Editorial Review

Raise the roof with Dora the Explorer! This huge dollhouse not only talks--it's bilingual! Unfold the sturdy plastic house to reveal several rooms, plus a second story upstairs. Press the picture frame to hear Dora talk about her family, or open the fridge to hear about how hungry she is. Six different accessories can be manipulated to produce more than 20 phrases or songs in both English and Spanish. The house is only partially furnished with built-in kitchen appliances and table, boom box and picture in living room, phone on one wall, mirror in bathroom, and miscellaneous illustrations of shelves in the bedrooms. Dora, her Mama, her Papi, and their couch are included. Also, this Toys "R" Us exclusive version comes with three bonus figures--Diego, Boots, and Swiper. Additional accessories and furniture must be purchased separately. Still, from the ringing doorbell to the oven that lights up and talks, la casa de Dora es espléndida. When open, the house is three feet wide by one and a half feet tall. --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Editorial Review

Guess what! Dora the Explorer has jumped on the royal bandwagon! This intrepid explorer is now a fairy tale princess with magical hair that grows when the jewel in her crown is pressed with a wand. Dora talks and sings, too, in both English and Spanish: "Vamanos! Let's go to fairytale land! Will you brush my hair?" The 14-inch-tall plastic doll is not designed to be cuddled so much as played with and groomed. She is attired in a satiny yellow gown trimmed in pink and purple, and has a brush, barrettes, and magic wand. The magical tresses emerging from the hair-growing tube are quite realistic, although grownups, at least, might be a little unnerved at the sleek brown hair oozing in and out of Dora's head. Still, children are experts at suspending disbelief and accepting weirdness in the world, so they probably won't mind a bit. Four AA batteries required (included). --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Reviews (22)

GREAT GAME!
Our daughter, Mary, age 4, received the Leapster system and the Dora game for her birthday in June, and she absolutely LOVES them. They are great learning tools, but they are fun as well. We already had to replace the batteries, so I can't wait for the rechargable battery thing to be available in stores!

2-1/2 year old son zooms through level 1.
The 3 year old listed by LeapFrog is accurate. Our son was zooming through level 1 at 2-1/2 years old. Maybe our son is above average. Haha.

The Leapster products are AWESOME!

Thanks, Brett

Cute, a must for your Dora Fan!
This is a good cartridge if your child likes Dora the Explorer. My 4 year old son loves the show, so he really wanted this for his Leapster. I have liked all the cartridges so far, and I will keep buying them for him. The Leapster is a great idea for young children.

Great Game
My 4 year old GRandddaughter loves this Game for her leapster! I love the leapster game to BUT it's very fragile! I've returned it 3 times now. My granddaughter gets very upset when it just stops. No it's not the batteries. She's only 4 so she's not rough on things yet but it has been dropped on the carpet on one of the occasions. The others were just a mystery.

My 3 Year Old Loves This!!!
I have a 3 year old who is not ready for a Gameboy (NOT that I would rather her be playing with a Gameboy), but I bought her the Leapster, and WOW! She loves it! It's easy to use, and she is even using the Kindergarden software already (she has Dora, Spongebob, Drawing, and Kindergarten). These games are very educational and keep her entertained for quite awhile. What a great alternative to the computer, Playstation, Gamesboys, etc...even my 8 year old loves it. I can't wait for new software to come out! It's well worth every penny! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Dora the Explorer, "Nick Jr.'s" doe-eyed, Mexican sojourner, converses in Spanish and English as a doll as naturally as a cartoon. From simple, one-word translations to the "Happy Song," Dora speaks and sings using over 30, clearly pronounced, easy-to-learn words. She interacts with four included friends--a star, baby bird, butterfly and frog--who respond with movement, light and sound (via microchips) when placed in her right hand. Dora's body is designed to sit rather than stand (she has a very flat bum and solid posture), so she's actually built to be conversational. Just position her on the edge of a chair and the fun begins. If kids still need something to coddle, Dora has pliable extremities, and her pretty, brown hair can be combed. Her clothes, however, are not removable. Required: 4 "AA" batteries.--Diane Beall ... Read more

Reviews (33)

at least it's fun
The toy is fun for my three year old; however, we have had a terrible time keeping track of Dora's "friends" which is the reason I rated durability rather low. When you place the "friend" in Dora's hand, there is no locking mechanism; so as my little girl is running around the house -as children do- with her Dora doll, Dora's "friends" are flying at my 4 month old's head. No injuries to report thus far, though. Also, we have already lost (and found) two of Dora's "friends". If I had one suggestion to make it would be to include Backpack with the doll, making Backpack fully functional so that the "friends" can live there when not in use. I have also been disappointed with Dora's phrases. Apparently, she is to say 30 interactive phrases and in the entire time my daughter has had her Dora doll, I've only heard a total of 8 phrases, which is my justification for rating Dora's educational value low as well.

