Activities and Learning Reviews

This game is great! The tiny dinos spark my 5 year-old son's imagination and enables him to have so much fun that he does not realize he is learning. Furthermore, he does not want to stop!!! He learned place value up to the thousands during our first game. After each roll of the dice the player uses all four dice to make a number and then s/he reads the number aloud (i.e. if you roll 6666 you say six thousand six hundred and sixty six). As we move our dinos around the board T.R. looks forward to our pieces landing on the same track so that we can have a "Showdown". In a "Showdown" you simply have to roll a dice and the person who gets the larger number wins. However, we move our dinos to the middle of the board and have a miniature battle. The player who rolled the larger number wins the battle. The loser is sent back home and the winner gets to move ahead. After playing the game a couple of times without using the cards - which is the simplest level of play with this game - my son asked to use the cards. So on Day 2 we began using the cards. Again he uses his imagination and does a great deal of role play as he carries out the instructions. It fills my heart with delight to see his excitement and to see that he has truly learned how to read numbers up to the thousands. (T.R. learned to read when he was 4 so he independently reads the dice and reads the cards.)

As a parent I highly recommend Dino Math Tracks because kids quickly learn a lot while having loads of fun. This game can be played at three levels, so it grows with your child.

My child loves this game! Each person has a single type of dinosaur in four different colors. Each color represents one of the placement values; Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands. The dinosaurs, as determined by roll of four dice, have to walk their color-coordinated path from start to finish. But look out! If an opponent lands on the same space, a die-rolling duel ensues, with the high-roller prevailing. This basic game is a lot of fun for young children. Then there are two decks of cards, one more advanced than the other, which enable the parameters of the game to expand with the child's developing math skills. My child and I can play on even ground - a rare trait in today's games. This comes highly recommended!

I was not too excited when my kids got an educational board game as a gift, but my kids took right to it and still ask to play it on a regular basis a year later. They have learned a lot, and I am buying this game as a gift for our school friends this year. My only gripe is that the numbers wore off the dice, since the kids played the game so much!

I bought this puzzle for Christmas for my two-year old niece. Not only did she learn how to put it together, but she loved it so much she would sleep with it at night! It has counting, colors, left, right, and a puzzle to boot.

The only negative was it arrived with a broken peg. A little super glue and it was as good as new. I would keep a close eye out for those pieces to break off as they would be choking hazards for little ones.

Toddlers are facinated by the peg puzzle, which allow for them to easily manipulate pieces. This puzzle has been a great gift providing a quiet and educational opportunity. This very durable puzzle with bright colors easily encourages play that leads to understanding left and right.

I have two years old bright twins that are into puzzles. They are a little too young for most floor puzzles and too bored with the common stand-along pieces puzzles. This puzzle is an excellent transition to a higher level puzzle solving. The pieces interact together to form a bigger image. There is a built in logic to their interaction my kids love to explore. The add-on values such as colors and numbers in the pictures under the pieces are very useful. I wish I could find more puzzles like this one.

This is a great family game. Young children can play this game as well as adults. My son who is four loves this game. It is a traditional game with a new look. Some of them are a little bit difficult in that the matches might have different backgrounds or be a silghtly different view of the same item. It makes you think.

We have enjoyed the books and now we enjoy the game. The pictures on the game look like they come right from the book.

I particularly like that this game will grow with my children. There are riddle cards that you can use in one type of game. And directions for other games as well.

Enjoy.

The game of memory is a great equalizer because little children are just as apt to remember where they saw the hidden images as older children or adults. This makes it great game for the whole family to play together. The images from the "I Spy" book illustrations are bright and creative. They don't match exactly- for instance, there might be two images of cats, but borrowed from different photographs in the I Spy books. So there is a bit more visual variety to spice things up. This is a much more attractive memory game than most, and would make an ideal gift for a child or family.

