Stages Learning Materials SLM165 Toddler Time Poster Set

These bird posters are arresting. the clarity and color are absolutely stunning and make for an eye catching presentation in a classroom. the stock is heavy and the finish glossy.. They are sturdy and work well as both a teaching aid and as decoration. Included are chicken, duck, eagle,flamingo, gull, ostrich, owl, parakeet,parrot, pelican, and quail.

Beautiful stock macro photos of insects are printed on heavy glossy paper, for great classroom decorations or learning tools. Crisp images are clear enough to see across the classroom. All of the insects are standard, iconoic representations that will be easy for kids to ID--no unusual species or confusing variations. These are a great set. I have just a few quibbles. One is that a few were shot on plain white backgrounds instead of environmental backgrounds. The set would have been better if they had one one way or the other. The white backgrounds are great for a crystal-clear presentation, but they stick out amoungst all the more natural shots. My other complaint is really just a suggestion to the producer (or to parents/teachers who use them to add themselves). Each image has a generic identifier on the back--34;butterfly,34; 34;cricket,34; etc. But kids love details, and modern nature shows mean that even preschoolers know a lot more than that already. It would have been great for the cards to include the common name of the species pictured, and/or a fun fact about each one.

This is a set of large format animal posters on card stock about the thickness of a standard post card. They are neither overly flimsy nor very firm. The weight of the stock is such that they can't be rolled for storage (too firm), but also can't be bent without damaging them. I found them easy to hold to show to kids and easy to mount using just blue tack or masking tape. The quality of the pictures is mostly excellent, especially for large format pictures. Most are quite crisp and clear without distortions, blurring, or “noise”. The snake picture, spider, frog, gerbil, and tortoise are especially sharp and natural looking. Some of the other images are a bit grainy (the horse is the “worst” in showing grain) and a few others seem to be from lower resolution source images that seem to have been manipulated to look a bit better and show modest distortions. The fish image, for example, shows an edge that betrays aliasing and was over-sharpened. I think some of them also had noise added to them to disguise pixelation or other defects, but it's not especially obvious. All in all though, for the size of the images, these are very, very nice and only someone who wasn't scrutinizing them as carefully as I did would even notice these defects. I mention them here not because they are strong demerits, but just for to inform. They certainly are of sufficient quality to fulfill their intended purpose and are big enough to use on the walls of a room for teaching purposes.

We got these for my daughter's preschool and they were a big hit. They're beautiful full-color stock nature photos printed on glossy cardstock. The size is large enough for across-the-room viewing, equally great for teachers to hold up for all to see, or to decorate walls. The pictures are generally representative, though a few species chosen weren't the most iconic version (the gull, in particular, seemed a less unequivocal respresentation if the species). The backs simple give a generic description: seagull. If the backs listed the actual species pictured (common name would be fine--e.g., Great Horned Owl instead of just 34;owl34;) or gave a few facts about each bird, these would be truly outstanding, both for teachers and young animal enthusiasts. My pre-schooler, for one, wants more information, and today's nature-oriented kid shows teach them to expect a bit more.

These card photos really aren't suitable for hanging on the wall other than in an informal sense. A couple of mine had damage on them that was clearly caused by some sort of feed machine during manufacturing. Also, the photo quality is varied on them, some being very nice that I would hang up on the wall, and others being fairly low stock photo quality that I wouldn't hang up. However, for the purpose of using these as flash cards they are wonderful. My daughter absolutely loves going through these and looking at all the various birds. As a warning though, the corners are sharp, so if you have them around the younger kids you should dull/trim the corners slightly to avoid possible eye injuries (this is true with any card-stock that tends to have sharper corners). So great for flash cards, not great as wall art. Probably aren't all going to be in perfect condition. Keep that in mind when you buy them and you should be pleased. Buying this is probably cheaper than printing some large prints for the same purpose. I included a picture of my daughter looking at one of the birds.

If you have empty, unwelcoming walls in your classroom, these large posters made out of pretty durable paper can work great to decorate and provide an opportunity for fun, educational activities. Of course, they don't do anything on their own, they just have pictures of animals. You'll have to come up with the activities based on them on your own. It would be great if the set included a sheet with activity suggestions but other than that, this poster set does exactly what it promises.