Educational Games Reviews

This game is horrible. My friend bought it for me (who loves it) I asked him to play with me. He taught me how to play it was confusing. I kept putting it in the wrong places because I don't know where to put it. It is a horrible game and I do not reccomend it to anybody. In 5 minutes I said "I`m done this game is really really stupid. So there is my reveiw hope someone agrees with me.

I only bought this game because it was recommended to me time and time again. It looked boring and simplistic, but I figured there must be something I wasn't seeing. And there was! It is a great game! All of my kids can play it and challenge each other and me. This game does not necessarily favor the oldest(and supposedly wisest?) player. My seven year-old can beat the pants of me.

It also gets the brain working in non-traditional ways. You have to look at the grid in unique ways. The pieces aren't lined up in rows and columns like most games. You connect pieces by the corners. So sometimes you can connect a piece in an area that looks like it is totally bocked by your opponent.

And of course there is the strategy... I still haven't decided which is the best piece to start off with.

The game also takes a nice length of time, not too long and not too short.

This game is easy to learn in a few minutes. My 4 1/2 year old son learned the rules quickly and could play with me the first try. Becoming an expert is much harder though! The game is different each time we play, and always challenging and fun. Best of all Blokus isn't like any game I've played before. You have to plan ahead like chess, but the game changes so fast you're always changing your strategy on the fly. Blokus can be played very quickly with a young child, or at a more thoughtful pace with an adult or older child. All in all Blokus is great, and ADDICTING the way a good game should be.

After buying my daughter (will be 3 in one month) the Care Bears game and found that it was EXTREMELY difficult even for my 5 year old son (before he attended kindergarten), I decided to look for something with a character that is generally aimed at the 3ish age group. This game is excellent in that the 4 colored buttons are generally used instead of the joystick. The numbers sections are excellent and my daughter does really well with them. The only problem with the shapes section of the learning zone is that it really is about patterns, and not about shapes at all. The biggest problem I found is that for the letters section, Elmo assumes that your child already knows his or her letters. How many 3 year olds can actually differentiate between or identify a "b" and a "p" or a "c" and "g", etc. At this age, it's not going to help a kid to sit them down and walk away, an adult or older child needs to sit with them to help them out with the game until they have really mastered it. Overall, I definitely like this Elmo game compared to some of the other games we have. I have also heard the Barney game is similar in that the 4 colored buttons are the main controllers.

My daughter got this game when she was 2 1/2. She loves it! She can actually play it all on her own. We found that the Dora game was a little too hard for her because of all of the joystick use. A lot of the Elmo game can be played by simply using the jump button to move and the colored buttons for the small games. There are also harder levels that would be appropriate for her to grow into or for an older child. I think this game is much better suited for a child aged 2-3 than the game that comes with the Vsmile. She gets too frustrated with that one. I would have given it 5 stars, but the only flaw I see is that Elmo is very hard to understand. A lot of the times she can figure out what he is saying but no always. That's just Elmo though. He's always been a little hard to understand.

This is a good game for a 4 year old. not too easy, but not too challenging. but boy is elmo hard to understand!!! I love the music in this game, but the elmo narration could be better. i know my son doesn't understand half of what elmo is saying and he just figures out what he's supposed to do by trial and error. I love the animation - elmo runs into something and he bounces back and giggles. my son loves it and runs elmo into things on purpose just to see that. really cute. It did not get 5 stars just because the narration could and should be more clear for the little ones to understand. we love having to find the animals and then the letters.

Barney and friends is better then some others but not as much fun as Winnie the Pooh.

We just got my son a VSmile for Christmas. He just turned three and to be honest I thought it would be more of a toy he would "grow into". Along with the game the unit comes with he received the Wiggles, Barney, and Bob the Builder. I had actually read reveiws and had told people to get Dora and Winnie the Pooh but they were unable to find them so they he got these games instead. The Wiggles and Bob the Builder games both lived up to their horrible reviews. Too hard for a three year old and they won't be interesting for an older child. However, the Barney game was a different story. My three year old loves this game. Yes the fundamental learning skill are very basic- counting, colors, letter recognition, etc- but the activities are really geared toward three year olds. There are actually some parts of the game that my son can play all by himself. We are very happy that he has this game to learn on without getting frustrated.

