LeapFrog LeapTop

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Last Christmas I bought The Boy a little 'laptop' from Early Learning Centre. At the time he wasn't really interested in it and it took him a few months to start playing with it. I think part of the problem was that it didn't look enough like mine (because he still kept trying to jab my keys mid blog-post!) and that really it had a handful of buttons that had limited functionality. I bought it on an impulse a few days before Christmas day and wish I'd thought it through.

Because for the same amount of money, I could have had this:

The LeapFrog LeapTop

It just looks better doesn't it? It appears to be more like a laptop with the keyboard and the little mouse on the side. The Boy is completely and utterly won over by it and for the first week after it arrived for review, he would come down for breakfast in the morning and demand to know where his laptop was before he would do anything else.

Prior to giving it to The Boy, it required some initial setup connected to my laptop and the Internet. There is an easily accessible USB port on the side of the screen (potentially this could have been located under the battery compartment cover as in the Tag Junior, as The Boy keeps trying to play with it). I easily downloaded the software from the LeapFrog website, picked The Boy's name from the list, and chose from the selection of 'e-mails' that are uploaded to the laptop to be read out by Scout. I was then also able to choose the classical music that I wanted played on the laptop, along with instrumental versions of nursery rhymes. This setup took approximately five-ten minutes and was easy to do. The LeapTop can be connected to the laptop to chart his 'progress' and this can be e-mailed to family members; ideal for grandparents, etc.

The Boy adores the personalised e-mails. The first time that he heard them, his eyes lit up with wonder and excitement and he started talking back to Scout. There are a few additional e-mails that are programmed in from the green dog himself (giving eight in total) and they help add to the variety. He's also very fond of the 'new blog entry' button. When I discovered that option I roared with laughter! I love that LeapFrog are ahead of the game here in recognising the importance and power of blogging. Whereas The Boy just likes to hear that Scout has been to the beach and made a sandcastle!

As the e-mails are read out, the text is displayed on the screen and The Boy chuckles at the pictures that come up alongside the blog entries. The screen is quite small in comparison to the surround which in the wrong light can make it difficult to see. However, The Boy pays a great deal of attention to the pictures that are displayed and absolutely adores the images of Scout dancing in the music section.

The 'mouse' on the side is a sliding button which switches between three modes for the keyboard: learning about animals and the sounds they make, the alphabet and phonics, and musical mode:

  • In animals mode (my favourite) when you press a letter it asks you a question about that animal which then is named. If you don't know, press the 'paw' button and it tells you the answer. We both like that game.
  • The musical game is a little basic or not suited to him at the moment (aged just 2); the first two rows are funny sounds, the bottom row is musical notes.
  • The 'abc' game involves pressing the letter, hearing the phoneme, then the letter name and an example word. As a teacher, I like that game a lot, although it's a tad too tricky for The Boy at the moment.

Why is the LeapFrog LeapTop so good?

  • The Boy thinks it's a proper laptop and leaves mine alone!
  • There are so many different games on it that it holds his attention for a good period of time
  • The games are a mix of educational and fun
  • Easily set up and personalised
  • The personalisation helps to make it more appealing to little ones
  • Good value for money
  • It uses British accents in 90% of the programming (I think that there must have been an error somewhere along the line as it states on the box that it uses British voices but on a few of the e-mails or blog entries, Scout's voice switched over to an American accent and then back to a British one).

Overall I think that this is the best little laptop around in this price bracket (£20) and will continue to aid The Boy's development for another year or two yet, supplementing and supporting his formal learning in the Foundation Phase.

This was provided as part of the Toys R Us Toyology review programme. However, our opinions are as always honest and fair.

AntiVirus: A TRU Review

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I get a lot of things to review, either for me or for The Boy. Nothing ever comes for daddy.

However, in the second box of toys from Toys R Us there was a game that I could see him eyeing up instantly. A logic puzzle. "Ha ha," thought I "that'll make him happy!"

Suitable for ages 8 years and over, The Anti Virus puzzle has 60 levels ranging from Starter to Wizard. It's a white, plastic base measuring 17.5 x 17.5 x 2cm, and has dimples in it in order to hold the different shaped and coloured game pieces. There is a very attractive, laminated instruction booklet with rules, puzzles and most importantly for me, the solutions! It also comes with a nifty zip-up travel case which is going to be handy next week on holiday.

I'm handing over to The Boy's daddy to tell you what he thinks. And trust me, this is a man obsessed.

"I've always been a fan of board games, whether classics such as Draughts and Solitare or more obscure games like Abalone. The idea of a game that takes 30 seconds to learn the rules of, but hours (or more) to learn how to play effectively, appeals to my curiosity.