Cute Toy
My 2 year old received this as a gift. Six months later she still plays with it frequently. She even calls many of the characters by the Spanish names. Although she hasn't quite gotten into the games, she still enjoys the song. This is a must for any Dora fan.

Great educational toy
This is a great educational toy. It is fun and easy to use for children. My daughter loves it. She received the toy for her first birthday and has been enjoying it. I'm so glad I purchased the toy for her.

Not very impressed
I bought this Dora the Explorer Doll for my 2 year old. Within the first week it was grinding and not recognizing which character was what. Not very durable!

EXCITING!
This toy is very educational. Especially if you want your child to learn two languages:English and Spanish. I say it's a 5 star toy! ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Fun, teaches phonics, cute Spongebob
It's fun and educational. I like the bubble shoot out where you have to shoot the blended consonants to make a word float up to the top of the screen. My daughter is learning a lot from this. It hasn't replaced the phonics work we do at home, but it is definitely helping to keep concepts fresh in her mind between times that we work on things.

This cartridge definitely has more cute factor than the others- using a licensed character to teach the concepts... But it's working. My daughter loves her Leapster. She's almost five...

excellent
My four year old stayed up until 2 am playing this game and he had to be coached to go to sleep. He than woke up at 6:00 am the next morning to continue playing. He loves it and has not but it down since we purchase it.

FUN
My 4 year old son received the SpongeBob game for Chrismas. He loves it! He has been able to figure out the games. At first he had lots of questions but he is able to complete all the games now.

They won't even know they are learning!
This is a great game. I would not recommend it for children under 4 unless your child is just extremely advanced. My 4 yo can play some areas of the game easily, but the word areas are more difficult and he becomes frustrated. BUT for kindergarteners this game is just right. My 6 yo is learning a lot, and unlike other learning software, she doesn't mind playing it because it's fun and of course there is the very cute and charismatic Sponge Bob.
The goal of the game is to get ingredients to make a new secret sauce. Upon completing the different areas of the game you are given some of the ingredients to make the sauce. So the children get the sense of reward for all of their work. That's been enough motivation for my daughter. It teaches counting, math, letters, word building, and there's music (I'm probably leaving a few things out) It's wonderful, a must have for all leapster owners.

WONDERFUL
I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH MY 3 YEAR OLD AND 5 (ALMOST 6 FEB.7TH) LOVE THIS GAME AND ALL THE OTHERS THE LEAPSTER IS A HUGE HIT IN OUR HOUSE! WELL WORTH THE MONEY!
IT'S A MUST HAVE ... Read more

Editorial Review

Dora the Explorer fans (especially those with Dora's Talking Casa Doll House) won't want to be without the poseable plastic figures in this gift set. Dora comes with her faithful sidekicks: a backpack and her puppy. Abuela (Grandmother) has a lovely vase of flowers, Diego travels nowhere without his baby jaguar and field notebook, and Boots and Tico get around with their scooter and fire engine. Rugged adventurers, these! Children will enjoy incorporating the figures into Dora playsets (not included), or venturing out into explorations of their own. --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Tons of Bounce for the Buck!
My son received this item as a birthday gift for his fourth birthday and he and his younger brother (2 years old) absolutely LOVE IT!!! They could spend all afternoon jumping in their SpongeBob Bounce'Round. It is just a nice size that we are able to fit it into our basement play area for the days that it is raining so that they both can still have a great time playing with their new gift. A great purchase for the money. It is also a great way to tire them out so they are ready for bedtime!!! ... Read more

Reviews (14)

My Daughter's Favorite LeapPad Book
We have several LeapPad books but this one gets the most use. The games are simple enough that my daughter, age 2, can play with very little help. It keeps her attention. I noticed recently she had picked up several Spanish words and can count to 10 in Spanish. Our Dora selections, including this one, have paid off.

Great educational piece
This book is great as are most of the LeapPad products. My son loves to use this book daily. It helps him learn words in both spanish and english, and he already knows quite a few words in spanish and he is 2-1/2 years old. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for something that their child will use for hours and all of the leapPad Books are as educational as this one. A great Product.

