As I've said in other reviews, I'm not into the very girly toys for my daughter. She's 15 months old and has a ton of toys, but only 2 or 3 of them can be strictly labeled "girl toy." I just don't want to peg her down yet, although the girl loves shopping and cuddling so she's definitely on the path toward femininity.

With a gift card in hand, I went to Babies R Us shortly after her 1st birthday to find some neat educational toys and clothing. I fell in love with the Infantino Shape Sorting Castle pretty much from the moment I saw it. It's a simple educational toy with quite a bit of variety. It has little characters to play with, small shape and letter pieces to fit into the holes, and a "wall" of miscellaneous baby-activated noise makers.

THE BASICS
Shaped like a castle with four turrets, where each of the four characters (king, queen, jester, and knight) can stand, the Shape Sorting Castle (stands about 6 inches tall, and 6 inches wide) is just what the name implies. On one wall of the castle there are color-coordinated shape holes (circle, square, triangle, and hexagon). On the opposite wall there are color-coordinated letter holes (A, B, C, and D). Although the A slot and the hexagon slot are both green, they are different shades and none of the other shapes/letters have that issue. The front of the castle has a drawbridge that easily opens to reveal the internally-stored pieces. The back wall has three baby-oriented noise elements (a squeaky red button, colored beads that slide back and forth like an abacus, and a spinner with pictures of a dragon and a tower). The four characters (each stands approx. 2 inches high) are hollow and very lightweight. They are a cheerful bunch and are rounded with sort of a three-tiered cake look (body, head, and crown/hat). They easily fit into the circle, hexagon, square, and D slots and can either stand on the towers or be stored inside with the letters and shapes.

BABY'S VERDICT
My daughter loved this toy the first time she played with it. She loved the little characters and enjoyed interacting with the squeaker (when I activated it). She liked that she could open the drawbridge and hide things inside. She spent a good 1/2 hour just putting the shapes/letters/characters in and out of the castle via the drawbridge.

It's been about 3 months now and she still enjoys playing with this. She's only now starting to grasp the idea that certain pieces fit into certain slots. She gets very frustrated when I deter her from just cramming them all into the drawbridge and take the time to show her where they go. She hasn't shown as much interest in the noise elements as I thought she would. The squeaker doesn't work easily and so it lacks baby appeal. The beads and the spinner just never seemed to get her attention. The little characters, however, have gotten lots of use. They are a perfect size for little hands and little mouths. At least once a day, she walks around the house with one of these in her mouth, usually the king or queen since their crowns are more textured and offer my daughter something to grasp onto with her new front teeth.

MOMMY'S VERDICT
I was delighted when my daughter took an immediate interest in this toy. It's colorful, educational, and not too noisy. The model shown in the picture above is different from the one we have. Our castle is blue and yellow with an orange base and the little people have flesh-toned skin (not the white-as-ghosts look in the picture) and have colorful painted on outfits (ie, the jester has a green hat and a green and purple body). They're sturdy and resilient. There are only a few gnash marks in their paint jobs. Since they're hollow, they make decent finger puppets, too.

Wendy hasn't really played with the shape-sorting element as I had envisioned. Maybe she's still young for it or maybe I just haven't spent enough time with her and it in a secluded area. Since we play with this in our living room (aka toddler toy heaven), she tries to fit other toys inside it and I can't always find the pieces that belong with it, and both of us end up frustrated.

Nevertheless, she enjoys playing with it in her own way and maybe the educational lesson will kick in sooner or later. It is nice that there's a handle on top of the castle for toting it around and although it didn't play out the way I planned, I'm glad there is a wall of interactive noise makers. It was one of the reasons I bought this toy in the first place. I didn't think a simple shape sorter would hold my daughter's interest very long. Having it double as an imaginary castle with a wall of toys and a royal court seemed perfect.

The one thing I really don't get or like about this toy are the letters. What I don't understand is since this toy is geared to children 12 months and up, why include letters? It seems a bit early to start with letter recognition. Why not some more shapes? Maybe a star or a heart? But I could live with the letters if they were more recognizable. Since they are bubble-style letters the outlines of the holes they fit into don't really look like them. The C pretty much looks like a circle, the B and D look like squares, and the A looks like a triangle. It's all very confusing for a toddler.

The other minor problem with the castle is that the squeaker gets stuck. At first I thought my daughter was just unable to activate it, but I have problems with it too.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this toy. For under $15, I found something that keeps my daughter entertained and may have educational value in the future. She also got a Mega Bloks Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage (http://www.epinions.com/content_219844611716) around the same time and we have fun playing with the "princess" in the castle.

Thanks marytara for adding this product.

www.infantino.com



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 12.99
Type of Toy: Baby Toy
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months