"...kindergarten age kids are tough to buy for. They always seem too young for some things, too old for others. Very rarely is a product released that doesn't talk down to them, is easy for them to understand, and yet seems like something the "big kids" would play with at the same time. Kasey the Kinderbot is definitely made with that age group in mind..."

---from the review

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If you've entered the toy area of your favorite store lately, you've probably come across a demo display that reacts when walked in front of. "Hello! I'm Kasey the Kinderbot! Please press the white start button for a demo now!" Of course, nobody can resist pressing a demo button while passing it in a store. However, few times have I found the product demo so enjoyable and intriguing that I wanted to buy the product as a child's present right away. Kasey is definitely such a toy.

This is no small compliment when reviewing the latest "Robot Du Jour." Sarcasm aside, it seems like a daily event when a toy company wants to sell your child the latest R2D2 wannabe. Admittedly, we've come a long way from the so-called robots of my childhood, which looked like over-glorified waste receptacles with a remote control (connected by cheap cord to the robot) which allowed the robot to go forward and backward, turn on a flashlight bulb behind the robot's "eyes," and that's about it. These days, you have robots that accept voice commands, though even then, the voice commands are for forward, backward, and "fire," the latter turning on those lights behind the eyes. In over 30 years, little has changed.

Enter Kasey the Kinderbot. By "kinderbot" this means the toy is by Fisher Price, intended for kindergarten-age children. This is not a toy that moves around with a flashlight in its eyes, even though the robot is fully articulated with a mouth that lights according to the robots voice, as well as fully moving eyes, arms, waist, and even ears(!). This is less of a flashy robot, and more of an interactive, tabletop robot, that stays put in front of your child, so the child can play with Kinderbot via the fully animated black and white display on its belly. This is one of those toys that is truly fun, yet teaches simple lessons at the same time.

The aforementioned black & white LCD display receives input from the child via five buttons surrounding the display; four of different colors (for choosing answers), with a fifth allowing the child to go back "home" to the main menu at any time. Games that Kinderbot can play right out of the box (no expansion cartridges required) range from learning ABCs to music and mathematics, as well as "playground" activities, to help a child learn the importance of saying "Thank you" and "Please."

The best part of Kasey is, there are already three additional game cartridges available, with three more on the way. These carts attach onto the back of the Kinderbot and allow it to do even more. A "Living Things" cartridge teaches simple lessons about nature to your child, like "Watch Things Grow" and "Where Animals Live." A Spanish cartridge begins your child on the road to bilingual skills, as does the French cartridge, with games that include packing for a trip to Spain/France (each object's Spanish/French name is mentioned when chosen for the trip), and how to count in that language. "Coming soon" are three more cartridges, like  "Wonderful World" (simple science like water experiments, the weather, and how things look when magnified), "Numbers & Counting" (simple mathematics), and "Focus on Phonics" (reading).

The truth is, kindergarten age kids are tough to buy for. They always seem too young for some things, too old for others. Very rarely is a product released that doesn't talk down to them, is easy for them to understand, and yet seems like something the "big kids" would play with at the same time. Kasey the Kinderbot is definitely made with that age group in mind, and I think any Kindergartener would really enjoy it.

 Click on picture to Order this toy.