Reviews (5)

Its a shame....
...this is nothing like the Spirograph I grew up playing with. As everyone else mentioned, the gears are much too thin and slip constantly. My 6 year old son was completely frustrated after wrestling with the design flaws. Don't waste your money!!

Don't waste your money!!!
Bought this for my granddaughter's birthday and am very disappointed with it. Very difficult even for an adult to succesfully use so it is impossible for a child. The gears are too thin, the design is poor, and it is cheap-cheap-cheap (not in a good way). Twenty years ago when my daughter played with one it was a source of hours of satisfying play. Not anymore! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!

Earlier model was better!
My sister had this when we were little and remembering the fun she and I both had with it, I bought it for my son. I am very disappointed with it!! The template does not fit flush with the table surface and therefore does not securely hold the paper. In addition, the gears are too thin and keep slipping under the template, ruining the design. My son found this very frustrating as it ruined picture after picture and it is very difficult to move the gears and hold the template down at the same time. I gave the durability factor a poor rating as the material is just cheap plastic that will definitely not last long. This is definitely a case of where the old adage that says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" should have been followed!! The earlier design, though not perfect, was much better and much less frustrating! Save your money and buy something else!

OK, but with a really dumb design flaw
This would be a nice toy if not for one serious design flaw.
The flaw is that the gears supplied are too thin and easily
slide under the main unit ruining a drawing. This happens if
you don't push down hard on the main unit or use a perfectly
flat, hard surface. The solution would
be simple for Hasbro to fix this. Simply make the gears that
mesh at the teeth the same thickness. This would require a flat
side and a side with a depression. This would still allow for
the pen to have a thin section to poke through. Alternately,
a tapered opening could be used for the pen tip and the gear
disk all the same thickness. But a gear that has the same
thickness as the main unit would prevent the gears from slipping
under the unit. This is a no brainer fix, but it's doubtful
that Hasbro will fix it. So don't buy any more until they do.

Not like the Spirograph I grew up with
The idea is the same which is great; however, you have to literally hold the template down while your child is making the design. Otherwise, the gear keeps sliding under the template. My 6-year-old (who just got this) was getting extremely frustrated & was almost in tears saying she's not a baby while I held down the template. We finally just put it away for a bit & she's not showing any interest in trying again. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Why have a bedroom when you can sleep in the whole universe?The Night Sky Box contains more than 700 colorful planets and glowingyellow stars, plus a solar system mobile--all of the raw materials toconstruct your own heavens. The majority of the stars are definitelylow magnitude (about 0.38 inches across) but some stars and the planetsmeasure 1 inch across. The earth and moon are 7.5 inches across andlook spooky and cool when they glow. If you want to get scientificabout it, constellation charts are included; but you may have more funand less frustration making it up. (If anyone tries to get critical ofyour star placement, just say: "Listen, Earthling, this is exactly whatthe sky looks like from my home star in Andromeda.") --RichardFarr ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Mediocre -- there are better ones
I got 3 of these solar system things at once for our five year old who's into it right now. They were roughly same price. This was the least impressive of the 3. The 2D shapes and chinsey mobile hanger make it a 2nd rate solution. I'd go for the 3D balls instead.

Glowing Planets abound!
I bought this kit in addition to the Glow-in-the-Dark Star Explosions and had a great time turning my grandchildren's room into the solar system.
These planets look great when they are glowing in the dark and are true to their actual size proportion and color. My grandson used an additional set for a school science project, taping the planets onto a black board in their actual order from the sun, so these are good for other ideas besides decorating a room. ... Read more

Features

• 134-piece set
• Wooden pieces
• Pieces attach to board with magnets

Reviews (8)

This has been a great learning tool for my 4-year old!!
We recently purchased this responsibility chart and it has been a great resource!! My 4-year old has been spending a lot of time whining and being unwilling to pick up her toys. We decided to give this a try and it has been wonderful. She runs into our room each morning and exclaims, "I made my bed- can a put a magnet on my chart?" The chart provids positive reinforcement for all types of behaviors. I especially like the magnets that focus on problem behaviors such as hitting and whining. The chart is durable, simple to use and understand, and very child focused. I have been recommending this chart to friends and family!! Another great piece by "Melissa and Doug"!!

