Homeschoolers Rate Toys

Lonpos 101 & Mythmatical Battles Score High for Learning

By Alison Marek
March 2006

Five homeschooling families in Western North Carolina evaluated four new toys, rating them on a scale of 1 to 10, with “1” being the worst and “10” being the best. Their scores were then averaged for each question, and those scores were averaged to determine the toy's total score.

Because some toys are outstanding for playability but weak on education, or vice versa, the final scores don't necessarily give a complete picture of the toy's quality. Please be sure to check the scores on playability and educational value separately to have a better sense of the toy's strengths and weaknesses.

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Products:

Lonpos 101 by Mic-o-Mic Americas (ToyShow)
Nightmorphs by River Dolphin Toys
Mythmatical Battles by 4R

Mom’s Homeschooling Roundtable Questions	Products
Mom’s Homeschooling Roundtable Questions	1	2	3
How appealing is the packaging?	8.2	8.6	8.6
How likely would you be to buy this product in a store, based on packaging alone?	8.6	8.4	8.4
Once the product is open, how appealing are its contents?	9.4	9.6	9.6
How easy are the instructions to understand … for Mom?	9.8	10	8.6
How easy are the instructions to understand … for kids?	9.4	10	8
How satisfied were you with the amount of time it took to set up or prepare the toy?	9.8	10	8.8
How excited were the kids about the prospect of using this toy?	7.2	9.8	8.6
How involved were the kids when getting ready to play with the toy?	9.8	10	9.2
How interested in the toy were the children once play began?	9.6	9.6	8
How much fun did the kids think it was to play?	9.6	9.6	7.4
How much did the kids think they learned while playing with the toy?	8.8	5	8.2
How much did you think the kids learned while playing with the toy?	9.6	5	8.6
How appropriate an addition to a homeschool curriculum is this toy?	9	4.6	9
How appropriate a learning tool outside of the classroom is this toy?	9.8	5.2	9.4
Knowing what you now know about the toy, how likely would you be to buy it for your children or recommend it to other parents?	10	10	9.4
Knowing what they now know about the toy, how likely would your children be to buy it, request it or recommend it to other children?	9.6	9.2	7.8
TOTAL SCORE	9.3	8.4	8.6