Editorial Review

How can your kids make funky, practical art while learning all about everyone's favorite insects? Beeswax Candles & Bee-havior spreads the word about the little honeymakers and includes five brightly colored, 8-inch-by-8-inch sheets of their finest wax, ready for candle-making. The instructions are clear and simple while leaving room for creativity; the only parental supervision needed is in cutting the wicks (and lighting the finished products, of course--beeswax burns hot!). --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Great Craft
This book is a great introduction for making candles. While it is targeted towards kids, I had a lot of fun with it. I've been doing crafts for quite a while now, but this was my first candle making effort. The beeswax sheets were easy to use and the candles turned out better than I had hoped. If you are looking for an easy way to get into candle making or just want to make a few for gifts, this is a great way to get started.

Not a good idea
I bought this for my 10 year old daughter who is quite creative. These candles looked terrible when she completed the project. What a waste of money.

Natural & Educational
While I didn't get one for myself, I did give one to a dear aunt and her family and one to a dear friend in CA and they both love them. I have made my own beeswax candles and should buy one for myself. My friend liked learning about the bees and my Aunt Beverly said that they burned nicely.

Very hard to do for a 5 yr old
We purchased this for our 5 yr old daughter for christams. It was not easy for her to do. The wax was not easy to use...and did not stick together very well at all. I would not recomed it at all!!

Art plus fire -- creative, exciting, & child-friendly
I bought this for my 6-yr old boy's birthday. After a few minutes of my explaining the basic concept (wrap the wax around the wick) he quickly made several really neat candles. I have two other boys, 7-1/2 & 9, who loved it, and I'm planning to buy more. They all had so many ideas of how to make the candles--combines art with fire -- great combination! The candles burn clean and have a pleasant smell.

However, I'd love to find a cheaper source of colored beeswax. I can see this being a continuous source of enjoyment, and a great Bday present for other kids.

I don't recall learning much about bees from this kit, but I didn't read the couple of scraps of paper very thoroughly. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Every person in the world, it seems, has wanted to be a veterinarian at some point in their lives. This exhaustive pretend play vet set unfolds to reveal a full working animal doctor’s office complete with a vet figure, plus a foal, cat, dog, and calf to nurse back to health. Plenty of medical equipment is featured as well, including two x-ray plates, a medical bag, stethoscope, and a couple of chew toys for the dog (okay, that doesn’t really count as medical equipment but try telling that to the dog). The whole building folds up and can be easily toted around thanks to the built-in carrying handle. Three AAA batteries are required but not included. While the animals that come with the set are a nice way to get started, we liked that the vet’s office will be perfectly adaptable to the zillions of tiny plastic animals that most kids have drifting around their rooms. --Charlie Williams ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The best box of dinosaurs I've ever purchased!
This box of dinosaurs is great! My son and I play together with them for hours. He's learning what kind of diosaurs they are and you can see his imagination going wild every time he opens the box! The box is handy because you can take it with you wherever you feel like having some prehistoric fun. Not for kids under 3 as there are alot of small pieces. Definately a good buy for little ones that love dinosaurs!

FUN FUN FUN
THis toy was great, but basically the same as the Animal Planet Dinosaur playland. My son loved both of them. The other review here said it was just an empty box!!! Boy is she wrong. My box is packed full of fun dinosaurs! My 3 year old is in heaven!

Wonderful Box
My son has tons and tons of fun with the dino box. He stands on it, pushes it across the carpet, opens it up and looks for treasure, even hides in it. However he couldn't understand why, when he first opened it, there were no dinosaurs inside. I had to explain to him that it was just a dino box. He loves it anyways. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Dissapointed
I bought this for my son for his 4th birthday. I read a few reviews that had said it didn't work when it was opened but figured I would take my chances. My son had played with a different turbo twist game and really enjoyed it so I thought he would love it. I didn't realize it when he opened the toy, but when it is set on the loudest setting (which isn't very loud at all) the voice skips continuously and you cannot understand anything it says. He hardly uses it at all...

Arrived defective
I purchased this item in September as a Christmas present for my son. When it was opened last Christmas it didn't work, number dials don't respond and constantly responds as though dials are always set to 8 and 2. Inserting fresh batteries made no difference. If you purchase this product I would suggest opening it right away as the manufacturer warranty is good for only 3 months from the purchase date.

great!!
I bought this toy for my son who is going into the 1st grade, and he loves it. I wanted to get him excited about math because he was saying that math was his least favorite subject that it was boring. After just one day of playing with this toy he says that math is going to be his favorite subject this year.I am happy to have something that gets him excited about math, I never was and I do not want my trait passed onto him.

