Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.
Details: The Learning Journey International: Techno Gears Marble Mania Raceway 2.0: Race series 200+ pieces, action packed marble maze with a marble launcher. Comes with a full color instruction manual, windmill marble drop, marble twisters, QI scanner codes for marble action. Best for children 6 and older. Not recommended for children under age 3 as there are lots of small choking hazard pieces.
"Kids with race to the finish as they build and create their own raceway." You can find this toy and others similar on amazon.
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| my kids dressed up |
My Review: I am a home school teacher. I have a First/ Second grader, and a Preschool/ Kindergartner. They love learning, but struggle when I don't make school fun. As a teacher and their mother I am always on the lookout for fun educational tools, toys, and games. The Learning Journey's Techno Gears Marble Mania Raceway
2.0 is exactly one of those fun educational toys and games. When I signed up to test, try and review this product I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I didn't realize how much I would learn from this tool as well. I didn't realize how much fun the hard work it took to set this up would make it all worth it. So let's start at the beginning. We got the package delivered in the late afternoon, but due to base ball games and bed time we weren't able to set it up right away. My kids were begging every hour it seemed until we were able to set it up. So I started working on this at 11 am. We pulled the pieces out of the box, I started taking pictures, then we started reading through the instructions. Looking at the full color manual I noticed my pulse quickening. Taking pictures of all the bags of ALL the pieces I started hyperventilating. How can something that looks so fun really take that many pieces? How the heck am I going to put it together? Because even though my oldest is 7 almost 8 there is no way he can put this together all by himself. Let me stop and give you all the experience I have at building with tiny little pieces. Um...yep
...basic Lego's (I can build a house, sheep, and a wagon), Trio Blocks ( these aren't small pieces so I can be more creative with them) that's all the experience I have had.
So we started separating all the pieces (but kept them in their numbered bags), then we started at the beginning. I went slowly from page to page one part then three parts and so on. It literally took me a whole hour or longer just to build this raceway. My oldest helped a lot along the way (I'd give him a set of directions like attach #9 to the #13, then attach that set to another #13 and a #12.). But he didn't always want to help because it was taking so long. I begged my husband to come help, but he said he wanted to see me do it so I would feel good about myself. Around 12:30-12:45 I was done, and got to start taking pictures of the finished product and start filming my kids playing with it. I have kept it up in our school area for the last 3-4 days and they play with it every day as part of school. I highly recommend this product. Not just because its a fun toy for children to play with, but that its a great home school tool. Learning is great when we as teachers can make it fun and realistic/ or life like for our students. I have a ton more pictures and some little video clips posted on Youtube. Here is a
link for you to follow to see my kid's reactions to this toy.
Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using
Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
Did I run into any problems? Yes. The first was while I was building it. On page 14 of the manual it gave a set of instructions but it wasn't until page 16 or so that I realized that I didn't fully get what the instructions were saying, so I wrote down my notes in the manual. Once this is built, it is pretty much impossible to take apart, so if something comes off or "breaks" accidentally its not easy to fix. You really have to know how to put it together again, so to easily fix this problem I highly suggest keeping all the extra pieces, the manual, and even the box too.
Pros: super fun to play with, you get to teach/ learn reactions, speed, processes, sequencing/ what comes next, following directions, sciences
Cons: as mentioned above I did run into a few problems, but I easily came up with solutions, so at this point I don't have any cons to mention.
My Rating: Thumbs Up!
My Review: As a home school teacher I was planning on keeping this CD a surprise for my children for the new school year this fall. I was planning on listening to it when they were sleeping or with head phones so they couldn't hear it, but before I could they found it in my pile of school supplies I'm organizing. My children love happy music so much, that they have literally taken control of this CD and listen to it whenever they can. My 7 year old is begging for Spanish lessons, his 4 year old cousin and newest Aunt are primary Spanish speaking, and my son really wants to be able to talk to them better than he does now. My 4 year old loves learning how to be big like his older brother, and is super excited that he has now figured out how to use the CD player without help. He switches the CDs around, and sits in bed listening to music once his brother has fallen asleep at night, or he'll get up early and turn the music on to wake his brother up. With this Whistlefritz CD I have found my kids hiding all around the house listening, singing along as best they can, and dancing when I'm not looking. Its super cute to see them so excited about music, dancing and Spanish! I am very impressed with how fun this CD really is for kids. I love being able to see the Spanish lyrics so I can learn them and teach them to my kids, and I love seeing the English Translations so we can learn about what we really are singing. I recommend this product for teachers, parents, Home School teachers, and well anyone who loves good music, loves to dance, and enjoys Spanish.
