Magic Set Reviews

Sturdy and well built, I was pleasantly surprised as this toy was more than I expected, especially for the price! Cute tricks but easy enough for my six year old to understand and master with some practice, but with minimal frustration. A great buy!

Although this tea set plays the tea pot song over and over again, I hardly ever hear it. As a parent, this is a wonderful invention! The kids can push the button over and over again and enjoy the music, but the sound doesn't travel very far.

The set is made out of very durable heavy plastic. It has survived the traumas of being thrown around and chewed on by our puppy. It looks just as good as it did coming right out of the box.

The different pieces are all so very cute and completely match. They are soft colors that will match any room decor so it looks like they belong.

Santa gave this tea set to my daughter - then 18months - for Christmas 2005 and we haven't stopped having tea parties yet! She just loves getting dressed up in hat, necklace and pocketbook and playing the hostess. "Sugar?" ..."Want more?". What fun! I highly recommend this set for any little girl...or boy for that matter (her 4yr old brother gets in the spirit of things now and then too). Kudos to FisherPrice on a great toy!

My 20 month old daughter just loves this tea set. She has so much fun hosting tea parties for her baby dolls and mama. The tea set is durable and very cute. It's also easy for little hands to handle and use. This is a tea set that every little girl should have!

Personally, I think the Aquadoodle pad is great. My 5 year old enjoys it, but my 4 year old has more fun dumping the water out of the pens. It really doesn't make that much of a mess though! :)

Either way, this certainly gives them more opportunities for playing and sharing. I just set my 2 little kids at the counter & let them play! If you're buying the pad, BUY THIS TOO!

These extra pens and stampers are a great addition to the Aqua Doodle. I was surprised to see that the Aqua Doodle only came with one pen, and with friends or siblings that just isn't enough. So with the additional pens, and also the stamps, this is a toy that can be enjoyed by more than one person at a time.

If you are buying the the mat...go ahead and buy these too. The mat only comes with one pen...kids enjoy it more with the extras. These should be included with the mat for the cost you spend on it.

But them now...they are hard to get!!!

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've built this castle on a table and it still falls apart. It's really cool looking, but my stepson who is 7 would never be able to build it and keep it together. I'm 35 and I can't get it to snap together half of the time. It's either the spacing of the pegs or the fact that they are too short. The towers and all snap together ok, but trying to get everything to adhere to the base is nearly impossible. If it's this frustrating for an adult, how can a child build it? I'm very disappointed in the Mega Bloks. Lego would never have this problem. I've played with Legos for over 30 years and never had construction issues like this. It's really neat looking, I have to give them that. Too bad it's so hard to play with.

This is a very impressive looking castle. The battering ram is great fun and the whole thing is beautiful. I would be a great addition to the Oduku Armory. However, the artists who designed it were let down by the engineers who figured out how to make it work.

The pieces barely snap into place if at all. My son was looking forward to this for days. I consider it unfair that they put so little work into the construction design. If this were to be put together and sit on a shelf to look at it would be difficult.

Instead, it is very upsetting for both parent and child. I've found similar issues with other MegaBloks toys. For all of thier good points (beautiful design, background story), they seem to have lost sight of the point.

Toys are to play with.

