Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Plain and Simple Does the Trick, April 21, 2007
Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars
As a reward for a milestone accomplishment, my daughter requested a toy camera. To make good on my promise, I began searching for a good camera to buy. Believe it or not, this is a far more difficult task than it sounds! Most I found were actual real 35mm film cameras. Others were digital and quite expensive and fragile for a 3 year old. We found a Little Tykes one at a local TRU that was in the shape of a monkey face. It had pictures of animals in the view finder that changed every time you pushed the button and made noises an comments based on what kind of animal was shown. It even winked each time you pressed the button.
It seemed kind of cool, but when I showed it to my daughter, she'd have nothing to do with it. "It's not a camera, it's a monkey, mommy!" she also didn't like the fact that it made sounds.
Bottom line is, she wanted a toy that looked more or less like the real thing and didn't do the pretending for her, and this was the one that fit the bill. It requires no batteries, and it actually looks like a camera, not some cutsie rendition of a camera. The fact that it actually spits out Polaroid-like pictures is a bonus for my daughter, since she had plenty of fun playing with just the camera. As with any toy, there are some plusses and minuses, and I'll attempt to list them here:
Plusses:
1) The most "realistic" toy camera I've found
2) Does not need batteries
3) No annoying noises! Hooray!
4) Pictures are laminated inserts in a plastic frame. These pictures can be turned over and drawn on with crayons (and subsequently wiped off), or simply replaced with family photos.
5) Extremely durable. This toy was dropped several times and even fallen on by a husky friend, and doesn't look worse for the wear.
6) Has a strap so the camera can be worn around the neck (my daughter liked this feature).
Minuses:
1) Button to eject the pictures is a little hard to push for little fingers at first. My daughter and her friend eventually got it, but only after an hour or so of fiddling and playing with it. Putting in three or four pictures at a time instead of the maximum five seems to make the button a little easier to push. (probably the main reason I didn't give this toy five stars)
2) There is a slight learning curve to load the pictures into the camera. My daughter and her friend eventually got it, but they still needed a little help from time to time.
3) The strap that goes around the child's neck has a safety break on it. This is a good safety feature, but the problem with it is that it breaks if the child starts jumping around. This isn't a big problem, since all you need to do is snap the bead back together.
So there it is. This is a good toy for a child with an active imagination and wants things just like mommy's or daddy's, but not so good for one who expects a lot of bells and whistles. Hope this helps!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
toy camera, January 9, 2007
This camera is very sturdy and my 3 yr old loves it. It comes with 10 polaroid pictures ( 5 are in the camera). The camera can only hold five at a time. That is how many I allow my child to play with when he wants to put them back in the camera...which is all the time. He loves it, however, I could not give excellent marks because the button you push to take the picture is too difficult for him to press down. This is frustrating to him, and me because I then have to do it for him. Good concept... just needs a little tweaking.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your money!, April 10, 2006
Durability:2.0 out of 5 stars Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars
Cute idea but does not work. Camera jams every time you load the pictures. You need an adult to do it and even then it jams. My three-year-old was very disappointed that she could not get it to work.
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