The animals have something to say.. (LeapFrog Alphabet Zoo Ball)

Member Name: LIZR315

Product:	LeapFrog Alphabet Zoo Ball
Date:	10/06/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Expands parents knowledge of obscure animals!

Disadvantages: See review

We bought this for my little boy when he was 9 months. We didn't pay the full £15 pound asking price as I think it was offer at Mothercare at the time.

My husband chose it after my little boy seemed to like it in the shop.

What is it?
A spinning ball on a base that has all the letters of the alphabet with an animal associated with the letter. You spin the ball and you get to hear letter names and animal sounds. There are three modes. One says the letter names, another says the name of the animal and sound and another one sings a song and makes the sound. It's very sturdy and will take a lot of use. It runs on batteries.

My view is my little boy likes spinning it but I'm not that keen.

Why....
The pictures of the animal are small.
The noise isn't an accurate reflection of sound that the animal makes.
The choice of animals is strange e.g. needle fish for 'n' - I had to look it up on wikipedia!
They use letter names rather than the phonic sounds of the letters.
The song is annoying.

In my opinion it's another of these 'educational' toys that prey on parents fears that children need to be learning something from their toys but the toys are educationally not very sound and don't really inspire children's play or learning.

I personally wouldn't recommend it if you were looking for a toy as a present.

Summary: There are better toys out there. Save your pennies