5 comments about The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide.

1. These is less about instructions (although there are a few) and more about the theory of Lego building.
   
   It covers a lot of topics, from super mini models up to giant Lego blocks made of smaller Lego blocks. The downside to this approach is there is a lot of discussion of topics that not everyone is going to be interested in. I for one have no desire to build over-sized Lego blocks.
   
   Still there's lots of good tidbits of information, and it reminds me as I introduce my daughter to Legos that not everything about building with Legos is self-evident.
   
   I especially like the instructions for the train station which can be modified in lots of ways to make all sorts of buildings (My daughter and I made a pizza restaurant). I do wish there had been more of that.



2. My 10 year old nephew is big into Legos, so I wanted to get him the perfect book. Seeing the index and pages on Amazon, I could tell that this book would give him the basics and move him toward engineering incredible structures. He was very happy to get it.



3. this was a nice book that my son does not look at
   i continue to point him back to the book as it appears
   useful in making your own plans.



4. This is a back to the basics or what some call the tricks of the trade type book. I really enjoyed looking through it and learning new stuff. Great guide to all the pieces and naming conventions.



5. I've been building with Lego bricks for over 30 years. I bought this book to add to my collection not expecting to "learn" much but have something to share and refer to from now and again. I was very happily surprised after reading and learning a few new building techniques. While this book isn't exhaustive of every single SNOT or other advanced building technique (btw, there isn't one) this is a great single volume that is a happy addition to every LEGO enthusiast's library. I have also recommended this book for persons just starting or getting back into building. It's a great overview and introduction. I look forward to future volumes from the author!

5 comments about Handy Dad: 25 Awesome Projects for Dads and Kids.

1. This is a detailed book! I guess I was expecting a picture book with IDEAS about things to do with kids. It's instructions, step-by-step, page by page for completing the projects. It's a good resource to keep around for the coming years. Our kids are 2 and 10 months, and most of the ideas are aimed at older kids, so I think it will get used more later.



2. Like others, I gave this to my husband for Father's Day. There are many projects ranging from simple to nearly expert. We are in the 'novice' category right now. My husband is just mastering the art of power tools and simple carpentry. (He is a computer geek!)
   
   This book gives simple, direct instructions for lots of fun things to do with your kids. I recommend it for any loose ended weekends!



3. I bought this book for my husband and 6-year old son. They found 4 or 5 projects they could reasonably do together without too much cost or time. It will also come in handy for some of the school science projects this year!



4. Gave this to my son for fathers day. He was intrigued and was definetly going to try out some of the ideas with his 2 boys.



5. Handy Dad: 25 Awesome Projects for Dads and Kids is a user-friendly compendium of construction projects that dads (or moms, uncles/aunts, grandparents, or anyone else!) can create to promote quality playtime activities with children. From a backyard rope swing, to a bird feeder, a tree house, a half-pipe, or even a tie-dye shirt, the ideas range from toys that promote physical activity to delightful personal keepsakes. (Not all of the projects involve woodworking, although many do.) Older children can even participate in the joy of building something with one's own hands, under close supervision of course. Each project listing spells out the needed tools and materials and where to find them, along with step-by-step instructions. Full color photographs illustrate this wonderful guide to tapping into one's creativity to spend quality time with children. The perfect antidote to a world oversaturated with television and video games, Handy Dad is highly recommended.

5 comments about Eric Carle Animal Lacing Cards: 10 Cards & Laces.

1. my toddlers really enojoy this product. the colors are bright and animals seem to peak their interest. i like that as they get older they will be able to continue using this porduct and that it helps improve their coordination skills.



2. This toy is a good buy for a kid who is learning to use lacing cards. My Niece will have a good time playing with this product. Thank you.



3. I bought these cards for my 3 year old son and he loves to use the laces in the cards. I love how colorful the cards are and the wonderful artwork on them. He loves that he knows the characters from his favorite Eric Carle books. Also they are made out of very sturdy material and easy for him to do by himself.



4. I took this box with 10 cards and 10 laces to a religous gathering where kids had to sit quietly. to my surprise this was such a hit that not only my four age son and 16 months daughter enjoyed doing it but other kids ages from 4,5,6 and 7 years old pick up those cards from me and start lacing it. Age four do need help to get the conncept down but age six were doing it all by them self and once they will finish with one card they would want to get any other card so they can do a different design. A MUST HAVE. I'M BUYING MORE TO GIVE AS A GIFT. Perfect gift for BOYS AND GIRLS.



