10 reasons why I love the Fisher Price Smart Stages Puppy Train
When you have your first child, it's hard to know what toys to buy. What they will like and play with and what will be forgotten never to be played with again. There is also so much choice out there with all the manufacturers putting out products aimed at young families, advertising on children's television channels and filling pages of catalogues.
Last summer, we were looking at CK's toys and realised that he was getting a bit old for his rattles and some of the other toys he had had since he was a baby. I wanted to get him something that he could enjoy but would also encourage him - he had been rocking on all fours for a while but still wasn't crawling so I was looking for something that would help him.
Fisher Price Smart Stages Puppy Train
I found the answer at Smyths Toy Shop, it was a brightly coloured train which also came with animal character accessories. It had lights, spinning items (a favourite feature of CK's at the time), played various songs and even better when you pushed the green chimney stack the train would move under its own power. It also uses the smart stages technology and you have the option of three modes depending on the age group of the child.
He loved it from the first moment he saw it, he loved spinning the wheels and the 2 rollers on the carriage, he liked putting the little characters in their places particularly in the driver seat as the train would reward him with a sound and when he realised what happened when he pushed the green chimney he was so happy and pleased and in no time was crawling up and down after it.
Over a year later and with CK now 20 months old this is still one of his favourite toys and it still gets a lot of use. He has even been taking it out in the garden and the carriage did end up in his paddling pool (with no harm done). His favourite thing about it is still the fact that it moves across the room when you push the green chimney. He has even tried sitting on it and pushing the chimney stack in hopes that it will move with him on which is really cute but unfortunately for him its a bit too heavy for that purpose.
I think we paid approx £20 and if you are looking for a Christmas or birthday present for a child between 6-18 months you can't do much better than this. - Here is a full list of the reasons why we think it's the best toy we've bought for our son.
1. The batteries last ages - I've changed them once in just over a year. This compared to other toys where batteries have had to be changed monthly and considering this toy is played with almost everyday I think thats pretty impressive.
2. It's really well made and durable - some of the stickers have peeled off but otherwise its still in really good condition and works very well, the colours are still very bright and despite my son's attempt to 'ride' on it a few times, it's still standing.
3. Very easy for little ones to operate - there are 5 buttons, 2 spinners, 2 loop shaped beads, a slider, driver seat activity button and that amazing light up chimney stack.
4. Doesn't take up much space - we took this to Center Parcs on holiday with us, it sometimes goes with him to granny's and it fits comfortably in his toybox without taking up very much space. (we have a small house and it's the only toy that takes up next to no space at all
5. It grows with baby - it's advertised as being suitable from 6 months to 18 months but we are still enjoying and loving it at 20 months. It also has different stages for different modes of play. Level 1 'Lets have some fun' - for little ones to get used to the toy, Level 2 'Lets learn something new' encouraging children to push certain buttons to learn shapes, colours and numbers & Level 3 'Lets pretend - Yipee!' for general role play
6. Helps your child's development - as well as helping to teach the colours, shapes and numbers mentioned above, it also encourages physical development and in our case helped to encourage CK to first crawl and then walk. It's also been great for improving his co-ordination too.
7. Lots of songs and words meaning parents don't get bored - I think we all know there is nothing worse than that one toy that keeps playing the same tune over and over and over again but with this toy the songs and talking is different so adults don't get bored. Not only that but you also can turn it off or lower the volume as well (great if it was a particularly bad night last night)
8. It rewards children's actions with music and lights - I love the fact that if you put a character in the driving seat it plays a little tune and the chimney flashes, equally if you push one of the coloured buttons it will sometimes ask you to push another button and tells you how smart you are if you've pushed the right one.
9. The little characters are a further bonus and contain rattles. They include a puppy, monkey and frog and the songs tend to be in relation them.They are easy to hold with no rough ages and fit comfortably into the train.
10. It's very good value for money - I think for what we paid (approx £20) this was very reasonable and we have had so much usage out of it and I think we will for a while longer yet. Knowing what I know now I would have quite happily paid more for it to be honest. It was worth every single penny.
A fantastic toy then and one that I highly recommend - if you want to buy I've posted an affiliate link below but I really think this should be on the wish list of every infant from the ages of 6-18 months and every parent and grandparents 'to buy list' for any present given occasion.
Anyone else have one of these? What do you think?
A fantastic toy then and one that I highly recommend - if you want to buy I've posted an affiliate link below but I really think this should be on the wish list of every infant from the ages of 6-18 months and every parent and grandparents 'to buy list' for any present given occasion.
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