I brought one of these play nests for my daughter 6 years ago when she was a new born, at the time it was the only one of its kind available on the market so there wasnt much of a choice available to us.

You can buy the nest (bottom ring) sererately to use on its own for around £25 or you can buy it as a set with the gym above it for around £35 to £40

The gym consists of a bottom cover that has an inflatable ring inside it to give the depth to the gym, the top piece of the gym is plastic poles that slot together and have a cover that goes over them with 3 detachable toys that have diferent hights for hanging them depending on the age of your child, the gym attaches to the base with elastic hoops and stays in place very well, it is sturdy enough for a baby but not sturdy enough for a child to try to pull them selves up on. All the covers on it are machine washable which is a real plus point to it and there are pieces of the toys and the ring that make different sounds like rustling or crinkling.


I used this with both my first and second child right from birth as it sugests you can, you only use the bottom ring at this stage though to lie baby in as the base is cushioned but not as much as i would have liked it to be, the gym can be detached from the toy if need be but we left ours on as this way it gave my daughter something to try to focus on. Neither of my two children enjoyed being in the gym at this stage and both prefered to be in there moses basket or there bouncing chair.

Once they could support there own heads they enjoyed being in it a bit more as i could prop them up the side of this but could not leave them untill they were able to sit up fully on there own as they would topple over and quite often end up stuck in the ring in an awkward position. The 3 toys didnt keep there attention for long so i used to attach my own toys and this did engourage then to stay in there for a short time.

Once my daughters could sit up on there own they did enjoy this more as they could reach for the toys and pull them selves around the ring making the rustling sounds and touching the differen fabric feels but they still didnt enjoy this any more than the feel and learn play mat we had also brought, the main problems started with this at this stage when my daughter was around 6 months old, if she pulled at the toys the arch would not fall apart but would lean over in the direction she had pulled it in and she could so easily have gotten tangled up in the cover on it so it was unsafe to leave her unsupervised with for even a second and i also found at this stage that the valve on the inflatable ring would come out if she leaned too hard on the ring and air would escape.

If this had been a cheap toy i would not have need for complaint but for the price i payed i would have expected it to be better and seen as it was supposed to be suitable for babys from new born untill walking i was very disapointed with how much use it actually got, needless to say i will not be buying another one for the new arrival.