I’ve had the idea to do legitimate toy reviews from real parents here on UndefeatedDaddy.com for a long time. However, I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about it. Now, I’m going to start doing real toy reviews of the toys my own kids get, play with, and enjoy (or don’t). That way, the readers here will know that they are getting real non-fake toy reviews that are not designed to gather a 5-star rating on Amazon or whatever.

Leapster 2 Touch Screen Problem

This article is not a Leapster 2 review. That will be coming soon. However, the short version is the this. My kids love the Leapster 2. However, they do not have a Wii or Xbox or iPad or anything like that. Thus, this is the first and only kids gaming system we have, other than those aimed at younger children.

That being said, do not buy a Leapster 2. They are being phased out to make way for the Leapster Explorer. That means your Leapster 2 will be out of date in no time and there may not be any new games for the Leapster 2. We didn’t know this at the time, but we plan to take advantage of clearance sales to stock up on Leapster games from eBay and elsewhere online to make it last until we are ready for a new game system.

I bring this all up because we got a Leapster 2 game handset for Christmas that developed a bug where it would ask us to touch a flag to choose USA or Canada, but nothing happens when you touch the screen. It’s only a month old, so you can bet I was on the phone ready to be outraged.

Check out my article about whether there is a Credit Karma Scam.

It turns out that this is a rather common problem with Leapster and Leapster 2 game sets. Fortunately, there is a very easy fix.

Fix No Response Touch Screen on Leapster 2

To fix a broken Leapster 2 touch screen, you have to recalibrate it. To do so, you need to enter an undocumented (or poorly documented) configuration mode. To get into the system mode on the Leapster, hold down the ? (Help) button while turning it on.

Keep in mind that you have to already be pressing the ? button when you touch the power button and you have to keep holding it down until a configuration screen shows up.

Once you get to the config screen, press the A button to calibrate the Leapster touchscreen. The unit will display little red circles with a cross. Just touch each circle with the pen. They will appear in the four corners of the screen and then in the center.

When you’ve done that and are back at the configuration screen just press the power button or the down arrow until the unit shuts off to reset. Now, when you start the Leapster 2 and it asks you to select USA or Canada, it should actually work when you touch the American flag.

Leaptster Screen Freeze Touch Broken originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Here is an update about the current Happy Meal toys. The latest toy in McDonald’s Happy Meals are Hello Kitty watches for the Happy Meal girl toys and Transformer action figures for the boy Happy Meal toys.

There are several of the Hello Kitty characters offered including the bunny rabbit and the black cat, in addition to the most recognized Hello Kitty face. These are cheapo kids watches, of course, but they seemed to go over just fine with my four-year old. A quick parenting tip, however, if your child wants something to play with get the boys toy.

The Transformers action figure Happy Meal toys are standard quality figurine toys one would find in a McDonald’s Happy Meal. However, since the entire point of Transformers is that they change into something, it is curious that the Happy Meal Transformers don’t actually transform. The black one we got has a little lever on the back that you are supposed to click back and forth in order to pump the machine gun arms in and out. It looks pretty cool, but the switch is small and hard to work for young kids. It would take an older child to actually be able to use it.

According to the bottom of the box, the next Happy Meal toy is Bakugan for the boys Happy Meal toys and something like cutest little pets. I don’t remember the exact phrasing. If that rings a bell with anyone let me know so that I can get it right on here.

Current McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy originally published at Undefeated Daddy

My daughter loves seeing the pictures we take on the back of the camera and on the computer. In fact, the toughest thing about getting pictures these days is that I can only snap two or three pics before she is jumping up and asking to see them on the LCD screen on the back of the camera.

She also love playing with her pretend cameras. She points them at me and says click (for the ones that don’t click) and then looks at the back, whether there is a pretend screen there or not and then says things like, "Oh, that’s a good one," or "Oops. Your eyes were closed."

A very important parenting skill is encouraging your child’s creativity. Not surprisingly, we are thinking about getting her, her own kids digital camera for her birthday present. I started looking at digital cameras for children online and noticed some things right away that I thought I would pass along to Moms and Dads looking to buy a child digital camera for their son or daughter.

First, watch out for the Megapixels rating of the camera. While it is true that the digital camera specification wars have all but made megapixels meaningless as a way of judging quality on adult cameras, they are a very useful tool for weeding out junk toy cameras sold as real digital cameras for kids.

Let me put it this way. My five year old cell phone has a camera that takes 2 megapixel pictures. They aren’t the world’s greatest pictures, but from a cell phone that old, they are good enough. Just don’t ever plan on blowing them up or printing them out as anything other than a little 4×6 snapshot and it is all good. So, why in the world do some of these kid’s digital cameras come with the ability to take 0.3 megapixel pictures?

That is 0.3, not 3.0. In other words some digital cameras like the Little Tikes Kids Digital Camera takes pictures that are not half as good as my cell phone pictures, not one-quarter as good as my cell phone, but almost 1/10th as good as my cell phone! In other words, total crap. The only thing a 0.3 MP picture is good for is looking at on that tiny 1-inch screen on the back of the camera.

