Reviews about Toys

slh116 says "Crayola Rocks" about Crayola

slh116 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:56:39 GMT

Crayola products by far exceed any other brand of crayons, markers, paints, anything. The quality of Crayola products is outstanding and worth any money you spend on them. I have been using Crayola products since I was a kid, it was the only brand my mom and dad bought. Now, I buy them for my twin boys. We currently use the big crayons and the doodlers and they are so durable. So many other brands will bust or have that waxy look, but Crayola brand is durable and produces such a crisp color, and it scrubs off the floors, tables, walls, ect. so easily--definatley a must for parents with small children. I, personally use the markers for decorating in my scrapbook and they work so well. No smearing like with other brands, they come out in a nice bold color and don't soak through pages like other brands. Overall i gave this product five stars becuase it deserves no less, if you are wondering what brand of creative products to buy, Crayola is the only one that should come to...

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teenymarie says "Cheap price but great quality" about Garanimals Easy Grab Puzzle

teenymarie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:37:10 GMT

Walmart has a new line of Garanimal toys to go along with their Garanimal brand infant/toddler clothing. The Garanimals Easy Grab Puzzle is a very inexpensive toy for children just beginning to learn about puzzles. They are wooden puzzles with 6 puzzle pieces that have fairly large wooden knobs on the end so they are easy for kids to get them out. Each piece has a different color and different animal on it, and they are different shapes so it is easier to find where they go back.

My daughter has never really done puzzles before and she figured these out in less than 2 minutes. She played with one puzzle for half an hour, which is like a year in toddler time! The wooden knobs were easy for her to grip and she could hold onto them while she figured out which way they fit back in the puzzle. They are so inexpensive, only 3 dollars apiece and provide kids a good way to learn puzzles. I highly recommend these puzzles!

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teenymarie says "A fun educational toy!" about VTech Discovery Nursery Farm

teenymarie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:28:44 GMT

The Vtech Discovery Nursery Farm has many functions to keep babies and toddlers entertained. It has a keyboard with large bright buttons numbered 1 to 5 that are easy for my daughter to press. There are also several different animals that can be moved up and down, or side to side. There is a yellow sun in the middle that lights up and turns from side to side. There is an attached "book" in the middle with plastic pages that turn that have pictures and words to the nursery rhyme songs on them. The Vtech Discovery Nursery Farm teaches nursery rhymes, numbers and letters. It has an adjustable volume control, which moms will love!

This toy kept my 1 year old daughter entertained for quite a while. She especially loves to turn the pages on the book and press the buttons on the keyboard. The one downside is that she gets her finger stuck trying to play with animals. Overall, though its a great toy that I would reccommend for babies around a year old.

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kwhipkey says "Makes the game even better!" about Parker Brothers Scrabble Deluxe Turntable Edition

kwhipkey — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:02:01 GMT

The Scrabble Deluxe Turntable Edition was a Christmas gift for me last year and I enjoy playing it all the time. I had recently rediscoverd how much I enjoy this game and was looking for a replacement for the old dented board my family has owned for about 20 years! This edition is awesome! I love how compact it is, which makes it easy to carry anywhere. The drawers stay shut when carrying it making sure all the tiles and holders stay in place. I love how easy it spins (best on a flat service of course) so I don't have to try to read upside-down anymore when looking for words. As a klutz, I also like how the board had indentations for the pieces, so if I bump it the letters don't go flying! The rules are all the same still, so if you liked the original you will like this edition. I have to say too that I like playing the real game more than I like playing the video editions on the iPod. There is something nice about actually using real tiles.

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giselle577 says "K'nex fan" about K'NEX

giselle577 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:28:19 GMT

I love learning toys. My children are ages 4 months, 2 years, 4 years, 7 years, and 11 years and we tried legos with the first 2 for many years to try and strenghten their fine motor skills. they were never into them, the just would get frusterated and give up. i know many other kids that enjoy legos but that was just not my kids. we decided to give knex a try when they were on a great sale, i think they are a bit pricy. We put together the first one as a family to get used to them and see how they worked. The next one was put together with out any help buy my boys! i think they are a bit easier to figure out than legos, but i never expected them to catch on that quickly with our past expierance with legos. we have bought several sience then and have a great luck. i would recomend these to any kids but those who struggle with fine motor skills and arnt quite ready for lego, is a perfect match!

