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Early Learning Centre My First Talking Ted
by MissMonkeyMoo
When my other half had to go to the physio again recently for more treatment on his back, I found myself with an hour to kill at the nearby shopping centre, so I headed for Mothercare for a bit of a wander round. With a four month old daughter (now six months), I was interested to see what baby toys they had as she was becoming ever ... more interested in the world around her and seemed to ned constant stimulation. There were the usual collection of baby gyms, soft toys and dangly pram characters, but nothing really felt suitable. And then I saw this teddy bear sitting on the shelf.
The first thing that struck me about the bear was the fact that he looked quite traditional. All the other toys around the place were brightly coloured - which I understand babies react well to - or had neon sections, which makes them look a bit strange at times. This bear was as a teddy bear should be! Nice and simple with a proper teddy bear face and patches on his body. It reminded me of the teddy bears that I used to have as a child and so picked it up for a further look. The teddy is SO soft, unbelieveably so! It is perfect for the delicate skin of a baby, and on showing it to my daughter she immediately started to reach out for it whic I took as a good sign! When I did get the bear home and out of the packaging (more of that in a moment) she was able to lift and hold the bear with ease; the softness meant that my daughter could squish and grasp the bear to her hearts content! The ears were also just the right size for her to put into her mouth and suck - every toy that she has is treated the same way!
Each of the patches on the bear has a stitched star; when the patch is pressed the bear speaks a phrase and then sings a song. The phrase relates to the area pressed (eg/ "This is my foot. Tickle me") I liked this feature as this willl help to teach my daughter different words and parts of the body (nose, tummy, hand and foot) and the song will also help with her verbal skills in time. What I did find strange was that the voice coming out of the bear was female. Now the bear to me is a 'he' and this voice just doesn't match. The voice is pleasant enough - it is a very well spoken woman - but it just doesn't go with this bear! For this reason, the bear gets four stars instead of five. Nevertheless, my daughter loved the bear even more when she heard the voice coming out! A huge smile spread across her face and even now two months on (when she is bored of a lot of her other toys) this still remains a firm favourite and provokes a happy reaction every time it is played with.
The bear is suitable from ages 3 months which was also another reason for my impulse purchase - a lot of other musical toys are from suitable from six months and I really wanted something age appropriate as a lot of websites seem to think that giving children toys out of their age range can actually be detrimental to their wellbeing/development (I'm no expert but as a first-time mum, I'm just trying to do my best for my daughter!) The battery pack for the bear is small and cannot be felt my your child whilst is use. It is easy for an adult to access and there is an on/off switch if the talking and singing become too much for a parent to put up with! The singing hasn't bothered me at all, but it would have been nice if there was a volume control switch on the bear as the singing is of a decent volume and it would have been nice to have used the bear to settle my daughter down for her sleeps.
The bear comes in simple packaging, but has lots and lots of twisty-ties at the back for the adults to work their way through! I am fairly patient, but even I was losing my rag a little with just how many there were! This is only a minor thing though and doesn't detract from the bear itself in any way. The batteries were also included which is good as it is really frustrating to buy a toy, get it home and then find you haven't got any means of switching it on! I paid £16 for the bear and it is without a doubt well worth the money. It is my daughters favourite toy, and as well as being something for her to love and cuddle, she will be able to interact with it when she is older and able to join in with the singing.
Such is the appeal of this bear that when I was round my in-laws at the weekend I left him safely tucked up in the corner of the room only to watch him being paraded around the house by my fourteen month old neice who had discovered upon him after dinner. She wouldn't let him go again and my daughter only got her teddy back when my neice fell asleep and we snuck off home!
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Fisher Price Disney My First Winnie the Pooh
by katyj10
My youngest daughter was bought this Winnie the Pooh bear for her first Christmas. Luckily it is suitable from 0+ age which is a rare thing amongst soft toys as we dicovered when our first daughter was born and everyone was gifting her soft toys that were suitable for 3 years plus so we had to put them away for a while. ...