So when the Boy's Mummy passed me Anti-Virus to try out, I was instantly intrigued. The game consists of nine differently-sized pieces, a booklet containing 60 setups (and, if you're a quitter, their solutions), and a simple task: move the pieces across the boardwithout rotating or lifting them, to allow the red "virus" piece to exit the game board.

At first glance, it resembles the game 'Parking Lot', but where the vehicles in that can only move one-way these pieces can move two ways. And with the setups covering five different difficulty levels, the complexity ramps up very quickly. Each setting up takes less than 30 seconds per level. But as I quickly discovered, whether you solve it in 10 seconds, or it takes you an hour, there is a definite "well, let's just take a quick look at the next level" factor. I admit it; I'm hooked."

Anti-Virus retails for £14.99 RRP. Keep an eye on the Toys R Us Facebook page for updates on availability.

FurReal: Cookie-Pie

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The Boy has a little problem with dogs, as I'm sure many toddlers do: they scare him. It's perfectly understandable as they are pretty much the same size and are unpredictable.

When we were sent the FurReal Cookie Pie (£69.99 RRP) to review for Toys R Us Toyologist programme I had a little 'eek' moment with anxiety. Cookie Pie is an electronic dog that responds to your voice and touch by moving her head, blinking and barking. She responds to your voice, touch and will even look around to you if you call from the left or right. The only moving part is her head and facial features, her legs can be posed so she either sits up or lies down. She 'eats' her bone and if 'tickled' on certain parts of her face then she responds.

Things seemed to be going well as The Boy was perfectly happy for Cookie to yap away inside the box. He actually thought it was quite funny and kept saying "huwwo doggy, how are you?".

That was until I got him out of the box. The Boy looked at him, said "huwwo doggy" (to which Cookie Pie barked at) and then promptly started shaking. The Boy, not the dog. Then the bottom lip came out and he started edging towards me and away from the very cute little dog panting and barking at him. He then climbed into my lap and buried his head in my shoulder. So Cookie Pie unfortunately went back into the box.

However, there are a couple of lessons that I have learnt from this situation.

  • The Boy is frightened of dogs and this is something that needs remedying carefully in order to prevent future issues. Hopefully Cookie Pie will help with this situation in the future. Maybe I'll leave the batteries out for a while.
  • Cookie Pie is realistic. 

This is good. This means that FurReal have got it right and have created an electronic barking and moving dog that persuades children into thinking it's a real one. Parents all over the nation can breathe a sigh of relief as they have a 'can-we-have-a-puppy?' solution that is easy and cheap. No need to take him for a walk, no little presents or puzzles on the carpet, no fleas, no pet insurance, no danger of it biting your child, etc. An easy solution that will pacify your children's desire for a pet for a few years!

It does molt though.

We were provided with this toy free for review purposes as part of the Toyologist scheme. My opinions are my own and honest.

Squishy-Squashed Potatoes: TRU Review

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If you watched the video of the opening of the first box of toys from TRU then you will have noticed that The Boy kept referring to paint and wanting to open it up. Meany old mummy wouldn't oblige at first, mainly because the item (which was actually a Play-Doh board game not paint) is aimed at children five years or above, and I therefore wanted to review it with his cousins.

The Play-Doh Smashed Potatoes board game is a really lovely game which is very easy to understand, and The Boy's cousins (Boy Cousin – 5, Girl Cousin – 8, Fiery Cousin – 5) picked up the rules very quickly. The board has a 'kitchen' in the centre with various ways of turning a 'potato' into another form and a route around the outside of this which the (up to) four players must complete in one piece in order to win. Each player makes their own playing piece from one of the four different colours of Play-Doh provided, and using the Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head mould.

They spin the arrow on the dial to decide how many spaces they move and move that amount. If the arrow stops on a potato symbol then they must move to the nearest section of the kitchen and squash their potato using that device. Following this, they remould it and start again.

All of the children wanted to play it, we just gave The Boy a potato-head mould and lump of Play-Doh and he was perfectly happy. Boy Cousin (5) really got into the game very quickly and wanted to complete it, Girl Cousin (8) was very interested too and was enjoying it, but Fiery Cousin (5) was getting demoralised with it, mainly because her potato kept having to be squished. This is the element that might need to adapt depending upon the ages of your children; the five year olds weren't happy to have to keep making their potatoes. Another minor, and I mean minor, irritation is that the blue 'kitchen' insert kept sliding around while we were trying to use it and the scissors occasionally popped out of the guide on the cutting device.

The children said: "I like this game because it's delicious" (Boy Cousin was having a mad moment), "I like the mashing", "Chopping potatoes is fun", "The Play-Doh is nice and squidgy, it's easy to make the pieces."

