Hasbro FurReal Friends Squawkers McCaw Parrot Review

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(More customer reviews)Wow, Squawkers rocks the house! Toy historians may recall a Marx animated talking parrot in the sixties containing a mechanism that tape recorded your voice onto a twenty-second loop. You can see the Marx parrot in the great caper movie "Topkapi". Still the Marx parrot was a dumb bunny compared to Squawkers, who really is more of a parrot simulator than a bar trick. Squawkers is quite realistic, funny, and unpredictable. You can record your own sayings, which Squawkers will repeat, with mouth synchronization, in his parrot voice. He dances, to your music or his own. He will repeat things you say to him (rude things too, to be sure -- the instructions of course include a paragraph almost all will ignore advising you to maintain a politically correct parrot in case minors or persons easily offended encounter your bird). Squawkers also responds to a remote control with more commands, including laughing, squawking, and, yes, farting, although he does excuse himself after the last. And the animatronics here are impressive, especially for the money. His eyes and beak open and shut, his head turns, he leans from side to side and flaps his wings, and he sports a full complement of light, infrared, and touch sensors, including a tongue sensor that can detect the plastic cracker you feed him when he gets hungry. In sum, this toy is FAR too good just for kids -- the box says "AGES 5 to 105", and that's more like it. The box also says Squawkers is "the real McCaw" and claims he's "A bird to be heard". He is all that and more. Worth spending fifteen bucks on four rechargeable AA NiMH batteries, I'd say, and I think you'll agree that he's a welcome addition to any office, dorm room, or household. HIGHLY recommended, and the best toy I've seen since Hasbro's own Interactive R2D2 and the SpinMaster Reflex Indoor Helicopter...

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The Hasbro FurReal Friends Squawkers McCaw Parrot might be the sassiest toy ever made. Squawkers McCaw is a full-size toy macaw parrot who, just like a real parrot, repeats words, can be "taught" to speak, and responds to touch. Witty, energetic, and completely unpredictable, Squawkers takes interactive play to a whole new level. He is recommended for children ages 5 through 10.Just Like a Real Parrot Modeled after an actual macaw parrot, Squawkers McCaw has a velvety feather coat that makes him fit for cuddling. His vibrant blue, orange, yellow, and green markings are just like those of an actual macaw parrot. His feet are also fully articulated: He can stand on his perch or be propped up on a flat surface. And Squawkers doesn't just look just like a parrot -- he moves like one, too. Through highly innovative animatronics, Squawkers can move in incredibly convincing ways. He'll cock his head when confused or ruffle his wings when happy. He will even get down and dance to your favorite tunes, all while singing along. Squawkers loves mealtime, and comes with a cracker for when he needs to be fed.Sassy and Talkative The similarity to a parrot doesn't stop at physical appearance. Squawkers, with his advanced voice recognition system, can talk in a funny, squawky voice and repeat what your child says, just like an actual parrot. He has plenty to say and do the moment you bring him home -- for example, in response to "Hello" or "Are you hungry?", he'll respond with his own unique quips. However, he can be trained to do a whole lot more. Using the remote control, kids can program him to respond to their own custom questions. Kids can teach him to sing, tell jokes, and say whatever else they want him to say.Full of Personality Squawkers is a feisty parrot, and can actually switch moods depending on how your child interacts with him. He has a basic "repeat" mode, where he simply repeats any word spoken to him. He can also be humorous and playful, randomly responding to regular questions in nonsensical ways. Be careful, though: When Squawkers is irritated, he'll try to get attention by complaining and squawking loudly! Take good care of Squawkers McCaw, and you'll find that there is really no other parrot quite like him.What's in the Box FurReal Friends Squawkers McCaw Parrot, toy cracker, remote control, perch, and instructions.

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MGA Rescue Pets Train And Play Puppy Review

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(More customer reviews)My six year old daughter only wanted a couple of items for Christmas and this was on the top of her list. She was so excited when she opened the Rescue pet and everything worked except for function she was excited about----the fact that the dog would pee after feeding him a bottle of water. She was very disappointed and we went out to find another on December 26, 2007, but they are no where to be found. On the positive site, it is very cute the way the dog barks, sits up, and responds to the clapping of your hands. We will continue to look for a replacement Rescue Pet, and will try one last time to see if we can get one that functions properly.

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The next time your child thinks they are seriously ready for a puppy, but you aren't convinced, try "adopting" this adorable Rescue Pet. The soft, furry friend has a lot of similarities to a real puppy, but without the hard consequences if responsibilities aren't met. The Train and Play Puppy from MGA drinks water, burps, and even lifts his leg to relieve himself.