A Responsibility chart
These are shaped round, square and oblong. Some have seven magnets with others being fourteen. The hearts and flowers are only seven, but the balloons and stars are fourteen, to offer an idea of which ones have less available, for whatever reason. There are nine rows in the Lights Camera Interaction Magnetic Responsibility Chart. There are twenty-five options for these nine rows. I initially placed what I wanted my son to succeed at on a weekly basis, and after one week he changed some of them and added a few that he preferred.

This has made a world of difference in the disposition of my son. He now goes out of his way to say please and thank you, plus is folding his clothing that goes in drawers. We chose to hang our Lights Camera Interaction Magnetic Responsibility Chart on a wall in the kitchen.

The magnetic pieces move about easily on the board and when you move the whole board and carry it with the green rope that is used to hang, they don't move from their space. There are times that when we remove one that it drops to the floor.

Great for my three year old
I purchased this board to help us get my daughter to brush her teeth every day and go to bed without fuss. It's been working great and she loves getting her magnets each evening.

I've always been impressed with the quality of items from Lights, Camera, Interaction, and this item isn't any different.

great chart
This responsibility chart works great with my ten year old daughter. We used a wooden chore wheel for the longest time, but were not able to find another one when it finally broke. This chart is even better because we can use it to figure out her allowance. she has five goals a day, six on Saturday, and each goal is worth 25 cents, so she can make up to $9.00/week. We plan to buy another chart for our four year old since he's going to start doing chores this summer. This chart would be great for children under 13. There are tons of goals to choose from and you can make your own.

Much easier than the sticker system!
This is so much easier thank making a sticker chart and no MESS! I was able to get the kids organized easily and they enjoy doing there chores and getting a smiley face etc. Thanks ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A waste of time.
My 3 1/2 year old picked this out for himself in the store. So for a couple of bucks I figured OK. Within 3 days he had all the pages out of the spiral loop. I put it back together just for him to take it apart again & again. I think they should make it so the pages can't come off. He did like to scribble on it, but I got sick of finding pages all over the house & finally threw it out.

spongebob buyer
I bought this for my 3 year old son for a long road trip. He really enjoyed it. It wipes clean without water so it's pretty convieniant. My son tends to take things apart quickly but we've had this for 3 months and it's still in 1 piece. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Matisse and Jacob Lawrence--famous for their nature and urban scenes--had to start somewhere. Almost with that in mind, this on-the-go art set is portable and offers several mediums, to inspire creativity indoors or out. It contains a variety of supplies for beginners: six color pencils, 12 fat markers, 12 oil pastel sticks, 12 pieces of colored chalk, and a paint sponge that doubles as an eraser. It slides, lifts, or folds out to let kids draw, use it as an easel, play with chalk, or even create a dry-erase board. The set does not include paper, paints, or brushes, but has room for them in its storage compartment. It's all nontoxic, but kids over 3 years old are still the best artists for this set. Though neater than paint, the chalk and pastels can still prove messy. Toddlers may also want to taste the pretty colors, which come in sticks that look a bit like candy. --Diane Beall ... Read more

Reviews (80)

Great for older children!!
I bought this for my 1 year old nephew for his birthday! I, myself, have a 3 year old and 5 year old. While, my nephew enjoys the music right now and really can't put to use the rest of it, my children loved it! I had to remind them, that the toy was not theirs. We kept it lying flat, didn't use the easle. It occupied them for a long time! They would press the musical note and when the music would stop, it was the other's turn. It taught them the concept of taking turns and sharing. They really enjoyed 'drawing' and squishing the 'paint' around. And, of course, I enjoyed clean-up later, as there was no clean-up. While it's rated for younger children, I feel that it's more appropriate for older children. Of course, I'd cut the age off at 5, as my son is quite intelligent, and although it was something new, he would much rather prefer the real thing. On the other hand, my 3 year old, well, it's more appropriate!

