I could see this being a good choice for one child to use at home but ...
925390
I bought this as part of a vet/animal hospital setup for my classroom. For the price, I guess I was expecting a bit more and a lot of the "extras" - x rays, forms, signs, food - are paper or cardboard and cheaply made. I could see this being a good choice for one child to use at home but it wasn't a good fit for the classroom. As I was gathering materials, the wheels starting turning and I ended up turning a our puppet theater into the "reception desk" with a keyboard, notepads, clipboards, vet forms I found for free online, and using our shelves, play kitchen, baby care items, blankets, and furniture we already had to create different areas like a waiting room, recovery area, grooming area (in the kitchen sink!), exam table (kitchen stove covered with a blanket), x-ray room, etc. It's my fault for not thinking it through a bit more before purchasing and while we did use the tools in this kit along with the ones we already have so that several children could play at once, the rest didn't get much use at all. If your child already has a doctor kit and some stuffed animals, I think it would about really easy to make something more engaging and realistic for pretty cheap by getting real bandages and other first aid items at the dollar store and using cardboard boxes and other things you have at home.
3324396
I'm sure there are several similar products on the market. This one is probably no different than the others. Our 1 year old loves knocking down the tower of buckets, but does not yet stack them himself. He also likes banging the buckets together, or throw them on the floor. Perhaps he will learn to play with this more creatively as he gets older. For now, I think many other toys or regular household items could serve the same function for hus current interests. I thought the sifting function of some of the buckets would hold his fascination for running water or sand, but he seems to not be interested in this feature.
372238
It is not bad but might be more suitable for 7 yrs and aboce my daughter 4+ didn't liked that much probably she didn't like the colour  combinations.
1934750
I was excited about this xylophone partly because it had eight bars--so many on the market come with only four or five. I assumed that it would be a whole octave of a nice major scale, but that is not the case. It seems that the notes are all a half-step apart, which is fine for a little one who is just going to bang on it randomly, and it sounds nice when the balls roll down them, but if you play them one at a time all the way down, they sound odd, and it's difficult to play a song. So while it's a good sturdy and fun toy (my one-year-old loves it), and a fine introduction to musical instruments as a concept, just don't expect to be giving music lessons with it.
3490703
We bough this for my granddaughter as a Christmas gift - she likes it.  However we have a few concerns.  1. The parental control/usability/restrictions are NOT easy to do, or even to figure out. There are so many pre-loaded apps or software programs with no real explanation of what they are or what they do. Our daughter (who is very technically skilled on devices like this) has been going through it as she can, but as a general rule, it would be better if the company provided parental control options in an easier format. Especially since they're targeting the device for children.
2. The battery life is short, about 30 minutes. If they forget to plug-it-in at the end of a play session it is useless the next time she picks it up.
3. The usability isn't great. Maybe because her parents are coming from something so friendly (a Mac/Apple environment) - the learning process is a bit awkward.

There aren't really any how-tos out there on the web either. No You-Tube videos, or tutorials. IT's kinda weird!

Even though she likes it, a lot, our granddaughter just doesn't use it a-lot (electronic devices in general) I'm glad it wasn't expensive, her parents would feel guilty! :)
2973962
For one thing, this LeapPad is ruggedly built. It can take a lot of punishment from the younger children, and the graphics and games are interesting and colorful. It should keep their attention for a reasonable amount of time.

The down side is that this machine is restricted to only Leapfrog games. Not really a down side if you don't mind spending the extra money for them, but this does appear to be a machine that a child will outgrow rather soon.

A good learning tool that isn't too expensive, but more for the child on the lower end of the suggested age range (3 to 9 years). Older children may already be more advanced than this device.
2335934
I got this along with a "how to draw" book as a gift for a kid. I'm not sure how it turned out for sure but I think it is not a bad bet if choosing a present for a child you don't know very well.
251789
Only three stars from our home.

The Good: I love that this is a puzzle type activity thats also creating word and letter association. This way a younger child who is interested in puzzles can get real use out of this with lots of educational value to grow into.