Responsibilities include feeding the puppy with the bottle, training him to learn commands like "sit" or "stand," and making sure that he uses the included mat when going to the bathroom. If he does the latter, the mat will turn blue, alerting kids when it needs to be dried off for its next use. The puppy also comes with a small bone, and will lay down and gnaw on it when it's given to him.

Training can be done verbally or through sound. Clap once or say the word "sit" to watch the doggy sit on his haunches. Clap again or say "stand" and the pup will rise on all fours. There are even commands to make him "speak." Buying this useful toy for kids also teaches them the joy of charity, as a portion of the proceeds of each Rescue Pet sold is donated to a recognized animal rescue center. Train and Play Puppy comes with an adoption certificate that owners can fill out and register. You can visit Rescue-Pets.com for more information and details.

Four AA batteries are required, but not included.

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Shake 'N Go Crash-Ups Crash Course Review

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(More customer reviews)after reading the reviews i decided not to buy this track but as it turned out a friend bought it for my son for his 3rd birthday. so glad she did! i had a hard time putting the track together mostly b/c i didn't realize it needed screws. once i put them in, the track never fell apart. it works great and my husband and i have a fun time racing with our son. the cars have an on/off swith to help save the battery. as long as the battery is good, the cars race around a few laps at a time (unless they crash first!).

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Get ready for exciting races and spectacular car crashes with the Fisher Price Shake 'n Go Crash-Ups Speedway. Your 3- to 7-year-old child will have hours of exciting fun racing the cars along the racetrack and creating amazing collisions.Put Your Child in the Driver's Seat! The sturdy figure-8 racetrack comes equipped with two Shake 'n Go Crash-Ups cars, which are durable and oversized, perfect for little hands.They're easy to operate, too: The more kids shake them the faster they will go; and when the Shake 'n Go Crash-Ups collide, their spoilers and doors fly right off. Your child will love controlling the cars and creating amazing crashes over and over again. And the speedway is the ideal place to test their speed and create collision spectacles. It features sharp turns, bridges, and ramps, perfect for both going fast and crashing hard. The speedway can also be used with all other Fisher Price Shake 'n Go toy cars.Easy to Put Together Adult assembly is required. The speedway does not require batteries, but each car requires three AA batteries. The assembled track is approximately 52 by 29 by 10 inches in size.What's in the Box 1 racetrack, and 2 Shake 'n Go Crash-Ups cars.

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Fisher-Price Shake 'n Go XTREME Speedway Review

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(More customer reviews)Absolutely love this track. My kids (3 & 6) are having a great time. Very durable, track stays together perfectly. The different track layouts make this fun over and over again. I just have one complaint. This track seems to be real big on the fact that the cars are rechargeable so you don't have to keep buying batteries. I would rather buy batteries. Each car has to sit on the charger for 45 minutes!!! That means if you wait for both cars so you can race you have to wait an hour and a half! That is HUGE for little kids. I would rather just pop in a couple AA batteries and be on your way. Playing, playing, playing and having fun then oops both cars are dead, now we have to wait an hour and a half.

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Xtreme Speed. Xtreme Action. Xtreme Fun!Get ready to take Shake 'n Goracing to a new extreme-with 20 feet of easy-to-assemble track that letsyou race lots of different ways! Crash through barrels, speedthrough the loop-the-loop or over jumps with Xtreme Shake 'n Go racersthat are faster than ever!Then set up the track a different way forall-new racing action! Includes 2 Shake 'n Go XtremeTM racers, 20 feet of track, 2movable stunt ramps, barrels to crash through, loop-the-l

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VTech V.Smile Smartridge: Handy Manny Review

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(More customer reviews)My son, who is three, has recently become a fan of Handy Manny so I went out on a limb and bought this. At first I was thinking that this may be to advanced for him, I was wrong. It took him a few try's but now he it using the tools and solving puzzles like it was second nature !!! He also will say words in Spanish to me. I love that he is always wanting to play and sing and do the individual games. He can get a little carless with his toy's, after all he is only three, but this cassette has held up very well. He love's this game and I like watching him play it. I will even join in with him from time to time. Although his Spanish is way better than mine.

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V.Smile Handy Manny Fix it right with Manny and the tools! Join Manny on 3 different work sites and use the tools to get the get the job done. Light up a theater marquee, finish constructing a building, or drive through Sheet Rock Hills to deliver a trophy. Everyone has an important job to do, so lend a hand to Handy Manny!Features Game play stars Manny and all the tools: Rusty, Stretch, Dusty, Felipe, Turner and Pat!Curriculum includes Spanish language and problem solving3 Learning Adventures and 3 Mini Games are based on popular TV episodes4 Learning Zone games reinforce curriculum like logic, numbers, and spatial puzzlesChallenge friends in 2-player, head-to-head competition

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Vtech - Rhyme and Discover Book Review