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Fardreamer says "A Princess Leia two pack which features Han Solo? Nice!" about Hasbro Star Wars - The Princess Leia Collection: Princess Leia and Han Solo

Fardreamer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:27:03 GMT

Star Wars has always had a multi-cultural, multi-generational and cross-gender appeal which is partly based on the universality of its roots as a "modern myth" for our times, and partly because Lucas was smart enough to take archetypes such as the hero on a quest, the mysterious wise man, the rogue with the heart of gold and, of course, the damsel in distress and tweaked them for the sensibilities of the late 1970s.

Thus it's safe to say that even though guys have always been in the majority within the Star Wars collecting community, lots of girls and women of all ages like the Kenner/Hasbro Star Wars action figures and other toys, too.

Hasbro's erstwhile competitor, Kenner Toys of Columbus, Ohio knew that many girls were fans of Princess Leia Organa, the cosmopolitan, politically-well connected Senator from Alderaan who was as fast with a quick quip ("Would someone get this walking carpet out of my way?") as well as with a blaster pistol. Thus, in the early days of the Kenner/Star Wars...

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giselle577 says "great on the plane" about VTech V.Smile Pocket Learning System

giselle577 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:19:38 GMT

We travel every year from michigan to florida with our five children ages 4 months, 2 years, 4 years, 7 years, and 11 years old. We are busy when we travel so we wanted a toy that would keep them busy for a few hours. We also own the vsmile home t.v. one with 10 games so we thought this would be the best buy with out a lot of extra costs of games, being we already owned the games. So it was a little pricy but well worth it at the end of our trip. the kids handed it back and forth throughout the 4 flights. We love the fact that you just flip the keys and now it can be played by a left hander, our middle child is left handed so that helps him to play at the same speed as the other rightys. The batteries lasted the entire trip and that was more than we expected, i do wish they would come with rechargeable but their is a cord that you can plug in to play as long as your attached to the wall!

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Fardreamer says "Luke and Leia make nice additions to Princess Leia Collection" about Hasbro Star Wars - The Princess Leia Collection: Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker

Fardreamer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:54 GMT

Although most of Kenner/Hasbro's Star Wars action figures are marketed almost exclusively for guys (either kids or guys who were kids when Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope premiered in May of 1977), the marketing division figured out that the films also appeal to girls, so why not release a few collectibles that, while still having "guy approval," might please them as well.

The result of this reasoning (or Jedi marketing meditation) was The Princess Leia Collection, a quartet of two-figure sets pairing off the formidable Rebel leader and Luke Skywalker's twin sister with other characters from the Classic Trilogy.

Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker

The beautiful Princess Leia, Senator and Cell Leader for the Rebel Alliance, rewards the young Luke Skywalker for his heroic role in the destruction of the Imperial Death Star.

Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker features both of the Skywalker twins as they appear at the end of Episode IV: A New Hope during the award ceremony in the Massassi temple...

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Fardreamer says "Fans of both genders will enjoy this Leia and R2-D2 duo!" about Hasbro Star Wars - The Princess Leia Collection: Princess Leia and R2-D2

Fardreamer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:30:20 GMT

One of the reasons George Lucas' Star Wars saga has been so entrenched in our popular culture is the wide appeal its story and characters has across a wide spectrum of humanity.

Though most non-fans think only young boys and socially-challenged adult men "geek out" over the multi-media Empire built upon the six live-action Episodes, three Cartoon Network animated series, an animated feature, several live-action TV projects and a Death Star's worth of books, graphic novels, computer and role-playing games, it ain't necessarily so.

Indeed, Star Wars has always had a multi-cultural, multi-generational and cross-gender appeal which is partly based on the universality of its roots as a "modern myth" for our times, and partly because Lucas was smart enough to take archetypes such as the hero on a quest, the mysterious wise man, the rogue with the heart of gold and, of course, the damsel in distress and tweaked them for the sensibilities of the late 1970s.

Thus it's safe to say that even...

