ToysmithMagic Party Trick Balancing Eagle Bird Toy (7-Inch), For Boys & Girls Ages 5+

I bought this for our 8 yr. old great grandson. As a child, our granddaughter, his mother, remembered one like it sitting on one of our book shelves. She asked me if we still had it, and through the years it had disappeared. As children, our grandchildren were mesmerized watching “the eagle with the big wings”.defy gravity. Our great grandson, like his mother sits mystified watching it and can hardly wait to take it to school for “show and tell day”.

Im another teacher who thought this eagle would be a high interest item to keep in the classroom. (As an added plus, our school's mascot is the eagle.) After it arrived, I met my 4th graders in their morning spot in the hallway to walk them to class, with the eagle balancing on my finger tip. ALL the kids in the hallway were intrigued and fascinated. I'm afraid this little bird caused quite a morning stir. I hadn't planned on that, but it was fun to see everyone wake up quickly! Back in class, my students all took a turn handling the eagle and discussed with one another what could cause it to balance like it did. I loved hearing them use their knowledge of science this far to figure it out. We had a great class discussion about it at the end of the day. As I teach in a remote, rural school, I could afford to get each student his/her own eagle as an end of year gift. The gasps and stunned looks of delight, to me, was the gift that keeps on giving. The children carefully kept their eagles on their desks through for the next five months until school was out, and they never tired of looking at them or studying their balance. This purchase was one of the best I've ever made as a teacher. Now I plan to buy some eagles for my grandchildren.

When I first saw this on amazon, I thought that it looked interesting. But from the tiny photo, it was hard to judge what it really looked like. I took the chance that it might be a flimsy poorly painted import. I got it yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at the quality. It is absolutely top notch. The detail in the feathers is excellent, it's hard for me to look at this as a toy. The painting on it is superb, especially at the transition from the white head to the brown body. It is perfect. The plastic is not that hard brittle kind that you know will shatter if it hits the floor. It feels quite durable. It far exceeded my expectations, I will order more as gifts.The only negative is not with the eagle, but with the packaging. It is really cheesy looking. So any I get for gifts I'll remove the packaging, and put it in a nice box with tissue paper. It will make this 5 dollar "toy" look like a 25 dollar desk ornament! I've seen all the disappointed reviews for the colored birds, where you don't have a choice as to the color you'll get. Don't bother. Buy this one, you will not be disappointed.I hope someone finds my review helpful in making a buying decision.

Really is amazing how it works

I purchased both this eagle balancing bird and another balancing bird offered through Westminster. I think this eagle is much better in terms of overall appearance plus it came with a handy little black nose cone stand which adds to the overall effect. The Westminster bird comes with no stand and just looks cheaper. The Eagle has a more convincing realistic appearance whereas the Westminster bird is more fanciful in appearance. I suppose its a matter of personal taste as to which you may prefer in overall apearance. Both are made of hard durable plastic and both have survived drops of 3 to 4 ft to a hard ceramic tite floor several times with no damage, so I would rate both equal on high durability. My primary reason for a 4 as opposed to 5 star rating is that both birds balance with their tail raised up more than I prefer and more than what is portrayed in the pics here on Amazon. To achieve a level flight appearance as opposed to the nose down diving appearance they have out of the box, I added a small lead pellet weight from my tackle box that I hammered flat and then super glued to the underside of the tail. I used the same small lead pellet fishing line weigh to re-balance both birds, and in my opinion, they both look much better now. Both are just as stable, perhaps even more stable. In my opinion, they should each come with more weight in their tail to take on a more level flight appearance. I kept both birds because I am a science teacher. Though they are somewhat different in appearance, they are quite similar in overall weight and demensions. Both serve equally well to teach the concept of center of gravity. The kids enjoy spinning these birds as fast as possible until centripital forces win over and the birds go flying off their axis point across the room. In this regard, I would rate this Eagle as slightly more stable in withstanding higher centripital g-force spin rate before tumbling off its balance point.

I ordered this to have available for my grandchildren, ages 4 and 7. They love it and so do many adults when shown how it works!

Amazing for decorating desks and tricking friends

This is an awesome physics demonstration that works way better then you think it would. Excellent for the price.