Science Reviews

I bought this for my niece for her birthday. I was disappointed to find out when the package was delivered that they don't send the ladybug larva to Oregon. There wasn't anything indicating that the ladybug larva couldn't be sent to certain states.

I bought this for my niece, Alex, in 2004 when she was three. She had just dressed up as a ladybug for Halloween and I thought it would make a fun project to work on in the afternoons with her grandparents.

The day the toy arrived, Alex was ecstatic, however, first the larvae would have to be ordered. Her ecstasy subsided over the period of SIX WEEKS that it took for the larvae to arrive.

Once the larvae arrived, Alex's grandparents followed the directions perfectly. No matter. The larvae sprouted, stumbled around Ladybug Land for a couple of days, then died.

The habitat was adorable. The bugs just didn't want to live there.

It was a disappointment for everyone, though, at times like this, we should look to the wisdom of children.

Alex: "All of them died but at least we still have their house."

We received 16 larva eaxcatly when we requested them and all have survived as far as we can tell. My 6 year old and my 3 year old loved watching the larva walk around and now love the pink ladybugs. It was particularly interesting for them because we had a few larva, a few pupa and a few adult ladybugs all at the same time. I even brought this in to my daughter's 1st grade class and had a mini-lesson with the kids. The teacher says they're still talking about it. This is well worth the money.

The game system is great that it can be used on the tv or portable BUT the quality is horrible.Like some of the other reviews say, it only works when it wants to and some of the games will no longer work on it either and those things were $20 each! I'm thinking of going and buying a leapter instead. We are on our second vsmile in 6 weeks! This is ridiculous!

My daughter received a V-Smile Pocket for her 6th birthday last year and loved it. She played it a couple of times a week for 8 months, until it abruptly stopped working. I believe it has a short in it because if the screen is facing down, it works fine, but if you flip it up so you could actually play it, it shuts off. The company recommended self-helps are worthless.
My daughter received another one for her 7th birthday (gotta love grandparents), and that worked 4 days before it shorted out. It turns on just fine, but shuts itself off unless held in some bizarre, stationary position. Totally worthless for a portable unit.
It's a great concept, but it's caused nothing but tears for my daughter, arguements with the customer service people in various locales over returns for me, and one worthless call to V-Tech. Too bad that a great product can't work a week.
Recommendations: Get the base unit, which has lasted us 3 years+. Don't waste your money on the Pocket.

Because my little kid can learn a lot of things through this games.For me is the best . thank you Liudmila Morejon

Well, after following the directions perfectly we have absolutely zero life. I was excited to share with my wife and kids what they have never seen before. Unfortunately, they have seen water before and that is all that was on Mars. Total dud.

We got the Sea Monkeys 6 months ago. We had a little success at first, as we carefully followed the directions (north facing window, aerating, etc.). Then they all died when I added new (spring) water. But I was busy, so I didn't move the container. When I went to dump it about 2 weeks later, there were literally dozens and dozens of sea monkeys in it. I cannot kill them. I no longer aerate - NEVER - and feed them erratically. They are thrilled! I never have fewer than about 100 in my tank. I am hoping my husband will kill them when I am away because all they do is mate and make more babies!

I keep this on my desk at my office, people love it, and it a lot of fun to watch then during the day. I highly recommend.

My son (now almost 6) has been a dinosaur fanantic since the age of 2. He knows the names, where they lived, what they ate...you name it, he knows it! Or so we thought, until he got this for Christmas! After having a great time making and painting the "fossil" he read in the manual that each bone has it's own name--so now we're learning those as well! The only problem we have with it is when the smaller pieces get dropped on a hard surface they tend to break pretty easily. They are, however, also fixed easily with a dab of super glue.

An excellent project for your child's school report. We purchased the Velociraptor kit for our 8 year old daughter not knowing what to expect. After opening the package my wife came up with a clever idea of pouring melted chocolate chips it into the dinosaur molds, instead of using the plaster mix. We experimented with white chocolate chips and created realistic looking dinosaur bones! We buried these edible bones in ground up Oreo Cookies. What a thrill to see our daughter's 2nd grade class excavate these delectible prehistoric fossils!

I BOUGHT THIS FOR MY EIGHT YEAR OLD FOR CHRISTMAS WITH A BUNCH OF THE "WHATS POPULAR NOW" TOYS. THIS BY FAR IS THE TOY THAT HAS KEPT HIS ATTENTION FOR MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES. MORE LIKE NEARLY 2 HOURS THE FIRST TIME WE TOOK IT OUT. IT ALSO KEPT MY 6 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER AND THE EVERY ADVENTEROUS 4 YEAR OLD BUSY. I HAD TO KEEP DAD FROM DIGGING AND DUSTING OR ELSE THE KIDS WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN A TURN. AFTER FINDING THREE BONES - I TOLD THEM IT WAS TIME TO PUT IT AWAY AND SAVE IT FOR ANOTHER DAY. MY HUSBAND WOULDN'T QUIT FOR ANOTHER 30 MINUTES UNTIL THEY HAD FOUND AND UNEARTHED ONE MORE BONE. THEY HAVE MANY HOURS OF FUN LEFT WHICH IN RETURN WILL GIVE THEM AN ADDED BONUS--NOT ONLY ARE THEY HAVING FUN; BUT ARE LEARNING AT THE SAME TIME!! ONE CONSIDERATION IS THAT IT DOES SAY FOR AGES 8 AND ABOVE, BUT MY 4 YEAR OLD HAD HIS SUN GLASSES ON AND MANAGED QUITE WELL. HIS ONLY PROBLEM WAS GETTING DAD OUT OF THE WAY!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

caterpillars came in about a week (we faxed the form to them). 9 out of 10 became butterflies. kids had a fun time watching them grow and go into their cocoons.the cage is huge. Its made out of nylon mesh netting and colapses up so you can reuse it. it has a zipper on the side so you can reach in and feed them when they become butterflies. it may seem a little on the expensive side but the cage is much more substantial than the cardboard box cages offered by other companies.