Look, we all know that these are kids toys and that they have to take a beating. We also all know that for $50 we aren’t going to get Canon’s top of the line digital camera. However, I think we can expect that even a child’s camera should come with a camera at least on par with the cameras you get in the free cell phones that companies give away to get new customers.

In other words, leave the 0.3 megapixel toy cameras rotting on the shelves, and find one that has at LEAST 1.0, and realistically 2.0 megapixels. If you can’t afford that one, wait for a sale, because the other one is a waste of money, and you and your child would be happier just using your imaginations instead.

Good Digital Camera for Kids originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Good parenting skills are key to avoiding things like temper tantrums, sulking, and most importantly of all, disappointed children which leads to disappointment for parents too. As a dad, good nutrition is important to me and my kids, primarily because I know how important getting the right foods helps kids stay healthy and grow strong.

On the other hand, having fun is very important to me too. And, as a fully grown adult who not only got an occasional McDonald’s meal when I was a kid, as well as one who ate there waaaayyyy to much in his twenties, I know that a Happy Meal here and there isn’t going to hurt my kids. When you way the fun of a trip to McDonald’s to get a Happy Meal against any nutritional detriments, fun comes out way ahead.

The catch to the whole thing is that the toy in a McDonald’s Happy Meal is an important part of the fun. Nothing puts disappointment on a little kid’s face like a crummy Happy Meal toy. That’s why I always like to know in advance what the current Happy Meal toy is.

Here during July, 2010, the current Happy Meal toy comes from the movie The Last Airbender. Chances are that if you have seen the reviews, then you have not seen the movie. Chances are also good that this flick will not end up on the list of good movies for kids.

However, that does not necessarily mean that the current Happy Meal toys are no good. The cat with wings doll, for example, would probably be a big hit with my daughter.

Trick To Get Better Happy Meal Toy

If you have a younger child and the McDonald’s toy sucks when you go, there is a trick you can use to get a better Happy Meal toy free and easy.

The main Happy Meal toys are almost never “suitable” for children under 3. So, if you have a kid who is under, or even near 3-years old, just ask for the “under 3 toy”. This is a special Happy Meal toy that all McDonald’s restaraunts keep on hand for parents who have young kids that don’t meet the official age requirements for the main Happy Meal toy. Don’t worry about making anyone grumpy, they have to have those toys anyway, and it is all the same to them, as long as you aren’t trying to be a weasel and get two toys out of your Happy Meal.

Have a fun day with your kids.

Current Happy Meal Toy Latest Update originally published at Undefeated Daddy

I really like shopping at Fat Brain Toys, and I do poke around Amazon from time to time, but I just found this place today and I love them for this Toys Clearance Sale page.  That page of onsale toys that is clearly broken out by not just brand but also individual show or movie is on AllAboardToys.com, a new website that I just found.

Now, don’t get me wrong, today is litterally the first day I have ever been to the site so I have not bought anything from them yet and I am not making any recommendation or comment on their products or service yet.  However, this is THE BEST ONLINE TOY SHOPPING WEBPAGE EVER CREATED.

Why?

As any parent knows, just because your daughter loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, does NOT mean that she loves all things Disney.  In fact, she might HATE certain things like the movie Cars because one time there was a box of cereal with a picture on the front of a little Mickey Mouse toy, but instead it had the tow truck from Cars inside instead.  Kids don’t care about fine print or what is on the back, and they don’t forget either.  Every time we pass a box of that cereal in the store she points and says, “That’s the kind with the wrong toys.”

Note to cereal manufacturers.  You might want to rethink your marketing strategy when it comes to what you include inside your boxes.  You might think that kids will keep asking their parents to buy your cereals over and over again until they get what they want, but actually, they’ll remember that you screwed them over and they won’t like it.  (Again, they don’t care about whether anything was technically accurate or honest, the picture on the front is the truth for them.)

Where does All Aboard Toys fit in all of this?

From time to time I like to buy new things that have her favorite characters or whatever on them.  Generally, I do not buy big elaborate toys but rather smaller ones that can bring joy for a long time AND provide the comfort of the familiar when we go to new places like restaraunts or hotels or whatever.  Thus, a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse plate, or fork, or shirt, is a nice find.  But, I hate the drudgery of going through 823 toys that aren’t right before finding the 3 that are.

All Aboard Toys fixes that problem by sorting not just by a big category like Disney, but by individual shows and movies.  My daughter loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc. but does not like Cars and really doesn’t know anything about any of the others.  So, it is SO refreshing to see an online retailer that gets how their customers actually shop AND that does not change their sorting and categories when they put stuff on sale or in clearance.

On both the regular pages and the clearance pages, you can choose from Finding Nemo, Scooby Doo, Toy Story, Backyardigans, or whatever your child is into and the items pop right up with no extra junk and no shady “used” or “third-party” retailers like on Amazon.

