Fisher Price Link-A-Doos Musical Play Garden Review

Of the three playmat/playgym toys our daughter had in her first year, this is the only one I truly enjoyed seeing around. HRH played with it from when she was three weeks old until she was over a year. I knew I was in trouble when her favorite thing was the sunflower-shaped mirror. Although I didn't have any success in getting her to use the toy for tummy time, some of her milestones were encouraged by this mat, such as cooing at the toys, reaching for them, and eventually learning to push the lever that brought the little bird out of his house. Best of all was the day she was able to grab the sunflower in both hands and pull that mirror down to her face so she could finally get a good look at that extremely attractive baby who had been smiling at her all this time. If I did happen to get enough of the music, I could switch the toy off and she would still enjoy playing with it. When she was ten months old the batteries finally died and I didn't bother to replace them, and she continued to play with the toy with no sounds or lights for another three months.

What I appreciate the most about this gym's design is that there is no arch or toy bar that hangs toys over the mat. Not only do these arches keep baby on his back all the time, but the space they take up makes it very likely that you will trip on them while trying to carry laundry baskets around. The high-profile part of the toy is only in one corner, decreasing the chances that you will walk into it and set off the music all the time. Speaking of setting off the music, the baby has to deliberately hit a toy or push a lever to activate sound. I had another playgym (also Fisher-Price, and a total bomb, so go figure) which serenaded the baby's every jiggle and squirm, so there was constant noise the entire time the baby used it. True, this means a two month old who doesn't grab toys yet will not be able to make the music go off by himself, but I believe babies can be occupied just by having things to look at if you give them the chance. The whole world doesn't have to be the Las Vegas strip all the time. Requiring deliberate action from the baby is much less irritating to people who have to live with the toy and also does a better job at teaching cause and effect concepts. A three month old and a one year old want dramatically different things from toys, but this design is very successful at growing with your baby, probably because the toys are friendly looking and simple enough for open-ended play.