BEST LEARNING i-Poster My USA – Interactive Talking United States Map for Kids Ages 5-12 to Learn States, Capitals & Fun Facts

I recommend to parents

I ordered this as a birthday gift for my 5 year old niece who recently went on her first airplane ride and loved it so much, that she kept asking to go on another vacation and see other places in the world. So we bought her the "My USA Map" thinking that it would be a good gift and learning opportunity. Although I received confirmations from Amazon and the vendor showing pictures and descriptions of the correct product, unfortunately I received the "My Body" from the same company (Best Learning). I wrote to the vendor via Amazon, and quickly received a response from a very sympathetic agent. Although she tried to rectify the issue by requesting Amazon to resend the correct product overnight, unfortunately I again received "My Body". After contacting Amazon directly, they confirmed they have an issue with their inventory, and removed the product temporarily to try and fix the problem. In the mean time the vendor arranged to ship me one of the correct games directly from their factory, as opposed to going through their typical Amazon distribution. So although I can't comment yet on the "My USA Map," as I didn't have a chance to give it to my niece, I can comment on the "My Body", as we ended up needing to give this as an interim gift. She absolutely loved it. Although the description lists the actual size of the pages, for some reason from the pictures on the box, I was expected 4 small posters, maybe 8x10". But much to our surprise they were much larger (not too large, maybe ~18"x20"). Once she pushed the on button, she was quickly entertained and fixated on the toy. She could press the buttons on the different body parts and the voice would announce what she was looking at. There was also some quizzes which she liked. The easy quiz simply required her to press the name of the body part, such as where is your knee. So it forced her to try and read and guess where to look based on where she thought the body part was located on her own body. The hard, was too advanced for her at this age, but seemed very good in that it asked which part does what, such as which body part allows you to smell? Although the instructions didn't clearly say how to change the pages and see other body parts, it ended up being easy (although I originally thought we had to unscrew the computer from the first page and reconnect the others. (This would have been a real pain). Instead we discovered the new page simply needed to be laid on top of the original sheet with the electronics up top, allowing the magnets to engage. Once you pressed the "GO" button, the computer quickly changed to the new sheet. Was impressive, and it seems like well constructed pages. Once the correct product arrives and I see my niece again to give the gift to her, I will try to review again. In the meantime, although Amazon had an issue with their inventory system, I was very impressed with the level of customer support the vendor provided, and the quality of the product seems very good!.

Ask & yea shall receive!! It was that simple. So happy to receive the game to replace a broken one. Its my grandkids favorite game... happy valentines gift instead of candy!! Thank you so much

This product is really good. -> I loved the way, they gave different selection tabs for capital and country, landmarks, flags, population, fun facts. -> Even these options have, info mode and ? Mode. -> I am thankful for the volume up and down buttons. -> It would be even nicer, if we had a tab that said national bird, animals or emblem. Idid not try the fun facts tab yet, so i do not know, if they are listed there. But! It does have some things that left me wishing for more: 1. There are some countries(named in white) that the map does not give any info about. I wish they could do all the countries and oceans too. Since the world has both continents and oceans. 2. There is an ocean missing. Southern ocean. The reason might be that the space has been covered by all the flags. Still the southern ocean should be mentioned, as the map acts as a direct/indirect teaching tool. Leaving out one of the oceans is giving half knowledge. Half knowledge is dangerous. 3. It would be nice, if they had given a sturdy support width wise, as a strip right under the electronic controls(green part). Map keeps drooping at the ends of the green control box(I have the ‘My Body’ poster, which is not so wide, but started tearing at the ends of it’s yellow control box). That is the reason why, i pasted the world map, using painter’s tape. To distribute the weight and stop the map from drooping. I removed one star for this point (and the missing ocean). Listed are the changes recommended for the manufacturer and also notes for customers, so they know what to expect. Good luck.

Perfecto para mi sobrino Que aprenda y juegue un poco, la diversión también puede ser muy educativa !!!!

This is one of my children's most favorite tool to use during school and even when we aren't homeschooling. We have had it for over 2 years and it is in great shape even after traveling with us. It folds up great and has taken a beating and continues to provide my boys with hours of education and entertainment. It has multiple modes that allows them to explore all different parts of the world including but not limited to: flags, languages, geography, capitals and country finds, and landmarks. I hightly recommend this product for anyone looking to have fun learning and exploring the world.

Will make an amazing gift for Great Grandson

I bought this map for my 2 year old daughter to help her learn about the states. Once I hung it up on her wall, I noticed something peculiar: There are potatoes pictured on Iowa. As a native Iowan, I can tell you with 100% confidence that whoever illustrated this map made the “common” mistake of confusing Iowa for Idaho. You hear a lot of that when you tell somebody that you’re from Iowa, “Oh, you’re from Idowa?!” Etc. There are no potatoes grown in Iowa. We’re the “corn and hogs” one. But nobody caught this oversight? How many drafts did this have to go through before manufacturing? So again, I bought this to teach my 2-year old daughter about the states. Maybe the illustrator this company hired should also learn about the states before illustrating something like - I don’t know - a map of the states. EDIT: After I had posted my original review, the company got in contact with me to apologize for the error, thank me for bringing it to their attention, and to offer me a full refund. They also said that this would fixed in future iterations of the product which is great to hear! As I had never made the first contact, this showed me that they do really care about their product quality as well as their customer satisfaction, and that is a big deal! So I would like to add to my review with some comments on the product itself besides the issue I mentioned in my original review: PROS: - There is a LOT of good information packed in here, and it can be a great educational resource for home or for classroom use. Some of the “fun facts” were things that I didn’t even know as a 28-year old American! - The auto-shutdown/sleep feature is very helpful for children who like to wander away from toys without turning them off, and the battery life is terrific! It will also give little reminders to turn it off if you haven’t touched it for a while (including playing the Brahms Lullaby which is super cute.) - Some reviewers have said that this mat is thin, but I don’t agree. It feels very durable and has withstood my 2-year old daughter vigorously poking at it. I simply have it mounted to the wall with command strips and a small hook through the top mounting hole, and it has stayed in place just fine. I think it would be durable enough for classroom use as well. CONS: - I wish the pacing of the recordings were a bit faster. Some of the narrations feel a bit slow, and I feel like they would better grab the attention of smaller children if they were a bit more concise or sped up a bit. - You have to press on the name of the state to activate the touch sensor inside the map. This can get confusing for children on the smaller states (New England states in particular) which are too small to have the names printed on them. For future iterations of the map, I think it would be helpful to have a magnified view of the New England and Mid-Atlantic states off to the side (similar to the way they have Alaska and Hawaii) with an arrow pointing to them on the full map. Thanks again to Best Learning for the wonderful customer service and for truly caring about my satisfaction as a customer!