My cart is already stuffed with great things that I didn’t even know were made because they were burried too deep in the rubbish on other toy websites for me to know that there are actually several Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playsets, not just the ubiquitous garage and “suprise” sets that I’m not really a fan of.

Once I trim down my order enough to submit it, I’ll let you know how it goes for the rest of the shopping experience.

Online Toy Shopping, Toys, Toy Deals

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Best Online Toy Store For Great Clearance Deals originally published at Undefeated Daddy

My daughter has this talking toy cash register and absolutely loves it.  She calls it her “laptop” (Mom and Dad both have laptops).  Anyway, it is on sale for cheap from Amazon with free shipping.  (My online addiction is deals websites.)

We got it for around this price, but had to pay like $13 for shipping, so this is a pretty good deal.  I says not for children under 3, but that is only because it comes with its own “change” (plastic).  If you watch your child when they play with it, or if they don’t put stuff in their mouth any more, it isn’t like the cash register itself is dangerous.  If you are really paranoid, you can take all the change out and they can just use it with the dollars.

The best part about this toy cash register is that it has all of these built-in games and electronic learning tools, so as your toddler gets older, this will still be a cool toy.

Actually, I lied.  The BEST part about this toy cash register is that it has a “scanner” next to the cash register keyboard area.  It is really just a big red button that gets pressed and then it says a price, “one dollar and fifteen sense.” (Oh yeah, it talks.)  Nothing is quite as fun to a child as scanning every single one of their stuffed animals, except scanning Mom’s hand and hearing “twelve cents”.  My daughter didn’t start laughing until I did, which made it even funnier!

If you want one, here you go.  (If the price has gone back up over $30 or $35, just wait.  These go on sale all of the time.)

Cool Cash Register Toy originally published at Undefeated Daddy

You’ve seen the ball pit at Chuck-e-Cheese and other kid places.  Heck, maybe you’ve even been in a couple yourself.  Maybe you’ve seen the toys that are similar and thought.  That might be pretty cool for my little one.  But, then again, if you’ve got a toddler, they might be too big, and they aren’t cheap either.  Give up?  Never!  That would be defeated, and no one defeats your daddy.

Do It Yourself Ball Pool

It’s really simple to build a ball pool yourself.  In fact, after reading that sentence, I’m sure you already have a pretty good idea of where this is going.

First, get a cheap inflatable kiddie pool.  You want inflatable because your kids will jump and spin and fall around in the balls and you don’t want them hitting a hard plastic wall when they do.  You want it to be small unless you are only going to set it up outside.  Round objects take up way more space than you think they might, so keep it little or it will fill the whole room.  Here is one: Bubble Spray Pool, 58" x 13"

Next, you need the balls.  You don’t want to go too small or they’ll be hard to move around in and it will take too many to fill the pool.  You don’t want them too big or it won’t have that “swimming” affect that makes it so fun.  Something in the neighborhood of 3” is about right.  They’ve got these on Amazon: 100 pcs Fun Ballz

If you want to get it even cheaper, start watching the big department stores.  They are getting ready to start dumping their summer stuff so they can get out their fall stuff, and when they do, the discount.  Pick up a dirt cheap pool and dirt cheap balls, and the new ball pit is all ready.  As an added bonus, you can do other things with the pool and the balls.  Just use your imagination; or sit back and watch to see what your kids end up doing with them.  They might surprise you.

Cool Ball Pool originally published at Undefeated Daddy

My vote for the king of all terribly designed toys? This stupid dog. Oh sure, it’s cute, and it’s fun and it has a cute little voice and it helps your child learn about body parts, yeah, that’s all great. What it also has is the most annoying and poorly thought out feature ever to be put into a toy: the random turn-back on.

Yes, this stupid dog not only sneezes when you push his nose, he randomly says “Hug Me” AFTER your child stops playing with him. So, when your little girl or boy has moved on to something else, or even worse has decided to start settling down for nap time with a little quiet reading on Daddy’s lap, this inane dog will call out and re-start your child up all over again. No doubt this feature was included by the moron in marketing who longs to hear “my child plays with it for hours.” Maybe, but only because it won’t leave my daughter alone. Die, Stupid Dog, Die!

Oh, you think that pushing the nicely accessible On/Off switch on his foot will take care of it? No! That switch works the same way the “Push Button to Cross Street” button works at an intersection. In other words, it doesn’t. Try it. Go to the store, push the On/Off and listen to his cute widdle voice say “Bye-Bye.” Now, touch his Tummy. “Tummy!” That’s right, it’s off as long as you don’t touch it in any way. Hey, Mattel, you lead-paint using morons, Off means Off!

If you want it to be safely quiet you’ll have to pull open the Velcro on the back and move the little switch to off. Guess what baby wants to copy now?

It’s official. All toys with some sort of auto-restart or come-back-to-me type feature are Terrible Toys.

Fisher Price Puppy, Bad Dog! originally published at Undefeated Daddy