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JennBash73 says "Never worked!" about Air Hogs Air Hog Helicoptor

JennBash73 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:56:27 GMT

This was a christmas gift last year for an 8 year old boy. We saw them on the commercials and they looked neat and easy to use. Needless to say I did not research these first. The until was difficult to put together and although says you can fly it inside (we have two story tall ceilings in our front two rooms that are quite large) I would recommend using it outside. Once we got it figured out and got it to FINALLY fly it ran right into something because we had little to no control with the remote control. It was damaged from the first hit. So we took it outside and could never get it to 'do what we wanted'. Granted it do go air born but we could never truly fly the unit. Of course the 8 year old got frustrated quickly and went onto better things. Finally we pulled it out to try it again and the batteries were dead. Not an item I would recommend, we ended up throwing it away. We will not be puchasing an Air Hog item again.

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kwhipkey says "Catch Phrase is a great family get together game." about Hasbro Catch Phrase Electronic

kwhipkey — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:42:56 GMT

Catch Phrase has proven to be a great game to play during get togethers with family and friends. I have a lot of friends that dislike classic board and card games, and they really seem to enjoy playing this game. The game piece is easy to use and pass and I like how the timer works so you don't have to always have someone timing like in older games. I do have two problems with the game though. One, if you play frequently you will start to see a lot of repeats. My family played for a long time one evening and was getting frustrated at getting the same clues some times. Also, the rules are not specific enough. There were a few fine points we were arguing when playing that were never mentioned in the rules. It was tough when people got clues they were not familiar with too, but that will happen in any game like this. Overall though, it is a very fun game that will get your group animated with lots of laughter.

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mamabear905 says "Great learning toy that keeps kids occupied!" about VTech Tote & Go Laptop Plus

mamabear905 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:32:54 GMT

This vtech laptop tote and go computer is a great toy. It is well worth the money. My son got it at about 2 1/2 years old. At first he just pushed the buttons and watched the monkey on the screen. With a little work and help to figure out just what to do he was soon doing his upper case letters, lower case letters, and numbers. He loves to play with it and try out the new games. It has helped him learn his lower case letters way better than flash cards. He really likes the hidden letter game, it's like seek and find on a computer. The mouse is a little harder for him to figure out but he's getting there. It's a very durable toy too, it has been dropped and stepped on and all and it is still in great shape. It doesn't eat batteries like some toys, we've had it for about 6 months now and although my son uses it almost everyday I have only had to replace the batteries once. It closes and has a carrying handle which makes it great for on the go. He can even use it in...

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kennahays says "Great learning toy" about VTech V-smile

kennahays — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:18:45 GMT

My son began kindergarden this year and we bought him the v-tech vsmile learnign system. It has helped him tremendously. It has games with all of the popular characters such as spongebob, monsters vs aliens, cars, and hot wheels and best of all everyone of the games are educational. They games also grow with the child. they have different game cartridges for different age groups. When you purchase the system it comes with one game and the controller (which is user friendly and can be adjusted to fit both left and right handed children) and it also comes with a microphone. My 20 month old daughter even plays with it It has a sing along portion on some of the games and she love is. The console runs of batteries however you can purchase a dc plug for less that ten dollars. The system cost around fifty dollars and they games are aroung twenty however it is well worth the money. this is one of the best educational toys I have found.

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mamabear905 says "This toy is awesome! Entertaining and durable!" about Crayola Crayola Electronic Coloring Book

mamabear905 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:11:03 GMT

The Crayola Electronic coloring book is a great toy! My three year old just absolutely loves it! It keeps him entertained for long periods of time and he does not get bored with it. He has had it for months now and he still plays it almost everyday. After initially showing him how to use it (and working with him maybe a day on how to work the controls himself) he uses it all by himself. It is simple enough for a pre-schooler to learn how to use it pretty quickly. He can plug it in to the tv, push the right tv buttons, color all the pictures, and connect all the dots all by himself. The pointer crayon is great for kids, because it just has to be pretty close to the object for it to work, thus avoiding the frustration of not being able to get it in exactly the right spot. The only thing he needs some additional assistance with is 'putting' together the puzzles so that he can color them. I have even incorporated other lessons into the game. You can teach colors from it...

