Aquadoodle Deluxe Basic Mat Kit with Extra Brush and Magic Pen! Exclusive Set with New Big Brush!

Aquadoodle Deluxe Basic Mat Kit
Product Description
Just fill the pens and brush with water and paint away! NO MESS See the super photos above Kids Love this mat!


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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #12876 in Toys & Games
Features
Super Basic Mat kit with Exclusive EXTRA Brush and pen!
The new style Brush is a great fun tool to make Wide swipes for painting
Only this exclusive Basic Set has the brush - the normal basic set only has 1 pen
This set offers 2 pens and 1 Brush! with the Basic Mat
kids love the fun, parents love the clean no MESS magic
(by Amazon.com)

Fisher-Price Imaginext Spike the Ultra Dinosaur

Fisher-Price Imaginext Spike the Ultra Dinosaur

Product Description

Meet Spike, the dinosaur that kids bring to life at the touch of a button. He walks, he stands on his hind legs, he blinks, his mouth opens and closes, and his spikes even light up. You make it all happen with the easy-to-use remote control! Spike also makes lots of fun sounds, too. He growls, snorts, roars and more. Requires 3 "AA" alkaline batteries, not included. Also uses rechargeable 9.6 Volt NiMH battery, included (a $25 retail value)! Spike stands 27" tall.


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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #79 in Toys & Games
Brand: Fisher-Price
Model: M8126
Released on: 2008-08-18
Dimensions: 29.90" h x 16.10" w x 5.70" l, 12.20 pounds
Features
Bring the ultimate dinosaur to life
Brontosaurus styled dinosaur is controlled by a wireless remote
The dinosaur can walk forward, turn left and right, open its mouth, blink its eyes, stand up on its hind legs, and even throw a boulder
The neck on the dinosaur will rotate around similar to the neck on the mega t-rex, and when the dinosaur stands up, spikes down its back will light up
Dinosaur sound effects and motions bring life-like movement

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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The pre-historic world comes roaring to life with the Spike the Ultra Dinosaur, an Imaginext toy from Fisher-Price. Flashing lights, blinking eyes, and grunting dino speak make this big, green remote-control dinosaur a fun companion for adventurous play. Rugged and curious, Spike has a quirky personality that will draw children ages three through 10 into an exciting world of their own imagining.

A Fearsome New Friend
This awesome oversized, plastic dinosaur stands 27 inches tall, with textured green skin, a yellow underbelly, gnarly teeth, and plenty of serious spines--enough to make any young dino-enthusiast swoon. Before Spike is ready to roam the Earth, you'll need to snap his legs and tail into place. These pieces are color coded to prevent confusion, and the instruction booklet offers a nice illustration. Make sure all three connection points on each front leg are securely attached, otherwise he'll struggle to walk.

You'll also want to fully charge the included NiMH rechargeable battery before kids get their hands on this dinosaur, a process which may take up to four hours. With all the use Spike will be getting, you'll enjoy the long life of this power solution. The convenient wireless remote requires three AA batteries (not included) for operation.

Innovative and Easy to Control
As soon as you turn him on, spikes on this long-necked dinosaur's back and tail light up, and he starts blinking his eyes. Big, kid-friendly buttons on the durable remote control let you make Spike walk forward, turn left or right, and swing his neck around. At first he can be a little tricky to maneuver, but with just a few moments of practice, he becomes incredibly easy to control.

Holding down any one of the four middle buttons unleashes a new action. Pick between having him stand on his hind legs, swinging his neck around while unleashing a huge roar, or hanging his head low. Another button controls the motion of his jaw. Practice combining movements to snatch up the plastic boulders off the ground or toss them in the air (a skill we never perfected). There's even a mystery button that lets Spike pick any motion he wants to perform. Press it again and again to get a sense of his playful nature. Two modes let you pick between having continuous background music accompany play or just hearing occasional growls, snorts, and roars.

Durable and Adventurous
The well-crafted Spike was still going strong, even after our vigorous testing. We crashed him into table legs trying to make him crawl over obstacles that were just too high, and even though he might not have been happy about the way we dropped the remote control repeatedly, he kept right on doing all those dinosaur things that make him a fun addition to any family. While this ultra dinosaur held up well in the face of vigorous use, he could succumb to the rough reality of enthusiastic play and be damaged by children sitting on him or pulling apart his otherwise sturdy joints.

Spike's large size makes him a great outdoor playmate, but be sure to warn kids that, since he is battery-operated, he shouldn't play in streams or jump in puddles. Cooperative kids will love putting their heads together to think up new places for their friend dinosaur to explore. The height and length that make Spike so much fun may make it hard for smaller children to carry him around, especially if they are headed to a far off relative's house. While this dinosaur is recommended as a companion for children three through 10, even adults are likely to be charmed by Spike's fun-loving personality.

