from Vtech
I'm sure you're wondering when I'm going to be getting to actual ball that jump. Well, soon, I assure you! Meanwhile lets quickly look at this electronic roll-a-ball-move-and-crawl thing. So it's all musical and moves on its own. It responds to rolling, and there are many lights. There are six animal buttons that also emit animal sounds. So it's designed with that in mind, that your little one will learn animals!
Now I've written about Vtech before, and as you can see Vtech makes techy toys, and truth is I really love the laptop, and my son loves it too. I kinda understand where they're coming from with this ball, except no one expects a ball to be a computer. Plus the motor that makes it roll is kinds loud (and you can hear it in the videos). This scares some children. So to be objective I just want to say that you should weigh all the options that are important to you, and decide for yourself. My verdict is below.
Pros: musical, with lights, teaches animals
Cons: there are a lot of cons to consider. It's too heavy up until about 1yo, it's spontaneous, and this happens to scare some children. It's a little loud, and while moving it can hit a baby. It's too heavy to pick up. It's spontaneous, it moves around and will hit the baby, which scares her. It also doesn't give the child enough time to find the animals (about 30 seconds) and most kids at 6 months to a year take a bit more than that.
Age: 6mo+
Final Verdict: Skip It!
Price: $10.95 at Amazon.com
My mother in law gave it to my Zoe. Zoe has been walking for a while, so I'd say she is too old for this, though she likes the ball, runs after it, carries it around pressing buttons and dances to the music. But maybe if Zoe was smaller and learning to crawl, the ball could have served its purpose and motivated her to move around.
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