Had it for a year and still going strong
This was purchased for my daughter last year when she was three for christmas, it is now a year later and she still loves it. I love the leap pad systems and my first leap was great and now i think she will be going into the regular leap pad and like my others will enjoy hours of fun. You will not go wrong with dora!!

dora the explorer
the game will not stay on

Fun AND educational
Dora is a hit in our household, so this leap-book was only fitting for us to purchase. If your child enjoys Dora, you won't be disappointed in this fun little book. I was really pleasantly surprised by the educational content, and all the fun it provides, it is packed with a bunch of interactive little games that keep even a 2 year old interested. My 2 & 4 year olds both love this book. My four year old was jealous that he didn't have THIS book for HIS leap pad (he has bigger leap pad). This book teaches vocabulary both English and Spanish, problem solving, cooperation, and shapes and colors as well. My only wish is that they had more books to buy. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Great Addition to Dollhouse!!
My 3-year-old daughter received this for her birthday and loves it!She also got the dollhouse, some figures, and Dora's bedroom.She is in love with all of it!She especially loves the talking pool and deck set b/c she loves to pretend the characters are swimming!It comes with a lounge chair, a cooler that flips over from drinks to food, and a dora figure in ponytails and a bathing suit with a duck swim ring.She is very cute!This was a great addition to the house and attaches to the outside for great play!

Excellent
My daughter loves this. She can play with it night day, and i like it, because you learn English, and Spanish. This helps out in school. She doesn't go yet, but her brother starts kindergarten this year.

Happy at last
I am very happy that we were able to purchase the pool and deck furniture. My 3yr.old daughter,Morgan, really enjoys having Dora jump off the diving board and relax by the pool wearing the rubber duckie ring. She enjoys listening to the phrases from the diving board, too. It was a good idea for Fisher Price to include an extra Dora doll with the pool set.

the best accessory for Dora's house!
We found this stocked on a shelf in a local store before Christmas and snatched it up, since we couldn't find ANY of the other attachments for the Dora house.
Since then, we've bought several of the furniture packs and I can say by far, this is the one my daughter plays with the most. In fact, she plays with the pool most of the time and totally disregards the house!!!The diving board, when pushed, makes cute sounds and phrases and comes with a really cute duckie ring =) ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Boots is in the house!
Our 3 year old daughter loves Boots. She talks to Boots and carries him around the house. We give it 5 stars for educational value because when she talks to Boots she acts out scenes from her Dora videos. This helps her alot with her speech skills and imagination. This is a very well made doll. We are also happy with it's size, it's just perfect for her. It's a great buy!

Fun
Boots goes well with the rest of the Dora the Explorer character toys when the kids want to pick up where the tv left off. They have fun going on explorations or just having them over for tea party. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A little girl's best buddy
My daughter, Avery, who is 3 now has carried this dora with her for a year now. Dora's hair is a wreck now, but other than that, she is up for the trip. We also have Boots and Swiper, but Dora is my daughter's pick every time. If we need a toy to entertain her while I have an appointment, for example, Dora is there! This was completely worth the money. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Great Game
This is a great game. My 4 year old son loves it!!(so does the rest of the family when he lets us play). It is good for the development of his hand-eye coordination. Good price for hours of fun!!

Excellent value
I bought this game for my daughters 6th birthday and it is a very entertaining toy.It plugs directly in to your tv so its easy to use.It is even fun for adults because there are so many levels to play.Because it is so small its portable for a night at grandmas or a friends and you get an entire game system with 5 games for less than the cost of one game for another game system.My kids enjoyed it so much that we went and bought the Pac Man game and plan to buy more.

Fun for Families
I bought this for my four year old son since he is a big fan of Spongebob. He LOVES it! The entire family has enjoyed playing it together, something that only games like Mario Kart or Mario Party have done in the past. The games are pretty easy to learn and it helps his hand-eye coordination as well. Another really nice thing about it is that it is not violent like so many games out there today. It is also VERY easy to hook up; we brought it with us to to my parents' house for Father's Day and hooked it up there so all of the kids could play together.

My son has invited many of the kids in the neighborhood over to play, and they have all enjoyed the different games. The only downside is that they have to take turns playing since more than one person cannot play at a time.

Like one of the other reviews said, it does drain batteries, making the colors go out. But buying batteries is still cheaper than buying a video game that can easily get scratched. This is easily worth the $20 that I paid for it!

Think alot before you buy
I bought this toy for my daughter on Sunday afternoon. She played with it for awhile and she loved it. I couldn't get my husband away from it. But then after you play it for awhile the color goes off.
Monday morning she turned it on and there is no color at all. I can't decide if I will try another one or just get a refund.
Think before you buy this one. I made an impulse buy that most likely I will regret.

