Leap Frog See & Learn Piano
Written: Jul 13 '02 (Updated Jul 13 '02)
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Pros: Bright colors, music, flashing lights
Cons: the flute
The Bottom Line: Recommended for age six months and up. Music, lights, and colors will attract and entertain baby, as well as, provide sensory, emotional, cognitive, and motor development.
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| Yzerman's Full Review: LeapFrog See and Learn Piano Toy |
I bought the Leap Frog See & Learn Piano for my daughter about a month ago. It is our first Leap Frog toy and we were both excited about it after playing with it in the toy aisle at Walmart.
The Leap Frog See & Learn Piano is a plastic toy with four “piano keys” on the bottom base, with a mode switch above it. Beside the mode switch is a red button, which allows you to control the volume at two levels (loud and louder!). The top, upright portion of the toy has a round safety-mirror, surrounded by four red lights in a circular pattern, and four character buttons, two on the right side of the mirror and two on the left side. There is also an attached, red carrying handle at the top of the toy.
The mode switch is a sliding button in the shape of a musical note. When it is slid to the far left, it is in the “off” position. The next position is the “learn mode” and this position is marked with a triangle, circle and square. The next position is the “Mistake-free Music Mode” and is marked with four musical notes. The last position is the “Free-Play Mode” and is marked with piano keys.
The four character buttons at the top are “Lily” who plays the flute, “Casey” who plays the banjo, “Leap” who plays the saxophone, and “Tad” who plays the piano. While in the Mistake-Free Mode these characters play the following songs:
Tad (the piano player) plays:
Six Little Ducks
Ragtime Tune
Hey Diddle Diddle
Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?
Jack and Jill
London Bridge
Alouetee
Pop! Goes the Weasel!
Lily (the flute) plays:
Frere Jacques
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Lightly Row
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Casey (the banjo) plays:
Froggy Went A-Courtin’
Oh, Susanna
Turkey in the Straw
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Leap (the saxophone) plays:
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
The Man on the Flying Trapeze
When the Saints Go Marching In
When in the Free-Play Mode when you push the character buttons they say something like “It’s time to play the piano” or “I’m Tad; I love to play the piano” and then it will play a few notes of that instrument. While in this mode, the child can press the four piano buttons and make their own “music”. If the child presses the flute character button, then the piano keys will only play flute notes until another character button is pressed. So if the child wants to switch to play saxophone sounds, then he/she will have to push the saxophone character; then the piano keys will only play the saxophone. Each piano keys plays a different note.
The four piano keys are large, white buttons at the base of the toy. They are marked with: a red circle, a green triangle, a blue square, and a yellow star. While in the Learn Mode, when the piano keys are pressed, the toy will name the color and the shape, and then name something of that shape or color. For instance, when the red, circle key is pressed it says “Red Circle”. The next time it is pressed it says, “Circles are round, like wheels”, and the third time it is pressed, it plays musical notes. The green triangle key says, “Green triangle….I love the color green”. The blue square key says, “Blue square…the sky is blue”. The yellow star key says, “Yellow star….stars shine brightly”.
When a button hasn’t been pressed for a few seconds, the toy will say, “Time to play the piano”. If, after a few more seconds, no buttons have been pushed, the toy will say, “Thanks for learning with Leap Frog. Bye-bye!” In all modes, as any notes or sounds are being made, the four red lights surrounding the mirror light up in a circular motion or in an alternating pattern.
Leap Frog claims on the box that this toy will help your baby with “sensory stimulation” (lights, mirror, music and shapes), “motor skills” (piano play), “cognitive development” (shapes, colors, and sounds), and “emotional development” (the mirror helps baby in the area of self-awareness). The age recommendation is for six months and up. The toy requires three “AA’ batteries; it comes with batteries, but they recommend that you replace them.
One thing that I don’t like about the Leap Frog See & Learn Piano is that in the “Mistake-Free Music” mode, when a piano key is pressed it only plays a couple of seconds of music. For continuous play of the song, the piano keys have to be pressed consistently, at least one key every 2 or 3 seconds, or else the tune will stop playing.
The other thing that I don’t like about the toy is the flute instrument. The music sounds eerie and gives me the creeps. The other instruments (banjo, piano, saxophone) sound pretty realistic and consistent, but that flute is weird sounding! My daughter doesn’t seem to mind it, but it makes my skin crawl.
Overall, this has been a fun toy so far. My 10-month old daughter likes the mirror and the flashing lights that surround it. She also likes that she can grasp the handle and carry it around with her. I like that it is so easy to push the buttons to get the music to play. My daughter has several other musical toys that the buttons have to be pushed with more pressure to get music to play and she gets frustrated because her little fingers aren’t strong enough. Not so with this toy; it takes very little pressure to press the buttons.
I don’t know that my daughter is actually learning her colors and shapes with this toy, but she does like the voice when it is in the “Learn” mode. The voice is that of a young child, probably a girl. As far as entertainment-value, as with most other toys, she played with it a lot the first few days we had it, but her interest in it has declined in the month or so since purchasing it. Some days she won’t even look at it, and other days she plays with it for ten or fifteen minutes and then moves on to something else.
We paid $15.99 for this toy at Walmart.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 15.99
Type of Toy: Baby Toy
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months
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Epinions.com ID:
Yzerman
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Member: Diane
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Reviews written: 173
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