Mailbox - I guess I'm easily entertained, but I like the goofy pun the mailbox makes: 'You have letters!' it says when you open it, then it bursts into the alphabet song. The doorbell cheerily dings and turns on the light on this side of the house. It also teaches 'open' and 'closed'.ĭoorbell - Another very satisfying feature for little button pushers. It's lots of fun to surprise your baby by peeking through when she opens the window. Window - We've had some of the most interactive play with this home feature. The nice thing is that there are plenty of play phones out there to pretend to call animals on.
Maybe a design improvement in the future. It kind of begs the question as to why there's not a phone included with the house. There's a flap to flip back and forth, revealing cute animals, the word for the animal and a phone number to 'call' that animal. Phone Number Flip Book - While this little part of the house is developmentally appropriate, it contributes the least to the theme of the house. And yes, there is an off mode if you get really tired of the sounds and your child will tolerate it. There will come a time where your child will figure them out too, much to their delight.or confusion when they turn the sound off by accident. Another positive in my opinion is that the volume and mode controls are right there on the radio, so you don't have to flip the whole house over to make adjustments. Whether that's fun to you or semi-annoying, I just wanted to give you the FYI. in their heads from these cute little ditties. It's easy for babies and toddlers to get the words for colors, shapes, numbers, the alphabet, etc. Radio - For your little button pusher, the radio provides a lot of cute songs that have tons of learning content. There's a cute indoor scene printed on it, and the sounds emphasize the concepts of open and closed. Window - The window on the right side of the photo has an easily graspable handle to make it go up and down. The Back of the Mailbox - All right, it's not as entertaining as the front, but it's fun to be able to receive the mail from the inside of the house, especially if someone is putting mail in there for you. A toddler leaving the lights on would drain the batteries a lot more quickly. To me, it was a teeny bit of a negative about the toy in terms of playing, but I completely understand why it was designed that way. While my daughter still liked to play with this feature frequently, it was still a little frustrating to her that the light turns off after a little while rather than continuing to stay on the entire time the switch is in the 'on' position. This one is sized just right and reinforces 'off' and 'on' with words as well as the light on the side of the house turning on. Light Switch and Light - I don't know a child who doesn't like flipping light switches, or any switches for that matter. In any case, the square, circle, triangle and star and their holders make a built-in shape sorter.
I really don't know why since they're pretty smooth no interesting textures. Shapes - the shapes along the roof line may not look like much, but they have lots of possibility. We even have used it for the beginnings of teaching her to tell time. My daughter didn't play with this part quite as much earlier on, but as she moved into toddlerhood and then as a preschooler, she liked to tell us what it was time to do. Depending on the mode the house is on (either learning or music), it'll chime, play hickory dickory dock, or say 'clock'. They move both directions, and it may take awhile, but kids will figure out that the clock only makes sounds when a hand is on the 12. Smiling Clock - The clock has a huge grin, and the hour and minute hands are easy for little fingers to manipulate. There's a good amount to do on the inside of the house, and here's an overview of what you'll find: Unless you're really grumpy or annoyed by cuteness, you really can't help but smile looking at this home. Personally, I think the fact that this house toy keeps its theme going by providing an 'outdoors' side and an 'inside' side ties it together for kids and enhances pretend play as they grow older.Įverything on this house is really cute.