Like most every game for this system (thus far), the age printed on the box for the would be buyer is not always honest, until now. "Barney: The Land Of Make Believe" (3-5 years) is the lone exception. Also like most the other vsmile games, Barney has excellent character similarities as to the TV show. The Graphics are fine. The music is also similar to the TV show. For easy & immediate play, choose the Learning Zone, all of which are the easiest to play + win, unlike past games & the game play is quite excellent, no boring & pasty short games, the replay value on the Learning Zone is a 10 out of 10, it's done perfectly. The Learning Adventure on the other hand has some unnecessary + boring selections like the 1st (numbers) & last (directions). Yes the game is not perfect, but it has more then enough of fun activates that will not get boring, until your child turns 6. ENJOY!

My 1 year old loves all of the different things to do on this table...and, my 3 year old loves it too! They will both stand at it and play for quite some time. My 3 year old likes the flip side better (the blocks) but I only wish it came with more blocks - or a way to order more. Overall, I think it is made well, plays lots of silly sounds and is fun for babies. Great that it has two sound settings also!

I would recommend it.

My very active 9 month old son absolutely loves this toy! He's been crawling for about 4 months now, pulling for 3 months and has abandoned most of his toys-except this one. I wanted a toy that he could play with while standing up, that worked on fine and gross motor skills, and wasn't too obnoxious. This fit the bill! The piano is his favorite part and he'll 'dance' to the different songs, (which include John Jacob Jingle-heimer-schmidt, 10 little indians, and more). I really like the fact that the piano can be taken off and brought to grandparents' houses or attached to the stroller.

The lego like pieces don't interest him yet, but he's still pretty young. I'm not concerned about the quantity of the blocks because I don't think they are designed to be used to build castles or anything. Simply stacking and un-stacking things is a challenge for most babies until they are older, and there are plenty for that.

Overall, I am very glad I got this table! It's one of the few toys I can put my son at where I know he'll play for 5-15 minutes without crawling away.

It is his favourite! He plays with it for hours. Really durable, lots to do. Seems better than other playtables I've seen. He has been playing with this since he was 6 months, and it was his motivation to learn to stand up and pull himself up.

I am expecting to give a 5 star review. I have not used this product yet. I just purchased it for my 2 1/2 year old daughter. She has been telling me that she wants the Easter Bunny to bring her a computer. Mommy works on a laptop all day and she is so interested in using my keyboard. I thought this looked like a real laptop and it should interest her as much as mine does. I have originally thought that this would be too advanced for her (ages 5 and up listed on my box), but after reading a few of the reviews it might just be the right challege that she needs.

Mom in Michigan

I bought this for my grandson's 6th birthday along with the case. He started using it immediately and thinks it is just like Mom's and Grandma's laptops--mouse and all! But this is kid-sturdy and educational. He loves it.

I purchased this activity notebook for my granddaughter who has scheduled a thirty minute session each night after dinner. It was her request, by the way. I like the fact that it tracks progress and has levels of difficulty that will keep her attention for years to come. As a bonus, her little brother can use it as well when he is old enough. I predict its usefulness in their household for at least the next twelve years. Its the best gift I've ever purchased for a child.

We purchsed the L-Max for our son for Christmas 2005. He is in kindergarten and has enjoyed Numbers on the Loose and Letters on the Run. He just received the Sponge Bob game for his 6th birthday and really likes that. It is repetitive, but for his age, that is a good thing since they are learning about sequencing in school and I think it has helped with that. The only problem we have is that the "B" button has become jammed. Whether he has watched his older brother playing his gamecube and tries to push the buttons too fast or what, we are not sure. So far most of the games don't necessarily need the B button and we're not sure if it's worth another $100 to get him another one. It does give him a different way to review letters and numbers then just plain old practice which after a full day of kindergarten, they are not to thrilled on doing.

WE love this product for our 4 and 6 year old. We had the original leapster, but this makes it even better when they see it on the TV screen. Leapster now offers more games...they are great!

We purchased the LMax for our 4 year old for Christmas. It was an instant hit! Plus, it helped him to feel like a big boy like his older brother who enjoys other video games. Yes, the older model is cheaper, but my son loves to be able to plug it into the TV to "show off" what he knows and can accomplish. I particularly like Letters on the Loose and Numbers on the Run. I highly recommend this product. We also purchased the battery charger so we don't have to worry about dead batteries and ruining the environment.

