Five homeschooling families evaluated four new toys, rating them on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best and 1 being the worst. All of the kits rated high for playability, especially within their age range. Girls and moms appreciated Pamela Drake’s Wire Art Jewelry Kit and the older kids were excited most by Faber-Castell’s Getting Started Drawing & Sketching. To view the full article and read what homeschoolers and their moms had to say about the toys, please click here.
Products:
- Design Studio by PAMELA DRAKE
- Wire Art Jewelry Kit by PAMELA DRAKE
- Getting Started Drawing & Sketching by FABER-CASTELL
- Ancient Egypt Mummies and More by FABER-CASTELL
| Mom’s Homeschooling Roundtable Questions |
Products |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| How appealing is the packaging? |
9.75 |
8.75 |
8.75 |
9.5 |
| How likely would you be to buy this product in a store, based on packaging alone? |
9.5 |
8.5 |
9.25 |
9.25 |
| Once the product is open, how appealing are its contents? |
9.75 |
8.75 |
9.75 |
8.5 |
| How easy are the instructions to understand … for Mom? |
10 |
8.75 |
10 |
10 |
| How easy are the instructions to understand … for kids? |
10 |
8.75 |
9.25 |
9.25 |
| How satisfied were you with the amount of time it took to set up or prepare the toy? |
10 |
9.75 |
10 |
9.75 |
| How excited were the kids about the prospect of using this toy? |
9.25 |
9.5 |
9.75 |
9.75 |
| How involved were the kids when getting ready to play with the toy? |
9.5 |
9 |
9.5 |
10 |
| How interested in the toy were the children once play began? |
9 |
9.5 |
9.75 |
9.5 |
| How much fun did the kids think it was to play? |
10 |
9.75 |
9.75 |
9.5 |
| How much did the kids think they learned while playing with the toy? |
5 |
5.25 |
7.25 |
6.5 |
| How much did you think the kids learned while playing with the toy? |
6 |
7.25 |
7.75 |
8 |
| How appropriate an addition to a homeschool curriculum is this toy? |
3.25 |
4.5 |
7.25 |
8.25 |
| How appropriate a learning tool outside of the classroom is this toy? |
7.25 |
7.75 |
9.5 |
9.75 |
| Knowing what you now know about the toy, how likely would you be to buy it for your children or recommend it to other parents? |
10 |
9.5 |
10 |
9.75 |
| Knowing what they now know about the toy, how likely would your children be to buy it, request it or recommend it to other children? |
10 |
9.25 |
9.75 |
9.75 |
| TOTAL SCORE |
8.6 |
8.4 |
9.2 |
9.2 |
© ToyDirectory and TDmonthly Magazine
Writer's Bio: ALISON MAREK is a writer/artist/filmmaker whose work has been published by Fairchild Publications and DC Comics (Piranha Press), among others. Her short films have played in festivals around the world and have been broadcast on Showtime and other cable networks. She recently completed a short comedy sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, titled "The Three-Body Solution." For the past four years, Alison has been documenting the specialty toy industry with a series of articles and videos for TDmonthly Magazine.
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