Great fun for baby! (Fisher Price Rainforest Gym)

Member Name: Sunflower070707

Product:	Fisher Price Rainforest Gym
Date:	25/08/08 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bright colourful toys, nice music

Disadvantages: Doesn't collapse as easily as packaging states!

While looking at options as to which baby gym to buy, over and over again I had recommendations for this gym from parents who had already bought it! The big selling point for us is that it has a large brightly coloured giraffe on it (we love giraffes!) but when we looked at it as a play gym we really liked it!

There is a large colourful green mat which has animals on it (I was going to say rainforest animals but I've never seen a giraffe or an elephant in the rainforest - but you know what I mean!) and also different textures too - pieces of ribbon and scrunchy leaves to crackle! From each corner rises up an arch, crossing over in the middle above the baby! One of these arches is green in colour, decorated with leaves, the other is a bright rainbow - which then turns into the giraffe!

There is a speaker at the top of the arches, from which plays either a series of melodies or rainforest sounds. There is a volume control (soft or loud - although it's not overly loud!) and an option to have the music either being played constantly or activated when the baby bats the toys. If it's on constantly then it lasts for 20 minutes! After listening to this for a few days you'll find yourself humming some of the tunes occasionally (some really do get stuck in your head!) but none of them are annoying and, even after 3 months, I dont mind listening to this still on a daily basis!

Hanging down from the top of the arches are two brightly coloured butterflies with faces on. There are 4 lights above them which flash red and yellow in sequence and flash light on to the butterflies - our daughter loves watching the lights!

There are 2 loops on each half of each arch apart from the half wth the giraffe one, this one has a loop hanging from his mouth with a large safety mirror attatched so your baby can explore his reflection - our daughter smiles at this lots, as if she thinks she has a friend in there with her! There are 4 other toys provided with the gym - an elephant with a rattle in (the bottom part of the elephant spins round with lots of rattling balls) which she finds great to either kick or bat with her hands; a parrot sitting on top of a swing which has a series of 3 oval discs which spin round, again great for batting with her hands; a brightly coloured toucan which has a bell in it which jangles away! Lastly there is a brightly coloured orange monkey with a corkscrew tail which doesn't have the standard plastic ring to attatch him to a loop - but his tail loops round enough!

This product retails at around £49.99 and can be bought from argos, toysrus, amazon and many other on line retailers! You will need 3 size C batteries and, unlike some other products in the rainforest range, these are not provided. The mat is approximately 78cm square and it is about 50cm high when unfolded out! The mat is supposed to fold in on itself for ease of carrying but I have never mananged to collapse mine and not many of my friends have either - if you know how to do this then please post up a comment, I would be grateful!

The product is suitable from birth although our daughter didn't enjoy it for more than a few minutes at a time as a newborn! Now she's 3 months she'll play in there for up to an hour quite happily! She can also reach the toys better now she's older too!

On the whole it's been a great playgym - once she's too big to stay in it as a play gym the mat will be a useful playmat so it has more longevity than would initially appear! Would highly recommend!

Summary: Great play gym, will keep your baby entertained!