Activities and Learning Reviews

I received this as a shower gift. It's one of the first toys my daughter was interested in, starting at around 2 months. At 9 months she still loves it, and has figured out how to make the music go by herself. I don't find the music that annoying, maybe because it's classical. My baby takes full advantage of all the features of this toy: the music, things to chew on, rattles, colors and textures. She really looks like she's concentrating when she plays with it. I'll admit at 9 months her interest is waning a bit, but she still likes it alot, esp. to chew on.

I bought this toy for my 4 month old son after reading all the 5 star reviews. I hadn't seen this toy in the store--I looked for it several times at my local Target and Babies R Us stores, and never could find it.

I was so swayed by all the positive reviews that I felt it was safe to go ahead and order it online. Well, what a disappointment! The first one Amazon sent to us was defective--the music box didn't work. So we sent it back and asked for a replacement. It arrived a few days later and after hearing the "music," I was VERY disappointed! It sounds "Tinny" and it really isn't that pleasant to listen to.

My son likes it but I wouldn't say that it's superior to any other toy that we have for him. We took the batteries out of the music box. If we hadn't, we wouldn't be able to stand to have him play with it. Also, I went shopping at Target yesterday. Guess what "NEW" toy they had in stock? Yep, this very toy and for just $12.99!

It's just another average toy. Nothing special about it....except for the obnoxious "music!"

My 5 1/2 month old loves this toy. He plays with it all the time, constantly reaching for it, grabbing it and playing with each and every item on it. I figured I'd write a review and recommend it. I read the reviews and the first one talked about how bad the music is. Funny thing is we didn't even know there was music. We had, apparently, never turned it on so our son just loves it quietly :) Once I read the review I found the switch and turned it on- it is pretty annoying.

So, the best advice I can give, is buy this for your babies or as a gift because it's fantastic... just never put the music on. Not every toy needs to make noise and this toy has so much going for it that it's unnecessary.

This was one of those random buys for my son when he was 1&1/2. He had no interest in it at all--at first. Now he's almost 2, & has been overcome by this sudden addictiveness to the animals!!! They ALL (including the conductor) have to go everywhere with him. From his crib to the grocery store. Forget the train... the animals wobble around too much, and the caboose always falls off. He has no interest in the caboose anyway, since it doesn't make any noise. The animals have helped my son learn how to make elephant, tiger, and monkey noises. As far as durability goes, I'm not too sure about the train, but the little critters are great.

We bought this train for our daughter because she was afraid of the train that went by our house. The noises on this train sound very realistic and the animal sounds aren't too annoying. My only complaint is that the animals do not stay on the little sound knobs. It is nice however that the animal sounds will still work without the animals being on the knobs. It is made well, like most Little Tykes products and we were very glad that we bought it to help our little one with her fear of trains. It seems to be working!

This is one of the cutest toys I have seen in a long time! My 1 year old got it for his Birthday and loves it! It makes animal sounds and a train sound.(not loud and obnoxious either!)It has the cutest baby animals that come off, and the train has 3 detachable parts. Super toy! A great deal for not alot of money! Made this Mom happy.

The Musini is a great toy, but buyers should be aware that Neurosmith has closed it's business. The Magic Wand accessory that came with my Musini doesn't seem to work. I tried their website for support, but it seems to be permanently down, so I called the company phone number in Long Beach, CA for support, and you get a message that they've closed.

Great concept that never delivered on it's promise. We purchased it twice and it never worked...a lot of time wasted. The idea sounds good but they need to work on the result!

I bought this for my 2 1/2 year old and she absolutely
loves it! She didn't understand what to do at first so
I had to show her some of my dancing skills : ) She
got it right away and she can't stop dancing! Great
toy for any age!

I bought this toy for my son at 7 months of age and he is now 1 years old and still is having fun with it. I admit that it is noisy and at times you don't want to hear all the sounds that it is making but that's why it was made to stimulate children. I have not had any experiences with it going off by itself unless it was not properly placed on the stand. So maybe those that go off so frequently and in the middle of the night were just faulty or not put up correctly. But all in all it's a great toy and a very good time consumer for your little ones. They get a kick out of it just spinning around and around and as your child gets older they learn how to work the different parts that make certain sounds.

My 6 month old son and 10 month nephew absolutely love this toy. I don't think the music is annoying at all. (Kinda techno-new agey sounds with a good beat) I haven't experienced any of the negatives the other reviewers have written about. In my opinion, it's one of the best toys for 6 months-1 year olds out there.

