My 4-year-old has one of those pricey kids digital cameras (around $60), and our toddler naturally loves to get her hands on it, much to her older sister's indignation. And they both want to take pictures with our Canon Digital Elph, which their father allows and I do not.

So I thought the Look-at-Me Camera ($9.99 at Target) would be a good solution to our problem. Our 22-month-old would not know the difference between a camera that takes pictures and one that doesn't. If I hadn't received one of these to review, I probably would have bought one for the little one's Christmas stocking.

The result, ironically, is that instead of fighting over one of the working digital cameras, the girls fought over the toy Look-at-Me Camera, at least when it first came out of the package. The little one likes the mirror in front when she points it at herself, and they both like to make the click sound and listen to the voices that the camera plays: Comically "fashion industry" diva voices saying things like "fabulous!"

As you might expect for a $10 toy, this camera does not keep them occupied for more than five minutes or so at a time. I realized, after watching them play with it, that the main fascinating thing about my older daughter's kids' digital camera is the real LCD screen on the back, where they can see, for a moment, the photo they just took. Of course, that is also what makes that toy so expensive.

I think a kid in between my children's ages -- a 2-1/2 or 3-year-old -- might be the perfect target audience for this toy because they'd enjoy the role playing experience of playing photographer more than my younger daughter does, but (hopefully) not already be spoiled by the "real camera" experience. Since the real cameras are so expensive, it's definitely worth a try.

By the way, one of my favorite things about this toy was the packaging -- it came out in seconds, with no annoying twisties to undo.

Note: This review contains an affiliate link.