Okay, I guess you can consider this the headlining piece of the Mega Bloks Dragons METAL AGES line. Aside from being the most expensive, it's also the largest.
Overall, the design asthetic of METAL AGES seems to be a generic "oriental" theme. It combines elements or Chinese, Japanese, and even Mongolian art and design...at least in my opinion. It's great to see something other than the usual European derived stuff we've seen in the past (not that they weren't cool too). The warriors are 70% new...except for the legs. The weapons are the coolest yet. They range from axes, swords, decorative crossbows, to weird...uh...things. They kinda remind me of Battle Beast weapons (if you're a fan of 1980's toys). Now on to this actual set...
As soon as I saw this, I wanted it- no, needed it! It looks so cool. Plus the dragon has a totally new look too. As usual, this set can be kind of hard to assemble; I'll agree. Alot of Mega Bloks sets are tough, for some reason. The top layer, which contains the main play area, and most decorative elements...is built in four major sections to be later attahed to the bottom layer. I found the top layer pretty easy to build without hang-ups, but the bottom- UGH! I highly recommend building this on site...whether you're playin' or displayin'...and on a flat surface. I've often ignorantly tried to build some Dragons sets on my rug, and failed. The main problem is the base is built in section, not one piece, and is loosely held together by a few crummy peg blocks. Despite this set back, I got my set together fine, but newbies might wanna invest in some patience before attempting large sets like this.
The bottom layer utilizes the quick-build style pieces like the large Fire & Ice Dragon Mountain set. The castle wall pieces are all new! The relief sculpture near the doors is new as well, and very cool. The doors are pretty darn neat and have magnets in 'em to keep them shut. Above the gates is a section housing a decorative battering ram. Release the lever in the middle and it busts the doors down, knocking out any enemies in it's path. However...I thought battering rams were used to break INTO castles? Eh, still neat though. Surrounding that doorway piece are four other sections. To the right, are a decorative, throne-like section and another room with a piece of crystal atop it. A stone spiral staircase leads to this area from behind. To the left are a catapult area, and another decorative tower with torches. Not bad, but mostly decorative...no major gimmicks or action features. You also get a rolling seige tower with hinged gang plank, and a nice little wheeled cannon with dragon motif. The dragon is neat, and all new as well. In trying to keep with that oriental theme, the dragon is snakelike and looong! It still had bat-like wings though. Except for the hinged jaw, the body has only bendy wire articulation, as well as some small pieces of removeable armor. The tail has a great grappling claw perfect for hooking in victims! You's think the dragon would be impossible to dispaly, but being semi-stiff, he actually props up nicely amidst the castle walls. The extra brick column can be used to help keep him up as well (hey, you gotta use that leftover piece for something). The figures are surprisingly few, but still awesome. The Odaku are great, as I stated before. The Norvagen forces get a color change as well as new torsos...complete with double pegs for weapon storage (I assume).
The best parts of this toy are the new design detail and theme. I love the new dragon and warriors. There's lots of room for custom creations...especially when combined with other sets.
The only bad things are the usual problem of sturdy construction and lack of internal castle detail (nothing going on 'round back). The biggest specific problem is lack of figures! Overall, METAL AGES suffers from a severe lack of armies. True, you can buy multiple sets or troop builder packs, but who wants to spend more money?
On the whole this set is quite awesome to behold, but still needs a bit of work. Recommended for your Mega Bloks kingdom!

I,my wife and 2 daughters have long been fans of the Friends TV show (in fact we own the 10 Season Box set). I got The Friends Edition as a gift for my wife, who is not realyy a game board enthusiest. Well, we had the most fun playing it. I was laughingly surprised at how little I knew and how much the other members of my family knew! I heartily recommend it as a fun, entertaining way to spend with friends, family and anyone looking for a good time!

I love this game! I remember everything I read, and I love Harry Potter, but this game can be difficult sometimes. My friends who have only seen the movies can even answer questions, and my little brother and his friends love playing it.
My only complaint would be that sometimes the movie clips are too long, especially for the die-hard Potter fans, who have seen all of the movies enough. The questions on the clips sometimes do not go hand in hand also.
One other complaint is that if you are afraid of some of the darker elements of Harry Potter, you might get a little creeped out by the dark music and colorings. My younger brother has closed his eyes on two occasions, so only younger kids MIGHT be a little scared.
Other than that, there is nothing wrong with this game. If you love Harry Potter, either book or movie form, or you want to learn more about it, this game is perfect!