Not user friendly for lefties
I purchased this game for my son. Once he was off to bed I decided to play it myself. Well, I discovered that it was not user friendly for us lefties. What I mean is most lefties would hold the joystick with their left hand but if you do that then you cant use the fire button because its on the upper left corner. I was really dissapointed. Of course the games dont compare to our PS2 or Gamecube but they arent supposed to. The games are similar to Atari games. But back to what I was saying,if you are a lefty you may not want to purchase this game. I tried turning the game around making the fire button easy to reach but that didnt work either.
Like I stated earlier the games seem fun but they obviously did not have left handed people in mind when they made this game because they didnt put the fire button in a easy to reach place for a lefty. ... Read more

Editorial Review

For slumber parties, naptime, or travel, this indoor sleeping bag makes cozy dreaming for fans of Dora the Explorer. A large image of Dora appears on the purple upink polyester outer shell, and a soft tricot lining encases a sleeping child in soft, lightweight warmth. A self-repairing zipper along the side and bottom allows use as a comforter. This machine-washable bag is perfect for travel or sleepovers, but is also sturdy enough for everyday use. --Ava Natov ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great gift for a Dora fan.
This is a very durable sleeping bag with years of fun. It will be a great addition to any little Dora fan. My daughter recieved for Christmas when she was 3 years old and has gotten a lot of use out of it. ... Read more

Features

• Help Spongebob and friends stop Plankton's evil plot to take over the world
• 3 playable characters: SpongeBob, Patrick or Sandy
• Crazy maneuvers like Tongue Boarding, Underwear Bungee Jumping
• 10 huge 3D environments to explore
• For 1 player

Reviews (32)

addictive, fresh, funny, and FUN!
When I see all the bad or OK reviews for this game, I think "these people don't know how to have a good time!" if they give it a review like they did, they probably didnt even play it. the game's like this: there are ten big worlds to play in: bikini bottom, jellyfish fields, downtown bikini bottom, goo lagoon, rock bottom, the mermelair, sand mountain, kelp forest, the flying dutchmans graveyard, and spongebobs dream. there are also two mini-worlds where theres only one task to do: defeat a giant robot! and theres the chum bucket lab, too. there are also some secretworlds. in each world there are missions to be done for " distressed citicens," who will give you golden spatulas for completing their tasks. the more golden spatulas you get, the more worlds you can unlock. you can also trade ten socks with patrick for a golden spatula, or shiny objects with mister krabs. you start with three pairs of underwear. once you lose em' all, you gotta start at the last checkpoint you got to. you can get golden underwears to increase the number of underwears you can wear at a time. you can play as three characters: sbongebob, patrick, and sandy. spongebob is in every world. all the cut scenes are hilarious, so watch em'. This game is easy to understand, but it takes a while to beat (hey, the longer it takes, the longer you'll be having fun!). Ive been playin for over a week for about 90 minutes a day, and Im only 50% done!
all in all, this is a very fun game for people of all ages. spongebob fans especially.

Great fun (with your child's supervision).
I'm 36 yrs old, have a 10 year old daughter and we really enjoy playing this game together. It's funny, challeging, has great graphics and many hidden secrets. The game is so sleek, it's like you're playing the cartoon. The voices, unlike so many other games using bad impersonators, actually sounds identical to the original character voices (it may actually have the original voices). There is very little violence and the violence is directed at robots (thanks to that pesky Plankton), so parents need not worry. One of the big bonuses of this game is, you never die. You just keep coming back to your last check point.
Spongebob's humor spans many generation gaps and this game is no different. You get to play as Patrick and Sandy, so there are a couple of different moves and abilities. You have to see Patrick's "belly flop" to believe it. There's also a lot of interaction between other character's: Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and even Gary who provide additional challenges.

Be warned, however, this game can be difficult for beginners or small children. My daughter gets frustrated on some of the more difficult challenges and I have to step up to finish some parts for her (or maybe I'm just hogging the controller)...
If you're a fan of Spongebob Squarepants, you'll really enjoy this game.

Funny
This game has bad graphics but come on it's a Nickoloden cartoon video game! Anyway, the graphics don't totally mess up the game because it is a ton of fun. I play it mostly for laughs and to tell you the truth, some tasks you have to do are very challenging. You get to go to a lot of places that are in certain eposides. For example, you get to go to Rock Bottom and when you go to the vending machine a bus drives by. Also, when you go to Sand Mountain you slide on your tounge just like in the cartoon. This game is fun for all ages and it is very funny.