Generally a good game, I personally feel it's suited to 6+ years due to the fiddly nature of the squashing, but that depends entirely on your child's skills.

Play-Doh Smashed Potatoes board game is priced at £24.99 and launches this month in Toys R Us stores.

Old MacDonald Lotto: TRU Review

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When we opened the first box of toys to review, I was absolutely delighted to find an Orchard Toys game in there. I am incredibly fond of the marvellous learning resources that they produce. We were lucky enough to be sent the Old MacDonald Lotto which is a stunningly attractive and traditional game.

Here's the blurb: Old MacDonald Lotto is aimed at 2-6 year olds and is for 2-4 players. It contains 4 bingo board and 28 cards which feature various animals, objects and people that can be found on the farm. The game is played in the traditional cards-face-down manner, with the added twist that in order to gain that card the player has to make the noise to go with that animal or object. If they don't have that card then they show it to the other players and then return it to the table.

  • reinforces object matching skills
  • encourages observation and memory skills
  • develops social communication
  • links with Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum Key Stage One

Obviously, The Boy is a little too young to remember where the cards are, especially face down, so we adapted the game. This is one of the features that I like about Orchard Toys games; you can adapt them to suit the needs of your child.

We played as a simple matching game with the cards face up. We had a fantastic time and The Boy learnt some new vocabulary through it as well. And of course we definitely made animal sounds!

This is a definite winner with us; I love the bright and attractive designs of Orchard Toys, the simple and traditional games, the sturdiness of the packaging and play equipment.

Old MacDonald Lotto is available from Toys R Us priced at £9.99.

I was sent this free of charge for review purposes, however my opinions are as always honest.

The ToyBox has Landed

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Being a Toyologist isn't all about playing with toys you know.

Well ok, it is 90% of it.

However, when The Boyhas gone to bed out comes the laptop and camera to upload all the photos and videos taken of him playing with the toys. I find myself sitting and playing with him, and more and more I am thinking "hang on a minute, let me just grab the camera because that would make a great shot… oh damn, you've moved!" After dark is when the brain starts whirring away to write up the reviews of these lovely toys.

Now obviously, my reviews sit here on my blog under this page. However, the rather clever Geoffrey Giraffe has come up with the idea to create a Facebook application which allows all of us Toyologists to post our reviews into one central resource. The idea is that it makes it far easier for everyone to access our reviews and therefore know an honest opinion of the toys before buying. It's calledthe Toys R Us Toy Box and as you can see it provides the ability to be nosey and find out who we all are, and browse the product reviews. I think it's a really rather useful resource and it can be found by clicking here.

Water Wheel: TRU Review

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With the sun blazing in the sky today, it feels appropriate to post this review of the Step2 Water Wheel Play Table.

This item came separately to the main box of products to review, and thankfully after The Boy's birthday because we had actually give him the Step2 Sand and Water table as his present! He was absolutely beside himself as daddy opened up the packaging to the Water Wheel Table, he really was desperate to get into it and tried to help as much as possible.

As with many of the Step2 products, assembly is extremely easy; the three sturdy legs just push up into the holes and click into place. That is the biggest bit of assembly required! The water wheel table (suitable for 1year +) is a large round table which sits very nicely at waist height (for my two year old) off the ground. It isn't height adjustable, however what I would say is that Boy Cousin plays with it alonside The Boy, and he is five and very tall. I also think that for younger or shorter children, you could remove the legs and have them sit on the floor to play with it.

Accesories that come with the table include a water wheel (obviously!), a blue cup that rests on the top of the water wheel to control the flow of water, a pouring cup and two small plastic sailboats. It is bright and colourful and very attractive. The water play area consists of two pools of water, one higher than the other, and they are connected together on one side by a slope which the boats can travel down. The water wheel is on the opposite side to the ramp so in theory a boat can be placed on the top pool, water poured into the water wheel and then the boat travels down the slope.

I've tried the table out now for the last three weeks with a variety of children; Boy Cousin, The Boy, Fiery Girl Cousin and my baby and toddler group. These children have ranged in age from just 1 year old to 5 years old. All have loved playing with it and have gravitated towards such a simple toy. This is an excellent recommendation by itself.

There are a couple of small points to make about the Water Wheel Play Table:

  • The 1 year old boy who played with it had great difficulty not knocking the water wheel out of position; it rests in place and really could do with a clip or catch of some sort to prevent it from coming out of place.
  • The boats take on water incredibly easily and capsize. They also don't flow down the ramp easily because the top of the ramp is a little bit too high for them to glide over, unless you fill the table to capacity.
  • Filling the table to capacity will make it extremely difficult to empty because there is no plug! As I've mentioned, we' ve got the Step2 sand and water table and there are plugs in both halves. This makes it easy to collect the water in a bucket and dispose of in a responsible and environmentally friendly manner. Emptying the Water Wheel Table is tricky and invariably wastes water.
  • There is no cover, which is something that Step2 supply on other products. This means that the toys need removing over night, and the table can get quite dirty.

