Activities and Learning Reviews

Well, I bought this track and found that after adding it to the track layout of the trains which my son plays with, first, it confuses him since he sees another "Choo Choo" car which in fact isn't a choo choo, but I can't explain that to a 2 year old.

The next bad part is that the extra tracks are part of the package. So when you clean up, you have a box full of tracks of which some just isn't compatible since a curved roadway track is not very useful when laying out a track for the choo choo.

Well, the boring part comes when you set up the road way and you can't quite explain to your kid that the little red car is for the roadway and the other ones are for the rail way. Of course then he takes the red car, puts it on the road and tries to add more cars behind the car since he believes that they're all supposed to daisy chain. At this point he gives up and just plays with the trains.

There's no real benefit to a small child to add this confusion to the system. I love Thomas the Train and I hope they focus more on the rail way and ditch the cars, they aren't that much fun and I have to keep them in a separate box so that it doesn't confuse my son.

P.S. - Of course the toy isn't really meant for 2 year olds, but when we have friends visiting, it tends to confuse the older (3-4 year) kids as well and they never bother with them. In fact, one friend actually picked out a curved roadway piece and pretended it was a grenade. He pretended to pull a pin out of it with his teeth, spit the pin out and then threw the piece across the room and said "vvvvvvvvv... BOOM!"

and I finally get one when I'm 19 its still cool though i love geography and though I wanted one of those classical looking globes that is brown this globe does not loose its effect with its reflective surface I actually kind of like it that way. I only put 2 down for durability because think about it a globe is only good until a new country is formed and if you throw it down the stairs it won't survive i wouldn't know but I wouldn't recomend trying it either. I got this for christmas and I'm finally able to keep it in my room because I had no room in my college dorm and the three for fun is common sence even if you love geography you can't really have fun with a globe

We received this as a gift for my third child. The older two used a wonderful one that gave out after the second one and unfortunately, they're not made anymore. This one only has two advantages over the old one: (1) it has a wheel control (like those on roller skates) to tighten the wheel so it won't go too fast for the baby learning to walk and (2) it's much easier to make it go flat or sit it back up right - I broke a lot of fingernails trying to make the old one change positions.

The two doors, like the other reviewers said, come off way too easily. Once they're off -- there is little left on the toy except the boring sliders (in comparison to other baby toys). The three "letters" just float around the junk pile and are a waste.

At least, the walker has two handles - one on top for standing, and one on the back for walking on knees, which my baby likes to do. I'm glad it wasn't me who bought this.

This was a gift, and it came just as my little one was starting to cruise. I wouldn't buy this myself because it just wasn't that much fun. It did assist in walking, but mostly the letters were carried around, doors ripped off etc. If you are on top of things & put it all back together after each playtime, then you won't lose the pieces. Otherwise, they'll be in the toy pile (or under your sofa!) Other children who came over just learning to stand up would try to climb on it after the doors were off. So it was a constant battle pulling them off so they wouldn't get hurt. Mine never tried that but mostly pulled the doors off to carry them or the letters around. That part was fun, but kept me busy tracking down the pieces. haha!

The first time my baby started walking around with this I screamed! I called my mom and said, "My baby is walking, my baby is walking!" It was so cool, watching him walk all over the living room. He loves this toy. Give it a try. Every baby is different.

This item is well worth it for the money. I played with it for 3 hours straight when we opened it up. It is a neat looking microscope and with lots of accessories. Great for the kids to learn and also adults! I bought this to look at specimens to see if we had lice, mites etc in our house. We could see that it was just dandruff & lint. Best to see at low resolution though, higher was blurry at times. I was going to get an expensive Meade brand microscope for this purpose, but this one did the job just fine and will continue to do so.

You call this a microscope!? I had bought this last year just for the fun of it, and it comes in a large pack of cool looking things like dissecting stuff and stains. And oh boy all of it did not last very long. The first time I looked in it was nothing but blurrs and all sorts of [stuff]. I cant even reccomed this hunk of trash to begginers. ITS USLESS GARBAGE!!!!!!!!!!
This goes out to begginers, If you want a worthy microscope, I reccomend going to .... They give you everything you need including strong optics microscopes. Trust me, you don't want this microscope or if it is even a microscope!