5. Beautiful colors, beautiful artwork, and much more creative than just following an outline. For an older child, teach them chain stitch, back stich, alternating colors... kind of pre embroidery!

5 comments about Everyone's Mandala Coloring Book (v. 1).

1. When I received this book, I felt disappointed. After waiting several weeks to color one of the pictures with colored pencils, I have to say I was wrong. The pictures seem somewhat simplified, but that is an advantage as there is plenty of room for one's own creativity. Creating my first picture from the book made me feel better and the result was amazing. Very good therapy. I could see it helping raise self-esteem.



2. Whenever I am feeling stressed, I choose a Mandala and color it until I feel finished. Afterwards, my mind feels clear and I am very relaxed.



3. I've used this coloring book myself for years! I've given it to family and friends as gifts, as well as using in my holistic nursing practice with my patients. It is so popular with patients and family members, it is now even stocked in our hospital gift shop. The author is right: it works for all ages, children to the elderly. It is especially wonderful for anxious times of waiting---in a doctor's office, before surgery, for news on test results, for the repairman to show up, etc.
   Coloring these mandalas seems to have a magical effect on people. Relaxing, decresing stress. Makes everybody happier than just worrying and fretting. I highly recommend it!



4. As a Buddhist, mandalas have a special power. I have enjoyed coloring these mandalas. But I think these mandala coloring books are of universal interest. My grand-daughters approach each mandala with energy and fascination. I would recommend these mandala coloring books to everyone.



5. As much as I really love this book, I'm afraid that I could only give it five stars, since that's all Amazon allows for it.
   
   I had this book when I was a kid of about 8 or 9, and I'm finding just as much pleasure in coloring the pages in it now as I did back then.
   
   When I was a kid, I never cared for coloring books featuring well-known cartoon characters, or characters from children's shows like Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, or Barney. To me, those kinds of coloring books came with restrictions on how to color. Bugs Bunny is always to be colored grey. Oscar was colored green. Barney was to be colored purple. You could color other items in the pictures any color you wanted. If the character was playing with a ball, as long as the ball had no distinct features identifying it as a tool used in a specific sport (like baseball or basketball), then you could color it any way you liked.
   
   With this coloring book, and others like it, there are no rules. You can color it any way you feel comfortable coloring it. I remember spending countless hours coloring in it, while listening to an audio cassette tape recording of a movie I liked, that I recorded from the TV. Sometimes when I look at the pages in this book, I can picture myself back to when I was 8 or 9, sitting at the little desk we had in the dining room for me, listening to the cassette tape.
   
   A lot of the mandalas are great for coloring again and again. I may order another copy or two, just to recolor some of the mandalas I've already done. I also have a program on my computer that allows me to draw my own mandalas, and sometimes I'll turn to this coloring book, as well as the other three in the series, for inspiration or ideas.
   
   I highly suggest getting this coloring book for anyone who still likes to color, or if you have kids who are like I was, and really don't care for coloring books featuring cartoon characters. This book is really more of a challenge to the imagination than any coloring book featuring a specific set of characters. It's an easy, yet difficult book to color. The spaces in the mandalas are big enough for children to color, with a few smaller areas that might be hard for children, yet not so for adults. The real difficulty here is deciding which color to choose.

5 comments about Forbidden Lego: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against!.

1. My son LOVES Legos. Is a wiz at the kits and really enjoys making his own stuff. He was so happy when we gave him this book.



2. This book has piece by piece directions for building different objects. You use household items with the legos to make things work.



3. Forbidden Lego has some innovative and fun designs, and the description of the process Lego uses to design, approve and produce models is especially interesting.
   
   The models in this book would not pass this rigorous approval process, and the authors tell you exactly why - they might fire projectiles too fast or too quickly or require the alteration of an approved Lego piece. But the building instructions would also not pass Lego's quality control process, either. Some illustrations are missing the box that shows the pieces needed for that step, leaving the builder to search the diagram to find what has been added and where (Step 14 for the Candy Catapult, for example).
   
   The instructions are definitely for experienced builders, as they do not always show the intermediate building steps - you may have to partially insert an axle piece before placing an assembly on the main model, for example, and fully insert it after the assembly is in place. This shouldn't give experienced builders any trouble, but might be frustrating for younger builders.
   