I never take the time to rate reviews. But this toy really ticks me off. Both my infant (for whom the toy was intended for) and my 2 year get a kick out of this when I take it out of seclusion. But usually I have it locked away since it periodically goes off on its own. There is no way to turn it off and the batteries are too hard to get to pull them out and put them back in all the time. For a while I had it in the downstairs bathroom with the door closed. I could still hear it go off in middle of the night. I don't need that. I put this on my daughter's wish list this past Christmas which is why her aunt bought it. I still kick myself for doing that.
There was a lesson to be learned here: never buy a toy without checking how it turns off!

We bought this game for our two kids which are in 2nd and 4th grade.
This game blew away our expectation. Our 2nd grader could answer 2nd grade questions and our 4th grader, could answer 4th grade questions, so they were playin on equal levels. The bonus feature was great, because if it is a subject they are good at, the would take the next grade up's question and move one extra space if they answered it correctly. The "peek and see" cards are a clever addition because our 2nd grader had a hard time reading some of the words in the 4th grade questions. When this happened, he could hand the card to his older brother and he could simply read his own question, without seeing the answer. It's great that we can use our other brain quest sets with this game as well. They thought of everything for this game!

How refreshing it is to play a game that is so educational and practical. We played this game with our nieces and nephews, who range in age from Grade 1 to Grade 5. This is the only game we know of that can allow kids that are so far apart in age to play on equal ground---and even win! The best part is, we have several of the Brain Quest card decks, which can be used with the game, in addition to the thousands of questions provided. This is a great value for the price. It is educational, fun and really gives the younger kids confidence when the beat their older sibling.

I have a troop of 12 Brownie Girl Scouts who have been playing this game for 2 years now (I got it when they were 6 years old). They like it so much that they argue about who gets to play this game, even after 2 years! It is fun for the kids, and fun for adults.

The best part is the ability to choose which level of question to answer (can choose from 1st to 6th grade). It adds to the strategy of the game, making not only knowledge important, but knowing which categories are easy for you or hard.

For those people who gave it negative reviews, I have to wonder if they either didn't read, or didn't understand, the instructions. Saying that it "only requires rote memorization" and then saying Trivial Pursuit is better, not only isn't true, but doesn't even make sense...

This toy could have been quite fun if it had not grew mildew almost immediately. The block structures themselves were very hard which made it impossible to empty all of the water out of them after bathing. It should stay on dry land!

My daughter loves this toy, and has since she received it as a first birthday gift. My only problem is that you cannot get all the water out of the boat. Therefore mold grows inside the base of the boat, and if squeezed at just the right time, comes squirting out in bath, or worse, baby's mouth!
Fun to learn animal sounds and colors and my daughter loves turning the animals into squirt guns! I just wish the boat either didn't take on water, or could be cleaned.

We bought lots of different things to help our 8 month old daughter with teething - this is her favorite. She loves to chew on the animals - it is a great toy for teething - but if you read the insert that comes with the toy, it says NOT to submerge in water. It is a teething toy. She really loves the giraffe - it is her favorite!

My husband braved Toys R Us when our son was 4 months old and came home with this. Our son was teething at the time and put everything in his mouth and this was just too hard. At that age, he would also shake and rattle everything he picked up and one of the keys would always knock him in the head. Since this is made of very hard plastic, it would most often produce tears. Although the yellow and red keys were of no interest, he did somewhat enjoy the blue key which has a button which would activate sounds and music. However, my son is now 8 months old and that button has stopped working. He is now developing the "pincer grasp" and I'm hopeful that he may develop some interest for the moving parts of the yellow and red keys. Maybe 3 months is too young and FP should change the age recommendation. I was also disappointed that the ring linking the three keys together opens too easily and I found myself retrieving and putting the four pieces together several times a day. I can honestly say that I spend more time doing so than my son does playing with it. This is why I would suggest buying something else. For a little more money, I would recommend The Lamaze products like the Pupsqueak which is much more "noggin friendly" and much more entertaining. You'll definitely get your money's worth.

I bought one of these and tried it out. Everything was fine except the ring part. If you shake it only a couple of times the ring part pops open, to the point that once, the blue key flew off the ring! If my baby had been playing with it, it might have hit her in the face! I took it back and tried another one, but it did the same thing. It's not safe enough for my child. I was very disappointed because I liked it alot!

We received this as a gift right after our daughter was born. The blue music key made changing time a bit easier in the early weeks when she hated being stripted down. The sounds got her attention for a moment. We learned that the 'wheels on the bus' tune was the best. Now at nearly 5 mo, we still play the key everychanging time. And sing wheels on the bus a thousand times a day, while changing her or anytime she becomes upset, restless or bored! We play games with the music key, place it near her feet or hand, show her once where it is, by touching her limb to it to make the sound. She will begin kicking or hitting it to make it go off... she has been doing this for several months already.

