, keep her entertained. It has been durable and still looks new.

My daughter was given this doll as a gift and she still gets excited everytime that she sees it. She loves to crinkle her dress and play with the rattle on the front of the doll. The rings make it easy for her to grab and she loves all of the bright colors. She used to cry when she got in her car seat but this doll acts as such a great distraction!

I'm a big fan of aquadoodle. Have 2 regular mats, 2 mini mats and 2 travel ones, as well as extra pens and stamping accessories. LOVE the regular version of aquadoodle for home and grandma's. LOVE the mini mats for hotels, restaurants (mini mats are flimsy and can be permanently creased). Was excited when this travel version came out and expected it to be a mini version of the larger mat. The frame is a bit bulky for travelling. The drawing surface is felt-like and can be easily scratched. The pen is too small and will run out of water shortly into your trip. I think the pens screw the opposite direction so kids won't open it and spill water. I would still buy this again only b/c I have to keep the younger one entertained in the car and the price of $15 is great for what you get. The product is a great idea but the felt is not practical at all and will get ruined quickly unless you take great care-i.e. don't let the child hold other toys while playing w/ this, etc. Place it in some sort of protection case. Re: the pen, you can buy the larger pens separately-they s/h just made a larger pen for this set. I keep extra pens in the car b/c they drop them often and I can't retrieve while driving. With multiple kids, they can all draw together. They need to come out w/ a portable product combining the best of their regular mat, travel, and mini mats. So far, each of the three products have different surfaces. I would be thrilled w/ a smaller version of their regular mat w/ that same type of surface. Hope to be of help.

I received this as a gift for my 2 year old daughter for her birthday. I hesitated from the reviews on giving it to her. As a mom of three small kids this is a great toy becasue she can play it alone, she can use both sides and its no mess. Anything that has no lights, music and involves creative thinking, imaginiation and quiet play is a blessing. The pen does run out of water and could have been bigger but the toy holds up well. I think worth the money.

I love the concept of the AquaDoodle as my daughter received the hardcased, double sided one, the large mat, extra pens and stampers for Christmas. However, after 3 months, the double sided portable one rarely works. I guess it has been used too much that now when drawing on certain spots, nothing shows up. This is too large to take with us on trips. Glad there are holders for the pens - thanks!

Also, for the pens: at 21 months old, she mastered taking the tops off and dumping the water on the board; and sucking the felt tips to get the water out - gross! My daughter has more fun with the pens - I find her walking around the house just carrying the pens around - guess she's trying to keep up with them. :-)

Also have the AuqaDoodle bear or mouse. Love this, but doesn't get as much attention as the drawing mats.

I will buy more and currently looking for a mini one that I didn't know existed, but needs improvement on the double sided ones and the pens. An expensive product for only lasting a couple of months!

I bought this toy for my 6 month old son to help him spend time on his tummy. The nice thing about it is you can touch it anywhere and it makes noise, either a water sound or music. My son also enjoys chewing on the toys that are attached. It's worth the purchase and the price is reasonable.

I got this as a gift at my baby shower. My son is 4 months now and he did not really start paying attention to this until about a month ago. I had originally attached it to the crib but it was too high up for him to reach it or to be able to see himself in the mirror. I have since attached it to the changing table and it is a great distraction for him when I am changing his diaper or getting him dressed. He just lays there and looks at himself and smiles or pulls on the starfish (he likes the starfish the best for some reason). The mirror makes noises if you bump it or pull on the starfish, crab or clam and he is so surprised when he makes the noises himself!

My infant son just loves this toys. He reaches out and pull on the toys to hear the music. It's great for tummy time!!

I never received the product. After many e-mails I kept getting the run around. No one could tell me why it was not delivered to me but they did tell me that I could reorder it for a higher price than I originally purchased it for. Of course I did not reorder it but I find it odd that they still think that I received this product and want me to comment on it. I think the proper thing they could have done is re-ship it and charge me the original price that I was going to pay when I first ordered it. So I can't rate the product, but the service I got from this company was horrible!!!!!

this is a great learning tool it teaches words and how to use them in many different ways.And helps along with the story and plays games my girls love this .

I have a very advanced pre-k reader, and so I got this game as a challange to his 3 letter words that his class is on. He LOVES THIS GAME, addicted to it. It taught him pretty complicated phonic rules (ones that I didn't quite know how to teach him) like the silent 'E' @ the end, or the 2 vowels together, or even the simple identifing of vowels. THis game taught it to him in a way that he never even questioned about it. By the end of pre-k, while the other kids are still on 2 & 3 letter words, he has learned the tools to read anything, I mean even the longest of words. He even won the medal for best reader of his class. I reccommend this game even for kindergarden or even 1st grade. He's reading at a 2nd grade level. I didn't play the game myself (unlike the other games - I usually do) but he LOVES it and it really worked.

We have two of these for my triplets. It's ok. It's small though, better for a smaller child. The walking part with it left a bit to be desired. The wheels don't roll smoothly and there isn't allot of room for them to walk when pushing it. Early walkers still have a wider stride so they need more room. There's not allot of seat room. It fits my tinier daughter but not my larger son. It has no gut room for him. So it's ok for a tinier child.

I just bought this for my ten month old son. He just started to take steps on his own so I thought this might help. He is able to pull himslef up with it and uses it on our hardwood floor too. It did take him a couple of tries to pull himself up without tipping it over but now he has no problems.
He has not used it as a ride on toy yet. Be careful when installing the antenna if done improperly it will get in the way when used as a ride on toy.
I would suggest this toy.

As soon as i put it together he started walking with it.Its great!!

This is another home run for Leap Frog. My Three Year old loves this game. He even plays it buy himself. He knows the Characters well from the other Leap Frog products so he was comfortable with it right away. It is a great teaching product and I really think it would be an asset to your collection. The one thing I was disappointed with was the quality of the packaging. The board ripped in half and it does not store neatly. Other than that I give it an A+.

My 4-yr old daughter has seen the Letter Factory and 1st and 2nd Talking Words DVDs and has thoroughly enjoyed them as well as learning a lot about letter names, sounds and how words are put together. This game was an instant hit, though in truth it hasn't taught her anything new. What did impress me was that she took it out of the box and started playing without any adult intervention - the game is well explained verbally and each step of the game is spelt out well. She finds it entertaining and enjoys playing it alone or with me. The game is pretty quick to play and there is plenty of praise for getting things right and the usual LeapFrog method of dealing with a wrong answer, i.e. you found x, we were looking for y... Good value for money - I think it was a good buy.

What a great game for toddlers learning letters, counting, and colors! The game console tells you and your little one exactly how to set up the board and walks you through how to play the game. My 2.5 year old daughter loved it and caught on how to play right away. Can't say enough about this one!