 A nice educational toy |
| Review Date: March 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: David Gryte, |
| I bought this toy to start getting my nieces interested in geography. It certainly peaked their interest, and they seemed to enjoy it. But it got old for them after a while. It also isn't very durable. That being said, I believe it served its purpose and it is probably more interesting to children than many other "educational" toys. |
Great toy!
|
| Review Date: February 4, 2010 |
| Reviewer: carolyn, Canal Winchester, OH |
| When our three-year-old first saw a globe, well, that was it! He saw this in a store and so I gave it to him to look at while I shopped. The guy never took his eyes off of it the entire time! So, of course, I bought it and well, now everyone wants to play with it - even the 12-year-olds! It's just super cute - the kids can fly all over the world and learn such things like where the Sydney Opera House is located, that the United States is also referred to as North America, and where the Sahara Desert can be found. It is quite suitable for age 3 and up - it's just so eye catching that they want to find out where all the places are and they do so until they find them. It's like this very interactive game of "I spy!" The little guy on the plane is so cute, and he has a magnifying glass attached to him as well so the children can see where they've "landed." Ours is still in use 5 years later and shows no end in sight. Great, great toy, highly recommend! |
Another poor VTech product
|
| Review Date: June 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Gadgester, Mother Earth |
| I think I've had enough of VTech's toy products. This Fly & Learn Globe toy is another example of VTech's good idea, poor execution business model. The toy looks attractive at first glance, with a joystick, five playing modes, and several countries and cultures to explore and learn about. Unfortunately, the joystick is awful and hard to use even for an adult, let alone a small child, and the content is very limited, providing little replay value once a child has played through the five modes, which takes no time. The toy also feels flimsy. There's so much VTech could done to make it a worthy toy, but once again, they seem more interested in getting your money than providing a useful toy for kids. |
3 year old Niece loves it
|
| Review Date: June 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Robert Gray, Tokyo |
| I got this as a gift for my 3 year old niece and she loves it. Mom showed her how to use it and she can do it fine all by herself. |
Vtech Fly & Learn Globe
|
| Review Date: January 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: C. Allen, milwaukee, wi United States |
| Nice product to educate younger children. My 6 year old loves it and is learning so much about the world. SO Am I!!! |
Probably too advanced for a 3 year old.
|
| Review Date: January 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: E. Cosgrove, Central CT, USA |
| Bought this for my 3yr 9m daughter - she hasn't got the patience or attention span to work with this much yet. It seems sturdy enough, as it still is perfectly functional after some toddler abuse - manually turning the globe, rather than using the joystick, knocking it off the coffee table and tripping over it several times. In a few more months she might have appreciated this more. |
Loud and Simplistic
|
| Review Date: December 27, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Prairieman66, Winona, MN |
First off, this toy is LOUD. I am not sure if other parents have noticed a disturbing trend in the loudness level of toys these days. This toy falls into this category. I have resorted to placing tape over the speaker holes to mute the loudness of the sound. I fear for my son's hearing.
Second, my son quickly played out this toy in about 20 mins and know shows little interest in it. And at $25, that's not good. |
Xmas gifts.
|
| Review Date: January 17, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Millie, Chicago, Il |
| Excellent educational toy. My granddaughter is learning about the continents at this time (she's 5 years old) and she loves playing and answering the questions correctly. |
Globe Fun
|
| Review Date: January 2, 2008 |
| Reviewer: E. Fess, |
| My five year old and seven year old daughters love this globe. It teaches about different continents and significant landmarks on those continents. It also has the local music and specific words spoken in the language common to the countries. It's a lot of fun. |
so many choices
|
| Review Date: December 25, 2007 |
| Reviewer: D. Littleton, PA USA |
| My 5 year old grandson loved the joy sick and the plane - but with all teh options - he easily slides the pointer along the choice options in mid sentence. We are afraid he is going to burn out the motor. Once we cslm him down - and he can respect the toy for what it is suppose to do - I think he will love it. In the begining it is a lot of fun and nois and I don't think he was understanding it's purpose |
3 year old knows where machu-pichu is
|
| Review Date: December 17, 2007 |
| Reviewer: E. Brady, Chesapeake VA |
| My friend gave this toy to my son for his 3rd birthday. Let me say it's such an educational toy. Not only he learned that Machu-Pichu is in South America, he learned where the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean is on the map. Some reviews complain about the joystick and the plane not landing on the right area. The concept of giving children educational toy is for parents to guide them with it instead of giving them the toy and learn for themselves. My son being only three years old and knowing where the Statue of Liberty, Sydney Opera house, Great Wall of China, etc is a great accomplishment. |
Good Early Exposure to Globe
|
| Review Date: November 27, 2007 |
| Reviewer: J. Cody, West Tennessee |
| I bought this at a toy outlet at a great price for my kindergarten classroom. They were all interested in it, especially at the beginning of school. It is hard to get the plane in an exact spot. Most kids just like moving the plane aroud and don't really answer the questions. Even so, I think this is a great toy to expose a young child to the concept of a globe and what our earth looks like. |
Wonderful first globe, lots of learning potential.
|
| Review Date: July 18, 2007 |
| Reviewer: James J. Zink, TN |
We purchased this globe a few years ago for my then three year old. He still plays with it, and the music and controls are easy enough and can with stand my one year old. I just purchased the newer model (shown) for our nephew. Hope he gets as much enjoyment from it as we have!! I have recommended it many times!
