TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom

She’ll Put Your Toys on the Couch

By Dr. Tiffany Wright
May 2009

TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom recently discovered an intriguing twist with a morphed art project, watched her son start to master beginner yo-yo skills, and played with her senses in a game that brought lots of laughter. Read on to see how each of these fun and fascinating products scored.

Perfect Sense by Patch Products Inc.
Age: 12 and Up
Gender: Boys and Girls
Category: Board Games
MSRP: $25.00

TDmonthly rating:

The Dr.’s Impressions: This board game is for three to six players and lasts about 30 minutes. It includes a game board and 1,800 riddles on 180 cards. There are five riddles on each card describing the same object, and each riddle relates to one of the five senses. You move around the board by guessing the object based on the riddle.

Kids’ Perspective: I played with my boys, 13 and 10, and we all liked Perfect Sense very much. The riddles are actually pretty easy, so the game moves quickly. We played two games in a row and laughed quite a bit.

Recommendation: Perfect Sense is a fun and quick game that also stimulates thinking and keeps players on their toes because everyone is guessing the object whether or not it is his or her turn. It is a good game to play right after dinner, or when you have an extra half hour to laugh.

Morph-O-Scopes Kit - Sports of All Sorts by OOZ & OZ
Age: 5 to 14
Gender: Boys and Girls
Category: Educational
MSRP: $15.99

TDmonthly rating:

The Dr.’s Impressions: This is an optical illusion coloring project. It comes with a Morph-O-Scope mirror, crayons and a coloring mat. The Morph-O-Scope is a cup-shaped mirror that you place on the coloring mat. The Scope reflects the upside-down, stretched images into a figure.

Kids’ Perspective: My 10-year-old son played with the scope and found it entertaining and amusing. He was surprised at how his coloring was reflected back differently than he assumed it would be.

Recommendation: The Morph-O-Scope offers a pretty good optical illusion and challenges the brain to take an extra step while coloring the image. What would normally be a simple coloring task is decidedly more mentally challenging because the image is upside down and stretched out. Seeing the final product in the Scope was fun and intriguing.

F.A.S.T.® SpeedDial® by YoYoFactory
Age: 8 and Up
Gender: Boys and Girls
Category: Yo-Yos
MSRP: $50.00

TDmonthly rating:

The Dr.’s Impressions: This is a nice-looking yo-yo that adjusts to different speeds. It makes it easy for the beginner to learn to play.

Kids’ Perspective: My 10-year-old son loves this yo-yo and got much better at using the yo-yo after only a few hours.

Recommendation: I highly recommend the speed-dial yo-yo, especially for new learners. It is smooth and easy to learn on, and it also can be adjusted to increase tension as the player’s skill level increases.

Catalog Request Form

Read what more than 400 retailers have told TDmonthly about toys since 2005 in Toy-Store Owners Talk to TDmonthly.

Writer's Bio: Dr. Tiffany Wright doesn’t just look at toys; she analyzes them. In and out of the box, she scrutinizes them for playability, appropriateness and educational value. The latter quality is especially important to this stay-at-home psychologist/mother, who also homeschools her three youngest children. Her daughter attends UCLA. Dr. Wright earned her Ph.D. in personality psychology from University of California, Riverside. She is always on the lookout for toys and games that inspire creativity and impart knowledge while bringing fun and laughter to her home. Read more articles by this author

If you encounter any problems with this feature, please email us questions or comments.
Powered by Web Wiz CAPTCHA v 2.01 Copyright ©2005-2006 www.webwizcaptcha.com

Popular Stories

Request Information