Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Fuzzy Friends and Magnetic Bunnies
Hello Pushkin recently joined the Parent Bloggers Network. It's an online community of mostly mommy bloggers that matches bloggers with baby products to review. The moms get the products in the mail, the companies get reviews of their products posted on blogs, and voila: everybody is so happy.
This week, Mae and I worked on our first product review. It was a team effort: She played with the stuff. I observed.
"The stuff" was two sets of baby flash cards from a company called School Zone : Fuzzy Animal Friends Clever Baby Cards and " Infant Magnetic "Peek-a-Boo Bunny Guess Who?" Cards. My first impression of both products was that I wasn't all that impressed, however, Mae felt differently, and she's clearly the boss around here anyway.
The fuzzy animal cards are a lot like the pages of a board book with a different animal on each side, only they've got pully bits (for example, the tiger/lion card has a cord tail and crinkly fabric feet, and the swan/monkey card has a soft bit that makes the monkey's tail on one side, and the swan's neck on the other.) At first, I couldn't understand why they didn't just bind them together into a board book, rather than having 5 separate cards that looked perfect for getting scattered all over the house.
But then Mae explained to me (by demonstrating) that the reason School Zone didn't bind them into a book is that individual cards are much easier for little hands to manage. Over the week we've had them, cumulatively, she's spent hours flipping them over, and over, and over again; visiting with the animal on each side of each card; shaking them; babbling at them; crinkling their crinkly bits and feeling all the different textures; banging them on the floor and, of course, eating them.
Which brings me to my most major complaint. Her very favourite card is the "Tiny, shiny red ladybug" and its flip-side, "Fluffy yellow bird" and, as you can see from the photos above, the poor things just couldn't handle the power of her love. Within the first 20 minutes, the corner of this card had already been goobered into mush, and it just kept disintegrating from there. Although, I have to add that, despite all the goobering, the pully bits are still very firmly attached.
On one hand, I feel like these cards could be made of tougher stuff... but, then again, Mae did get her first tooth in the week we were testing the cards, and, also, I've never seen her love a toy with quite as much gusto as she loves the ladybug/bird. The other (less vigorously loved) cards held up better, with only the lion/tiger (the liger) showing any signs of wear and tear.
Because Mae loved them... adored them, even... refused to be separated from them... I'd have to say that the fuzzy animal cards are a great product. These guys clearly did their research when it comes to understanding what babies at my daughter's developmental stage like.
The Peek a Boo Bunny cards, on the other hand, weren't really Mae's thing. The age range printed on the packaging is 9+ months though, and Mae is only 6. I think she's just not quite ready to fully appreciate them yet, although, she did watch attentively every time I read her the cards (e.g., "Peek-a-boo! Who likes cheese?") and flipped them to reveal the answer under a flap (e.g., "Mouse likes cheese!)
As for me, I found the whole magnetic part kind of finicky. You're supposed to stick each card magnetically to the bunny base, put the bunny's magnetic hands over his magnetic eyes in "the peek-a-boo position", then flip the card, re-stick it, and uncover the bunny's eyes. Maybe I'm just lazy, but it seemed like a lot of unnecessary sticking and unsticking to me.
Also, even though they come with a carrying case for storage, it's still easy to lose a page or two. I'm all for the fuzzy animals being loose now that I've seen them in action, but I still think the peek-a-boo cards would have been better off bound into a board book. Also, three of the cards have the answer to the question printed right on the outside of the flap. Not sure if this was a printing mistake or what.
In summary...
The Fuzzy Animal Friends cards are a fantastic product for babies 6+ months. They're easy to handle and the crinkly, fuzzy, rattly or shiny bits provide tons of stimulation.
The Peek-a-Boo Bunny cards aren't really for us but, based on how much Mae loves the Fuzzy Animal Cards, I'm willing to bet she'll grow into loving the Peek-a-Boo cards as well, once she's a little closer to the recommended age.
This week, Mae and I worked on our first product review. It was a team effort: She played with the stuff. I observed.
"The stuff" was two sets of baby flash cards from a company called School Zone : Fuzzy Animal Friends Clever Baby Cards and " Infant Magnetic "Peek-a-Boo Bunny Guess Who?" Cards. My first impression of both products was that I wasn't all that impressed, however, Mae felt differently, and she's clearly the boss around here anyway.
The fuzzy animal cards are a lot like the pages of a board book with a different animal on each side, only they've got pully bits (for example, the tiger/lion card has a cord tail and crinkly fabric feet, and the swan/monkey card has a soft bit that makes the monkey's tail on one side, and the swan's neck on the other.) At first, I couldn't understand why they didn't just bind them together into a board book, rather than having 5 separate cards that looked perfect for getting scattered all over the house.
But then Mae explained to me (by demonstrating) that the reason School Zone didn't bind them into a book is that individual cards are much easier for little hands to manage. Over the week we've had them, cumulatively, she's spent hours flipping them over, and over, and over again; visiting with the animal on each side of each card; shaking them; babbling at them; crinkling their crinkly bits and feeling all the different textures; banging them on the floor and, of course, eating them.
Which brings me to my most major complaint. Her very favourite card is the "Tiny, shiny red ladybug" and its flip-side, "Fluffy yellow bird" and, as you can see from the photos above, the poor things just couldn't handle the power of her love. Within the first 20 minutes, the corner of this card had already been goobered into mush, and it just kept disintegrating from there. Although, I have to add that, despite all the goobering, the pully bits are still very firmly attached.
On one hand, I feel like these cards could be made of tougher stuff... but, then again, Mae did get her first tooth in the week we were testing the cards, and, also, I've never seen her love a toy with quite as much gusto as she loves the ladybug/bird. The other (less vigorously loved) cards held up better, with only the lion/tiger (the liger) showing any signs of wear and tear.
Because Mae loved them... adored them, even... refused to be separated from them... I'd have to say that the fuzzy animal cards are a great product. These guys clearly did their research when it comes to understanding what babies at my daughter's developmental stage like.
The Peek a Boo Bunny cards, on the other hand, weren't really Mae's thing. The age range printed on the packaging is 9+ months though, and Mae is only 6. I think she's just not quite ready to fully appreciate them yet, although, she did watch attentively every time I read her the cards (e.g., "Peek-a-boo! Who likes cheese?") and flipped them to reveal the answer under a flap (e.g., "Mouse likes cheese!)
As for me, I found the whole magnetic part kind of finicky. You're supposed to stick each card magnetically to the bunny base, put the bunny's magnetic hands over his magnetic eyes in "the peek-a-boo position", then flip the card, re-stick it, and uncover the bunny's eyes. Maybe I'm just lazy, but it seemed like a lot of unnecessary sticking and unsticking to me.
Also, even though they come with a carrying case for storage, it's still easy to lose a page or two. I'm all for the fuzzy animals being loose now that I've seen them in action, but I still think the peek-a-boo cards would have been better off bound into a board book. Also, three of the cards have the answer to the question printed right on the outside of the flap. Not sure if this was a printing mistake or what.
In summary...
The Fuzzy Animal Friends cards are a fantastic product for babies 6+ months. They're easy to handle and the crinkly, fuzzy, rattly or shiny bits provide tons of stimulation.
The Peek-a-Boo Bunny cards aren't really for us but, based on how much Mae loves the Fuzzy Animal Cards, I'm willing to bet she'll grow into loving the Peek-a-Boo cards as well, once she's a little closer to the recommended age.