What's in the Box
Dinosaur, remote control, 9.6V NiMH rechargeable battery, battery charger, two plastic rocks, and a plastic bone.


From the Manufacturer
Meet Spike! The dinosaur that kids bring to life at the touch of a button! He walks, he stands on his hind legs, he blinks,his mouth opens & closes, his spikes light up-and you make it happen with the easy-to-use remote control! Spike also makes lots of fun sounds, too. He growls, he snorts , he roars and more-he's Spike the ULTRA DINOSAUR! Spike stands 27" Tall. Requires 3 AA alkaline batteries. Rechargeable battery included (9.6 Volt)


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Customer Reviews
Greates Toy Ever!!!
We purchased this dinosaur for my 1yr old son, Ruben. Not only does my child enjoy it but us as parents do too. It is not one of those annoying toys you want to hide after a while. Very durable and fun this is one of the best toys that fisher price could have came up with. Price does the product justice. Definitely would recommend to purchase.

Ultra Dinosaur = Ultra Fun for All
My mom bought this for my younger cousin and to say the least he loved it. I'm 19 and me and some of my older cousins and older adults played with this thing then the little kids did though. I think this thing would make a great gift for anyone because it is just fun to control it.

Here is a list of the good and bad about Spike

The Good
1. Very Fun
2. Durable
3. Great for all ages it really is
4. Unlike anything else

The Bad
1. The price

This item is great, but the price is way to high.

Great Toy!! Kids Will Love it!! Godzilla for Kids!!
Spike is a GREAT toy and will be very popular over the holidays! On the upside for kids, Spike is loud, has flashing lights, and is VERY Godzilla-like in his world view!! His remote control is very simple to use and most children can master it. His mouth is big enough to completely eat the ping-pong ball size "rocks" that come with him.

On the downside, he's loud. And, like many of these robotic toys, the walking motions are not particularly smooth. Spike lurches more than he walks. But, he is capable of moving across the landscape of your family room.

Overall, great toy! Have fun. Construct a large model city with your kids and then destroy it with Spike. It is the substance from which childhood memories are made.


(by Amazon.com)

Pops Locks & Shimmies with Sadie and Kaya - Belly Dance DVD

Pops Locks & Shimmies
Product Description
Based on their world-famous workshop series! SADIE and KAYA wow audiences all over with their Pops, Locks & Shimmies, and in this DVD they share the techniques and exercises they use to achieve those famous Pops, Locks & Shimmies. To prepare you to Pop, Lock & Shimmy at your best, SADIE and KAYA start with Range of Motion exercises designed to increase your flexibility, strength, and control. They then explain and demonstrate the technique for each Pop, Lock & Shimmy, including identifying which muscles to use and how to use weight changes to improve your execution and to dance safely. After you have the technique, SADIE and KAYA lead you through drills to practice and perfect your Pops, Locks & Shimmies. The drills start simple, then increase in complexity to combine Pops, Locks & Shimmies with the Grapevine, Pas das Bourre, Three-Quarter, and more... including turns! Now lets add a Shimmy to that! Because a Belly Dancer just has to shimmy, in each section, SADIE and KAYA show you how to layer Shimmies on those amazing Pops and Locks! SADIE and KAYA finish their instruction by leading you through a cool-down. Finally, a dynamic video performance duet by SADIE and KAYA including those famous Pops, Locks & Shimmies!


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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #1494 in Sports & Outdoors

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Customer Reviews
Absolute bellydance precision with double instruction
I don't suppose anyone in the world can dance quite like Sadie and Kaya do - but if you want even some of their skills, here they are, up for grabs on their workshop-on-a-disk, Pops Locks and Shimmies. In this power-packed instructional DVD, one of a series of two, I believe, they pretty much give away all their secrets. They take up the most controlled and precise movements that embellish belly dancing and they teach them to you with incredible clarity. They also get you to practice them, with well-conceptualized drills.

The content is all unique and you won't find it elsewhere, except perhaps for some similar content in smaller chunks on Sadie's drum solo videos. But what is most unique and impressive of all on this video is the instructional format. The two dancers don't just stand there doing exactly the same thing (I've always found that phenomenally dumb). Instead, they use each other's presence to explain and demonstrate better, from every angle, from different aspects. This is so amazingly seamless and smoothly done that it seems like a choreography in itself! Sadie and Kaya do is to switch roles and positions constantly across the entire video so that one leads the section, while the other demonstrates. They don't just use a I-say-you-do format. You'll find Sadie showing you the range of motion while Kaya shows you the sharp, locked or popped move, Kaya showing you the front view and Sadie the back view. Or, Kaya executes the move while Sadie points and explains the precise muscle work going into the move - along with the safety tips. There isn't a moment of hesitation or confusion as they switch from one role or position to another almost every minute. Not a moment of "uh oh, you were to show this part" or " oh, okay why don't I show this move". I cannot say enough about how much this maximizes the instruction quality you get with what is a very difficult subject. There's bantering, no informality, no wasting time. Every moment is focused. If you ask me, the instruction aspect is definitely award worthy.