My [...] has had a leapster(older version and lmax) for 2 years - We travel a lot with my older children and we use the leapster often. It is an incredible machine. My son at a very young age learned to recognize his alphabet - upper and lower letters, numbers, sounds, color combinations, blends and so much more. He loves to play and doesn't even realize he is learning so much. By the time he went to pre-school this past year he was a leap ahead of most kids his age. Now entering Kindergarten - he uses the games that put words together and had a sight vocab of over 30 words - maybe more. I am not boasting about my son but what Leapster has taught him. Of course school was a big infuence as well. Imagine spending hours doing something you love and it's not a video game.

Now, my [...] has the older version and is on his way.

Thanks leap frog for designing something small enough to take along easily and designed to look like my kids big kid games.
I am a big fan.
Sincerely, Michelle McGuigan

4 yr old loves it. Not as bad on batteries as previous reviews led me to believe. Have had it for 3 weeks now and we are still on original batteries.

As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to let my daughter have fun, but also be learning.
This does it! We have the older Leapster. It works with L-Max games. It is durable,teavels well, and the games actually teach something in a fun way.
They need to come up with more games though!!!
This is my first review, but love this so much, that I had to write about it! :)
By the way, it didnt work when I first opened it. Called the customer service, and THEY ANSWERED! LOL The lady brainstromed with me and we finally realized it was alittle piece of tape stuck to the prongs. But the key point is that they answered...real people. And they spent as much time as needed to work through the problem. Kudos, Leapster!!

My children were 5 and 7 when we bought rush hour three years ago. They both love it. It is their first choice for a car trip. My husband enjoys it as much as they do. We have also purchased the next two levels of cards. It is very challenging and requires alot of problem solving skills. We highly recommend it.

This is a wonderful item that will make your child think. It is also equally fun for adults. Challenge your child.

I just bought this game for my (...) grandson and now everyone is hooked on it. It is fun for everyone. My grandson can work all the way to advanced. Some of my friends have trouble with intermediate. It all depends on the person. It's teaches children to think for themselves.

I thought this Fire Truck was the best one when investigating others against it on line. My gramdson wanted a FT this was a big deal to him for Christmas.
My grandson is 21/2, he loved it and started to play with it right away.
It looked as if it could last for years but the top of the Fire Truck wood piece came off in his hand and the locks were hard to work. He was frustrated, I was more than very dissapointed. The truck had to be put up to glue pieces back on and work with the locks to make them easier for him to use. I was not happy.

My 2yr old son received this for his 2nd birthday from my sister and has absolutley no interest in it at all. He loves puzzles, and he loves firetrucks so we thought it would be a big hit, but it just sits around collecting dust. It is a good price, the "latches" firetruck that Melissa&Doug makes is much more fun, but very pricey.

This was a great buy from Amazons sale rack at five dollars and 29 cents plus free shipping. My [...] just loves puzzles and we are certainly fond of Melissa and Doug products. We normally purchase them from Tuesday Morning or our local hobby store because they are usually cheaper.

This puzzle has made my toddler happy. He fits it together then dumps it, repeating the process several times a day. The drawing is realistic and there are no pegs, so it gives a little more grown up feel to the piece.

MY SON PLAYS WITH IT ALL YHE TIME, AND DANCES WITH IT. ONE TIME HE BROUHT IT TO THE POST OFFICE AND WAITING IN LINE HE PUSHED A BUTTON AND IT PLAYED, AND ALL THE PEOPLE IN LINE WAITING TO BE HELPED BY A POST MAN LOOKED WHERE THE WAS SOUND COME FROM IT WAS A VERY FUNNY MOMENT FORE ME.

My daughter got this toy for her first birthday and has loved it since. She is now 3 and a half and plays with it almost everyday. My 11 mth old son loves it too. I would reccomend this to anyone as a great toy for kids 9mths to 4 yrs or older. It's very durable. I can't tell you how many times my daughter has dropped it down our stairs, and it always works. Its very well made.

SHE IS 3 & 1/2 AND LOVED IT. IT KEPT HER ENTERTAINED FOR HOURS.AN
EXCELLANT LEARING TOOL!