Melissa & Doug Birthday Party Birthday Cake

What you get is a large wooden cake, wooden candles, decorations, a cake server and a wooden storage box with a clear sliding top. The cake is already been cut into slices that cold together through the wonder of velcro. The top of the cake also has lots of spots of velcro. The wooden candles can be stuck on this way. There are also cake decorations in the form of jelly beans, strawberries and a central birthday decoration. These are painted wooden disks backed with velcro. My daughter loves this toy (having first played with the pizza version at a friends house). I can not count how many times she has changed decorations and served me a piece of cake. All of the velcro works well and does not peel off. The candles can sometimes lean a little but I have heard no complaints. Although the pieces have been kicked around my hardwood floors countless times none of the paint has chipped. The only drawback is trying to use the cake cutter to remove the first piece. Velcro loves to grab and it is not always easy to get two spots on opposite sides to release at the same time if using the server. My daughter was not put off by this. All in all this is a well-made and durable toy. It is sure to be fun for any child who likes to help out in the kitchen. Remember that due to small pieces this is not appropriate for children with a tendency to put things in their mouths.

Price:
$13.48

Sell By: http://astore.amazon.com/jakkstoyshop-20

SET Game

This game is the best invention since chess, if you want to improve your child's thinking ability! When I taught gifted students in grades 2-8, they would beg to play it. Kids would say over and over, "It''s hard, but it's fun". I read that it is an activity where the right brain and the left brain work together. The best thing about it is that it is not dependent on age or reading ability. There are 6 year olds who could beat me, and there are adults I can beat. A group of all ages can play together competitively, and no one has to hold back. Also, it is very light and portable for travel, or for just having handy if people are bored.. I take the cards out of the case, put a rubber band around them, and put them in my bag.

Price:
$11.50

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Fisher-Price I Can Play Guitar System

My five-year-old is addicted to Guitar Hero, so when I saw this product, I thought it would be a great way to wean him off that game and onto something that would actually help him learn. Unforutnately, the product doesn't live up to my expectations. The sound and "fun" quality just aren't there. The guitar isn't responsive enough, so he has to strum very hard to get it to recognize any input. The game doesn't do enough to teach how to use the guitar, and all the buttons and colors become very confusing. But this is for six years and up, you say? Well, I have just as much trouble as he does with it. Guitar Hero has already set the bar high for sound quality and graphics. Coming in late to the game, even if it is intended for a younger audience, this product should be of a little higher quality. The benefit was supposed to be that it teaches, but it does a very poor job of that as well.

Price:
$35.00

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The Settlers of Catan - New 4th Edition!!!!!

Settlers of Catan is a very unique game. It is very easy to learn but hard to master the subtleties of the game. It has several things that make this game unique. The main thing that makes this game unique is that the board can be different each time you play the game. The five land types that each produce a different resource are shuffled each time you play the game. So the board ends up being different each time the game is played. Another variable is the numbers that you lay down on the land types. The numbers are also shuffled each time. When you roll the dice, what ever number comes up, the land or lands with that number on it produce their resource - regardless of who's turn it is. So you opponents can actually help you on their turn. A third variable is ports. If you have a settlement on a port you can trade two of one type of resource you have for one you need with the bank. Normally you have to trade four of one resource, to get the one resource you want if none of the other players are willing to make a trade with you. The fourth variable is the thief. Anytime someone rolls a seven on the dice, they get to move the thief off off the property that he is on, and move it to any other piece of property and to take away one card at random from the hand of any players that have a settlement on that property. The thief automaticly steals what ever is produced on that piece of land for as long as he is there. This denies your opponents precious resources that they need to build roads,settlements, cities, and buy development cards. Development cards are soldier cards that you can buy to chase off the thief off your property and on to one of your opponents properties. Another type of development card is a victory point card that gives you one point toward the ten point total that you need to win. Settlers of Catan is designed for 3 to 4 players but you can have up to 8 players with the expansion pack.

Price:
$33.60

Sell By : http://jakkstoy.blogspot.com/

Cranium

Before owning Cranium my favorite board game was Pictionary, which led to no small dillema--no one would ever play it with me because, quite simply, I would wipe the board with them. Ego trip? Yes. Family fun and togetherness? No. And so as not to cast my friends and family souly in the role of Sore Loser let me add that you wouldn't catch me dead playing Trivial Pursuit against my brainy brother. And then it happened--Cranium, the game that evened the playing field, the game that, as it states on the box, uses all areas of the brain. By combining areas of logic, trivia, creativity, and, well, making a fool of yourself Cranium leaves no one out, not even your friend who couldn't spell "Tuesday" if his life depended on it, much less spell it backwards. And you'll be laughing so hard as you watch Uncle Ned pantomome Madonna you won't even notice his team just took the lead. Great for parties and family get-togethers, this game sends everyone home happy, which is saying a lot from my crowd.

Price:
$10.79

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VTech Kidizoom Digital Camera Review

Got this camera as a present for my 3-year-old daughter - she loves it! She can switch it on and off by herself and is always asking for '[her] camera' so she can snap a picture. It's also absorbed a few harsh drops without any trouble. Caveats: - Though it's named "Kidizoom", it does not actually have any zoom functionality. (Not that a toddler would know what to do with it!) - Don't try to use a miniSD or microSD card with an SD adapter, and MMC cards won't work either - the camera will start up and immediately shut itself down again. A cheap plain SD card does fine - I put in a 256MB SD that I had lying around and, given that the built-in 16MB held well over 100 of her pictures, I'm sure she'll never fill it up. - Like many low-end digitals, it doesn't work all that well if lighting is dim, like indoors at night - it needs to be held more still than a toddler can manage. There is a flash, but it will totally bleach out anything taken at toddler-interest range (1-2 ft). - Unsurprisingly, leaving the camera tethered to the computer via USB for long periods (like overnight) will kill the batteries stone dead. As other reviews have mentioned, you will lose all the pictures stored in the camera's memory if this happens, which could result in tears - so put in that cheap SD card and set it as the default! Pictures saved there will survive a battery outage. - Videos are very low-res, so don't expect to show them on anything bigger than the built-in screen or postage-stamp size on a computer's media player. The microphone also records at a rather low volume. 4 AA rechargeables and the above-mentioned 256MB SD card later, my daughter is very pleased with her birthday present. I suspect she'll be using this camera for years!

Price:
$62.35

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Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel Review

This easel is a great buy! Very sturdy and high quality as most of mellisa and doug products. Colorful, kid friendly and easy to put together. Both the writing boards and the trays are adjustable for the height of your child. It folds up easy, but stands strong. This easel DOES have a place for a paper roll!! I did not think it did by the amazon description (I almost bought a more expensive one for the paper roll but decided to go with this and am so glad I did) ... the roll goes in the center between the boards and the paper comes up through the top and under a paper guide in front of the dry erase side. I can't image why you would spend more on another brand of easel, this one has everything I could think of wanting and is simple, solid wood, looks good and is super functional. This is the first review I have written, but wanted to pass on how happy I am with this product.

Price:
$35.88

Sell By : http://jakkstoy.blogspot.com/