Toys that Grow with Your Child -- Fisher Price Learning Home

For a toy to be inducted into my personal 'hall of fame,'  it's gotta give a good bang for the buck.  By that, I mean a toy that your child plays with day in and day out, one that holds their attention so well, and/or they play with for such a long period of time that you are completely grateful you paid every cent for it. 

Behold, the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Learning Home.  One of our family's favorite toys EVAH.  My daughter got it for her first birthday.  She's 3 1/2 now, and still plays with it.  In fact, right now it's teamed up with a chair and a blanket to make a house/barn, depending on what she's pretending at the moment.

This thing retails around $85, give or take.  To me, that's a lot to shell out for a baby toy.  However, the Learning Home has proved its value many, many times over.   Here's how:

• Every time we have kids come over for playdates, they all gravitate toward it, whether they're still crawling or they're in kindergarten.
• It's big enough for several kids to play with at once.
• There's a lot to entertain small toddlers/bigger babies.  There are lights to turn on, songs that play, buttons to push, dials to dial and balls.  Balls are always a big winner.
• Pretty much everything on the Learning House lives up to its name...your child is learning colors, numbers, cause-and-effect, opposites (open/closed, on/off, day/night, etc.)
• It's sturdy enough for pre-walkers to pull up on, and there's a lot of incentive to do so...some of the fun features of the home are higher up.
• There are two different sound settings (learning and music) as well as a 'sound off' mode so your child can explore with different sound 
• There's enough sound and song variety to have less annoyance potential for parents.  I know some toys my daughter had as a small toddler only played a song or two, and it drove me nuts.   The songs are pretty appealing, at least to me.  My husband found the singing voice a little syrupy, but I think it's just a generally cheery voice.  
• You can make up a lot of games to play with your toddler using the Learning House.  Our favorites were hiding something unusual in the mailbox for Li'l Girlie to find, having her stuffed animals pop out from behind the closed window, and playing 'knock, knock, who's there?' with the door.  

I've even got a video of Li'l Girlie demonstrating the Learning Home on my Top Toys for Toddlers 12-18 Months website.  This toy is pretty much a home run for that age, and it lasts way beyond that too.

A Home Worth Buying in Any Market

We're so proud. Our daughter became a homeowner at 11 months old. Her grandparents paid cash for it and gave it to her as a gift, so there's not even a chance of her defaulting on the mortgage. Granted, she's taller than parts of its plastic roof and the gutter plays 'the eensy weensy spider', but it's got some of the best features a toddler could want. Mommy likes playing with it too, she has to admit. Plus, it keeps Samantha having fun and learning, so what's there not to love?

We all wonder if we're making a good investment when we fork over a larger amount of money for something, toys included. Samantha and her cousin each have Fisher Price Learning Homes, and both homes have gotten heavy use. Like most toddlers, Samantha loves to imitate what the big people do, so ringing the Learning Home's doorbell, opening and closing the mailbox to get her own little letters, turning a light on and off, and opening and closing a door have been favorite pasttimes.

Of course, there are a variety of not-so-realistic features like a spinning garden with a pink rabbit, a phone book of animals and the aforementioned musical gutter, but those have tons of appeal as well. Here's Sam demonstrating the gutter ball drop in its counting mode:



Like the 'welcome home' song that the Learning Home plays, "you can learn the alphabet, colors, shapes and so much more." through the house's sounds and happy music. Yes, you will memorize most of what the home says, but the phrases and songs are a lot more appealing than most toys. (At least in my opinion; my husband doesn't like them as much, but I'm the one around the house more often. ;) Plus, he likes the sounds of some singing maracas that bug the heck out of me.)

Not surprising to me, the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio gave a high rating to the Fisher Price Learning Home (look for the comments with the Learning Kitchen). We've made up a number of games with the home too. I'll knock on the window, and when Sam opens it, her stuffed dog pops his head out and barks at her. Good for lots of giggles. We like hooting like the owl and crowing like the rooster with the night and day dial, and putting junk mail postcards and small toys in the mailbox for each other to discover.

For lots of fun for your 1-year old, it's well, well worth the $60 to $70 for the great times to be had with the Learning Home. Imagine how much you'll get done while your toddler has a blast.

Fisher Price Little People Animals

Meet some of my new best friends. These cute little critters keep my daughter entertain in quite a wide variety of ways. While a 16-month old doesn't have the pretending ability that an older toddler has to play with Little People animals in the context of their plastic farm, zoo or Noah's ark, she certainly knows how to get the most fun out of them that she can.

Fisher Price did a great job making these animals adorable and sturdy enough to take a beating from a little kid's teeth, being run over by plastic vehicles and from being projectiles. Samantha loves lining up her animals on the coffee table and knocking them off with glee. Lest you think she's only out to give them hard knocks, her polar bear and elephant often have Cheerios and water 'shared' with them. Ever the faithful zookeeper, Sam often busies herself 'feeding' her animals from the plastic bucket of fish that came with her Fisher Price zoo set.

For a child beginning to talk, the Little People animals are a great springboard for learning the names of animals as well as their sounds. One other delightful pastime we found for parent-child play is spinning several animals together, which results in an eruption of giggles from Samantha.
You should try it sometime. The video is a sample of what I mean. She'd already been laughing for several minutes before I got out the camera to record it.



Thank you, Fisher Price for creating Little People animals. I'm sure we'll find even more fun to be had with them as our daughter grows.