Games Reviews

My kids have had a great deal of fun with this toy. While it obviously can't pull bugs out of the air (that's what nets are for) it does a good job picking up spiders, beetles, and other small bugs/insects. Make sure you switch out the provided batteries with quality batteries. When we did this it increased the suction substantially. It also helps if you teach your kids to use it at an angle instead of straight up and down (so it doesn't have to fight gravity as well.)

I was worried after reading some of the reviews, but my daughter used her own money from her 6th birthday to get his and we found the suction was just fine. You must have the magnifying "door" open - maybe that was the problem for the others, but we have captured pill bugs, ants spiders and even a fly with no problem and I expect we will be sucking up bugs all summer!!

My son and I LOVE this toy. He goes around looking for the coolest bugs to pick up then brings it back to me and we talk about what kind of bugs they are and what they do. He can't get enough of the thing. Some parents say that it doesn't suck up very hard. Well why should it? It's for little kids not a grownup using a Shop-Vac.

Great for competitive types looking to keep their brain exercised, keeping a dictionary handy is suggested, to avoid disputes

This game is my all time favorite! My husband and I play this game with our children ages 16, 12 and 8. Sometimes we play as teams. It is truly fun and eductional.

Boggle is a wonderful and easy-to-play word game that is suitable for players of all ages and skill levels. The box is small and easy to carry, making it a great game to take on road or plane trips. The game comes with a shakable dice tray and lid, alphabetic dice and a timer. All you need to provide is some sheets of paper and pencils.

Game play is very simple. Put the lid on the dice tray and shake it up. When the dice are all settled and the players are all ready, lift the lid and flip the timer. Every player now has three minutes to write down as many words as they can find that contain three or more letters. Words must be found from letters that are adjacent to or diagonal to each other on the board. The same letter cube cannot be used twice in one word. Plurals and verb conjugations count as words. Homographs or multi-definition words only count once.

After time is up, each player, one at a time, reads their list to the other players. Any word that is found on multiple lists is deleted from both of those lists. When everyone has figured out their non-matching words, they may now score their points. Points are scored by word length, as follows:

3, 4 letters: 1 point
5 letters: 2 points
6 letters: 3 points
7 letters: 5 points
8 or more letters: 11 points

Boggle strategy is similar to basic Scrabble strategy. In fact, Boggle can make for a nice warm-up game for Scrabble players, as finding words in a Boggle board is similar to finding words in a Scrabble rack. It's important to practice anagramming to become a successful Boggle player. It's worthwhile to spend your first few seconds of the game looking as the board and finding short but common prefixes and suffixes such as -s, -ed, -er, re-, de- and common letter combinations such as -sh-, -th-, -wh-, -ch-, etc.

It's important to remember to always write down both the plural and singular forms of a word, if they're available. It's a real bummer to discover during the list-reads that you've forgotten a 5-letter word just because you forgot to write the plural.

In any case, Boggle is a great game for a family game night or for travel.... you can take it anywhere (the folio edition is somewhat unneccessary, as the original box is pretty small and portable). No wonder it's such an enduring classic!

I got this for my daughter. She loved the fact that her dolls are now on display. It took us a little time to put it together, but in the end it came out perfect. It's not a toy to play with, only for display purposes. Overall, she's very happy with it.

I bought this globe for my son this past Christmas. My son is Autistic and is VERY facinated with anything that has to do with geography. We bought him a regular globe and he loved it so much I thought this one would be perfect. The pen is very tempormental. sometimes when playing the game it doesn't recagnize the correct answer when touching it. Also sometimes it just either dosesn't recognize the pen touching anything or goes haywire. I am also dissapointed that the batteries don't last very long. We put new batteries in it Christmas Eve and come mid Christmas afternoon it said to replace the batteries. I love the concept and my sone likes it, but since it's so hard to use and doesn't hold power too long, I wouldn't buy it. It is now on the Top shelf of his closet and he is back to the old plain globe we bought at the office store for 10 bucks!

When the globe actually works, it's great. The globe seems to have a mind of it's own, and the pen works sporadically.

He is a geography fan and won our homeschool group's Geography Bee this year, partly because of this globe. He first saw it in a library about 18 months ago. Every time we went to the library, he picked it up. I find myself doing the quizzes. The national anthem feature is a little hokey but my son likes to listen to the songs' brief excerpts. You can locate countries, capitals,continents,oceans, hemispheres and much more.