Still A Dud After Almost 2 Years
We got this for my twins shortly after they turned 1. My daughter has never shown much interest in it. My son liked to push the button that made the music play, and would sometimes stand on the blue surface, which would also make the music play. Neither child has really used it much for "fingerpainting," and this toy is really not up to the task. The mushy blue surface just doesn't work that well for drawing. I tried showing my kids how to use the plastic pieces to create shapes on the screen, but it still didn't seem to capture their imagination. The kids are almost 3 now, and still don't play with it. My son long ago lost interest in pressing the music button, and now it's just a big, heavy, unused toy taking up space on the toy shelf.

Also, the stand on the back is flimsy, and after repeatedly falling off, we just took it off, and tried using the toy laying flat. I thought this toy looked really cool when I bought it, alas, the kids just never really got interested in it.

For what its worth, other moms in my twins club seemed to have the same disappointments with their kids.

I see a lot of these being unloaded at yard sales these days.

Waste of money
This toy plays fun calypso music, but that's the only good thing about it. You have to press really hard to "fingerpaint" on the screen, and my toddlers were not able to do it. They played with the shapes that accompanied the toy, but would just ignore the rest of it.

Great musical toy, but what easel?
My daughter received this as a gift when she was approx. 7 months old. She loved it from the get-go. The music entertained her from the beginning and she still dances whenever she hears it. At first she just watched while Momma drew on the colorful screen and made the music, but now at 1 year she can press down hard enough to make color and make music. She also likes to move the bar back and forth to clear my artwork - although it does take considerably more than one pass - but she doesn't mind at all. She even puts her little feet on it and does a little tap-dance to hear her music. Her dad and I love to see her shaking her little behind and bobbing her head to the tropical tunes. Just one question: What easel? Mine didn't come with one. I took it out of the packaging myself and never noticed the cut-out shape until just a few moments ago when I ran to her room to check it out after reading a few reviews. That is a minor point, though. Even if your child doesn't have the strength to make a colorful musical mark yet, she will get plenty of fun out of watching you do it, and she'll learn from you as well.

Couldn't agree more...
I thought this toy would be great for my then 18 month-old. The screen is too difficult to "draw" on with tiny hands and even with the tools. The music is slightly annoying, too. I, too, am selling it at a yard sale. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Fans of pint-sized Latina adventurer Dora the Explorer can sketch out their own maps on this erasable doodle pad. The pad comes with a magnetic crayon and four magnetic shape stampers—a triangle, square, circle, and arrow—to make fun pictures, practice spelling in English or Spanish, or help Dora map out a new adventure. A sliding eraser beneath the screen in the shape of the show's sneaky fox Swiper wipes the slate clean for new drawings. Kids will also recognize Dora waving from the top of the doodler and The Map posing to the left of the screen. This magic draw is a great stationary and mess-free activity for car or plane travel. --Cristina Vaamonde ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Wonderful Toy!
My daughter got this at Christmas so about 6 months ago. She LOVES this toy. She makes maps with it, draws on it and so forth. We take it in the car and she has a grand time. My daughter was 2.5 when we got it. It's put up with a fair amount of abuse and still keeps going. She is always drawing, and telling me about what she draws. Her drawings are actually getting better, her imagination has run wild, and her verbal skills from telling me about her drawings has improved. My only complaint is that it came with a few little shape stamps that got lost almost immediately. beyond that it is wonderful!

Disappointed - Magna Doodle much better
I purchased this as a gift for my daughter's second Birthday. I am returning it. We opened it up and I was highly disappointed, the quality is awful. It does not erase very well, Swipper doesn't do a very good job.

My daughter has had a Magna Doodle for several months, much nice than this product. Go with the Magna Doodle.

cute but disappointing
I bought this for my daughter 3 days ago and she never let it out of her sight. Last night she stepped on it and I noticed the drawing board became wet. It smelled like paint remover? Needless to say we threw it out. I do not understand why there is liquid inside? We bought one at the [...]store that she has been drawing on and jumping on every day since Christmas and this never happened. I would not reccomend buying this for a toddler who may throw it around... I hope the bad smelling stuff isn't toxic.

