|
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Education but Long Time to Set Up, 5 Dec 2005
Durability:2.0 out of 5 stars Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars
I purchased the Mandella Mosaic to help develop my daughters Sequencing, Visual Perception, Creativity, Patern Building and Spatial Awareness and Fine Motor Skills. The toy meets all of these objectives, I had the choice of going for a magnetic version or one called Marvellous Mosaic which does not have magnets (not yet available on Amazon). Both have a pattern book that provides challenges for the child to copy and see the different patterns within the mosaic e.g. 3D squares or flat flowers or both, challenging the child to see more than what they initially percieve. The Mandella Mosaic has more detailed shapes and I liked the idea a magnetic board and more detailed shapes.This was given as a birthday present from her grandmother and she was delighted with it, lots of shapes and patterns when she saw the box, she could not wait to use it and I had to fend her off while opening it. Then the negative part came, all the shapes needed to have little brick magnets stuck onto them, the magnets themselves were not easy to break apart and stick on, I had to use mild glue on over half, and the poor child was kept waiting over an hour while clumsy Daddy got the damn things stuck on. This setup effort is not evident on the Amazon picture of the box but is clearly shown on the back. Once set up she just loved it, initially she found the book puzzles difficult but after doing one together she took to it leike a fish in water and proceeded to make many of her own patterns that were a mix of 3D and 2D. When fnished we packed it away, the magnetic board acts as a cover to create a briefcase, nice and compact. Sadly not robust, we dropped it once and the board came off with all the shapes splattering all over the floor and magnets coming off the shapes. For £14.99 this toy is worth it to develop a childs Sequencing, Visual Perception, Creativity, Patern Building and Spatial Awareness and Fine Motor Skills. I would rather have paid £20 for something that already had the magnets attached to the shapes and came with a brief case that protects the magnetic board from being a cover that can get scratched and no negative outcome when dropped. Lastly, my daughter is 6 years old, the manufacturer states 8 years or older, I would simply ignore this as I am sure a reasonbly intelligent 4 or 5 year old could handle the puzzles with some initial guideance and have lots of fun making their own patterns leaving the parent with some well earned free time knowing their child is gaining all those benefits stated at the start of this review.
|