   These models call for some parts that are uncommon, but the best thing about Lego pieces is their adaptability. It is possible to modify the models to accomplish the same function with other more common pieces. Advanced builders will enjoy this challenge, but it may frustrate those who want ready-to-build models. A similar challenge faces those of us who don't want to alter our Lego pieces to find a way to do the same thing with whole pieces.
   
   If you are considering this book for yourself, you'll know if you're the kind of builder who enjoys this kind of challenge. The completed models are worth the effort. If you are considering this as a gift for a young builder, you'll want to be sure they have an advanced builder around to help them out. If not, you might consider a book like Lego Crazy Action Contraptions: A LEGO Inventions Book (Klutz) which is not only geared toward younger builders, but also includes all the pieces needed to build the models.



4. I can't wait to send this stuffed inside my son's stocking for Xmas ... I'll include the requisite parts so he and his fellow airmen can have a blast



5. I was excited to get this book for my 12-year-old budding engineer. He was too, until he looked through it and saw that he would need to have a Lego robotics kit to make a good number of the creations. Since the kit is $250, that ain't happening, so back it goes.
   
   And as other reviewers mentioned, they show pictures of the pieces you need, but they don't label them with names or part numbers. It would be EXTREMELY hard to find the parts you need to build most of these projects. It's amazing to me that the authors would create such great projects but then provide such incomplete info, rendering their book virtually useless to most users. What a waste of the return postage!

5 comments about My Book Of Easy Crafts.

1. Its agood book on how to build the craft urself..I bought it for my 4 1/2 yr old daughter.n she njoys doing it with me...



2. My almost 5-year-old daughter and I have been quite pleased with some of the Kumon books (including the ones the emphasize reading skills, such as the short vowels and long vowels practice books), and I was excited to find this Kumon crafts book. The basic skills that a child will need before doing the activities in this book are the ability to use scissors (safety scissors for younger children of course) and glue. The crafts in this book get progressively difficult over the pages and there are 40 activities in all. The activities are geared towards improving fine motor skills and enhancing brain functions. The paper quality is impressive - it's thick enough that cutting and pasting can be done with relative ease and the finished crafts are able to withstand frequent play.
   
   The colors are bright and the various projects are engaging so that a child would be keen to complete this craft - an example would be finger puppets, a bobble-head dog, a walking robot, flapping rooster, space travel, and many more fun and engaging crafts. My daughter still needs help with the more complicated cutting projects but she managed the gluing quite well with some instructions. This is a great project book for independent learners, and also perfect for parent-child bonding. Older siblings can also do some of these crafts with their younger siblings. Highly recommended!



3. The crafts in this book include masks, finger puppets, games, toys, etc and all are bright, colorful and quickly constructed with just glue, scissors, and some pretty easy folding. Full instructions are included for each project. Adults will likely have to help some but young kids will enjoy watching the process even if they can't fully participate. The crafts are all printed on sturdy paper and do not lend themselves to photo copying so teachers wanting to do these projects as a class will need to purchase a book for each child.



4. I was excited to see this workbook from Kumon, since my daughter (4 yrs old) has liked some of them in the past. Unfortunately, she has not been interested in doing any of these crafts. I think it's because she likes to think of the craft herself, and then follow through with her idea. She doesn't like crafts when there isn't a whole lot of creative thought needed.
   If your child is creative, it may not be the best workbook for you. If your child likes crafts, but sometimes can't think of what to do on his/her own, then this workbook may be a lot of fun. There are some cute things to make (in my opinion, not my child's!).



5. Very colorful, simple and yet detailed artwork. My almost 3 year old needs alot of help with these but he loves them. A good way to get your child away from the tv and using his hands to create something.

3 comments about Sewing for Children: 35 Step-by-step Projects to Help Kids Aged 3 and Up Learn to Sew.

1. OK I have never written a review before but I have to say, this is one of the best purchases I have made. I was looking for something to keep my two girls, aged 8.5 and almost 5, away from the TV this summer. We have already done two projects. My older one has very little sewing experience and my little one has none. I have a little. The projects are well explained and illustrated. Both girls are so proud of themselves and have commented several times that they can't believe they are doing this, and it is so much fun. And the results are very cute so far! My older one has made a list of the first 12 projects we are going to do, in order of increasing difficulty. We will certainly get our money's worth from this one and the time we are spending together...priceless! Thanks, Emma Hardy.



