The Talking Globe

It is no secret that our family loves to travel. In our home we have a massive wall map, each boy has their own "personal" globe, and now they share our newest investment, the Orboot Globe. Currently, we use the wall map to plan out general locations on what the boys would like to see or learn about. As the wall map shows geographical climates and certain animals that are located within the region. The map also helps show how "big" the world is versus our smaller globes. Once the boys have figured out a piece of the world to "visit", we would previously look at our globes and then Google things about the countries.

Since investing in the Orboot, the majority of our Google searches have downsized. We found the Orboot by an Instagram ad, similar to the Facebook ad we saw for our wall map. The ad popped into our feed, and instantly we thought "this thing is cool!". After creeping on their Instagram page, we found the product (on sale) through Amazon! Our family may be just as addicted to Amazon as we are travel. All the reviews seemed to back up what we saw on social media, so we ordered the globe. To be honest, our expectations were pretty high, as we already had two little globes and "Hey Alexa!". We figured, as most Amazon customers do, if we hate it we send it back, no big deal. Well, our family LOVES this product.

Although this is our first, and to be quite honest probably our only "toy review," we felt like it deserved the spotlight. As traveling and educating our kids, on different cultures and geography differences is high on our priority list. We felt it fit in with our family blog, and makes a rad gift. Also, our family does not do many toys, other than the famous LEGO; we are an all boy family can't get around this one. This "review" will explain what we enjoy, and the cons with the Orboot.

Pros:

The Orboot eliminates the need for mom or dad to be there for all the learning. Our kids can find places and pick the topics they would like to learn about. This is an excellent feature especially when your child loves to ask a million questions as ours do. The Orboot has come in handy during dinner prepping hour, the boys can sit at the counter, or under our feet, discover the Earths differences and discuss the details with us. The boys are able to learn about inventions, animals, geography, and cultural differences pertaining to each location. Another wow factor, the boys can simultaneously use this, the Orboot feeds into an app on your phone or tablet. We have added the app to multiple devices to alleviate any further turmoil. Tiny is able to use a phone (safely in a life-proof case), while little man is older and can handle using the iPad. Any parent with multiple children understands how IMPORTANT this is. After their "educational" lesson, they can take a "quiz" on what they just learned. The quiz may be my favorite piece, this ensures that they understood what they learned by testing their comprehension. Tiny's favorite part is learning about the animals, no shock there. Little man's favorite is learning about the culture, "Mom did you know we have a hot air balloon festival?". Our Orboot has added more items to our "must do" list.

Cons:

Our negative list is relatively small, instead should be called a suggestion body. Little man, at the moment, is interested in other languages. Although the Orboot feeds his little brain, he always ask something specific about the language. Maybe a future update will state the countries language, and how to say a few words, such as hello and goodbye. Tiny's beef is not all the animals can be clicked on. For example, only the items that pop up in a 3-D like visual on your app can be chosen; it would be nice to learn about all the details that have been placed on the globe. Last, our "must do" list is growing. This isn't really a negative though.

In summary, our family enjoys this globe. It has been a huge hit with our kids and their friends. We are looking forward to incorporating Orboot into our future vacation planning. Explore on friends!