Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Imagination’

LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Backyardigans

February 6th, 2010

LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Backyardigans




With Nick Jr. The Backyardigans, kids will have learning adventures as big as their imagination. As they play, they’ll learn critical skills for being ready for school. Kids will explore the Frozen North to find a Yeti, help a pirate find its treasure, use pattern-matching to help a cowboy cross a canyon and find hidden items on the beach.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Good, but there are better
My 3 year old loves the Backyardigans. This “game” is really a show/DVD. I want her to learn, which she has with the Dora game and the basic functions of the L-max. I wouldn’t spend the money on this game if I had it to do over again. NOT worth it. It is cute, but NOT educational.

5 Stars very good Leapster Product ! Ideal for young children !
I Brought this for my 5 year old son Abel , He Loved it ! This was a good learning program …. Leapster Is

# 1 learning systems for young children ! Great will continue to buy more products by leapster !

Oh yeah these characters were very cute and funny .

Thank You

Ms. Y. Allison NYC , NY

3 Stars I’m not sure that this game is very educational….
My son loves the Backyardigans, and so, he loves this game!! I personally don’t think its all that educational and probably wouldn’t have bought it if I had tried it out first..

4 Stars for our disneyworld trip
i’m giving this to my 3 yr old son when we go to disneyworld. so he has not tried it yet. but he loves the backyardigans so i’m hoping it will entertain him for a little while. i read other reviews that it is not very educational n more like a video. that’s fine w/me as long as he likes it (even for a few minutes).

4 Stars Leapster-Backyardigans
My 5yr old was excited about receiving this, but immediately she started off on Level 2 and basically after a couple of days was done with it! a bit too ’slow’ for her pace. Definitley recommend for 4yr olds!

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Music , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Green Toys Tea Set

February 3rd, 2010

Green Toys Tea Set




Teach your daughters to care for Mother Earth with this “green” make-believe tea set with four place settings. Includes 17 pieces: one pink teapot with purple lid, one purple sugar bowl and lid, one blue creamer, four blue teacups, four green saucers, and four yellow teaspoons. Made in the USA from recycled milk jugs.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Took 20 seconds to remove from box!
My daughter received this tea set for her 3rd birthday. It took us about 20 seconds to open the box and remove the toys–no tape, twisty ties, or other annoying packaging. Why can’t all toy manufacturers package like this? My daughter and her 5-year old brother love playing with this tea set. Durable and safe. Couldn’t be more pleased!

5 Stars Green and “cool”
I have been looking for a long time for a tea set for my little granddaughter that was not the cheap plastic that most are made of but not the fragile china ones that won’t stand up to the handling of a 3-4 year old. I have found it–this tea set is a great size for little hands but still large enough to actually be usable for “real” tea!!!

5 Stars Durable and Eco-Friendly
My daughter loves this tea set. She asks to have a “tea party.” The whole set is cute and we couldn’t believe how durable and sturdy it is. These products are great, whoever created this company is a genius!

5 Stars Hours of imagination
This tea set has been hours of fun and imagination for my 4 and 1/2 year old granddaughter. the size is just right for little hands and the pieces are very durable. I like that it is made out of recycled products.

4 Stars “Green” kids Tea Set
Again, this set is by far the best that I’ve found on the market. I also purchased the Cookware/Dinnerware set since I liked this product so much. I do agree with another reviewer that stated that she would have preferred the creamer cup to be a different color than the tea cups. It’s easy for a child to get them mixed up. Otherwise, superb product, and I was very happy with the discounted price through Amazon.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Music , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Backyardigans

January 3rd, 2010

LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Backyardigans




With Nick Jr. The Backyardigans, kids will have learning adventures as big as their imagination. As they play, they’ll learn critical skills for being ready for school. Kids will explore the Frozen North to find a Yeti, help a pirate find its treasure, use pattern-matching to help a cowboy cross a canyon and find hidden items on the beach.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars for our disneyworld trip
i’m giving this to my 3 yr old son when we go to disneyworld. so he has not tried it yet. but he loves the backyardigans so i’m hoping it will entertain him for a little while. i read other reviews that it is not very educational n more like a video. that’s fine w/me as long as he likes it (even for a few minutes).

5 Stars very good Leapster Product ! Ideal for young children !
I Brought this for my 5 year old son Abel , He Loved it ! This was a good learning program …. Leapster Is

# 1 learning systems for young children ! Great will continue to buy more products by leapster !

Oh yeah these characters were very cute and funny .