This really isn't a toy. In some of the reviews, I see where some people have purchased the globe for younger children. Much of the material would be a little abstract for younger children. At the price of around $95, I would suggest this globe for children ages 8 and up.

We can personally verify the hardiness of this globe!
My [...] son dropped this globe. It came apart in 2 pieces. I was worried that it was destroyed but my husband put it back together and got it working, PTL!!! If you have a geography fanatic in your home or just want to know more about our world, this globe is a must-have!

Overall this is a fun game but some of the questions tend to repeat themeselves too soon.

We had this for my older son when he was a baby and he loved it and now my baby loves it too! it lasts a long time and the kids love it!!

My 10 month old son LOVES this toy !!! He plays with it ALL the time. He was sick recently and a little cranky so I placed it on his lap for him to play with while I rocked him & he settled right down, actually fell asleep FINALLY. He loves to push all the frogs. Now, whenever he sees any raised frog on his Leap Frog toys, he has to push on them. I feel bad when some frogs are just raised pictures that don't do anything LOL

Whenever he's into something he's not supposed to be, I play the music and he does a major u-turn and crawls his very fastest, laughing all the way to this piano.

It's VERY durable, he has dropped it several times & works like a charm.

This toy goes with us EVERYWHERE...it calms the savage beast LOL

I bought this toy for my daughter when she was a year old and she immediately took to it. She loved pressing the keys and looking at herself in the mirror. It's two years later and she still plays with it regularly. Now she likes turning the lights off and seeing the light bar around the mirror light up to the sound of the tunes. She also likes hearing the different musical instruments and singing to the tunes. It's held up very well. It doesn't look new, but it also doesn't look beat up either. Even though she knows all her shapes, she still likes pressing the keys and hearing how the shape's name is pronounced. Also, it shuts off by itself if not in use and the batteries last an extremely long time (I think I've only changed them once in two years).

There might be two minuses, though they don't bother me in the least. If your child likes kissing his/her reflection, expect to clean the mirror regularly. Also, some people might think it might be a little loud, though compared to some toys, and in my opinion, the volume is not that bad at all.

All in all, I would recommend this toy for parents of infants who want something durable and will keep their child's interest for years to come.

I was excited to find a way of introducing my 3 year old son to yoga and thought I had found the answer after reading the reviews of this DVD. However, there isn't much real yoga here. He tends to have a lot of excess energy and I was hoping that yoga would help him focus a little better (as much as possible for one his age), but there isn't a good flow to the poses and the "silly" part is just too silly. There is also too much down time between the poses. All this distracts him from learning the actual poses. He is very interested in learning about yoga, but this DVD just didn't capture his attention.

We bought YogaKids2 first and loved it so much that I went back to buy this version. While it is still amusing and fun to do, there are a lot of visual cutaways from the kids which tends to distract from the yoga itself. As another reviewer said, there is a lack of transition from one move to the next. I also thought there could be more of the calming time near the end. Unfortunately, you get through the calming time and then when the credits roll they show the kids being silly again, which kind of defeats the purpose. Generally, though, this is a good introduction to yoga for kids - the kids are cute and entertaining and the poses basic enough to try.

I have done this DVD with my two children several times before bedtime. It really does calm both of them down and get them ready for bed. Some of the poses are a little difficult for my youngest child (age 2 1/2 ) but my 4 1/2 year old is very capable of them.

My [...] loves this desk. He really works the book that came with the LeapPad, and loves to do his art at the desk now. He usually wants to interact only with other people involved, but with this, he will focus so much at his desk, I dare not bother him. I would have given it 5 stars, but the chair makes me worry a little. He is pretty careful, but admittedly, the style of the chair makes it too easy to tip. He hasn't tipped over, but parents should still keep this in mind. I am very happy with this purchase.

For the money, this is a great educational toy.

With the replaceable leap pad "books," you can extend the usefulness of the desk. There are enough activities to keep your child occupied, and of course the desk can be used as a table when you aren't using the electronic book.

The construction of the desk is only ok. It is all plastic and the legs are somewhat flimsy. The desk wobbles. The chair should be adequate in strength for any child that will be using this desk.

For the promotional price of $15, you can't go wrong.

This set was so easy to put together and my [...] son helped me while he eagerly awaited to play with it! Lots to keep him busy. Leap products are always great and educational and this one is a bonus with the table, chair and bonus accessories!