One of the worst things people can do is sell someone a cheap microscope or telescope. Microscopes of this nature do more harm than good. The optics are plastic and extremely poor. The focusing is very course and very poor. The idea of using 750x power is very misleading, you need a lense with oil at that power. Get imformation on microscopes and buy a decent one. They are not that expensive new or buy a good quality used one for less than fifty dollars. Just don't but a cheap plastic miroscope. If someone has the interest don't ruin it with a bad microscope.

The toy is a practical example of a solar system in motion. Creating a mechanical solar system with an actual scaled speed showing the planets motion (as the apalled physics teacher stated) would simply be impractical as Pluto would appear motionless while Mercury whirl furiously around the sun. Presenting a drillpress-like danger to children. That level of realism is more appropriate in educational software. Secondly even if it were to accurately depict the proper speed of the planets orbits it would still "appal" physics teachers since all the model planets would still trace unrealistic circular orbits and distance scales could never be accurately shown. In its present form this model is an exciting demonstration of the solar system and an excellent decoration for any childs room.

I'm NOT a physics professor, but I guess my expectations were much higher than some of the other reviewers. [$$$]is too much money for this toy. If your purpose is to demonstrate to your child the workings of our Solar System, then a reasonably true movement of the planets around our Sun IS important. You won't get that with this toy. If all you're after is to provide your child with a fun model that demonstrates the order of the planets this model does that. I also wasn't impressed with the overhead constellation map.

While this toy does not demonstrate the actual relative speeds of the planets around the Sun (planets closer to the Sun move faster), you shouldn't expect it to for 40 bucks. That kind of authenticity would cost a lot more. The educational value of this toy is still sound and anything that increases the awareness of the worlds outside our own for our kids is of value.

We have the Tiny Love activity gym and loved it, but this toy does not impress me (or my 14 month old). It was a gift, and I was holding on to it hoping that eventually my daughter would enjoy it, but it just hasn't happened. Not worth the money for a boring toy.

I purchased the Super Car Bar when my son was about 3 or 4 months old. He HATED riding in the car unless someone was in the backseat with him to keep him company. The only thing that would stop his screaming was if he fell asleep (never really happened), so I would resort to turning up the volume on the stereo to keep my sanity. My life changed when I bought the Super Car Bar. NEVER did he complain again! I admit, it is difficult to position (on one side the plastic end piece came off and doesn't go back on, but it is sewn inside the fabric.) I fold it forward to get him in/out of the carseat, and then once positioned, I slide it up in front of him. He drives, plays, chews and otherwise quietly enjoys the rides. I feel like a whole new world has opened for me now that I can take him out. He is 13 months now, and still seems entertained. I definitely would recommend this product for a baby who doesn't like the car!

We bought this toy for our son because he always cried in the car and we thought it would work great to keep him entertained. We had no problems keeping the toy bar up and in place, once you secure it nice and tight under the car seat. But it was such a pain to pull the toy bar down every time we took him out of the seat and then once he was back in we had to pull the toy bar back up. It was too much of a hassle and he wasn't even that interesed in it anyway. Not really worth the money.

My first son was not interested in this at any age. My second some played with it for about 5 minutes and that was that.

It was much smaller than I had expected, and I found that the fish either stuck to each other, or the back of the mat.

In my opinion it wasn't worth the money.

This toy was okay.. My son is 5 months old and doesnt seem to like it due to the mat gets cold.. Its a pain if you have to refill it to please them but he does play with it sometimes.. Its not that all bad of a toy but just not for him..

I purchased this toy for my home day care and the 7 month old loves it to pieces. It has never leaked or grown alge in it and I have had water in it for over 4 months. The foam toys do tend to stick together but with a few smacks from the baby he gets them floating and he giggles like crazy. I would only change the squeaker a little easier to use for the child. I would recommend this toy to others and have given it as a gift. Supervision is the key to child safety no matter what the child is doing or where you are at.

