Sorter Reviews

My 9 month old loves this toy. She spends long periods of time pulling the shapes out, shaking and squeezing them, chewing on them, and tossing them across the room. This is a wonderful toy that encourages independent play.

My baby starting playing with this at 4 months. It was definitely one of the best toys we ever bought her.

I got this as a gift for my 6 month old son. The great thing about this toy is that it's baby friendly. It's a great take out and put in toy, but even more then that, the soft shapes each match a shape on the sides of the soft sorter but will fit in any of the shapes so he doesn't get frustrated. My older son sits with his little brother and helps him find the right shaped object to go into the right shape on the toy. And it has a great apple scent! Great interactive toy!

My 22-month-old has loved this toy for almost a year. The shapes are attractively colored and very pleasing to hold, and the attached hammer never gets lost! All in all, a very nice version of a timeless toy.

I am constantly looking for non-electronic toys that don't "play themselves". I bought this toy for my 9-month old daughter-each of the shapes have a different rattle sound and she loved to shake them. Now that's she's 11 months she's starting to learn the shapes and using the hammer. My husband and I love to play with this too!

This is the best kind of toy - your child is learning numerous different skills while playing. (fine motor, shape sorting, color sorting...) I purchased it for my 12 month old and wished I had discovered the "Lauri" brand with my older child sooner. They even include an idea sheet to inspire other ways to use the product. It is the perfect item to put on the high chair to buy a little time while making dinner. I'd make this purchase again in a heartbeat! Don't be swayed too much by the suggetsed age - this is a toy that grows with your child.

I saw all the good reviews for this, and bought it for my 2 year old daughter for this last Christmas. She loves it. She already knew her colors, and shapes, and this toy just reinforces it. She loves sorting the pieces into same colors and also same shape. When they are older you can help them to learn patterns with the toy. I think it would be an awesome tool for teaching colors and shapes to kids who don't already know them. I was actually suprised that she chose to play with this toy more than any of the other "lights camera action" toys she got for Christmas. Although, if you have a dog, keep the pieces away. My dog has chewed several of the shapes, so some of them are missing corners, and have bite marks in them . But on the up side of that, the Lauri company replaces pieces for something like 25 Cents.

I purchased this toy for my 15 month old daughter. She plays with it every day, placing the shapes on the pegs. She is learning to match colors on the pegs, but will also use the pieces as "food" for her dolls and stuffed animals. She also likes to remove and replace the wooden pegs themselves. The foam rubber base and shape pieces seem very durable, although my daugher is past the 'put everything in your mouth' phase so I don't know how they would hold up to being chewed. All in all, she seems to be having alot of fun with this toy, is hopefully learning color and shape recognition and gaining fine motor skills.

My son received this for his first birthday, and it is one of his favorite toys! I like it because the shapes range in difficulty from easy (circle, square) to more difficult (the #1 shape). The shapes are easy to get out of the train but they stay in securely when no being played with. It is colorful, sturdy and educational. My son and I both think its fantastic!

My son got this toy for Christmas. He was nearly a year old then. He loves it. He has another shape sorter which is not nearly as fun in his opinion - too many shapes. He does pretty well in getting some of the shapes in and claps at his successes. Those he can't get in - he just opens the back and loads them in that way, figured that out in a hurry. All kinds of things have made their way in this toy - "people" from another toy fit in the round hole nicely, pears and apples fit in the back, etc. It is truly one of his favorite toys.

I recently purchased this item for my 23 month old son. He loves Thomas, so he was thrilled to get this. However, he quickly became frustrated with the shape sorting aspect of this toy. A few of the shapes, such as the number 1, seem too difficult to get to fit correctly in order for them to pass through. The back door of the train has a tendency to open up and let all the shapes fall out, and the space inside the engine is too cramped to let all the shapes fit comfortably inside. So even if your child does manage to get the shape lined up correctly, there is the strong possibility he/she won't be able to make it pass all the way to the inside of the engine because the other shapes already inside are in the way.

All in all, this is a cute little train to get if your child just wants a Thomas train to push around, but if you're thinking of getting it for the shape sorting purpose, I would definitely look elsewhere.

I picked this out for my daughter for her first birthday. She loves the music button and pushes it over and over and over again and does her little baby dance to it. But the door does constantly fall off! She plays w/the door more than the shapes themselves. Also, I think this toy is more appropriate word wise for a 2 year old or even older. The song is really long and what one year old knows that baked goods rise in the oven? Nice idea for a toy but a little over the top. The music itself is great though.

I understand the annoyance with the door, my son took it off the day we opened it. But who cares? It's meant to teach shapes! We already know our kids can open and close doors. I love this toy because it is a BASIC shape sorter. It says the shape as it goes through. It is GREAT!! My son loves it. Now I just have to find the door.:)

I bought this for my daughter for her 1st birthday in October. She loved playing with the shapes that came with the sorter but was never really interested in putting the shapes through the sorter. When you do put the shapes through the sorter the sorter tells you what shape you baked, what color you baked, or what food item the shape was. There was really no music that played or anything like that to keep my child interested in putting the shapes through the holes. My biggest complaint is that the door on the front of the toy keeps coming off. I know that it is a safety feature but as soon as you put the door back on and open it, it comes off again. I was really disappointed in this product since it came from LeapFrog.

I was surprised that this toy got such good reviews, because I am not at all impressed with it. I thought that both of my sons (12 mos. and almost 3 years) would enjoy it, but neither has spent much time with it, despite enjoying other shape sorters - plus, one loves music, the other loves animals/making animal sounds. The shapes are hard to get out, and this frustrates my 1-year-old son. And I was disappointed that the music doesn't play when the shape is inserted; you have to press the shape after putting it in to get the music to play (or bypass that, and push the little button to get the music without even doing the shapes).