My Review: This type of app isn't new to myself or my children. We love coloring apps, we have one on each of my kid's phones, our Kindle Fire, and we do lots of art in school as well. I looked at this in a home school situation, thinking it would be great to give my preschooler something educational to do during a period of time when the older sibling needs my one on one attention. It's animal concept is really cute, they animals talk and move while you paint them. There is encouraging music that helps to stimulate the mind. However, for my 4 year old, this was too boring for him. He wanted more options, wanted to try other ways to mix colors. So after looking into this I would really saw that the target audience should be 2-4, not 5. By age 5 kids are going to Kindergarten and should already know their primary colors and know how to mix the secondary colors as well as neutral colors. So this would be too easy, not stimulating enough for that age group, which my 4 year old falls into as he is going to Kindergarten in the fall. My honest option is that my children didn't like it, because they were too old.
Details: Wild Planet's Hyper Dash game is for children 6 and up, 1-8 players. It is the target tagging race course game. Parent Magazine Mom Tested a ward. Comes with 5 numbered and colored targets, and the Hyper Dash unit. Trick commands mix up the action. On the Hyper Dash unit you have 3 buttons: menu, power, go. This is a lightning fast challenge of speed, accuracy and agility. Directions: set up a course, race against time, tag the targets, dash for the best time, indoors or outdoors, solo or head to head or in teams. Requires 3 AA batteries not included. 
My Review: We just bought this for the kids to be a Grandma's house game. She has a great yard and indoor space for them to play this. After opening up the box and reading the instructions (which we didn't need to read everything) on which game options there were, what team options there were, and went to town. We had everyone play solo first just to get the hang of what this game wants up to do. For setting up the course we just put the targets in a long line in the correct numerical order. Then we played, we went with level one (which you wouldn't know about until listening to the Hyper Dash tell you), since it was our first time playing, and we were letting my 4 year old play along. It was pretty fun, and challenging at the same time. We had to run or lean depending on whether it was an adult or child playing, to get each target the Hyper Dash would call out. The tricky commands did mess us up a bit, but after we figured out what they all meant we were able to do much better. Right now my 4 year old is challenged by level one, my 7 year old is challenged by level 2. And as adults we're having fun just playing and watching the kids. 
Details: Thinkfun's Brain Fitness games: Chocolate Fix is a sudoku-style logic game. With 80 challenges, single player game, 4 progressive levels of play, cross train your brain. Comes with: 1 challenge booklet and play instructions, 1 solution booklet, 9 hard plastic chocolate pieces, 1 chocolate tray. ThinkFun brain fitness games help keep your mind young and sharp, strengthens memory, sharpens focus, speeds up thinking, and reduces stress. Whether you have a sweet tooth or not, Chocolate Fix is an addictively fun way to test out your logical deduction skills. Buy online from amazon. 
My Review: I love brain teaser games, and games that help tune in your brain, thinking skills, and deductive skills. So when I saw this game I just had to try it out. When I got it, I wasn't really sure what I was getting because I've never played sudoku. But guess what I found out, you don't need to know how sudoku works in order to play this game. Just read the instructions, which are easy to read and understand, and then start exercising your brain. The night I got this in the mail I played the first 10 challenges in the beginner's level within half an hour. It was fun, challenging, and I felt relaxed afterwards. I love the cute little pieces of chocolate you get to play with, and amazingly I don't actually crave chocolate when playing, but its always fun to have some on hand just in case. This game is for kids age 8+ up to adults. As an elementary teacher, I can see this being very productive to keep on my desk, or in the drawer so it doesn't disturb my students, so I can play one challenge here and there during the day to keep my mind focused. I can also see my 7 almost 8 year old wanting to play this when I take it home. 