The Game Rocks!
I really liked the game! It has tons of places you can go to and lots of characters from the TV show! It had every single place they have been too and just about every character. The game isnt hard but it isnt easy either, it is just right! It also has veyr good graphics! If you like spongebob buy this game! I garentee you'll like it!

fUN
I love love love Spongebob Squarepants! I was at Toys R Us this summer when my parents got an inflatable baby playground pool for my 2 year old sister. I was looking at video games for my playstation 2. As I was really looking for a Mary-kate & Ashley game I came across this one. I decieded it looked neat. I used my saved money to buy this! When I got home I read the game strategy guide . Then I played the game. It is veryeasy to catch on to!(...) The plot is rather .... funny! The idea is that Plankton has made all kinds of differernt robots to get the Krabby Patty secret formula. But this plan backfires. The Robots have taken over Bikini Bottom and there are a bunch of them. Spongebob has to perform tasks for friends to get a golden spatuala, break the Robots AND the Robot making machine, find out where the Robots are coming from and destroy them once & for all, and SAVE BIKINI BOTTOM BEFORE ITS TO LATE!!!! This is very fun!
(...) ... Read more

Editorial Review

Okay, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that SpongeBob SquarePants and his starfish friend Patrick are racing around in cars. They live under the sea, after all. Wouldn’t the cars, you know, float away? But "sense" is something best dispensed of when exploring SpongeBob’s world. We are, after all, talking about a necktie-wearing kitchen sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. This cool little racetrack is sure to please the SpongeBob faithful with thoughtfully detailed set pieces such as the Krusty Krab restaurant, and the homes of both SpongeBob and Patrick. The set features many pieces and takes a while to set up. As for the actual racing part of the set, it works fairly well, even if the cars are on the pokey side. --Charlie Williams ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Just not worth it
My son recieved this for Christmas. Most of the time the cars simply will not move now because of the poorly built cars. I remember as a child instead of these quickly degrading bits of metal twisted together there were actual metal bands which would make the cars move. The track does go together well, and stayed together for me. But when you first try the cars out they move much to quickly and fly off the track(until the braids wear out and they refuse to move-which takes only a few days). I have yet to find any race tracks these days which are made properly.

Is playtesting before marketing a lost art?
Doesn't anybody playtest toys anymore before they toss them onto the market? Or is it enough that they look great and have a sure-fire cartoon character tie-in?

I ask, because as great and seemingly durable as this little SpongeBob race set is, had anybody in the Mattel boardroom actually tried to play it they would have quickly realized what a Festival of Frustration it is.

When you open the box, you're bound to be delighted by the brightly colored cardboard punch-out set decorations and the really super SpongeBob and Patrick "boats" (slot cars), which feel nice and hefty and solid. Once you've figured out how to put the track together (was it too difficult to actually label the tracks with the same letters by which the instructions refer to them?), and hooked up the power pack and the controllers (kudos for being battery powered, rather than requiring a wall socket, though the option for both would have been nice -- four "D" batteries ain't cheap), the next thing you're going to do, logically, is place the cars on the track and give a controller a squeeze.

And then the NEXT thing you're going to do is get up off your knees and go get the car and put it back on the track. Another squeeze, another track departure, another retrieval. Repeat ad nauseum. Or at least until your kid decides it's more fun to throw the controller at the little cardboard set decorations -- something which you may find yourself in agreement with.

Put simply, these sturdy plastic boat cars are ponderously heavy and too fast for their own good, which means they are highly susceptible to inertia: squeeze lightly and they do not move, just buzz plaintively. Squeeze just ever-so-slightly too hard and they go from standstill to Mario Andretti to Evel Kneivel in under a second, forcing you to spend 80 to 90 percent of your time crawling over to them and putting them back on the track.

And if YOU think that sounds annoying, wait until you see your preteen's reaction.

I did not personally experience any problem with the track coming apart, as some reviewers have mentioned. But that may be because Patrick and Bob spent the lion's share of their time extratrackular.

Don't bother
Honestly...this is one of those toys that is a big waste of money. The cars fall off the track too easily, the cardboard scenes are a major pain and just fall off and don't stand up properly and the overall track isn't very durable. It was a huge disappointment.

My son likes to play with the cars without the track because it just doesn't work well enough with them on the track.

I should have returned this.

Try Something Else
My son got this for Christmas and he was very excited. The assembly was easy enough, but the cardboard cut-outs would not stay up. It was also difficult to keep the braids under the cars in the right position so the cars would even go. I'd try another track before I wasted money on this one!

Too Much Fun !!!!!
I bought this for my 6 year old. I put it together myself (not very hard)and we just love it. You have to learn to slow down around the curves so the cars don't fly off. After a few times around the track it's alot of fun. I would buy this for any spongebob fan.... ... Read more