My son is 15 months now and has played with this toy for several months. It has helped teach him animal names and sounds, and he enjoys the music it plays. He also likes the shape sorting, as well as the activities on the other side (a clicking wheel, etc.). We take this toy with us on trips because it provides good entertainment value for its size.

i purchased this when my child was a few months old. she loved it because of the sounds of the animals. as she got older she enjoyed putting the pieces in their places. i have returned it twice because it doesn't work. each time i change the batteries but it still doesn't work. i will return the second and call it quits. the concept is great and when it works it's good but now my child is 18 months and it frustrates her.

Seemed to sort well, but LCD seemed easy to confuse... and why have to fuss with adding batteries for the LCD counter, when it's plugged into the wall anyway? Would be nice not to have to push a button to both start and stop it. Sorry but it's too expensive; there's a non-LCD (no counter) battery operated (C-size) version of this same box from same manufacturer, much cheaper elsewhere.

This machine sorts coins fairly well but does not do a good job of counting them. When a coin holder becomes full the excess of coins are dumped out the back of the machine, however the counter still continues to add them to the total amount. The volume of coins added must also be regulated carefully or it will jam up. I found that by opening up the coin drawer and inserting the coins manually was just as easy as going through the frustration of running the machine. When a coin holder becomes full the exact amount of that denomination is reached. This makes possible for a person to see if the correct amount has been dumped into a particular tube. It would probably be just as easy and more economical to puchase this drawer alone from the manufacturer.

I had high hopes for this little coin counter. I'm not in business or anything, just save my change daily. While it does a good job of putting the right coins in the right tubes while sorting, it misses the mark on keeping an accurate count of the dollar amount. I tested it with $63.27 in change. I varied the volume of coins I loaded into the hopper at one time - from 10 to 50 at a time. It never jammed, but in 10 trial runs, I got 10 different totals, none of which was the correct total. It was always coming up short on the total, as if some coins were slipping through without being counted. I'm still looking for a decent coin counter

My husband and I are very into educational toys and so we bought this shape sorter for our son's first birthday...the shapes are fun especially the clear shapes that contain miniature shapes that are consistent with the piece's shape. The problem is that the walls of the toy are too soft and my son can fit any of the pieces into any of the openings. I am always playing with him so I can redirect him to the correct opening for lets say the square but we want to encourage independent thinking and well...the shape sorter doesn't have the firmness that will deter mistakes! He may be thinking is if the square fits into the circle opening why is Mom shaking her head "NO!" My son is getting confused with this toy...and to make matters worse we paid $30 dollars for this toy! Can I have my money back?

I got this for Alan who is 10 months old. He isn't into sorting yet, but did seem to like the different toys, not sure which is his favorite yet.

Our son (3 months new--the word "old" is just too ironic in this case)is naturally attracted to this toy for some reason--I'm not a psychologist, so I don't know why. He likes to touch the various pyramids, cubes, and balls and then watch me put them back into the container. He has also slobbered on some of the shapes, but the gunk just wipes off. In any event, the toy does keep his attention so far.

This toy should not be called a shape sorter, but if you take a good look at it before purchase, it is obvious that it is not. It is bright and colorful, and plush, which is safe for your baby. It squeeks, crinkles and tweet-tweets, and my son loves it. So does my 5 year old daughter for that matter. It is durable, washable and seems to be entertaining for my baby, which is a good thing for any toy. It is a toy that can travel easily (packed in a diaper bag and springs back to life) which means that is is "sturdy" for a plush toy. It is the kind of toy that leaves room for your childs imagination and role play, which says a lot considering all of the toys made today that take away any form of imagination. It was well worth the purchase!

I received this as a baby gift from my best friend (who has no kids). It is easily one of the cutest toys I've ever seen. The three shapes all make a noise: crinkle-paper square, rattle triangle, and squeaking egg/chick. The bluebird on top of the barn sings when squeezed. It is soft-sided and the barn door on back has velcro to keep it closed.
Unfortunately this is not the toy to buy if you are looking for a shape-sorter. While there are spaces for each shape (circle, square, triangle) the soft material allows all shapes to fit through all holes. It's constructed to remain in the shape of a barn, and it does. The 3 loose pieces can be set in the opening of the same shape and it won't fall into the barn so it is also very decorative just sitting there!
Finally, it is durable. In the year my daughter has played with it (she has liked holding the shapes since she was little), none of the felt or fabric pieces have frayed or fallen off of the barn, or off of any of the shapes. This toy has been roughed up, chewed, drooled on, and repeatedly squashed, but it is still in great shape.
I hate to give this a low rating because it is durable yet so darling, but it should not be called or advertised as a shape sorter.

Cute idea, little value. It's not a true shape sorter, because any piece can be stuffed through any hole. I thought it was cute and snuggly, so I bought it for my baby. She was less interested in it than she has been in my basic kitchen utensils. Save your money.

I read the other reviews and cannot believe we all own the same toy. My 2 year old loves this toy sooo much that it is never out during playgroup. He loves sliding the different puzzles in and out and dropping the shapes through.

I love this toy because it challenges him--I only wish it had more shapes instead of the basics.

The box lacks a "floor" so blocks fall through after the package is opened. The paint chips off quite easily. My daughter enjoys it, but she gets frustrated because it does not perform well.

Sadly, this toy was a dud. It wasn't challenging for my then-2 year old, as it only had 5 shapes. Furthermore, it wasn't much fun either! The sliding scenes were tedious and frustrating for her, as she couldn't change them herself. This toy now lives in the "old toy" closet in our guest room. She regularly raids the closet on impulse, but never pulls this toy off the shelf.