A couple of months ago I wrote a post about Little Mr A’s love of technology and said I was looking for new technology to get him up and about and more active. When I saw the opportunity to review the Magic Moves Wand from Educational Insights I thought it looked like a great way to get him moving.
The idea of the wand is that when the ‘play’ button is pressed the wand will light up and tell your child an action to perform. Music will then play whilst your child performs the action. If they miss what has been said they can press the ‘repeat’ button to hear it again. There are 90 different actions to be performed and 26 different musical tunes, each one having it’s own different light show. The actions are things such as ‘Hop like a Frog’, ‘Wiggle like a Worm’, ‘Grow like a Beanstalk’…
At intervals, whilst performing the action, the wand will tell them to ‘Freeze’ or ‘March’ to add a different element to the game. Also, at certain times the wand will say ‘Lets Dance’ which has it’s own three different tunes, ‘Techno’, ‘Afro-Pop’ and ‘Latin Salsa’.
The wand is aimed at children aged 3+ and the idea is that it gets them up and moving to exercise whilst also helping with creativity and listening skills.
Here is Little Mr A demonstrating how the Magic Moves Wand works:
At first, Little Mr A loved the wand. He really enjoyed carrying out the actions and dancing around to the music, however, after the initial enthusiasm the wand has been left lying in his bedroom, unplayed. I think perhaps he is a bit too old for the wand and it would be better enjoyed by younger children as there is not much to keep older children engaged for long.
I am sure 3 year olds would love the wand, particularly if they are into animals and the different sounds/actions they do. Little Miss A was very taken with the lights and music!
I do like the concept of the wand as I think it is a good way to encourage children to move and dance, however, as I said above, I think it is more aimed at younger children. I am sure if Little Mr A had a friend over they would probably play with it for a short while but cannot see it becoming a regular toy in his play routine.
Priced at around £20 I do not think it is too unreasonably priced and would make a nice gift for younger children. It is great quality, feels really sturdy and robust and comes with batteries included.
I think the wand would be great for playgroups and nurseries as I think children would have a lot of fun together performing the various actions.
Overall a good toy for younger children and groups and a reasonable price.
