Little People Baby Zoo Animals- A trip to the Petting Zoo!
Written: Jul 30 '02 (Updated Jan 15 '03)
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Pros: Fun Little Person and Animals, No batteries required
Cons: More fence would be nice
The Bottom Line: Add a petting Zoo to your Little People Animal Sounds Zoo!
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| marytara's Full Review: Fisher-Price Little People Baby Zoo Animals |
The Little People Baby Zoo Animals playset was released for the December 2001 holiday season and is meant to be an "add-on" playset to go with the Little People Animal Sounds Zoo .
What’s Included
Baby Animals
These baby zoo animals are in actuality the same size as adult animals that come packaged with other Little People playsets (such as the Animal Sounds Zoo). What differentiates them as baby animals is their young look and a special bow that adorns them. The bow is actually molded plastic so you don’t have to worry about additional choking hazard. Baby animals that are included are a: Camel, Kangaroo, and Zebra. The Zebra has a little blue ribbon on its tail, the Kangaroo has a lavendar ribbon around its neck and a little baby (non-removable) in its pouch, and the camel has blue ribbon around its neck and also on its mouth like a halter.
All of these animals are around 3 inches high and made of molded squeezable plastic. They are easily picked up and manipulated by little hands and easy to clean (by washing with soapy water).
Ticket Booth
A bright yellow hut-like ticket booth that stands about 6 inches high with a green thatch-like roof and orange accents make for a cheery focal piece to this playset. The booth is equipped with a slide open front window with a few little pictures of different animal foods on it. When the window is open these pictures are not visible and the opening is just large enough so that a Little Person can be placed behind it for vending purposes. The Ticket booth can be used for admissions, concessions, or whatever your “Little Person” desires it to be. Molded onto the side of the booth is a telephone and the booth is equipped with mounting posts so that fencing can be easily attached to each side should you desire.
Little People (Person) & Food cart
Michael is the happy little fellow that comes with the Little People Baby Zoo Animals set. He is a happy little Afican-American boy who is ready and willing to feed the baby animals. Decked out in blue jeans and a teal shirt with his little yellow backpack on and a red cap on his head, he has a bunch of carrots in one hand and what appears to be a brown bag lunch in the other. Included in the set is also a little green food cart that resembles a wheelbarrow. Slide Michael onto the post and it will appear as if he is pushing the cart (full of vegetables). The wheels are molded on and don’t turn, so we’ll have to imagine that.
Fencing
4 pieces of red plastic fencing each measuring about 2x4 inches that easily snaps together. Each fence section has a small picture on the front of it, there is one for each animal plus one with a picture of a telephone. On the back side of the fencing there are stickered on food bins. The fencing is optional and can be configured in any way that your child desires it to be. It can easily attach to the ticket booth or be kept separate.
Thumbs Up
Standalone or Accessory
The Little People Baby Zoo Animals set has enough pieces that it can easily stand on its own as its own smaller playset. Or, this set can be joined with other Little People Zoo playsets such as the Little People Musical Zoo Train or the Little People Animal Sounds Zoo. Or, if you enjoy baby animals (who doesn’t?), combine this set with either the Baby Sea Animals or the Baby Farm Animals sets. This is the joy of Little People, they all work together and any set can be mixed and matched with an active imagination. For focused play these few pieces can be pulled aside and played with separately or they can be thrown in with the rest. We keep these pieces with our Animal Sounds Zoo since that’s the logical match but often my son “thinks out of the box” and we’ll see a baby zoo animal visiting the parking garage or the doctor’s office. Hey, its all fine with me and the important thing is that he is having a great time exploring worlds with Little People.
Value for your $
As far as Little People Playsets go this one is definitely a good value for your dollar. Any opportunity to pick up 3 animals, a person, and a handful of accessories for under $15 is well worth it for your growing Little People family.
No Assembly Required
Unlike some other Little People Playsets which require either assembly or sticker application (or both), these baby zoo animals arrive ready for play. All you’ll need to do is remove them from the box. This in itself can be quite a chore as they are “wire-tied” in.
Thumbs Down
More Fence, Please?
In order to make a closed enclosure out of the fencing that is inhabitable by the animals it would have been nice to include a few more pieces of fencing, or to sell more fencing separately. With the limited amount of fence pieces included its simply not possible to make individual pens for each animal. So, instead if you opt to make one “big” enclosure for all the animals to occupy together you will find that its not really large enough for them all to fit in. Even snagging the two pieces of fence that are included in the Animal Sounds Zoo set its still not enough. Children who like to build and put things together will wish there were more fence pieces included. You might want to purchase 2 of these sets just to get the extra fence pieces, plus some extra animal figures don't hurt either.
Bits and Pieces
Like all Little People Playsets the bits and pieces are small and can get easily lost if you are not careful. Little People are the perfect size for toddler and preschool hands so they often “walk off” to various rooms in our house. This set has no built in storage, so as a result pieces can get misplaced easier than some other playsets which have built in storage. We try to keep all the Little People pieces in one shallow Rubbermaid bin when not in use and it has definitely helped contain them. However, as we add to our Little People family we may need to get a larger bin!
Overall
The Little People Baby Zoo Animals playset is a big hit. If you already have the Little People Animal Sounds Zoo, jump at the opportunity to add this petting zoo and a few more animals to your playset. Or if you are looking for a simple playset that requires no batteries, makes no sounds, and “runs” strictly on your child’s imagination, look no further.
Additional info:
Goes well with these Little People Playsets
Little People Musical Zoo Train
Little People Animal Sounds Zoo
Little People Baby Sea Animals
Little People Baby Farm Animals
Little People Baby Zoo Animals (playset of same name, released in earlier year with bear, zebra, tiger cub, girl zookeeper and bucket of apples)
Little People Baby Animals Assortment
Standard Little People Warning!
Fisher-Price states that this toy is for ages 1 year and up. Fisher Price Little People could pose as a choke hazard for small children so please supervise your child while playing with this set. On a side note, the Little People of today are significantly less of a choke hazard than the simpler version of the past. Being larger and with appendages it would be a difficult feat to get in your mouth. (I tried and it was not a pleasant experience - but that’s not to say a child wouldn't do it.)
To clean the Little People Baby Zoo Animals use a damp cloth with soap/water or a baby wipe. Stickers will come off if the pieces are immersed, so don’t do it. Little People figures themselves are washable by immersion or in the dishwasher.
If you are interested in getting coupons for Little People products, join the Little People Club by going to the Fisher-Price site.
http://www.fisherprice.com/us/littlepeople
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): gift
Type of Toy: Playscene
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months
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marytara
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