One of the best toys for teenager has got to be a radio controlled helicopter. In the past a toy like this might have cost the earth to buy. I remember when I was young wishing for a toy like the Syma S107 RC Helicopter, only to be told that they were dangerous, or too expensive. Granted back then, any kind of RC helicopter would have set my parents back thousands of dollars no doubt. This RC Heli from Syma comes in at well under 50 dollars, so it’s not going to break anyones bank.
I’ll be honest, I bought this toy for myself, not for my children.. who are still too young to use it anyway. It really is the best gadget that I have bought in years. I had tried buying a few of the other mini helicopters like the mass produced ones you find in the shops, but I soon found out that they were of a shoddy construction and almost always only had the two channels, one for up and down and one for left and right. It did seem a little pointless having a chopper that you couldn’t go forward and backward with.
Moving the heli about does take a little getting used to in the beginning, but within a few trial runs and maybe a few crashes if you aren’t careful you should get the hang of it. The built-in gyroscope means that the chopper auto stabilizes and is that little bit easier to fly. The manufacturer recommends that it is only good for indoor use, but as long as it’s not too windy outside you can definitely take it for a spin round the garden. I took it for a walk last month and really tested the range. It is supposed to have a 30’ range, but the responsiveness seemed to go a little before that.
The Syma S107 RC helicopter comes in just two colors, red and yellow. Recommended for kids aged 14 and up, but I reckon as long as you keep an eye on them while they are playing with it, a kid as young as 9 or 10 could play with it no problem. The chopper is 7.5” long so you can have loads of fun trying to land it on shelves, and even building landing pads for it using books and cardboard boxes.
I thoroughly recommend this toy as one of the best time killers you can get for under 50 bucks. Thanks for reading.
I had been looking around for a good shape sorting toy for my younger daughter for a good while before I encountered this toy. I had looked at the Fisher Price Baby’s first blocks among others, and was very worried with that one because of all the chemical warnings. After hearing that this toy was possibly one of the best toys for toddlers that you can buy, I went ahead and ordered one.
After giving it to my daughter (who was just 11 months at the time), she immediately began playing it and trying to figure out what to do. With the Fisher Price toy she almost always seemed to be able to open the end of the toy herself and then of course give up trying to get the shapes into the correct holes. With this Tolo shape sorter she was pushing the shapes into the slots within minutes of me giving it to her. Very happy with this.
Another thing about this shape sorter which makes it that little bit better than a lot of the other shape sorters that you can buy at the moment is the fact that it comes with 6 different shapes and each shape is of a different color. Most shape sorters only have 4 or so shapes and the shapes are typically of the same color. When the shapes are different colors it makes it that little bit easier for the child to determine which shape is which.
The whole toy, once loaded with shapes, even acts as one big rattle, each little shape makes a rattling noise when you move them, and so the whole toy rattles with a pleasing sound as well. My daughter delights in rolling the toy backwards and forwards across the floor, this can go o for some time as well, great fun for her, not so much for daddy.
Slightly negative points might be that there is no inclusion of a square shape, there is a couple of flower shapes included but no square. As one of the most elementary shapes the missing out of the square shape does lead me to believe that Tolo has missed a trick here. Also the circular shaped toys opening is a little wider than it could be and the spherical shape falls out from time to time. All that said, this is most definitely the best shape sorting toy that you can buy at the moment, I strongly suggest you check it out.
Thanks for reading this Tolo rolling shape sorter review.
The Settlers of Catan is the award winning game designed by Klaus Teuber. It is a “german style board” or “Eurogame” if you prefer. The main difference between the two is that American style games usually have more drama, conflict and luck, while German style games have more economic themes focusing on strategy over luck and usually keep all the players in the game until the end. This game makes an ideal family board game because of the fact that no player is knocked out. Even if it becomes clear that you cannot win, you can still try and achieve smaller goals within your range.
The gameplay of the Settlers of Catan is not too complicated, but for beginners, playing the game with the user manual or “almanac” on hand is probably a good idea (actually you will probably need the almanac even if you are not a beginning player. You play the game as a “settler” trying to set up a new colony on a new island named “Catan”. The objective is to build up settlements and then cities and then connect them with roads.
The map is made up of hexagonal squares or “hexes” or different land types. For each settlement and city that you set up you will get “victory points”, once you have collected 10 victory points you win the game.
You will earn resource cards each turn from the hexes that surround your settlements, then you spend those resource cards to build more settlements, cities and the like. Resources such as lumber, wool, ore, grain and brick are received each turn and you roll the dice to determine which of the hexes gives you resources. The “robber token” is a very interesting addition to the game as well and whichever hex the robber is placed on, does not produce resources.
This game falls into the category of “gateway game” which means that it is not as heavy in detail and strategy as a “gamers game” might be. Also the length of time required to play one game is less. The Settlers of Catan usually takes anywhere from 60 – 90 minutes to play. You can play the game with 3 or 4 players as it comes as standard, and with expansion sets the numbers can be from 2 to 5 or 6.
This is a fantastic board game with a randomness that you will only find in truly special games. It is easy to pick up, but it will take a long time to master. I hope that you have found some useful information on this toy from my review.
Thanks for reading.