Thank You

Ms. Y. Allison NYC , NY

3 Stars Good, but there are better
My 3 year old loves the Backyardigans. This “game” is really a show/DVD. I want her to learn, which she has with the Dora game and the basic functions of the L-max. I wouldn’t spend the money on this game if I had it to do over again. NOT worth it. It is cute, but NOT educational.

4 Stars Leapster-Backyardigans
My 5yr old was excited about receiving this, but immediately she started off on Level 2 and basically after a couple of days was done with it! a bit too ’slow’ for her pace. Definitley recommend for 4yr olds!

3 Stars I’m not sure that this game is very educational….
My son loves the Backyardigans, and so, he loves this game!! I personally don’t think its all that educational and probably wouldn’t have bought it if I had tried it out first..

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys [Learning & Education] , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

LEGO 4 Basic Bulk Set

December 27th, 2009

LEGO 4 Basic Bulk Set




4 years & up. Create or expand your collection with 576 classic bricks in an assortment of 6 different sizes and colors.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Wonderful Lego set!
This Lego set is great, most Lego sets have hundreds of pieces, but they are counting the itty little ones. This set has all big bricks in normal colors. It is great to add to a collection, so you can have lot of big pieces for the big build.

5 Stars grandkids love it!
I bought this for when my grandkids come to visit. It occupies them for a great length of time and also enables them to use their imagination and be creative. Great!

5 Stars Superb Set
We have had this set for some time now. Legos are wonderful, particularly the non theme type legos. They expand a child’s imagination. They encourage creative play and they are durable, long lasting and fun to play with it. They are also quiet and require more than a button push to make some event happen.

In our house you can not have enough legos. This is a great set to expand your child’s basic lego blocks. There is a good ratio of all colors and a wide ranges of sizes within this set.

Well worth the money.

Enjoy.

4 Stars Fast Delivery and got what I bargained for
This arrived a week before the other “new” lego items I ordered, which was a delight when my grandson came to visit. When I first received the envelope of pieces, I felt like it should have been much bigger. I emailed Jim and asked for some windows, doors and wheels and he sent them in two days. I had envisioned they would come in the same plastic box as the “new” set, but found a plastic box that works fine. All in all, this is just what was described and arrived in two days! I’m a happy grandmother.

nancy ziac

5 Stars Can’t beat basic Legos!
Great assortment of basic Legos for younger kids who would not benefit from the fancier Lego sets. Also, a nice way to avoid the commercialization of Legos that has taken place over the years.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys [Learning & Education] , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

LEGO Mindstorms NXT

December 5th, 2009

LEGO Mindstorms NXT




Sure, Mindstorms NXT is a toy, but it is an important toy, like a piano or a chemistry set. It’s one of those items that engages an imagination and possibly opens doors to new interests. Since our future is surely to be shared with robots–it’s already started happening, just look at Roomba–those robots will need, at least initially, humans to program and maintain them. Those people, years from now, will likely remember their experiences with Lego Mindstorms.

Out of the Box
The main part of the kit is the NXT itself. It’s about the size of an iPod (though a bit thicker) with a a loudspeaker, a monochrome LCD, and navigation keys on the front. This is the controller for the robot–it’s brain, if you will. It has three ports on top for connecting to the servo motors and four ports on the bottom for connecting to four different sensors: Touch, Light, Sound, and Ultrasonic (see detail below).

Lego Mindstorms NXT in different combinations
  1. The NXT: the computer-controlled brain of the Mindstorms robot
  2. Touch Sensor: enables the robot to feel and react to its environment
  3. Sound Sensor: enables the robot to react to sound
  4. Light Sensor: can detect light and color
  5. Ultrasonic Sensor: allows the robot to measure distance and react to movement
  6. Servo Motors: ensures the robot moves with precision

The set includes Ethernet-like wires for connecting all of these to the NXT, as well as software and a basic USB cable for downloading programs from your computer. Then there are all the Lego parts, hundreds of them, and most are very small. It would be a good idea to get a plastic organizer for the different parts–it would not only make construction and storage easier but also part loss less likely.

Hitting the Bricks
The instructions for MNXT are simple, illustrated, and they gently take the new user on an introductory path through the system. The quick start guide promises a 30-minute robot building and programing intro, though for me it was closer to 50 (I’m a little old and slow). It starts with a simple diagnostic routine which shows you how to test the function of all sensors, then proceeds to step-by-step picture instructions for building a basic first robot. It’s about as complex as building a piece of Ikea furniture.


Programming is the real gem in this system. It has a drag-and-drop interface using pre-programmed objects that you pull from a palette and snap to other objects.