Hi! My name is Martine Redman and I'm the inventor of the I Spy™ Memory Game by Briarpatch. I've given this game to a lot of kids, and it's great to hear parents report back to me that the kids play it over and over. We've won a number of awards for it, including Parents Choice Gold Seal, the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Seal, Teacher's Choice, and many more. Best of all is the fun I have playing I Spy Memory Game with kids, who give the game the ultimate compliment, "Let's play it again!" Other award-winning Briarpatch games include the Goodnight Moon Game for ages 2 1/2 to 6, and the Maisy™ Game for ages 3-6. END

This has been a great purchase - more than worth the money. I had three kids in the local level National Geographic Spelling Bee. My 12 year old won and needed to prepare for the state test. We bought this Quantum Pad booklet and it has been a fun way to review information we already covered. It also helped her to learn the most important African countries which was the one area she was reluctant to even try to memorize. I sure wish we had bought this before the bee to help all the kids prepare, especially my reluctant learners.

The country's names and locations seem to be up to date within the past year or two.

Warning: this doesn't have ALL the countries of the world, just the well-known ones. It does cover all of the continents. If you want to learn the US and Europe in depth, the sampler booklet that came with the Quantum pad is much more detailed and useful.

My 4 year old son got this as a birthday gift. He quickly learned to identify many different countries and became a geography wiz!! He loved to show off his knowledge by quizzing our adult friends on where certain countries are located and then showing them on the map. It has been very educational for the entire family.

This is an awesome educational program. Full of information. Excellent tool for my children's homeschool education. Looking forward to more.

I umm and aahh about spending this sort of money on a train table and playboard for my children but after doing my homework I decided this is the one I would buy.

Other train tables I have seen in stores are often wonky and seem quite unstable - and this is after they've been played on in the stores. So after seeing poorer quality tables for similar prices I decided to save up for the Thomas branded one and this single sided playboard.

Yes, it's expensive, but as with any "brand", it's the name you are paying for. If you want a Thomas collection of trains and accessories you are going to have to pay. I'm just starting our collection and am buying the "Thomas" trains and buildings, but found a compatible generic track for less than half the price. I was lucky enough to get this playboard at almost half price at a after Christmas sale. It's worth waiting for sales and price comparing.

It's beautifully painted and when used with the table frame is extremely strong (although I wouldn't recommend standing on it).

It's up to you to spend to decide if you want to spend this sort of money but I see this as something I won't ever have to replace and it's something my son can keep for his children. Toys like this will last!

We just received this playboard a couple of days ago. My son loves it! He is almost 2 and really enjoys playing with all of his Thomas trains. This playboard makes playing more interesting. It arrived in fine condition...we didn't have the problem the other reviewer had. My son has a train table (not the Thomas one) and it fits perfectly. The playboard is a great addition to our Thomas the Tank Engine collection.

We have a collection of Thomas and Brio trains and track, and use this playboard on a table that we built. While it is impossible to actually construct track that stays on "dry land" (some of the playboard scenery is rivers etc) this background scenery does add to our enjoyment of the playing with trains. The whole family (ages 1 to 30-something) enjoys constructing new layouts.

This board can easily be damaged in transit. Our second attempt was successful. I advise you to order this well before you need it.

I love the trains to the Thomas the Train set. They are small enough for small hands to move along the tracks, but not small enough to pose a choking hazard. My eighteen month loves to play with this train because it is just his size. It's not to awkward for him to hold.

My son loves all of the Thomas toys, we started his set a year ago and have kept building on to it. He still plays with his engines almost everyday. Great toys that really last and are worth the extra you pay. We recently bought a Tomica brand Thomas toy and I ended up returning it that night (something I have never done) as I was so dissapointed in the quality.

Mike the Small Engine takes off with his friends Duck and Oliver to the Arlesdale Barrel Loader. He workes with his frinds Bert and Rex on the Arlesdale Brach Line. Mike and the rest of Thomas's Friends are really fun

In the stories Skarloey is a older engine whose parts get worn and he has to go to the works. His friend Rhenas is also old but they are both very useful. Just becasue he's old in the stories doesn't mean he has to be old with the wooden railway. A great buy and he's very durable also.

