Activity Toy Reviews

I bought this for my nine year old who thought she knew her facts, but couldn't do her tests on them fast enough. One can tell the Shark exactly what skill to test (for example, subtracting "3" from all the one digit numbers in random order). It sets the ten questions (each one is either in vertical or horizontal format - one can't specify that), and provides immediate feedback as the child enters each answer. It asks any incorrrect questions again. Once all the questions have been answered correctly, it provides the time, for example, 43.3 seconds.

My daughter enjoys seeing her time get better each time she repeats a skill. We have an agreement that she does 5 sets each day (total 50 problems). She usually does 3 sets on the same skill, and each time gets faster. Then she reviews two other skills she's already mastered.

My only complaint is the display screen can be hard to see, especially from the side (so I can't tell what problems she gets wrong, sitting beside her). Sometimes she'll get a problem wrong because she thinks a number is something else. I think the problem might be when the LED is right next to the edge of the screen, it can be in shadow or something.

You can turn off the sound (which isn't all that loud anyway). I really like how specific you can be in setting the level of challenge. This is a valuable tool for drilling math and getting immediate feedback.

Our 6 yr old is enjoying this product. She needs help with getting quicker at drilling addition and subtraction and this is helping. She likes when the green light lights up to tell her she is correct. The levels are very good since my niece (8 yrs), nephew (10 yrs) and the adults have all tried it. If it's durable enough, it should last her for years as she gets to multiplication etc. She doesn't think it's FUN though - it's just something to do when she is bored. For this reason we keep it in the van. Our plan is working though because she climbs into her seat and immediately turns it on. We had it in our home for awhile but there were too many other FUN things to do besides Math! If your child enjoys challenging math facts, they will think it's fun though - our 8 yr old niece did and so do myself and my husband.

I ordered 5 math sharks for my inner city classroom. My students were having motivational issues and this really helped. I used it in centers and during indoor recess. You can turn the sound off if your student/child is using it during a quiet time. It tells the student what their score is at the end so they can keep track. My students were at different ability levels and they could choose something that was challenging for them. I did find that by the end of the year, the display was not as clear.

My toddler LOVED this puzzle. It is a high quality puzzle that will not fall apart. However, I disagree with the age recomendations on this. Our toddler recieved this as a Christmas gift last year and was only 16 months old. He played with it then and mastered it a few months later. It's a great activity to take to church because it's quiet and keeps little ones busy for a little while. At 28 months old, he doesn't play with it near as much. I believe older children would be really bored with this.

I love this puzzle and my daughter does too.
Most of the pieces can go in different spots, so there's not always only one right answer.
The doors are surprisingly sturdy even after many uses.
I lost two pieces and called the manufacturer- the replacement pieces are on their way- no questions asked.
I like the magnetic feature. It keeps the pieces in the puzzle more than the average puzzle.
Overall I am always pleased with their products.

This puzzle is a wonderful way to spend time with your child. It is great for opening up and communicating with your toddler. My son (2 1/2 years) learns best through doing so he doesn't like to sit for too long. When I first sat down and showed him this puzzle we played with it for 25 mins. He had so much fun hiding the animals and opening and closing the doors. It has continued to hold his interest and prompted him to talk more....a big plus for us. I have high praise for this puzzle and all interactive puzzles. They provide, learning, communication and great fun!

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!

We thought it was a lot of set up. The lab did not seem stable. My 9 year old could not snap the mold covers on and the molds did not fill up all the way with the mix, which left him with 1/2 of a gummy worm. It was messy, awkward and not worth the money we paid for it. It is in the trash. We wouldn't buy another one. Also the piece that is used for the mixing - what an odd design. And I could barely pull it apart to clean it to make another batch. Save your money and buy the supplies to make the goodies in a bowl at home.

The kids had fun with this, but the goo is very hard for young kids to mix without making a mess. It starts to set very quickly so its hard to get enough out of the bowl and into the molds. It was okay, but definately not worth $25. My 6 year old has just as much fun playing with cheap spices and a bowl of water.

I have four children between the ages of 4-10 and we have bought many "make your own food" kits. This one has been the best by far. The directions are really easy. My six and eight year olds needed a little guidance, but my ten year old was fine doing these by herself. The projects are all done very quickly (3-5 minutes at the most), and ready to eat right away. Even the gummy-type creatures only have to cool for five minutes. We have a candy-making kit from National Geographic and there is not one project in there that can be eaten in less than an hour and a half. A real bummer for kids!
Dr. Dreadful is also nice because nearly everything you need is in this kit. The only thing you'll need to provide is water. It even comes with its own measuring spoon! Some of the other kits require you to provide lots of extra ingredients and household items (sugar, salt, string, waxed paper, etc.) There are enough ingredients in this kit to make dozens of projects.
There are a lot of parts to this kit, so make sure all the pieces are cleaned up. We lost one little plastic disk (I found it on the floor and had no idea what it was so I threw it away) and now we can't make the gummy creatures very easily.
The Dr.D "experiments" are all pretty tasty, especially for kids. This toy has been a really big hit at our house.

My kids (4.5 and 1) love this car. The sounds it makes are great. They take turns riding on it and the other one pushing. It is quite durable and they play with it all the time. Only negative is that some of the stickers peeled off. Overall, it's a great toy and the kids play with it every day.

He loves it, he pushes the buttons, loves the sounds, spins the wheel, rides it and loves te fireman hat. Good value!

My Grandson absolutely loved this toy. It was his favorite and he would not get off even to have cake and ice cream!

We bought this toy for our 18-month old daughter at Christmas. As she was playing with the xylophone, one of the pegs that holds the wooden bars came out and it is the perfect size to pose a choking hazard for kids who like to put things in their mouths. Also, the corners are sharp points which can hurt little heads. We put childproofing corners on it so they'd be soft if she bumped it. Last, it didn't keep her interest for very long so it was a very expensive toy for just a few minutes of interest.

My husband bought this for my 2 year old son. The corners of the cube should have been made more rounded. The way they are now are very dangerous for young kids. Within just a few months of purchasing it my son had already broken several of the animal pieces off of the top. Also, as one of the previous people wrote, ours came with square ended sticks for the xylophone part instead of rounded end sticks. My son also broke one of the xylophone pieces off. We had to throw this toy away within 6 months of purchasing it. The paint on this toy was constantly chipping off as well.

I bought this for my 13 month old twins. Yes, I know it is for 18 month olds and up, but I am basing my review on my difficulty with the toy. The pegs on the side are difficult to manuver. They kept getting stuck in their track and there were too many of them. Also, the xylophone does not make a good sound. Perhaps if ours had come with the sticks with the rounded ends it would have, but ours had square ends. Additionally, the jungle animals on top were too numerous, again making it overcrowded and not user friendly. The reason I gave it three stars and not less was that they do enjoy the bead maze (though when the animals get stuck in the house it is hard to get them out) and the abacus is very entertaining to them. I figured there is five sides so I gave a star to each side that was good. But please pay more attention to the review rather than the stars. They also like the magnets and when they get older, I am sure the white board would have been great. However, I am returning this and getting them a seperate maze and abacus. I can't see spending fifty dollars and something that is going to frustrate them.