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(More customer reviews)We got two of these Vtech Rhyme & Discover Books for our twins last Xmas (December 2008), and they played with these at least half an hour at a time, several times a day. At 10 months later the kids (now a little over 2 years old) still play with them regularly, anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes a day, sometimes more.
The books have been smeared by sticky hands and wipe clean well, and they have been dropped countless times without damage.
Just recently, 10 months later, we have changed the batteries (two AAAs) in one of the books, and the other one is still going on the batteries that came inside it.
The pros are:
*Price (you get lots of bells and whistles for this amount of money) and batteries included
*Durability
*Cleanability
*Visually interesting (Four panels or "pages," for a total of seven different pictures/sides to look at, plus a couple of two-sided movable pieces that make sound effects, and three light-up "tab" buttons in the shape of a lamb, kitten and puppy, each with their own sound effects)
*Huge musical variety -- some songs have a couple bars of vocals and some are just instrumental
("Ring around the rosie," "Twinkle twinkle little star," "Mary had a little lamb," "Little Bo Peep," "Hey diddle diddle," "Bingo," "Three little kittens," "This is the way we ...," "Old McDonald had a farm," "The farmer in the dell," "Rockabye baby," "This old man," "London Bridge is falling down," "Three blind mice," "Sur le pont d'Avignon")
The cons:
*The on-off switch has two volume choices, but the louder option is a little too loud for young ears. The lower volume is fine, and it would be nice if toy makers would put the volume switch somewhere less accessible to the child. My kids, and the ones I've babysat, all seem to like to crank the volume to the highest setting, and the highest setting seems as though it has the potential to damage hearing over the long term. (This is a problem with many toys, and not unique to this one.)
*It would be nice to have the entire song for some musical selections (you get only part of the song and not all the lyrics either), but it's not a huge minus considering how many songs are included
Overall, based on my kids' experience with this toy, I would recommend this to my friends and/or give as a gift.
Update October 2010: These books are still in the toy box rotation and going strong in spite of many falls to the floor and some banging on the play/train table. We changed batteries again, so in total one book has had its batteries changed once and the other has had batteries changed twice. Now that the kids are 3 years old, they don't play with these books as much, so we're getting ready to hand these down to a younger cousin.

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Open a page to learning with the Rhyme & Discover Book! Combining rhythm and rhyme with seven nursery favorites, baby will delight in the fun melodies, magical moving play, three light-up characters and open ended questions that encourage play, thinking and learning.

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Fisher-Price Geotrax Rail and Road System Grand Central Station Review

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(More customer reviews)We started collecting Geotrax 2 years ago. My only complaint was that the trains did not go in reverse. I'm glad to see that 'problem' was solved with this new addition to the geotrax system.
I originally bought the geotrax toys for my 3 year old son who loved trains. He absolutely loved it. What I did not expect was that my 9 year old and 11 year old girls would also like to design tracks and play with it. It does take up a lot of room if you start adding on to the set. We have ours set up in the basement and it gets played with several times a day. My 4 year old is great a designing tracks, he especially likes to use the elevation sets to make double decker tracks. The system is so easy to use I don't have to help mush at all.
We also have a few of the Thomas train sets. I have to say the boys do like to play with this set as well but it requires a lot more adult help. The tracks can only go together one way and the boys now 4 1/2 and 3 have problems getting it together. But they do like the fact the the trains are the same as on TV. The Thomas set was used so seldom at home that we donated it to grandmas house where it is a treat to get to play with it. The Geo trax set still ranks #1 with my kids.


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Complete with a fast, remote-controlled train, an exciting main terminal building, train tracks, and passengers, the Fisher Price GeoTrax Rail and Road System Grand Central Station provides hours of creative fun for children ages 2-1/2 and up. It is a part of Fisher Price's line of GeoTrax toys.A Train Powered by Imagination! By using the remote control, your child can make Aero the Engine speed along the track and pull into Central Station, with his driver, Eric, right inside!Send the passengers up and down the station's elevator, or put them on the train for an exciting ride. Load up the train with cargo using the crane. Thanks to the power of your child's imagination, the possibilities are endless.Durable and Easy to Use The toy is constructed from durable plastic and features large pieces perfect for little hands. The big, easy-to-use remote control makes the train go backward or forward and has a range of about 12 feet. It includes an automatic shut-off feature to preserve battery life. The sturdy train track snaps together easily in a variety of configurations, and the whole set can be used with other GeoTrax accessories. Adult assembly is required; you will need a Phillips screwdriver. The remote control and train engine require three AAA batteries apiece.What's in the Box Grand Central Station, Aero the engine, and 2 train cars, an articulated Eric figure, and 2 articulated passenger figures, cargo piece, remote control, and 14 pieces of Snap-Lock Track.

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