2. This book is a very beautiful, but its really not what i expected. I expected a book with many easy "teaching" projects for kids 3 and older. The book is more full of projects for girls age 7 and up to do with mum, but not really "teaching skills".
   
   There are not many projects suitable for the 3-7 range, and NOTHING very very simple for a young absolute beginner.
   
   I do like this book, i do like the projects, but i wish that i had bought the winky cherry books



3. When I first read the title Sewing FOR Children, I broke out in a cold, cold sweat. I mean, I can barely sew a straight line, have a fear of sewing machines, and procrastinate sewing buttons on shirts until they no longer fit. But, the cute dolls on the cover made me read the whole book cover to cover. It was a sewing epiphany for me. Under the guise of teaching my kindergartner to sew, I could conquer my fear of sewing.
   
   This book is intended to teach kids ages 3 and older to sew, not for parents to try to make all of their kids' clothing. I wiped the sweat beads from my brow. It's truly genius. The projects are all simple and do not require heavy machinery (to me, that means a sewing machine). The book reviews basic stitching s-l-o-w-l-y so I can understand it.
   
   And, the projects are cute, cool, and definitely a great way to reuse, use up and recreate old items or small pieces of fabric. Thank you, Emma Hardy. I am no longer sewaphobic.

5 comments about Beautiful Stuff!: Learning with Found Materials.

1. This book contains many ideas for storing and using things that we ordinarily throw away! It makes one stop and think before discarding anything at all. We have found our children using these "findings" in a myrisd of ways - time after time. After the initial "collecting" we have found that the collection was so large that we have not "collected" again for two years, and still have a great variety of materials. Goes to show that one does not need many of the expensive items in the catalogs in order to have interesting materials for teaching children!!



2. Great book for early childhood teachers, especially those interested in the Reggio Approach. Fast reading and well worth the cost.



3. If you are working with early childhood are children, this book is a wonderful resource! I plan to put many of the ideas into practice. Teaching kids to see beauty in common objects is an important lesson along with the idea that art can be created from anything.



4. This book was short, simple but was a great book. I highly recommend it for any teacher, grades K-21.
   
   Best in ideas of where to get supplies and save money.



5. A beautifully illustrated book with easy to read suggestions on working with recyclables in your classroom. Very inspiriing!

5 comments about Making Books That Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist & Turn: Books for Kids to Make.

1. Got this for my grandchildren to fiddle around with this summer. Know they will find something fun to do.



2. I love this book. It gives me a number of inspiring ideas that can be adapted for anybody's use. Simple, easy to use, good illustrations. Now if only I can find the time to make all the books I want to....



3. I was SO disappointed in this book. I'm an experienced card maker but thought there might be a simple idea that I could expand on. Not only were there no useable ideas, the pictures were awful and the explanations were pretty bad. I would hate to have to teach using this book! It was a total waste of money. I can't believe that Amazon recommended this book in an email to me because I had bought "similar items" before. It was NOT similar in quality nor content.



4. As a teacher, this book is a great resource for ideas to show students how to write and product there own work of literature. We used the book as the basis for a "Make a Book Night" sponsored by our PTA. Students and their parents attended a night of book making and story writing choosing from one of the many book ideas presented in the book. It was a great experience for one and all. If you love books, like to write poetry, stories or journals I highly recommend purchasing
   
   Making Books That Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist & Turn: Books for Kids to Make



5. I recently purchased this book and have found it to be a terrific resource for teaching children how to make beautiful books.The instructions and diagrams are easy to follow and very clear. My favourite is the T.V. book. The children in my class had a blast making these books.

5 comments about Candy Bouquets, Delicious Designs.

1. I was TOTALLY disappointed. It definitely was not what I expected for the price. A friend of mine was going to order but after seeing mine she did not. The arrangements were too small and little variety. I would not recommend it to anyone.



2. Such a wonderful book for gift ideas! Easy to make and they look like they took forever!!



3. I have bought other candy bouquets and this and candy bouquets for celebrations are 2 of the best that i have ran across so far...the pictures are clear and the instructions are easy and precise.....would purchase more books of hers....excellent book



4. The candy bouquets in this book are very simple designs. Nothing that is really going to wow anyone. Maybe it's better suited for children with adult supervision.



5. I found that the book was a great help to me in making the candy bouquet. Has many other helpful hints. Was easy to readand the pictures were a great help.