*~*~*EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL TOY*~*~*
My 5 and a half year old son just loves this. We bought it for him for Christmas and he loves it .....A lot of people say that it is loud but it really isn't it does have a volume control right beside the display of the number!

This is excellent for learning! He will be getting the subtraction one for his birthday in Feb.

Love it! Love it! Love it!
Repetition, repetition, repetition. Excellent! My daughter has learning challenges and LOVES this "toy." Although she has the addition facts down, she was having difficulty recalling them quickly. With this game she can play when she wants, miss some answers and still protect her "ego", jazz around the room "showing off" her skills, and have a great time. A bit of rythm, a little skippy tune, a friend to challenge and correct. Great idea! I haven't tried the add-on, but am considering purchasing it. Without the add-on it is self contained learning fun that helps improve skills and encourage additional learning. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Here’s a rare indoor toy that’s likely to make kids excited to get outside. The Star Theater II home planetarium can be used inside a darkened room to project a vast panorama of stars on the walls and ceilings. It comes equipped with an audio CD to guide budding astronomers through the learning process as well as a hand held "meteor maker" which allows you to reenact meteors without waiting around for decades to see them. We found the scientific information helpful, accurate, and, best of all, approachable for even novice stargazers. The kit can also be brought outside to illuminate (rather than project) and serve as a map to the heavens. --Charlie Williams ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Star Disappointment
I only wish I had read the other reviews before buying this useless bit of junk for my 8 year old son's birthday.<br /> <br /> Having rushed out in excitement to buy the five batteries required (not supplied - and as AAA's seem to come only in packs of four this was not cheap) the first problem was trying in vain to open the battery compartment on the wand. The screw is so small you need a specialist screwdriver.<br /> <br /> Never mind - we did manage to put the batteries into the Star Theatre itself.... lights off and .....<br /> <br /> ........ Surely we must have done something wrong? Some black blobs and blurred writing in a dark haze. Is that it? The only bright thing in the room was the light in the middle of the projector. Naively perhaps, we had expected to see something resembling stars (even if they were black instead of white).<br /> <br /> Do NOT buy this item unless you are ready for a huge disappointment.<br />

Save your money
I bought the Star Theater as a gift for my son, as he has displayed an interest in the stars and planets.

The directions indicated that the Star Theater would work best in a small room with light colored walls. The truth of the matter is that the room would need to be spherical to get a decent display of the stars. In a square or rectangular room, the projected image is so distorted that it is virtually worthless! To top it off, the light bulb burned out after only a couple of minutes of use. This was the worst gift that I bought all year.

If you have an interest in the stars and planets, I would recommend that you spend your money on a trip to a real planetarium. I have also found a number of web sites with star maps and a lot of interesting information that were free.

This toy was definitely a total waste of money!

Uncle Milton should be ashamed
As if it weren't bad enough that my daughter was in bed with the flu for Christmas but to then open up a complete piece of garbage just made matters worse. She had been learning about the solar system in school and took on a huge interest. Saw the star theater and thought it would be a perfect gift. WRONG! You can't see anything! I held the ball about 4ft away from the ceiling and we could just about make out the words.
Uncle Milton you should be ashamed!
Don't bother in investing in the National Geographic Telescope NG7036 either. Another hunk of junk. Can't see anything.
Left in the dark.

great for older beginners
OK, I bought this because I remembered having a planetarium visit as a child and I wanted to relive that a little. Yes, it does only project "black stars" onto the ceiling but for the price it is really all you could expect. the "stars" are correct and if you have low ceilings it is not so blurry. I was happy with it because I was only curious as to how a planetarium would work. If you want a more professional one you will have to pay maybe $100 more. It provides a good start for getting interested in astronomy. and is handy for taking outside to find stars in your area. I have not listened to the CD yet. (also I did not get mine from AMAZON I bought it localally)

