Friday's episode of The Man Show Live featured a PLAYZ Piano made for kids.
Our overall opinion of the PLAYZ Piano was that it was a bit simple for kids over 5 years old and maybe not dynamic enough for kids to learn about electronics.
It was one of the more expensive toys during STEM week at around $35 which could have bought a little more education in other items.
The white keys did play, but the black keys were only part of the case and decoration only, so as far as a piano, it missed the mark and is not a good learning tool for music.
It can be a fun toy for a 3 year old, but at that age, the chance of them wiring it up is slim.
We could not really find any good points about the PLAYZ Electric Piano, in fact we all agreed that it was going to keep a kid busy for about one day and they would never use it again.
If you are considering buying the piano, look at throwing a couple extra bucks in and getting an actual keyboard for under $50 that plays like the real thing.
If you want your kids to learn about electronics, this wont do much, wont let them be too creative and why did they mix a piano with electronics? Your guess is as good as ours.
We did get it to play and I am sure you could make some unique sounds but any keyboard can do that.
We found the keyboard below online for $20 which is a real keyboard and would be a much better investment in teaching kids music.
As for electronics at the same $35 price point, you can get multiple electronic projects that would be much more fulfilling for children like the kits shown below.
It is always important to remember that kids need to be challenged and stimulated. But they get stimulated from being successful, not from easy simple toys that bore them after a couple hours.
Both of the suggestions we mentioned were no more expensive than the PLAYZ Piano and would keep children busy for days on end as they learn and build day after day on what they learned the day before.
We thought the piano was going to be cool, it was not. It was marketed under the premise of STEM, but parents should not look for items that say they are STEM, because STEM is part of every day life and every day projects can be found cheaper.
Our best advice is to buy kits that let kids build their own toys, so when they complete it, they have a sense of accomplishment and pride when they play with it.
Mountain House Adventure Meals - A LIVE prep & taste test of 4 freeze dried survival mealsIn this episode of the man show, we try some of the Mountain House Adventure meals for texture, quality and taste. What that, the guys had mixed opinions about the meals and Mr Dog Poop did not think the bacon and eggs was edible while Jeff sucked down the entire feed bad. These feed bags are very convenient for travel since the are dry, very light and last for decades in any storage condition. Of course, you still need access to clean water which might be problematic in a survival situation. But for camping, hiking or travel they are a great option at around $10-$15 per meal. The amount of food in each was surprising and likely enough to feed 2 people. The beef stew had almost no beef and was relatively tasteless. ...read more
Wednesdays news is dominated by discussions about Jenna Ortega who is front and center the most talked about celebrity in the world today. The guys talk about her career, her evolution as an actress and show video clips of her work over the years. The show was watched by a record number of viewers including Lorne Michaels who immediately contacted Jenna to host Saturday Night Live next week. So everyone can see Jenna Ortega on SNL thanks to the publicity she garnered from Mr Dog Poop on The Man Show Live. The guys compare Christina Ricci's career and Jenna Ortega's career since they both played Wednesday Addams although at very different times in their careers. Jenna is a seasoned 20 year old actress with more than a decade of acting experience while Christina was just 10 years old and only starting her career. The fact is, both girls killed ...read more
Building Solar Powered Robots This episode of the man show features the guys trying to build solar robots out of a kit made for 8 years and up. Seems like a simple task for 2 guys way up from 8 years old. But the task proves to be overwhelming for both of the hosts and in fact even with a degree in electrical engineering, Mr Dog Poop struggles to understand the basic component parts. Of course that degree was back when TV's were made with vacuum tubes and houses were built with fuses and not circuit breakers. So he is a bit dated to understand modern technology. And we can't forget about Jeff Macolino, his focus was all out on trying to assemble something that at least looked like a robot after Mr Dog Poop embarrassed him on the P51 broadcast when Jeff failed to complete the project. But ...read more
