My husband and I decided to buy a baby walker activity set for Ellie as her main Christmas present. When we went into Toys R Us to have a look at the available options, to be honest, we found the experience quite mind boggling. There were lots to choose from and prices ranged from £20 up to £50+

We decided to aim for a baby walker at the lower end of the price range as we felt that all the products did more or less the same things (played music, had buttons to press, flashing lights etc), so we did not see the point of spending a fortune, when a cheaper option would have the same results.

I can't remember exactly why we chose the Vtech baby walker, although it met our price criteria and looked like it had lots of different activities on it to keep Ellie amused.

The baby walker was easy to assemble. It consists of a handled frame on wheels, which enables your baby to walk and push the frame along. At the bottom of the frame are three, colourful spinning rollers, which have beads and rattly bits inside that make nice sounds when they spin.

There is a detatchable panel that contains most of the gadgets and activities on the baby walker. This consists of a removable play phone, with beads inside, lots of colourful buttons to press, in all different shapes, sizes and colours, the on / off button and a butterfly with a wing that can be moved to activate different functions on the walker.

The activity panel has lots of different functions...

On the top left of the panel is a dog that can be pushed. It says phrases like 'Puppy says clap your hands..'

There are three interlocking cogs that can be pushed and turned. These activate different sounds and phrases like..'Twisting and turning round and round...'

The butterfly wings activates the music or words and sounds modes of play.

There are four numbered buttons (a red heart, yellow circle, blue square, green triangle). In music mode, each of these buttons activates one of two different tunes. In sound mode the buttons activate the names of the colours, shapes and numbers that correspond the the button.

At the bottom of the panel are five different coloured musical notes with the letters a, b, c, d and e. Each button also has a picture on it (an apple, ball, car, dog and elephant).
In music mode, each button plays a different musical note. In sounds mode, each button says the letter sound and then the name of the picture, with a corresponding sound (i.e. a is for apple...crunch)

Ellie really enjoys playing with this toy although she does tend to use the activity panel more than the walker part of the toy. She is still only just one, however, (just over 8 months when she had the toy) and is just finding her standing feet. She dances along to the tunes, she loves turning the butterfly wings and she enjoys pushing all of the buttons and spinning the rollers at the bottom of the frame. Ironically, however, her favourite part of the toy is the detachable phone and she will often just take that part off of the panel and play with it separately.

Personally, I've found the removable panel with the activity buttons on it very useful to remove from the main frame, as this part of the walker can easily tip over if Ellie tries to pull the frame towards her or stand up against it. I tend to rest the walker against a walk when she is playing with the activity panel attached as it gives the frame more stability. The frame moves very easily when touched.

If I went back to December again and I was looking to buy a baby walker, I would definitely choose the vtech walker again. It has lots of different activities to stimulate babies and toddlers (suitable I would say from 6 months of age), it is bright and colourful and I'm sure Ellie will start to use the walking frame more now as she is beginning to stand more confidently with the aid of furniture and when holding hands. At just £21.97 (Argos catalogue price), I feel that the Vtech walker is good value for money also.