Ever since my little girl was tiny she was obsessed with all things technical! SHe was always reaching for my mobile or trying to bash the keys on my laptop so for her first birthday I bought her her very own laptop. She is now five and she still plays with it! I never thought that she would still enjoy playing with it so it's surprised me and means we have definitely got our money's worth!!

*Vtech

Vtech make lots of toys for babies and toddlers. The majority of them are all singing all dancing with lots of interactive elements. If you like traditional toys you probably won't get along with Vtech but we really like their toys, we have loads of them and they are always such good quality and grab my daughter's attention.


*What the laptop looks like

Well the picture Ciao have provided is very accurate! It is exactly what the laptop looks like. At a glance you can see right away that it is colourful! Colourful is good! It means that little children will be attracted to it. It is not geared towards any gender so is great for girls and boys. It has a blue base which has a red mouse on it which moves about a bit, a little speaker which has grooves in, a sliding button which has three different pictures underneath it and you move the button to the setting you want and it also has an on/off switch which has a volume control on it too. When you open up the lid of the laptop it reveals a yellow keypad with 9 keys inside. These keys are large, different shapes and have pictures on them. On the screen is an LED panel which has 9 pictures on which relate to the pictures on the keys. Inbetween the keys on the laptop are various little shapes which are engraved into the plastic which don't do anything but does make it look even more exciting!


*What it does

It lights up, it plays music, it makes sounds... it is very interactive. There are three different settings on it. music is my little girls favourite. This music setting plays songs when you press the keys on the keyboard. These include things like Twinkle Twinkle and This Old Man. There are no words to the songs, just the tunes which is nice and as the tunes play the lights on the screen flash. The other setting is an exploring setting where when the buttons are pressed the picture on the screen in the space of that button light up and something related to it is said, for example on the picture of the rattle it will say "I like shaking my rattle." The final setting is learning. This is where the facts are given, so the button that is pressed is then educational it will say the name of the shape or the colour of it. If no buttons are pressed for a few seconds it will start talking 'are you there' or singing 'my first laptop is such fun...' but if nothing happens for about 2 minutes it will shut down by announcing "Shutting down now" which is good so that it doesn't keep talking and singing away when your little one has got bored of it!

*Playing with it

My little girl really struggled to open the lid of it when she first got it. We would open it for her and she would play with it for ages, banging away at the keys, amazed by the lights on the screen but sometimes she would close it and then not be able to open it and would cry with frustration. This seems like a long time ago now! She can now open it no trouble at all! She used to play with it in an exploring nature, wondering what would happen when she presses buttons and clapping away with the music but now she uses it in an imaginative way! She always pretends she is being like mummy by 'checking her emails'. She will set the laptop on the table next to mine and announce she has emails, she will bash away at the keys pretending to type. I can't believe how much she has changed how she plays with this, I never thought it would still entertain her now but it really does! When she was about 2 she really loved it and spent lots of time playing with it, exploring with the different settings and other babies that have been round have also enjoyed playing with it.

*Learning from it

I would never rely on an electronic toy to teach my children things but it has helped to teach her about colours and shapes and things. She could play with this alone and be told what the shapes were but we would also play with it with her and ask her questions like "Where is the triangle?" and "How many green buttons are there?" it's been really amazing to see how much she has learnt. She may have learnt colours elsewhere but this has helped us to see how she has progressed. It has also helped her concentrate as when you press one button you have to wait for it to finish what it's doing before you can then press another so she has learnt how to wait and be patient, listening to what is being said and then moving on to the next bit. It has helped her hands and things as she has learnt how to wiggle the mouse and push buttons and move the sliding button.

*Conclusion

This is a fantastic toy. We have had this for four years and it has been played with regularly but it still looks to be in brilliant condition, it did get drawn on once with some crayon but that wiped away easily. It looks as good as new and we have not once had to replace the batteries either so it's great! It is robust, it has been thrown around and taken on holiday with us and still works perfectly. The only bit which has changed is the part where you select the setting you want, the pictures on this is on a piece of paper and it looks a bit worn here but the rest is perfect! It has been played with lots and is well loved. It has entertained as well as educated and it's great to see it being used in imaginative play now too. It cost £20 and that is definitely worth it. Another brilliant toy from Vtech. We are very pleased with it and my daughter loves it.