Skarloey is a small red tank engine. He and his friend Rheneas work on a small branch line. Skarloey has six wheels and a happy, smiling face. He's built strong for lots of fun play. Pick up Skarloey for your child. He'll make a fine addition to any Thomas set.

Skarloey is a wonderful engine. He is really old.he is almost 100 years. He is always very useful. His best friend who is Rheneas is about as old as Skarloey is. One day, before being mended, one of his springs snapped! The next thing his driver and fireman knew, he was crooked. He was sent away to be mended. When he got home from being mended, Rusty, who is a diesel, helped him off a truck. Then he went to the shed and Peter Sam who is an engine on his railway, talked to Skarloey about a new engine called Duncan. Duncan does rock and roll on the tracks. Skarloey asked Peter Sam questions like who is Duncan and is he useful. Peter Sam could answer every question Skarloey asked. I am afraid Peter Sam knew lots about Duncan although Duncan had been on the railway only for about a month. By Robert Spencer-Molloy

This tanker is good for kids who like to connect all of their trains. It also is fun to pull a train over the tracks. I like to use this one with the Fuel and Tar tankers because there all the same shape. I got this train eight years ago and it still works perfectly and it's in good condition. A great buy for your money.

This toy is great for kids! Also it's very durable.

Not only that, but it inspires them to drink milk. I was shocked right after I gave them this toy for the first time when they ASKED for milk...they hate milk!

So if you have milk problems with your kids, this is a must!

Not only is my son happy with this new Thomas the train piece i am happy as well! Its very well made just like all the other Thomas pieces and will be played with for years to come. Its toys like these i dont mind paying a little higher price for because i know they will last longer than 1 day worth of fun and as far as durability goes they will last a lifetime. Its fun to add to his little sodor town and i will continue to do so with Amazon because they offer competitve pricing! Thanks Amazon!

This is a good train. I wish I got the Toby with Thomas's Trackside Tunes. This train is great. I hope you might like this train

When my son, a Thomas fan since age 1.5, asks for a toy it is always an engine from the Thomas series. Toby is one of his favorite. Toby is a tram engine, one of the most good natured engines in the Thomas stories. While the toy does not have any interactive and fancy features, it gives my son the opportunity to relive his favorite Thomas stories.

For that reason, Toby and any of the other engines make excellent gifts to any 2+ year old.

Toby is a tram engine. There are a lot stories about him, like Toby sadly retired until one day Sir Tophem Hatt found that he is a very useful engine; Toby helped Mavis the little diesel out of trouble; Toby and Percy together made a kind joke at Thomas about the ghost train; etc. There is also a beautiful song about him. My three little children like him because he is very special. They often fight for the ownership. I wonder if I should buy two more of this. I do have five Thomas engines. But they still fight for the different facial expression. good toys!

I was a bit taken back by the price, but the durability that goes along with these products is worth it. I gave this to my two year-old-son and he has been playing with it non-stop. The crank is easy to use, even for your toddler. Worthy investment.

My four year old daughter particularly wanted this Thomas bridge because of its close resemblance to some of the bridges in the videos (unlike some of the new buildings). It is a particularly attractive addition to her set, but (and I regret to complain about a toy brand that has given my child so many hours of intensive play), after only a few uses the string that lifts the bridge is already giving way, causing the drawbridge to slip down after it's been raised. My child still plays with it, and always adds it to her latest set-ups, but the bridge stays down a lot nowadays out of frustration with this slipping.

Also, parents should note the bridge's lower course track connections are on both sides "female" - you may wish to buy an additional "male" track adapter pack if you (ie, your child) still can't resist this one, for ease of construction.

Durable, fun, and entertaining describe this neat little lifting bridge for the Thomas the Train (BRIO Compatiable) track layouts....I suggest this for kids 3 and up....under 3 may have trouble working the crank or understanding what to do....but they still have a blast running the trains over the bridge....this was the second bridge we added to our kid's set...and it has fast become a favorite....