My son was given the Leap Frog 'Spin and Sing Alphabet Zoo Ball' for Christmas when he was six months old. It is a plastic toy which requires three AA batteries. There is a wheel with different letters around it and each letter has a picture of an animal that begins with that letter, eg 'D' for Dog. There is a little arrow that lights up to indicate which letter/animal has been selected. The idea is that the child spins the wheel with their hands and then enjoys the spinning movement and different sounds. There are three settings. When the wheel spins on the first setting it sings the alphabet. A few spins are needed to hear the whole song. When the wheel stops on a letter you hear the noise that the associated animal makes, eg for a horse you hear 'neigh'. The second option sings a catchy song that goes ' the animals have something to say... they hoot and holler and chirp away... the animals have something to say... they swish and sway and sing all day'. When the wheel stops on an animal it says the name of the animal and then makes the sound of that animal, eg for a frog you hear 'ribbet ribbet'. The third option sings another catchy song that goes 'spin, spin a letter, how many do you know'. When the wheel stops it says the name of the letter it has landed on.

A big plus point is that the (female) voice has an English accent - unlike many toys which have American voices. The wheel is very easy to spin, although when my son first played with the toy he insisted on beating it with his fist rather than spinning it, but he soon got the hang of it. As well as being lots of fun the toy is also educational, teaching babies letters and animals. The toy is recommended from six months to two years. My son is now ten months and still loves it but I don't yet know if he will still enjoy it by the age of two. I have found this toy particularly useful to encourage my baby to lie on his front. By placing the toy directly in front of him it was at eye level and he could spin the wheel. It was also useful when he first learnt to sit up and needed something exciting in front of him to keep him occupied. We have used the toy a lot and the batteries kept it working for three months on daily usage so it doesn't get through too many.

The only way this toy could be improved is if there was some way to attach it onto my baby's high chair as this would be a great distraction toy to use while I was preparing his food.

I did not pay for this toy myself but I can see that you can get one for around £15 on Amazon which I think is very reasonable. I would absolutely recommend this toy and it is certainly one of my son's favourites!