Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera

If you are camera shy you better not buy the Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera for any kid you know. But if you enjoy seeing kids have a great time being creative and finding excitement within their surroundings then this is the gadget you want. How often do you find a "real" toy for children age three to seven that is actually just a sturdier version of your own toys?

This award winning child's digital camera is pretty impressive. It is easy for tiny little hands to use. The dual handles are more like grips, the large color coded buttons are easy for little fingers to push, and the binocular style view finder lets them look at their subject with both eyes. The menu requires no reading and a yellow exclamation point warns the child that the picture is not ready to shoot.

The overall size is approximately 5.5"x 3"x 4.5" If they get too excited and become a bit careless - that's OK. According to many parents this is truly a Kid-Tough design.

The Kid-Tough Digital Camera is a great interactive toy. There is a 1.3" color LCD screen that immediately displays the child's picture they just shot. Parents have noticed that the pictures do not exactly turn out like they are seen through the view finder because the picture is framed out larger than the actual picture.

An automatic built in flash increase the chances of getting a good shot indoors. The resolution is 640 X 480 so the best pictures can be printed successfully to about a 4"x 6" size. My first digital camera had the same resolution and it cost much more than the $65.00 - $95.00 price tag of this camera.

Approximately 50-60 pictures can be stored in the 8 MB built-in camera memory. But get this, it also has a SD memory card slot so now who knows how many pictures can be taken and stored! Maybe when the kids get tired of playing you should flip through all of those pictures and delete the embarrassing ones.

Parents would not mind a child receiving this Kid-Tough Digital Camera as a gift. No annoying dinging, clicking or whirring will come from this toy camera. Two colors are available, pink and blue, so they are easy to tall apart if there is more than one budding photographer in the family. A $15.00 matching case would be a great additional gift.

As with many electronic toys the battery life will probably be the least likable feature. One set of 4 AA alkaline batteries (not included in the box) will probably last through at least 100-120 digital pictures. A secondary battery (lithium) is included.

You will enjoy sharing this Kid-Tough Digital Camera. A USB cord is included for transferring the pictures to your computer. Included digital camera software with let you manipulate the pictures. Remember, the SD Memory Card can hold numerous pictures above and beyond the cameras built in capacity. If your computer does not have a built in SD card reader you will need an adapter that will cost around $10.00. You will need a computer that is at least a a500 MHz processor or better, 75 MB hard drive space, and with an OS of Windows 2000/ME/XP or MAC. If there is any confusion about whether you will be able to download pictures from the camera's internal memory with the USB connection, you may want to invest in an SD card that can be removed from the camera. The files can be viewed and transferred from there.

Have you ever taken a picture of a grumpy child only to see them break into smiles and laughter when you show them the picture you've taken in the LCD screen? I'm sure that they would enjoy the same response from you about a picture they take of you.