The ring the keys are on is too flimsy. We use with out it. She has just begun being able to grasp any of the keys because of the bulky size, but really enjoys trying. I think FP should redesign it, if you tried attaching it to anything, like the diaper bag, it would fall off and get lost.

Our blue key stays on the changing table. We would be lost with out it.

The music stopped playing the same day we got it in the mail. Would have been very cute if it wasn't so cheaply made. Very disappointed.

Our first purchase of this toy resulted in an exchange for another one the same day--it stopped working (playing music) after a few times of using it! Our second one however continues to work after several weeks. As another reviewer has mentioned, this toy plays an odd song for a jack-in-the-box, but still holds the attention of my 12 mo old. Although he is not yet able to effectively turn the knob yet, he still enjoys watching the head pop when we play with it, and he likes to play with the other sections of the toy.

My son is 13 months and plays with it lots. He cant turn it to make jack pop yet but he still enjoys the other features (horn to beep, mirror on bottom and toy to turn)

My 8th Grade Middle School Science Classes used this Rock Tumbler Machine and achieved great success and , I hope, knowledge. For the unit on rocks and minerals we did a science experiment with 1/2 of a rock sample for the Variable in a tumbler and 1/2 for a Control not in the tumbler. Students ran the entire lab for the month. The final results were great both as a science lab and an enjoyable activity. The use of the diatomaceous earth becomes another lesson. I recommend that you keep some of the same types of rock out of the tumbler just to compare after the tumbling is done even if you are not doing it as a lab in a classroom.
There is a lot of noise connected with this piece of equipment. I could leave it in a storage room. Also I recommend that you tape it onto a board or on the table as the vibrations may cause it to move. Make sure that the seal is tight so no water leaks out. This is noticed at the very beginning if it should occur and can be easily fixed.
Some students went ahead and ordered their own Rock Tumbler. I warned the parents about the noise!!!

My 8 yr. old daughter bought this item herself and loves it! She understood from the beginning that it would take a long time since it was doing nature's job of "thousands of years" in just one month. In a world of toys that offer instant gratification for our youth, this one teaches them that nature just doesn't work that way! Yes, it's noisy (we put ours under a styrofoam cooler & put a rock on top & that helped A LOT), yes, it's takes time, and yes, it is a bit messy, but look what you get in the end. Through all three steps, your child (and probably you too) learn the process and see how nature can turn a seemingly ugly rock into a beautiful gem. If you don't like noise, waiting or a little mess, this isn't for you. If you do like cause and effect, you will love this product. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day!!
...

We bought this for our 8-year-old son as a project. We knew ahead of time that it would take at least 3 weeks. (It should state this on the box though.) Rocks are hard! Nature can take thousands of years to do what this does in weeks! However, it is quite noisy and can leak a little. Put it in a garage or follow the suggestion of the other reviewer about a cooler. Vaseline does stop the leaks. Your patience with this will definitely pay off! The rocks were beautiful! There were quite a few big ones, plenty of medium size and lots of small ones. My son, the budding scientist that he is, was absolutely thrilled! I was so impressed and fasinated by each rock! I could not wait to do another batch! A great long-term project that teaches not only about nature, but about how rewarding a little patience can be. I highly recommend this to all people, (adults as well) who are interested in rocks and crystals.

My daughter is two months old and we have been using this gym for a couple of weeks. She is entertained for 10-15 minutes at a time by listening to the music and watching the lights. My husband discovered that if she is in her bouncer, the lights are at a good height for her. I do not think that she would see them laying on the floor. She is not old enough nor is she interested in the options on the gym. I do not think that this is for newborns.

I have 4 month old triplets and I bought this when they were 2 months old. They love it-now. 2 months is really too early for babies to enjoy much of anything, but now that they are more alert they laugh and kick their legs in delight with this toy. Someone in another review mentioned that their child can't play alone with this toy and it does not provide self learning. Yes, you do have to get on the floor and work the buttons for them..but who would leave a child unsupervised at this age anyway. When they are older, they will certainly be able to handle the buttons themselves. They will also be so familliar with the toy, that they won't need my help to play with it. I love this toy. I am glad I invested in something entertaining and educational for my children.

This learning gym is awesome! I love that it's versatile enough so my baby can use it now, at 3 months, and continue to use it as he grows and learns to sit up. My son is a cranky baby because he has acid reflux and this is one of the few "toys" he has that he thoroughly enjoys!! He spends lots of time on the floor kicking his legs and arms about, chatting and smiling away at the blinking lights. He loves the music and really enjoys watching the spinning globe. I've read reviews of this toy with parents complaining that it's no good for an infant because they can't reach the buttons and such, but if you just invest the time in your child and help them play with it (spin the globe for them, push the buttons, etc) you will see their little faces light up with pure joy. I highly recommend this product!!!