My Cousin Kimberly Loves It!
My cousin got this for her birthday and loves it. It is so good we made up our own Radio show called Dora The Explorer!
Buy this toy Today!

Poor Quality
Does not hold up very well as others have indicated. It stopped erasing and the screen cracked. We ended up throwing it away and buying a Magna Doodle (much better) ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Bought 4 and need more!!!
I run a pre-school, and I've already bought 4 of these cases. The girls can't get enough. This activity keeps them engaged, stimulated and makes them use their creative sides. I will probably end up buying more very soon.

BEST BUY for MY PRINCESS
My neice is obsessed with all of the Disney Princess characters, and she is also very interested in art, drawing, coloring. This purchase was a no-brainer. She loves it, and now insists on rolling the case everywhere--day care, church, even the grocery store. I am now the favorite Aunt. All parties are pleased. I would recommend this toy to anyone.

NEVER GET IT!!!!!!! It only........
ALL IT DOES IS SHOW CHILDREN HOW TO HURT THEIR FINGERS!. I gave this art kit to my daughter after she seen it at the toy store. The day we got it I heard a really loud scream... My daughter was sitting on her floor screamming as she was tring to get her fingers out of it! We had to bring her to the urgent care for children and had to get 4 stiches on her finger. ... Read more

Editorial Review

What preschooler could resist a Playdoh set complete with monsters, an erupting volcano and boulder bowling? This imaginative deserted island playset includes four 2-oz. cans of colorful Play-Doh compound, three plastic "customizable" Doh-Doh monster characters, a deserted island, a plastic volcano that oozes dough thanks to a lava plunger, a palm tree complete with a trunk that also doubles as a roller and even a tiki torch trimmer knife. Just imagine the adventures.--Deb Oroszlan ... Read more

Reviews (13)

toy and video are worth playing and watching
The toy was really great.Here's what it featured:
*3 characters -Mot(the yellow doh doh),Zlok (the blue doh doh) & Twango (the green doh doh)
*Doh Doh Island Tiki bowl set
* 3 2 oz play dohs
* MOld for tiki pins & bowl
* Bonus VHS Tape:Doh Doh Island Adventures Volume 1
If you like this playset,buy the Tiki Tu (Red doh doh) or Twiki(Pink doh doh) figures wich are sold seperately or the Doh doh Island:Skishketballplayset which was the more recent doh doh playset.I sure wish there would be a Flango character figure(the turquise doh doh).You know,Flango was actually a character from the video.I mentioned there was a bonus video.THe video featured 6 episodes:
*"Birthdoh Cake" wher MOt has a birthday and Twango and Zlok argue over who's making the cake.So the two bakers bring both of the cakes to the birthday and Mot ruins the cakes because he likes to jump so much.So everyone tastes the cakes and they like 'em together.
*"Happy Doh Lucky" where Flango finds a bad luck sign-the diamond dohstone so Mot and Zlok bring it back to the cave.But they lose it when they see a snake and Flango has the doh stone which was really a toy ducky.
*"Hip Hip hair-ay"where Twiki was starting to use Compound X instead of Doh Doh Hair Compound for Doh doh hair and uses them improperly.
*"Yo Ho Do" where Twango,Zlok and Mot are finding treausure and found it in Twiki's spetunias and it was Tiki Tu's treasure doh.
*"Video Doh Doh" where Flango is at the VIdeo arcade and is not very good at smashng Tikis.But when he sees a differnt point of himself he starts being good at it.
Well,I forgot the name of the lastepisode but in that episode,Mot wants to win the Tiki Bowl tournament but he can't hit the pins.So a splattasauras egg rolls by and Mot thinks its a bowling ball.Then he finds egg bowling ball and wins.
Great product for preschoolers.The video is worth watching and the playset is worth playing with.Too bad Doh Doh Island Adventures Volume 1 (2003) is not available on DVD.It's not even available in rental stores.THank You!

Doh Doh Island
What fun you will have playing with your little one at Doh Doh Island. The PlayDoh characters are so funny looking you can't help but burst out laughing. My only suggession would be to use some of the other playdoh you may have around, the more colors the more fun.