We bought the Scene It? Harry Potter Edition for our family game night. It covers the first 3 Harry Potter Movies; Sorcerors Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Askaban.
My son is in kindergarten and is only 6, but reads very well (at a 2nd grade reading level), so we were able to easily play the game, read the questions on the screen etc... Another reviewer mentioned that the movie clips are very long (30 minutes!); this is not true. I would guess they were 2-3 minutes long at the most. We also enjoyed the "Hidden Scenes" where something is missing from the scene (person, wand, hat, chair etc...) and that was really fun.
The nice thing about this game is, you can condense the gameboard and have a quick match when you are limited on time (perhaps if it's close to bedtime!). We really enjoyed it and this morning when my son woke up, he pulled the game out and was playing it alone, while my husband and I slept in- you can't beat that!
I wouldn't call ourselves huge Harry Potter fans, but for those that own the movies and have watched them a couple of times, this should be enjoyable.

I purchased this for my toddler thinking that it was a nice update to the classic refrigerator magnet letters that were a fond memory from my childhood. Unfortunately, I have been disappointed by this set. It does have a catchy tune that my toddler enjoys and sings, and I think the product basically does what it is intended to do, but I have complaints about the design. First, when I opened it, the unit either incorrectly identified or did not identify at all several of the letters when placed in it. Second, it is too heavy for its magnet and constantly slides off of the refrigerator, making it difficult for my daughter to play with it there. Third, there is no case to hold all of those letters so several were quickly lost. It is true that the letters can stay on the fridge, but since the central unit will not stay put, it makes no since to keep it or the letters there. I think an included case would have been a nice (and reasonable) addition to make this a more portable toy. I say, spend less money and stick with the old-fashioned letters!

I was looking for the original fridge magnets from Fisher Price. Disappointed, guess they don't make them anymore. This was a good substitute. My son is only 8 months old so he did really need the bells and whistles of the sounds each letter made, just something to play with on the fridge. Either way he will grow into the sounds and it is a good teaching tool.

We purchased this product based on a friend's recommendation. I am so glad we did. Our first daughter has played the ABC's song so many times - we are confident this is were she learned to sing it.

She even now knows what the sounds of the letters are -- such as the A says aahh. This is a great combination with the LeapFrog DVD the Letter Factory.

We love this product so much, we have put the farm magnetic fridge set on our second daughter's wish list. Hopefully, this will help eliminate the fights over who gets to use the magnets.

Not too mention, if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, this product will keep them entertained while cooking or cleaning. You will not be disappointed!

I felt this kit was expensive for the small amount of items that came with it. It is cute and beats having my kids sit in front of the television, [...] As a plus I must admit that my children (ages 9 and 7) enjoyed painting the butterflies and turning them into magnets. That is worth a few stars.

I bought this item for my daughter for Christmas last year.
She and her brother had a great time with the kit, but I thought it was a little expensive, considering it only came with one paintbrush and only 6 basic color paints.
The wooden butterflies are nice size and shape, but I wish the kit would've come with a few more of them. We added magnets to the back and now have them on the fridge. Overall, a nice kit that my kids really enjoyed.

My girls have received other Balitono kits before and they love them, so I am always on the lookout for more styles. The best ones we had were the horses kit and some other jewelry box kits (not sure the exact names) but the painted things are on our girls' tables.

The butterflies kit is not as elaborate as the others we had but we had as much fun creating them. My 9 year old and 7 year old shared the kit and took the time painting them and making into magnets and ornaments. The butterflies are about 4 inches each, not large but there are 3 of them and i am impressed with the quality of the paints and paintbrush since i used to paint on canvas. on the pamphlet, it said the wooden butterflies are hand-carved and they have the details that are life-like. One improvement i would like to have is to have a glow-in-the-dark paint included.

I bought this for my best friend's three year old son. I didn't know if he would like it (it's not Thomas). He loved the way he could move it with the remote and all the features. I don't have any children and buying gifts can be challenging for me, but this was a real winner. (It has a lot of accessories you can add for the next holiday too.)

Trains, tracks and parts very sturdy, and just the right size for little fingers to play with and snap on. The most creative train sets for little kids. Boys in particular are hooked. Many different ways to build the tracks. Fun for the whole family to play with.

My daughter got this for her second birthday. She loves it. It took us only once to teach her how to make the train go. It's so easy to put together we had it up and running in a matter of a couple minutes. The best part is my husband loves to play with it too. The two of them can sit and play for hours. Great toy