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Bananagram

• No pencil:No Paper
• Family Fun
• Ideal game to take on holiday
• Educational
• Quirky Banana Shaped Pouch, brilliant present

Great game - but you could just use your scrabble tiles, 2008-04-04
This game is so simple to play that our family picked it up within minutes. Much more enjoyable than scrabble when more than 2 people are playing, because everyone is involved all the time. However, it really is just scrabble tiles with no board and different rules.

Tomy Rummikub Game

• The numbers strategy game that's never the same
• Compulsive game play
• For 2 to 4 players
• Manufacturer's recommended age 8 years to Adult

Brilliantly simple, simply brilliant, 2005-10-04
My daughter started playing this when she was 6 and a year later she is now learning the finer points of the game. She enjoys it just as much as her grandfather does. A great, non-gimmicky game.

Tomy Discovery Forget Me Not Photo Album

• First ever "talking photo album" for babies
• Holds up to 8 photos with the unique ability to record a special message for each photo
• Open a page and the messages are played automatically
• 2 cute sound effects when the photo album is shut
• Photo album also stands up so doubles as a photo frame
• Eye catching butterfly shaped design featuring rubber antenna, mirrored front cover and crinkly page tabs
• Requires 2 x AAA batteries (included)

So exciting she couldn't wait till christmas......, 2008-10-12
I bought this for my 5 month old daughter for christmas by then she will be 7 months. I work in childcare and we see daily evidence of the positive effects familiar photos have on babies. This toy combines this with visually stimulating colours, crinkly fabric tabs and a recordable message function. Despite trying to hide it (thought we'd put the photos in before we wrapped it) my daughter spotted it and her response was electric. She reached for the familiar faces and grabbed at the tabs. It is aimed at 6 months plus but it would be fine for younger babies if used under supervision, although it would be ideal if your baby can sit unaided as it is slightly heavy for mini fingers. I highly recommend this toy as it's great fun, educational and a great source of comfort and security for your baby. 10/10

Bath Bomb Factory

Classic Etch A Sketch - The World's Favourite Drawing Toy

• Move the two knobs to create pictures
• Create curves by manipulating both knobs at once
• Classic drawing toy

Chinese manufacture new models not up to previous standards, 2008-04-01
We bought one of these classic toys for our 7 year old. It was great for a couple of weeks until the vertical movement jammed. We sent off for a new one from the suppliers but it never arrived. Took three follow up phone calls and an extremely irate fax to get any response from the suppliers who finally supplied a new one nine months after the first one broke!

The quality of new models is not as good as the ones I remember when I was a kid. The plastic is not as strong and is more brittle. It can be cracked if dropped. The mechanism is not as good either. The knobs are more difficult to hold because they're smaller (not just because I'm older!) and are not as smooth in use.

As a toy it's still good fun but I felt let down by the poor construction quality and the lack of communication and response from the supplier. Nor did we get any recompense for the postage costs of returning the broken one.

I notice that these are now made in China and you can tell that they are built down to a price instead of up to a specification.

Perfume Lab

Making Perfume, 2008-08-12
I bought this product for my 10 yr old cousin for her Birthday. As soon as she opened the present she couldn't wait to start blending the different scents to make her own Perfume. I was concerened that there didn't seem very much in the kit, especially for the size of the box, however, several scents were made along with slime and pourri. Overall a fantastic product and educational.

Buckaroo

• The original saddle stacking game with an even moodier mule.
• The game calls for dexterity and patients, a steady hand and nerve.

Buck - a - roo!, 2007-09-13
We initially could not get our mule to buck, but found that we were being too gentle when putting the blanket in place and the saddle. A bit of brute force was all we needed! Now our mule bucks at each of the levels and is fun for all.
As a child I used to visit family friends who had Buckaroo; we did not have it at home and I loved it, now my two sons are getting the toys I always wanted!

VTech Kidizoom: Multimedia Digital Camera in Blue

Kidizoom, 2008-09-11
I find the kidizoom camera to be a great toy for the children to play with. The features on it are great fun and give the whole family a laugh. It has been dropped many times by my 4 yr old and has proved to be very durable. My two children love taking it everywhere with them, and we get some great photos which the kids have taken, some very interesting, and we all love taking the time as a family to look at them either on the TV or computer. For the price of the camera i believe the quality to be perfectly fine, considering that it is only a child's toy.

VTech Kidizoom: Multimedia Digital Camera Pink

FUN TIMES!!, 2008-10-07
Got this camera for my niece on her birthday, she loved it and takes pictures at any given oppurtunity, she took it on a family holiday and ended up taking the best pictures out of the lot of us.
Real good value for money and with some nifty games and the cool pink colour she loved it.
think i may get one for myself :P

Rush Hour Traffic Jam Puzzle

Fun, makes you think and ideal to travel with, 2007-10-23
Like many of the reviewers here I bought this game for a kid's birthday, in this case my 9 year old niece. On the day I spent more time playing it than she did (which she wasn't entirely happy about!).

The game itself consists of a plastic gameboard, the size of a desk calculator, in which there is a drawer holding the puzzle cards. The board and game pieces (around 20 pieces) come in a handy carry bag. You'll need the carry bag to keep everything together neatly, but you don't need to tip the whole contents out to find the pieces you need, since there are not many of them and they are not tiny.

As a side note, since the pieces are not tiny and are brightly coloured you can easily find them if they fall on the ground.

As the playing the game, well it really makes you think and is also very fun. You get a smug feeling of superiority when you finally manage to figure the puzzle out.

The puzzle difficulty ranges from very easy indeed to ferociously difficult. The hardest puzzles had me stumped and I am supposed to be pretty clever! But don't worry, the puzzle cards also have the answers (on the back) so you can figure it out like that if you need to!

Although there are 'only' 60 cards or so, they are easily replayable as you are not going to remember the pemutations of every one.

I recommend this game, fun for all ages, intelligent and easily portable.

I'm already looking forward to visting my brother again so I can have another go...