I ordered this product with great reservations as to if it would just be a waste of money and a big disappointment to my 6 year old son. Well, no need for those reservations! The butterflies come as small worms in a tightly sealed cup with food for them. They came the exact week that I specified that I wanted them shipped. You can actually watch them grow into big fat caterpillars. Then they go to the top of the cup and make cocoons just like the directions say. The top of the cup removes easily and is easily pinned to the side of the very sturdy pavillion. My son(as well as my husband and I) have ust loved this! It has been so neat to see all of the life cycles of the butterfly. All of my worms turned into butterflies!!!! We are getting ready to set them free but it sure has been neat. I am planning on ordering more larva and start over again!

It is a very exciting experience for my 4 year old as she watch the life cycle of Butterfly. The Butterfly housing is very durable and pleasantly colorful.

My daughter received this as a present and while we were excited about all the activities that the book is capable of, it doesn't help if the book never works. I don't know if it was the cartridge or the pencil, but the book does not recognize anything the pencil does and keeps repeating the initial book greeting over and over. After reading the other comments on this book, I've decided not to replace it. We'll wait until Leap Frog "fixes" the product line first.

I bought LeapPad Plus Writing on impulse at the store, wanting to help my son with writing, phonics, etc.

He used it a few times, but I almost have to beg for him to use it...and that's sad. I wish I would have gotten the original LeapPad or perhaps even the Leapster.

For one thing, the book doesn't recognize all pencil movements. A child could make an incorrect number or letter, and it doesn't seem that the LeapPad would recognize it. Also, the child has to keep erasing over and over, providing limited usage.

Not only that, there are only a few books published with LeapPad Writing in mind, and the exercises are repetitive (e.g. writing the number 6 ten times).

I've bought quite a few LeapPad books and Quantum Pad books for my son, and he is just not interested after initial use. I'm sure he's learned a little bit of phonics using the phonics books and such, but I think he learns more from workbooks bought at a bookstore or a department store--and they're cheaper! Not only that LeapPad books are very short...much shorter than workbooks you can buy.

Considering that LeapPad books are usually around $15 a pop--and that Amazon doesn't carry/list them all and there is a VERY limited selection in Stuff Mart-type stores (at least, that's the case in my geographical area)--you may want to re-consider investing in the LeapPad system.

I'm new to writing reviews and I promised my spouse I was going to be moderate in tone but THIS THING STINKS! When I got it home and opened the box, I found out the magic pen was a regular pencil that has to be erased after each use. That got tossed in the junk drawer. Now I'm down to a regular leappad. The first three weeks when it worked properly, it was very effective and my daughter learned tons from it (hence the three stars) After three weeks I started having the same problems other parents reported. The wand recognizes things on the page even before my daughter touches anything. It recognizes things incorrectly-"Arizona! Arizona!" like a demented cuckoo while she's touching Florida. I have to turn it on and off several times to get it to work properly. I'm going to buy her a regular leappad.
UPDATE: To be fair, and since I generally have a good opinion of leapfrog, I called them about our issues with this toy. They said it sounded like a problem with the pen and sent me a new one since we were still under warranty. The pen arrived in a few days and works well, but for how long? Some parents have replaced theirs as much as 6 times? I'm not going to do that. My opinion has not changed because the writing feature, which is why you buy this model in the first place, is laborious and messy. The pens are still unreliable. Buy the regular leapster.

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.

I give this Leap Pad book 3 stars for fun because my children were not interested enough to even look at all the pages.They played with it a lot, but did not get even half way through, maybe that just means it is full of fun stuff to do, but since my kids have not gone back to it, I feel it does not hold their interest quite enough. Educational, 4 stars because some of it seemed a bit simple, like the space page. 5 stars for durability because it is no more and no less durable then regular Leap Pad books. Dont like the eraseable pen though. Must cover it each and every time, even between questions. If it's off more then 5 seconds, it dries out.I peronally did not find it very easy to keep picking up and putting down pens. I tried using a pen in each hand, and it dried out, so I had to keep putting down the regular "pen" to cover up the eraseable pen. Pretty annoying.

I'm a little disappointed about the Smart Guide to Third Grade, not because it's not good, but because it doesn't offer much more than the sample book that came with the Quantum Pad. I'm sure that someone who has the LeapPad will get more use out of it, but if I had known that the only major bonuses are in the math section, I would have purchased the Third Grade Math Book instead.

I think this book is very good for learning the skills of third grade. The only thing is that I wish it came with a case to hold the cartridge, book and pen in one place like my sister's Smart guide to 1st grade came with.

this would be a LOT more informative if i actually put ants in said ant farm..O_o

anyways i set the little thingies up, but there wasnt enough sand for all 3 ant farms, and the red one broke. my opinion is: catch your OWN ants with their OWN dirt!