Re: Fun, educational toys for Children ages 1-12
Leapfrog is the best when it comes to learning, fun, and educational toys.
We have their set of five DVDs... cost us around $45 from amazon. Excellent way of teaching alphabets, number, phonics, and story reading.... and works for most kids.... Look for its rating at amazon.
Also bought the Leapster LMax for Aymans' fourth birthday last year. Now the leapster itself is real pricey- $79 bucks usually at amazon, but i got it for $69 at amazon through a short time deal. Besides the Leapster itself, almost every game cartridge that goes with the system is between $20-$30. Game cartridge are age/grade appropriate. Ayman loves playing with it and it really is hours of educational fun. You can even hook it up to your TV.
We also have this Leapfrog phonic Magnetic set- cost $20 or so.... again teaches phonics, and i believe at walmart you can get a set at the same price that also has numbers 0-10 included. Word Whammer and Farm Sounds are also good but not up to my standard.
Now the above were the ones that are from age 0-7, and which have been tried and tested by us.
For older kids, we gave this Fly Fusion Pentop Computer to my husband nephew on his 9th birthday and he really loves using it... Yeah Leapfrog did it again. They also have this Quantum Pad, Turbo Twister (Spelling wonder), LeapPad etc, and i believe they would be as good as most of other leapfrog products are.... check www.leapfrog.com
Quality and educational value wise, VTech toys are next. My kids have a couple of Vtech toys and they are also fun to play with while learning at the same time. They are not much pricey but then they don't offer a wide range of option to pick from either.... But anyway they are good.
Baby Einstein is a so so... pricey but really boring and doesn't really capture your baby/kids attention. Good for little babies but not for older.
Waisay, it is always a very good idea to check the reviews about any toy (or any product) at amazon, even if you are not buying it from them.... It helps.