Not only do my twin boys have a mountain of toys at our house, they also have another mountain at my parents' house. This is mainly due to my parents being unable to resist temptation of buying the boys "a little something" every time they pass a toy store or toy section in a store. One of their "impulse" buys was the V Tech Spin and Discover Ocean Fun toy.


***What Is It***
The V Tech Spin and Discover Ocean Fun toy is a brightly coloured, plastic spinning top. It works by pressing down on the plunger and the unit of the spinner rotates around. This has a flat base so is very sturdy and less likely to topple over. You can set the spinner to different "learning modes" which include counting, colours, ocean animals and music.

Around the edges of the spinning top are 4 ocean creatures which are made from chunky plastic and stick up from the spinning top. These include a turtle, dolphin, crab and octopus. There are also 3 different coloured light up buttons which set the mode of the spinner and have different learning activities when pressed. The spinner lights up, makes ocean sounds and plays melodies.

The toy requires 2 Size AA batteries which do not come included with the toy.


***Suitability***
VTech state the Spin and Discover Ocean Fun toy is suitable for children age 6 - 30 months. This was bought for my boys as they reached 6 months and I would definitely say it was suitable to play with at that age. Because of the chunky design of the stick up animals, my boys were able to attempt to press these and it was a great toy to encourage them to sit up unaided and plat with. The toy is sturdy and takes some effort to pull over because of the wide base design, but for young babies I would not recommend that they lie down and play with this. The toy is heavy and if your child does manage to pull this over on themselves it would hurt.

For older children this is also quite a fun toy because of the different learning modes and activities. My boys at 13 months enjoy pressing the various buttons and listening to the sounds and flashing lights. They also enjoy the music that is played when the plunger is pressed down.

My friend's children who are nearer 3 years old play with this toy and enjoy the learning games for example pressing the correct sea creature when a sea creature noise is played.


***Availability***
The V Tech Spin and Discover Ocean Fun toy is available from a number of toy retailers including ELC, Mothercare, Toys R Us, Smyths and Tesco. It is available in store and online and priced around the £15 mark. This is quite a reasonable price as it is not only fun but an educational toy which will interest children for a number of years.

My parents purchased this for £9.99 from ELC during a sale, therefore it is worth shopping around for.


***Playing with it***
Like many other VTech toys the Spin and Discover Ocean Fun toy is quite complex to remove from the outer packaging. This is because it is held in by a number of ties which took my mum around 10 minutes to untie. You also need a small crosshead screwdriver to insert batteries in the battery compartment on the base of the toy.

Once the toy is removed from the packaging it is operated with a simple switch which when slid along can be set to music mode (symbolised with a musical note) or learning mode (symbolised by a book) or just switched to off. There is no volume switch, which as a parent I feel is disappointing as this is quite a noisy toy when turned on. The music plays very loudly and does get quite annoying after a few rotations of the spinner. You can however still use the spinner without turning the toy on. If you push down on the plunger it will still rotate.

The design of the toy is very good. The wide base of the spinner means it is very sturdy which is useful when younger more uncoordinated children play with this toy as it means it does not get pulled over. It is also quite heavy which helps the stability of the spinner but it also means that it makes some noise if it does get pulled over. The buttons and plastic characters on the toy are chunky and large meaning it is easy for small hands to press these. The plunger on the spinner is large and thick but does take some force to press, especially for children. My boys are 13 months and just have the strength to make spinner rotate but not fully as you need to push down and hold for around 2 seconds in order for the toy to rotate fully.

When the spinner rotates on a full spin it probably rotates about 10 times. During this time a short, lively song about sea creatures is played. My boys play with this toy on laminate floor and the spinner rotates no problem. However on carpet the toy rotates slower, on long pile carpet I have found that the spinner actually is very difficult to rotate.

The colourful buttons on the toy are very easy for very young children to press. The four sea creatures stick up and are very chunky; they are quite sensitive so are very easy to press for a young child. When my boys starting playing with this toy at 6 months old they were able to reach out and whack these creatures which are attractive as they are so brightly coloured. When pressed the creatures either state what they are, or make a noise to replicate the creature. Although this takes some imagination as turtles and octopuses are not well known "animal" noises!

The other three flatter buttons on the spinner are flatter but are still large and easy to press. These are brightly coloured and light up and flash when the spinner rotates. These have learning activities attached to them.

The music and sounds played by the toy is annoying because they are so loud but for children very attractive. The songs and phrases are spoken or sung in a friendly clear English accent which is very easy to understand. The melodies are very catchy and my boys dance along to these and have done since they were around 8 months old.

For younger children the toy helps with hand eye coordination whilst they explore the buttons and creatures on the spinner. For older children this is quite an educational toy as there are learning features concerning colours, counting and sea creatures. This is quite a unique toy as most toys teach children about zoo or farm animals so this is a less traditional animal toy.

My boys have played with this toy regularly for 7 months now. During this time it has been dropped and thrown about quite a lot and is still in full working order. The chunky plastic design makes it quite a durable toy and no parts feel like they could break off. It is very easy to wipe over with a cloth if it gets dirty.


***Overall***
This is a great toy which teaches your child about sea creatures, counting and colours using a traditional spinning top design. The toy is durable, well-made and fun for children from ages 6 months to 3 years. And all for £15 which is very reasonable.

The toy would benefit from a volume switch but this is more a personal annoyance, as my boys think this is a great toy.

A rotating, educational, marine themed spinner... providing you don't have long pile carpet that is.






~~~~Also posted on Ciao 2011~~~~