Description
This toy, to be known henceforth as WTP stands around 25cm tall and is dressed in his classic red crop top tshirt which is printed (not embroidered) with his name. The Tshirt is also stitched on to the bear so is not removable. The material is really soft and you can see why he would appeal to a young child for regular snuggles.
My thoughts
To be honest, I'm not a huge WTP fan, and would not choose to buy any WTP branded items as he just doesn't appeal to me. I prefer more muted colours and I know children like bright colours but that's just me. I don't really go for many of the Disney branded items as I find them a bit garish. Never mind this, it doesn't matter what your preferences are when it comes for children, you may vow to never buy plastic toys too but it is inevitable that someone will buy these for them as gifts and you end up with them anyway. I don't mean to sound ungrateful but I had spent a lot of time, effort and money decorating the kids' bedrooms in beautiful colour schemes and then you enter the room and your eye is drawn to the yellow WTP.
Positives
To be fair, this bear has done no one any harm. He is soft and nice to touch and suitable from birth.
He is well made and has no bits that look like they will fall off.
My daughter does like snuggling him.
Downsides
You can only hand wash this bear.
His tshirt is printed on and this will wear off after a bit of child mauling (from the child, not the bear).
I don't like his eyebrows (they give him a permanent surprised look)
Final word
As you can tell, I'm not a huge fan of this bear. We have a WTP noisy book that is his voice and even that annoys me! This would not be a bear I would choose to buy as it is not to my taste but nonetheless we have this toy in our collection along with the noisy book and even a sleepsuit with matching hat and gloves from the WTP range so there are obviously lots of WTP fans out there that I will alienate from ever reading my reviews again... sorry!
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Mamas&Papas Babyplay Tummy Time Activity
by katyj10
When our second child was born in November we thought we had everything we needed as her older sister was only two years older we had kept all the baby gear and clothes. People still wanted to buy gifts for the new baby though and this tummy time activity toy from Mamas and Papas was what her grandma thought she'd like to play with as it ... said it was suitable from 0m+.
What is it?
The toy is a soft but well padded tube with lots of interesting activities on it. It has 10 developmental features on the toy which I will go in to in this review.
In play
We've been using this toy to stimulate our baby daughter for a few months now and it continues to be useful. In fact I was really poorly a few weeks ago and in bed but still looking after the baby and breastfeeding her and this toy was a godsend for her to play with when I felt so dreadful. One end of the 'roly poly' has a mirror on it - it's a safe baby one though and it's fun to show the baby her own reflection. There are soft rattley toys, crinkley leaves and satin feel patches sewn on to the toy and the tube jingles when you roll it too. It can be felt, looked at, leant on and listened to and generally chucked about. There is even an apple that you press and it sings 'twinkle twinkle little star'. A bee and a snail are attached by ribbons and there are also taggie style ribbons on the edge and a plastic teething ring, all nice sizes for little one's hands to grab hold of.
My thoughts
I love this toy for a baby, they can get so much use from it and the best thing about it is the quality of materials used. It is definitely well worth the money I think. Our two year old wanted to play with it at first but we had to explain that the toy was for her baby sister and eventually she understood and let the baby have her toy. You can also use this toy to help with the recommended 'tummy time' which helps a baby strengthen their back and limbs and this gives them something to roll on and play with whilst on their tummy. I always think our daughter looks a bit uncomfy when she is on her tummy so we don't do too much of this. I have noticed how much better our baby's hand and eye contact has become with the use of this toy, she can now grab the bit she wants rather than general waving her hands around and coming in to contact with things.
Price
The toy costs £18 and my mum bought ours from an independent baby shop that also sells M&P gear.
Final word
I think this made a great gift, it's stayed in fantastic condition and no parts have fallen off or become damaged. The only problem I foresee is that if it becomes stained it can only be spot washed as you can't put this in a washing machine. The quality of this toy is second to none and I heartily recommend it if you are looking for a baby gift.
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