But on to the content now. The menu is yummy. There are three pages of delicious stuff to click into. Broadly, the content is divided into upper body isolations, pelvic isolations, horizontal hip isolations, vertical hip isolations, and more vertical hip isolations. Each of these categories has instruction on the range of motion of the move, then pops, locks and shimmies with up to 3 drills.

There's no warm up on this video, though you're advised to do one, specially as you'll be working with sharp moves. Let me describe one section, to give an idea of the feel of the instruction. Kaya leads the first section to show you the range of motion with the upper body isolations; shoulders, rib cage slides, lifts and drops. This is the firs time I've heard Kaya say anything and I must say, I do like her. She's just fine. Even at this stage, explanations are deep and thorough. At the same time they're not all talk but include getting you to try it along. She tells you where to feel the move in your body and how to make sure the technique is strong. Now that you have hopefully practiced the move and know the muscles and can be somewhat autopilot about it, Sadie comes in next to tell you how to add a lock to the move. She gets you to execute the locks through the upper body moves. Again, she keeps telling you what to look out for and what to feel. This is where they begin to show you different views, different aspects, and demonstrate the move in many ways. When they're done, we get to the first drill. Sadie takes up different upper body moves in a sequence. It includes movements along all planes and you begin with a smooth range of motion and go on to add locks. Of course, you then go double time. And then you add simple footwork. The footwork is simple only in the sense of not being all over the place and not being the focus. The not so simple is the fact that you're layering complex upper body moves on the footwork. For example, it's right-left-up, left-right forward on top of a marching footstep. Kaya comes in with a drill that notches up the difficulty level. Starting with the range of motion, again, you add locks in a combination on top of footwork - in this case, flat-ball-ball-ball. Not easy. But then, you also add arms. Kaya continues into the next section with pops, which she first explains thoroughly. You go through the technique and on to a drill in the same format - combination with footwork. This hardwires layering. Layering is taken up further in the final part of this section. This is where Sadie does things like shoulder shimmies with snake arms. I tried it out for a bit - it can happen.

Sadie and Kaya follow this format through the whole video. Some of the specifi things you'll see on this video is the pelvic shimmy (which I hate), shimmy with twist, (swiveling shimmy), focus on glutes, focus on obliques, (sometimes together), ¾ ups, ¾ downs and with variations. Nothing here is done plain vanilla. Every move is layered.

Sadie and Kaya finish up with a drum solo performance in their signature style - seen on Belly Dance Live. But this time they're in leathery costumes that have upset many people. While it looks a little bit startling on the cover of the DVD, it isn't that bad inside. The performance is full of pops, locks and shimmies, of course, cascading and rippling all over the place.

Tough question to answer: what level is this? In a sense, it's truly all levels. But whoever takes it up, has to be the serious-about-belly dancing type. All drilling, and specially of precise sharp movements, is going to need work. It can be intimidating for a beginner and altogether too much for someone who wants to dance casually. But given that you're willing to work at it, I would say that all levels will benefit. A beginner who's been at the basic isolations for a while could take these drills and work at the first level of difficulty. For example, you can being down the level of difficulty by ignoring the layering on footwork. Notch up to that more slowly. This is what gives this video a long "shelf life". You can use parts of it anytime in your dance journey.

Interestingly, the content here does not overlap with Thrillin Drillin. The focus is different in any case, but so are all the drills. On Thrillin Drillin, layering itself is the target. Here, control over precise movements is what is aimed at and layering is brought in because it's very much part of this dance form and because it's the style of these two dancers. Learning these skills doesn't mean you have to take up the Sadie-Kaya dancing style - it just means you can bring in more controlled moves into your own dancing.

This video is about two and a half hours long. Both this one and Thrillin Drillin are your hard wiring. Both are hard work as well. I'm sure they were quite tough to conceptualize. I spoke with someone who has attended the Pops Locks workshop and she felt the video probably gives a lot more. It's more focused and doesn't have to be changed around depending on who's attending the class or how many people there are, it's easier to see because you can look close up, and it's got two teachers weaving the instruction between them for maximum benefit.

(by Amazon.com)