The Not So Good: Unless I buy a seperate case, there is nothing to keep this contained. The wood tray has the slots and sections for all the pieces, but without a top or a lid this turns into a big mess really quickly.
This was a gift for my 6 year old and she enjoyed it some. I just don't  think it was her thing. My 4 year old would love it.. that is if we could find all the pieces!  We need to find a way to reorder letters.  If you're buying this as a gift, get a box it can close up in to go with. The parents will thank you!
4344209
They are all under two, so maybe when they are older they will get the concept better. It is not as easy to use as i thought.
2834725
Seems to be a good Value however the child it was purchased for is not old enough to use it yet.
238838
I had high hopes for this little Tool with multiple young children in the house.  I was hoping that I could use this when they got a mysterious fever and I contemplated taking them to the Dr. for antibiotics or not.  There is nothing more annoying than taking a sick child to the doctor only for them to tell you that they have a simple cold & to just take them home and wait it out.  I wanted to see if they had an ear infection and know if I needed to take them to the Dr. before wasting time and money.  It has been helpful because now I can also treat a slight ear infection at home and monitor it as well.  Sometimes some ear drops are all it takes and sometimes we have to go get an antibiotic (which I prefer to avoid).  I like that I have some control of the treatment of my children instead of relying solely on Dr's and prescribed medication.  I give only 4 stars however, because as a novice, it is REALLY hard to identify anything in the ear.  The Otoscope comes with a little chart and some instructions but it did not help much at first - I did not know what I was looking at or for.  A LOT of looking in our different ears at different times has helped!
3817206
I bought this toy for my son with autism who is obsessed with my real Dyson vacuum that this one is modeled after. He was very excited when he saw the box because he knew it was for him but a bit perplexed at the size. If you have the real life one, I'd gather it's about a fifth it's size.

The handle does not retract (which was the first thing he tried to do to see if it would reach up higher :  Also the canister does not come off and there is no step button to lay it down in the rolling position. It also very easily pops back into the upright position during use. This was somewhat frustrating for him as he was trying to use it like the real vacuum by stepping on the back to get it to lay down. So, if you have children like my son who may have issues with change, just be forewarned that it only looks identical so those will be the changes.

It's extremely small, so the ages 3-8 is not accurate as he is only five and is perhaps no taller than the average 6 or 7 year old at most. So, he has to stoop down pretty low to use it.

He loves it still as of today, but I am sure he will tire of it and want the regular sized one soon, so my plan to keep my other one in tact, may not work :).

It's made of plastic, my son is pretty destructive however, so I can't attest to the durability of it as he is not the average toy user and tends to break a lot of items

Considering this cost as much as a real vacuum of a cheaper company I am a bit disappointed since I only bought it because it looks like the one we have in our home.

So, it's a cute little toy, but not so much for a taller child or a child who is easily frustrated like my son with autism.
2482009
This is probably best for a child. It isn't really super high quality, but it is good for child's play.
4243748
My main complaint is that it isn't a big enough house for toys to play *inside.* I had hoped it would be for this price. It's a fine sturdy house. Pushing things through the door entertains my 20-month-old, and I hope that in a year it will be used for pretend play, but the chances of that would be better if it were bigger.
1455144
This is great for a baby who mouths everything, but I don't think it will grow with the child very well. It would probably defeat the purpose, but I find myself wishing it had a headphone plugin for plane travel.
1795447
It's well constructed, even if it does take awhile to put together.  The music is fun, and the kids will occasionally dance to it... but overall, wish I had picked something else for my 1 year old's birthday.  We've had it about a month, and it has been played with maybe 2 hours total.  Just though I'd weigh in with a negative review, as when I saw all the positive comments, I really thought this would be a winner... but for my 1 & 2 year old boys, it wasn't.
2047437
I would assume that the little boy would like and get a lot of practice with this, as this is something I would buy for my 5 year old.