Waste of money
I don't know if I set my expections too high or if this was just a piece of junk! I paid $45US for this else where and I wanted to kick myself in the rear!
Displays shadowy words and stars and the 'handheld comet maker' is even more crap!
(p.s use a palm pilot size screwdriver to open the battery door)
But the bottom line is I was extremely dispointed and unlike the rest of you I cannot return it because I didn't buy it from this site nor do I live in the US. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Fun but lacks durability
I bought this for my 3 1/2 year old who is really interested in the solar system. He loves playing with these toys and treats them well. However, they are made of a "model" type quality rather than a "play" type quality. The stickers easily slide off the pieces; which easily come apart. I was also disappointed that there was not any type of information page included to describe any of the space structures and what they are used for. The box is the most durable feature. Overall the quality and educational value is poor and could be improved, but my son still loves it.

good toy
I bought this set for my four year old son. For the price, I couldn't ask for a better toy. The pieces seem like they would break easily if a child was too rough on them. My favorite feature is the container. He has so many toys and no place to store them. The container makes clean up easy.

Poor quality
Poor quality - pieces do not fit well and are constantly falling apart. The most durable part is the container.

My 3 1/2 year old loves this toy.
I bought this toy at a museum store - for more money. I clicked on this toy see if it was really the same thing, but cheaper. Very solid and realistic pieces. ... Read more

Editorial Review

There are only seven pieces in this puzzle, so it should be easy. Right? Guess again! Sixty puzzle cards show 60 three-dimensional structures for players to replicate using the seven pieces. Each of the pieces, based on three or four connected cubes, is unique. One is an L shape, another a T, and they get more complicated from there. If a player is stumped and can't figure out how to build the Long Wall, the Snake, or the Bad Dog, there are helpful clues on the back of the cards. Players also can use the pieces to invent their own structures. Originally known as the Soma Cube, Block by Block is an excellent way to develop and refine spatial perception skills. Includes drawstring bag for storage. --Wendy Slotboom ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I played this 30 years ago and loved it.
once you start on this you're hooked! my friends and I worked on those puzzles when we were out at sea and the images and feel of the cubes remains with me to this day.

Wow this is hard!
For the ultimate challenge in spatial relations try out this game. It's like a three dimensional tangram and it is really tough. For a great time bring this to a party and work on the solutions as a group. Personally, I think 8 years old is probably a little young for this game. I'd suggest 12+ unless the children are teamed up with an adult. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Don't buy from Insect Lore
The Customer Service at this Company was terrible. The larvae were sent to the wrong person and then they refused to replace them. I was hung up on and just treated as though I owed them something. Buy something else if you don't want your child to be disappointed. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Great fun for all ages
All three of my boys (21 months-11 years) love this addition to our Leapfrog. The 4 and 11 year old have no problem putting in the mircophone. The both enjoy recording and then playing back and then rerecording and playing back again. The 21 month old moves the pen-when he hears a beep he chatters something. He can also get it to play back. I gave it 3 stars for durable because the baby ripped the pages out of the book.

Great Fun!
This product was loads of fun. My daughter loved hearing her own voice and making sounds in the book. We never had a problem with the microphone, just the pen when she decided to chew through the cord. No worries Leap Pad replaces them for 5 dollars!

GREAT IDEA GREAT GIFT
My 4 year old loves it and he has so much fun listening to his voice he plays with it everyday and it really helps him say it correctly and he tries to say everything he loves saying his name (TYLER) and it does sound like his name when it comes over the mic. great toy.

It disconnects constantly!
This one needs work. We tried, annd tried to make this microphone work, and it did-- for about a minute at a time. When it falls out you have to keep starting over again. We returned it. Too bad, it's a fantastic idea if it could only stay connected. Our leadpad works fine with the other books, it's just that the microphone on top of the cartridge makes this invention top heavy so that it won't stay in.

Great Addition to Leap Pad
This set is a great addition to the Leap pad books. My 4 year old has play with these books more than any other. He really likes the fact that he can hear his own voice. I think it will help him learn with out him knowing it. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great
Great toy, I us it every day. Great for wind, rainfall, and temp. Easy to setup and use.

Nice for budding scientists
My son got this for his 7th birthday. He loves everything having to do with science. There are a few different ways you can configure the components of the weather station - including temperature, wind direction, wind speed, rain gauge, etc. - but we have yet to find a way to connect EVERYTHING at the same time. It would be perfect if there was a way to attach all the devices at once. Also, the instructions state there are 7 connectors but there were only 6 in the plastic package.

best toy ever
I got this for my 9th birthday and you can see the temp indoors and outdoors. you can show how fast the wind is going. It can also show which way the wind is going. I loved the toy and liked putting eveything together.
Alexander ... Read more