Next, I installed the software. Be sure to check the system requirements (below). The software is well-designed and very intuitive. It comes with built-in video instructions on how to create your first simple program and download it to your NXT.

Bringing It To Life
Programming is the real gem in this system. It has a drag-and-drop interface using pre-programmed objects that you pull from a palette and snap to other objects. Each object is configurable. For example, the Sound object brings up a sub-window that allows you to choose between a tone and a list of sound files, set the volume, set duration, and so on. Little Lego bricks between the objects reinforce the idea that building a NXT program is like building a Lego model. Programming this way is much easier than, say, creating a web page from scratch. Lego even offers a software development kit for getting deeper into the programming.

Lego Mindstorms NXT in different combinations
Mindstorms NXT “challenges” from top: Tribot, RoboArm, and Spike.

There comes a genuine thrill from seeing something you’ve created–even something simple and silly as my first program–come to life in a robot. It’s akin to seeing yourself on TV for the first time. I played that program a dozen times.

The software contains “challenges,” which are similar step-by-step instructions for creating and programming more complex models, such as a robotic arm that can “perform simple tasks and react to different colors.” Each challenge is divided into smaller tasks with step-by-step building, programming, and testing guides for each task.

Accessing your latest program once it’s downloaded to the NXT is pretty easy. Lego has set it up so that you can execute it by pressing the big orange center button four times in a row after start-up. I was surprised to find out that you don’t need a computer to program the NXT. You can program directly into the NXT Program submenu.

Bluetooth Ready
The NXT also has built-in Bluetooth wireless technology. If your computer has Bluetooth, you can test and download programs to the NXT without connecting the USB cable–a really handy feature if you’re programming a complicated dance routine and you don’t want your robot getting tripped up in cables. If your phone or PDA has Bluetooth, you might be able to use your device to control the robot. Best of all, Bluetooth allows you to create a network of up to three NXT devices. Think of the possibilities: three NXTs plus three sets of blocks and sensors equals bigger, more complex robots.

My one and only complaint is that I wish the sensors had more “studs,” those little round parts that allows Lego bricks to interlock. –Porter B. Hall

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Lego Mindstorms NXT, un excelente paquete de rob?tica
Hi there, I wrote this review for people who speaks spanish.

El paquete de rob?tica Lego Mindstorms NXT es un excelente producto para iniciarse en el mundo de la rob?tica. As?como su predecesor, el Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System, la compa??a lego lo construy?de muy buena calidad a un excelente precio. La facilidad de poderlo programar en varios lenguajes de programaci?n, entre ellos C y Java lo hacen muy atractivo para uso educativo tanto en programaci?n como en rob?tica. En general, es un paquete muy usado en todo el mundo, para fines educativos, incluso de investigaci?n a nivel universitario y posgrado.

Julio Sandria

5 Stars Lego Mindstorms NXT is fun training for future scientists
Fortunately we have a friend who lives in the USA and came to Brazil and so, could bring it to us here where the retail prices are prohibitive, around R$ 1,999 Brazilian Reais that make today over US$ 1,000 … It is a high tech toy which is available is some very few good schools where there are few robots to be used by large groups of students. As my son aged 12 showed interest we got him one Lego Mindstorms NXT for his personal use, and some of his friends come to play with him. It is fun for him and friends, it is a toy that helps him and friends to develop technical skills, habilities, competencies. Hope that they be able to develop lower cost robots like that here in Brazil, to proportionate this opportunity to more children, and so, get a better standard of living for all. It is a marvelous, intelligent toy. Strongly recommend it to all.

5 Stars Great way to get kids (and adults) into object based programming and automation
As a mechanical engineer who uses labview daily, I was excited to upgrade to the nxt. I have some projects in mind and this is a great value for intial concept work. I also want to use this for hobbyist projects as well and am encouraged by the aftermarket support.

5 Stars EXCELLENT LEGO TOY
We bought this for our 12 year old son who loves inventing stuff with Lego. Mindstorms NXT is an excellent product and I would highly recommend it…It is not a toy for kids under 12 though as it is very technical…

5 Stars NXT – Taking it to the NeXT Level
The Lego NXT is more than just a toy. The NXT is an excellent tool to learn about computer programming languages such as C, Java, and even Lisp. The experiential hands-on education of robotics (designing, building, and programming robots) also provides an excellent tool for learning general Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) topics, pre-CS1 for computer science majors and students considering a CS major, teaching computer science, teaching artificial intelligence (AI) concepts, and K-12 outreach and enrichment. In this regard, the value of robotics lies in its concrete character, and its service as a bridge between operational and abstract levels of thinking.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Games , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,