Teaching Toys Make The Grade
Toys are supposed to be fun. But they can also teach. Here's a report on toys that do both. They're the top-rated educational toys in this year's exclusive CBS Toy Test.
CBS News Consumer Correspondent Herb Weisbaum is our guide.
The Fun & Learn Phonics Bus is an interactive bus that makes learning fun, hence its name. Kids can flash the lights, honk the horn or push the song button. The friendly characters inside the bus talk to each other and to your child.
This is a way for children to learn their letters. They just push a letter on the side of the bus and hear its name and the sound it makes.
The Fun & Learn Phonics Bus is for little ones aged 18 months to 4 years old. It's from LeapFrog and sells for about $30
Flip for Phonics, is an affordable, portable laptop for preschoolers, loaded with things to do. Just slide the green worm to one of the 10 different activities. Children can learn vowels and consonants, missing letters and simple spelling.
You can even use the keyboard to make music. With so much to do, it's easy to see why this was a hit with kids and teachers. It holds their attention and is lots of fun.
Flip for Phonics, from VTECH, is designed for kids, ages 3 to 5, and sells for about $25.
Here's a cool toy - cool, as in frozen. These kids are digging their way down to the iceman. And once they chip away and melt away all the ice, they'll be able to dissect him.
This isn't exactly high school biology class, but kids do find out about human anatomy.
For example, they can pull things out and say, "These are the intestines." And when the kids first start, they might not know what the intestines were.
By the way, this toy is reuseable. So the iceman cometh again and again.
Just build your skeleton man, fill the freezing tray with water and wait a while. Once he's frozen solid, you're ready to start all over again.
The Ice Man Cryogenic Lab, from Wild Planet Toys, is for school-age kids, 6 and up. The price is about $20.
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