Doh Doh Island Is A Big Hit
My 6 year old son received this for a Christmas gift and he absolutely loves it. His came with the vidoe which he watches all of the time. I would recommend this for any playdough fan and my son is looking forward to the new Doh Doh Island set comming out on 2/15.

Excellent toy!!!!
My child has watched the video that came free with the playset over 50 times now! She sits there watching the movie and plays with the playdoh at the same time. I like how the Doh Doh's have big openings for easy cleaning. I recommend this toy highly for any child 3years and up!

Loving island living
My 5-year old son LOVES this toy more than anything else he received for the holidays. The monsters extrude hair, tongues, and various body parts - perfect for a boy interested in all things squishy. One of the best play doh sets ever; it has the hazards of any play doh activity - lots of little bits of gunk on the floor, but a low-priced afternoon (or month) of fun is well worth a lottle bit of vacuuming in my book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Ever since Play-Doh was first invented, children everywhere have enjoyed creating their own treats with the colorful modeling clay. Now young chefs can take their imaginative culinary play to another level with this George Foreman Grill. The battery-powered grill features simulated sizzling noises when you press down on the bottom side of the grill, and doubles as an easy-to-use mold for pressing miniature burgers, chops, chicken legs, and fish. Along with the authentic looking grill, the play set comes with three two-ounce cans and one five-ounce can of colored Play-Doh, two grill surfaces, a two-sided grease catcher and veggie mold, an extruder rail and one plate. Adult assembly is required, and although three AA batteries are included, you'll need a Phillips screwdriver to replace them. --Chris Burns ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Perfect for a 3 year old!
I sent this to my 3 year old nephew in NY, and my sister in law called to say it was absolutely adorable! My nephew was cooking burgers and dogs while the grill made the sizzling sound that he just could not get enough of. If you are a playdoe lover, as well as the kind of kid who likes to pretend to grill or cook, what an wonderful combination!! I highly recommend this toy! It has a great price too!

Good additon to my daughter' kitchen
This toy is a lot of fun, especially since coming from George Forman and we already have his grill (a real one). So now my daughter can do the same things her mother does on the same kind of grill. Basically it's the best play-doh toy we had (and we had quite a few).

Fun for hours!
Our 12 year old daughter bought this toy for her sister Michelle's 3rd birthday. Michelle couldn't wait to get at it and was more excited about the play-doh than the Powertouch I had bought her.

The sizzling sound that it makes is very realistic. I find myself pressing it down just to hear it. The molds are pretty cool and actually look like food. The mold that contains the chicken leg, steak, hamburger and fish is the flip side of the upper grill part. There's a mold on the bottom grill part too. The only problem I have with this toy so far is that the grill mold is hard to get on and off. So whenever my daughter needs to put the grill piece back on, she calls me in to do this. I suppose it will get easier with time, but it was very difficult for even me or my husband to put back on.

My 12 year old discovered the part that "extrudes" the french fries, etc. If you place play-doh in the hinge part of the grill, and you slide the spatula in a particular way on the back of the unit, then the fries come out. I would never have thought about this as it's not in the "instruction" sheet and certainly Michelle would not have figured it out. My other daughter looked at the box and saw how the spatula fit into the back of the griller. My advice would be to definitely look at the pictures on the box to see what else the toy can do. Oh, and it's sort of hard to clean the hinge part after extruding the play-doh.

Also, the top of the unit contains molds for hot dog buns and hamburger buns. Very similar to the real GF grills that warm buns. This part of the unit just sort of "hangs" there, there is no latch to connect it to the upper grill part. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's not that big of a problem. It just gets banged on the table quite a bit since 3 year-olds sometimes don't know the meaning of "gently." No worse for wear.

I gave 3 stars for durability, simply because we haven't had it long enough to determine its durability. I gave 1 star for educational value because I really don't know if it is educational. I suppose there's something kids could learn from it, but basically it's just a fun toy.

If your child likes play-doh and pretending to cook, he or she will absolutely love this item!

We love this toy!
My daughters played with this toy at a friend's house for two hours, literally! They had fun taking our dinner order and then "grilling" us our meals. I recommend this toy. ... Read more