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h3art2h0m3 says "Organizing is hard to do." about Hot Wheels Hot Wheels Car carrier

h3art2h0m3 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:56:04 GMT

I love a clean home. Unfortunately that doesn't mix well with children. Thankfully Hot Wheels has offer options of organization for their many cars. I first purchased the hanging organizer for on the door. It didn't fit our door well because the metal hooks for attaching it to the top were too big and rubbed and scraped the door frame. We ended up affixing it to the end of his bunk-bed. But it ripped at the top holders before it was even half full! I attempted to fix it with safety pins, but within a month the plastic pockets were ripping also. Next I purchased the box. It fits the cars nicely and has multiple different sized slots for the unique cars/trucks. The problem we ran into was when he tried opening the box.They would all fall out and cascade onto the floor. The second problem was the hinge is weak and every time he tries playing with it I need to pop it into place and reconnect the sides.

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programhasan says "Excellant" about Leapfrog Clickstart My First Computer

programhasan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:04:42 GMT

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bargainbuster says "Cute, pieces are small, short term fun, reasonable price" about Littlest Pet Shop LPSO

bargainbuster — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:33:41 GMT

My daughter has quite a collection of littlest pet shop.The prices are reasonable, so it makes it easy to ask for birthday parties, Christmas, etc. However, the pieces can be small, the "sets" they sell can be bulky and hard to store (they don't break down easily). All in all, there is not a lot to do with them, so after just a small while my child seemed bored with it. (Of course she doesn't want to give them away, but does not play with them either). So, I would not buy this product again, it was about a two week phase where everything was about the littlest pet shop, and now they are just a hassle to store in a drawer that now never gets opened. She is seven and has moved on to bigger and better things. I would recommend this product for the four - six crowd. Although, these products can be used as allowance or rewards and it would break your bank, so if you do that kind of thing than the littlest pet shop may find a useful place in your home. :)

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bargainbuster says "Pieces are so so small, very hard to keep track of" about Polly Pocket

bargainbuster — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:29:06 GMT

First off, if you have little children that still put stuff in their mouths in your house - DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT! Also, if you have pets that like to "play" with your kids stuff - this product is not a good idea. It would be very dangerous. Polly Pocket in herself is cute, the idea is cute, however the pieces are so so small that you will NOT find them when they are done playing with them just one time. I have about one of everything that comes in pairs.... The play sets are plastic, kind of cheap looking (we have the Polly Pocket yacht thing), bulky and hard to store. All in all, I wish she never got this product, but since she does have it we have to dedicate one drawer to it. (She doesn't want to get rid of it, but she rarely plays with it). If your child is a fan of barbies, and is responsible with itty bitty pieces, then maybe this can be a fun toy for her. Just didn't fit for our little family.

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bargainbuster says "Nice quality - but expensive" about American Girl Dolls

bargainbuster — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:29:35 GMT

OK, so my daughter really likes this doll. The quality is very good. We purchased the Just Like You doll. We were looking through all of the reviews and found that the dolls with the "curly" hair do not fare as well (so we decided against Rebecca which was one of the dolls that my daughter wanted). This doll came with very nice clothes. She has a soft body and soft vinyl arms, legs, and face. We also sprung for the 7.00 American Girl doll brush (which is nice, but not necessary).

I don't know how long her interest will be in this doll (hopefully quite some time). The doll is about 100.00 and I could only find it on the American Girl doll website. (Be sure to check different websites for coupon codes to get free shipping - one click saved me 13.00). There are a lot of clothes and add ons that people can buy so you don't have a bunch of random gifts for Christmas and Birthdays. If family and friends know your child is an American Girl doll fanatic, then it would be nice to collect the clothes....

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momran says "Awesome! A must have for every household!" about Nintendo Wii

momran — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:19:17 GMT

We finally purchased a Nintendo Wii system last year at Christmas time and it was one of the best things we ever bought for our house. The interaction of the entire family with this game has been very, very positive. Everyone that was at our house around the holidays played the game and those people spanned the ages of 3 to 76. And, it was tons of fun for everyone! Now, this year we are buying more games for Christmas presents and some add-on accessories. And, I can't wait to see how much fun everyone has with it. The great thing about this system is that you can just plug it in to your tv and start playing. It's not very complicated and is really easy to learn. There is definitely something for everyone. I'm not much of a sports person but I love to play the sports game that comes with the system. It's fun and competitive and really makes you feel as though you're playing the sport! Highly recommend!

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