Stacy |
Kid tested, uncle approved
|
| Review Date: July 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Kannan, Chicago, IL |
My wife's sister's husband's mom bought this for my niece... I'll give you a second to work that one out ... and she LOVES it. She flies the plane around the globe even after having the toy for almost a year.
After seeing how much she liked it, I bought this as a Christmas present for one of my friend's kids (four, the same age as my niece), and he loves it too (or at least so my friends say). Here's how I know that little boy got something out of this toy:
My wife and I as well as my friends were vacationing in Mexico. On the phone the little boy said, "Daddy take care of Mommy when you're in Mexico. They have dangerous Pyramids there." Now there were no pictures of Mayan pyramids on this globe, and he probably got mixed up with Egypt, but the point is that he was at least somewhat aware of the wider world out there!
Would definitely recommend this to anyone with kids 3 or older. My only (minor) critique is that the "North South" control on the joystick is WAY too sensitive. You can go from the South to the North pole in about a second, and even adults have trouble steering it. The East-West control is an appropriate speed. My niece just physically moves the plane North-South while using the joystick East-West (the toy holds up well to this). |
Good first step in geography
|
| Review Date: May 16, 2007 |
| Reviewer: PoLoverLorna, Los Angeles, CA |
| I bought this for a [...] I was able to show her very quickly how to use the gears and buttons to find the countries. After only a few times, she was able to find several countries on her own. The plastic seems a little fragile, so I'm not sure how long this will work, but for the price, it's a good deal. |
Good concept, but needs work
|
| Review Date: May 7, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Jenny L. Kelly, Ridgeland, MS |
| I bought this for my 6 year old niece for Christmas. When it arrived, I was disappointed. I ended up giving it to my 3 year old. She liked it, but lost interest in it. When my two nieces came over (the 6 year old and a 10 year old), they lost interest much quicker. They knew more information than the toy offered by what they learned in school. I think the concept is great, it needs more...more information about more places than currently offered. Back to the drawing board I say..... |
Way disappointed...
|
| Review Date: March 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: NDR, Minneapolis, MN |
This toy is just not what I thought it was going to be like... It's a very cool idea that was not made up the right way... Unfortunately!!!.. it's hard to be used by a kid (even by an adult). I think they could've identified more countries to make it more fun.. they missed Central America!!!!!...(they missed 7 countries doing that, what a way to teach world geography!) besides they say people who are hispanics speak HISPANIC!!!.. that's not even a language.. It's spanish, and I think that even a kid can know better than that. If you're making a toy that will provide world geography the least that you can do is looking up the right information so you don't make this kind of mistakes. I'm from Ecuador and I speak Spanish. If you get this toy, please make sure you tell your kids that we are hispanics, but we speak SPANISH. Thank you!!!...
|
Hard to use
|
| Review Date: March 5, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Johnathan Adams, |
| This toy has really neat sounds and a lot of activities. The problem with it is that it is hard to control. The joy stick flops around, and it is hard to stop on the place you choose. It is hard for me to control as an adult, so you can imagine that a 4 year old has a really rough time. My doughter got so frustrated with it she just quit playing with it. |
VTech Fly & Learn Globe review
|
| Review Date: February 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Mrs. Charlotte A. Stout, |
| Way too difficult for a tiny child with tiny hands to manage the "airplane" magfifying glass. "Sites" difficult for a grown up to determine, let alone a 3 year old. Would have been nice if they had made the states and countries identifiable. We do enjoy it even with these limitations. Just don't expect too much. I also think there should be more games....it is very limited in it's educational scope. |
Fly & Learn Globe
|
| Review Date: February 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: S. Y. Newton, Lewisburg, PA USA |
The Fly and Learn Globe is a talking globe aimed at the preschool market. Unlike standard globes, it only depicts the continents and limits its teaching to approximately 20 or so "destinations". Also unique to this product is an attached plane that the child can "fly around the world" with the attached joy stick.
There are five ways to play. Mode 1 (My first atlas): Landing on a destination will allow the child to hear about the place, its famous sites, the people that live there or learn some simple phrases (hello, thank you, good bye) in the native language. Mode 2 (Find our friends): The child listens to clues and is rewarded if they can fly to the correct friend. Some of the "destinations" are people. Mode 3 (Quiz time): The child listens to clues and is rewarded if they fly to the correct location. Mode 4 (Flight Adventures): The child is asked to find a series of locations. Mode 5 (Music & Sounds): When the child lands on a "destination" they will hear local music or a corresponding sound.
I love VTech toys but this one misses the mark. A preschooler will enjoy flying the plane and hearing the plane sounds but will not have the eye hand coordination to land exactly on the destinations. If they can't hit the targeted destinations then they really will not be able to play in anything but Mode 1. In addition, activating the game requires a double click which I don't know if some preschoolers will remember to do. Finally, the places chosen for destinations don't quite make alot of sense to this reviewer and give a slightly unusual introduction to geography.
Amazon lists the age range as 36 months -12 years but children old enough to master this toy will be very turned off by the graphics and the limited number of destinations. My son is 7 and declared this a baby toy. If you are thinking about getting a talking globe, I would try one of the Leap Frog products.
|
|