In theory, this is a great toy. It is very realistic, and you are supposed to be able to put the astronauts in the command module and the LEM for great imaginative play.

In reality, this toy falls apart the minute you remove it from the packaging. You can't put the astronauts anywhere because they splinter and you can't pull the components apart as shown because pieces break off at the lightest touch.

It is NOT worth the price and NOT worth the disappointment on a child's face.

Purchased this item, and as the other reviewers have mentioned, it fell apart in our hands. NOT for Kids!!!!!!!!!! I am attempting to find another like item, but I have my doubts!

Durability is -1 star.

If anyone finds a talking apollo unit that will stand up to 30 seconds of play, PLEASE let me know.

My five year old son received this as a gift for Christmas, and by that evening, little pieces were falling off with no prodding. A footing from the lunar module fell off the next morning, and when I tried looking it over to see if it could be fixed, two more came off in my hands! My son is so frustrated, as he knows he is being careful as he attempts to play with it while more pieces simply break off. The metallic look of the set is very misleading - think aluminum foil as opposed to a heavier metal. My son has received similar sets, and they have fared well even after months of use. I am ready to toss this out (and would if I could take it away without him being upset as he really likes the astronaut voice recording). I would never recommend this set, as it has frustrated my five year old and my husband and I alike. My husband thought it could only have cost $5.00 or so, and nearly fell off his chair when I told him it was almost $40.00!! Too bad, as the educational value of an imaginary play toy like this is why people do pay so much for such a small toy. Hopefully the maker will get smart and start producing a better quality set to match the example they are trying to promote for our children.

I started shaking this toy in the store and my 6 month old just cracked up! He loved it! I brought it home and he rolls it, chews on it, and (though right now he can't make it giggle) some of his siblings will do it for him! He loves this!

My 4 month old tried really hard to grab this toy and pull it close no matter how heavy it was. I was worried that she might hit her head but never did. It keeps her attention and is really easy to grasp.

My son received this toy as a gift for his first birthday. He played with it four a day or two and hasn't touched it since. I think it's a good toy for babies about 9 months old for the color and sound stimulation, but not for children very much older than that. I agree with one review that it's mostly just a rattle. You have to shake it pretty hard to make it "giggle". Otherwise, the giggle noise is very slow and sad sounding.

I bought this toy because my daughter is really into sorting shapes right now. She has several shape sorters that work really well. This one, however, is not well designed. First of all, the lid cannot be fastened to stay down. When your child needs to turn it over to put in the different shapes they all fall out. Secondly, once you have a couple of shapes in the box they block the way for the others to go in. I have always loved Melissa and Doug toys up to this point but I would love to get my money back for this one.

I bought this for my son and how the lid is made it does not stay on so that you may turn it to put the different shapes in. Also, when putting shapes in, it gets so full that other shapes will not fit in with out a fight. I would highly recommend tupperware's shape sorter before I would ever buy this one.

My 22 month old daughter plays with this toy, but there are 2 major sources of frustration.

1) The lid doesn't stay on well - whenever you try to put a shape into the side with the lid, the lid flips over. An older child could probably figure out that you have to hold the lid (or just drop the shape neatly into the hole without touching the lid) - but a younger toddler just isn't going to get that. It is very frustrating. Other people have pointed it out as well - perhaps the designers will respond in version 2. It's needlessly frustrating.

2) Some of the shapes are very similar /complicated - it is frustrating for a young toddler. BUT!!!! my daughter is slightly younger than the recommended age, and, it is a learning toy - it isn't supposed to be immediately easy. Just know that for younger toddlers, you should play with them and help them select the right hole.

A bit of guided play is called for while they are learning and it will increase fun/decrease frustration. My daughter has learned some of the shapes on her own, and is getting 'closer' on some of the others, but I frequently play with her and talk to her about the shapes and help her find where they go.

All in all, it is a good toy. We have several Melissa & Doug toys, and have been pleased with them all. They are safe, high quality, and nice looking. And you can never have too many small, brightly colored pieces of wood underfoot. :)