These things would make the Step2 Water Wheel Table a '10/10', and easier for parents to use with their children. As it is at the moment, I'd give it a '8/10'. Initially I'd have said a '7', but The Boy has not stopped playing with it, so I'll be generous!

 


 

The Step2 Water Wheel Play Table is available from Toys R Us at the moment of the bargain price of £34.99 (was £44.99) and is suitable for children 1 years old +.

We were provided with this product for review purposes. Our opinions are honest and our own.

Sticky Stuff: TRU Review

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As a teacher, I deal with a lot of stickers: 10/10 for spellings, Good Homework, Positive Playground Behaviour, etc. The Boy hasn't really come across stickers very much so far. However, when we went to a birthday party three weeks ago he was given some in his party bag. Then the first box from Toys R Us for review arrived and there was a Melissa and Doug Sticker Collection inside. He was delighted.

In the large sticker book (14"x11") there are ten themed pages. These ten pages are crammed full of over 500 stickers! 500! That's an awful lot of "Mummy, help! Sticky off!"

The Melissa and Doug stickers are really lovely illustrations; bright and vibrant colours, good representations of the images that they portray. The Boy hasn't played with all of the pages yet; he is very fond of the dinosaur page, and the cars as well.

The theory behind the themed pages is that they can be used to create a picture or tell a story. For an older child, I can see that they would be of great use and provide hours of entertainment. The stickers are aimed at children aged 3 and over, The Boy is two and so isn't able to play with them independently.

I actually feel that these stickers would be better suited to a child who is four or possibly five years because they are so lovely it is almost a waste to use them on younger children who can't use their imagination properly to fully appreciate these stickers. Older children will also be able to create their own backgrounds to use the themed stickers on, but for younger children I feel that there could have been backgrounds provided which would make it easier for them to use, possibly laminated to allow the stickers to be reused.

Overall, the Melissa and Doug Sticker Collection is one of the better sticker sets that I've seen (and I've seen a lot!) and reasonably priced at £4.99. These are not currently available at Toys R Us, either online or in store, but they will hopefully soon be included in the wide range of toys they stock.

TRU Review: These Aren't Just Any Crayons…

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Last week, we took delivery of our first parcel from Toys R Us as part of the Toyologist programme. The Boy and I ripped it open excitedly and found a whole host of lovely products inside to review. The item that he kept going back to time and time again, and was most insistent that I open was a pack of crayons. I know! Crayons, I ask you.

However, these aren't just crayons, these are Melissa & Doug crayons.

Aren't they pretty? And look at the lovely hard-wearing case that they come in!

(I will say though that luckily, the pack we received had the colours arranged like a spectrum which pleased my OCD tendencies. The picture above disturbs me slightly).

Now I don't want you thinking that I am a crayon snob (because I'm not), but there are an awful lot of rubbish colouring implements out there: luckily these are not them. The Melissa & Doug crayons are really good quality, partly because of the fact that they are made of plastic, not wax, which makes them very durable. The colours are bold and the lines that come from them are fine and even (trust me, I rant in school about children's inability to colour properly, poor materials do not help them).

Using my teacher-head here, not only am I impressed with the materials that the crayons are made from, but also the shape of them as they are triangular. In the marketing blurb it talk about how this is good because they don't roll-away and this is true; however for me I can see that they promote the correct grip.

Accompanying the crayons was the Melissa & Doug Jumbo Colouring Pad. I really like this pad because each of the fifty sheets has a large picture drawn on it. Not cartoon-style drawings, which annoy me because they don't resemble the real-life images, but proper representations in decent outlines. They also are only printed on only one side so that if your child, unlike The Boy, did a super job of colouring in and you wanted to display it, you can! The paper is really good quality, doesn't crumple or rip while they are colouring, and it tears from the pad really easily.

The Boy got straight in there!

We had The Boy's cousins over on the weekend and this is what happened:


 

Girl Cousin said she liked them because "they are like pens so it makes you try harder". Boy Cousin said, "they are funny shaped, I like them". Fiery Girl Cousin said, "they feel nice to use and I like the colours." The Boy said, "colour this, YES!"

There you go: out of the mouths of babes!

The crayons come in a pack of 24 and are priced at £4.99, the same price as the jumbo colouring pad.

I was provided with these items free of charge as part of the Toys R Us Toyologist programme and for review purposes. My opinions are my own and honest, as always.