jdhauer's Full Review: Learning Curve Toys Lamaze Spin and Explore Garden...
One of the more interesting aspects of having more than one child is that my eyes have definitely been opened to the fact that they each are little individuals with their own taste in the things that they like and don't like. My oldest daughter simply goes nuts over anything that has buttons for her to press. As a toddler, she would sit and press one button on her V-Tech Land & Sea Jamboree toy over and over and over again so I'd hear "Yellow, yellow, yellow...." for hours on end. My younger daughter, well, she's more into action. Her idea of fun is to bounce on her Fisher Price Bounce & Spin Zebra, making as much noise as possible.
Now you might be thinking, with my younger daughter a toddler, what am I doing with a Lamaze Spin & Explore Garden Gym? I have the pleasure of watching a baby a couple of days a week. The baby loves watching my zebra bouncing kidlet do her zebra bouncing but he's too young to even think about participating. The Lamaze Spin & Explore Garden Gym is meant to give him the opportunity to engage similarly to the zebra bouncing kidlet, but at his own speed and level.
The point of the Lamaze Spin & Explore Gym is to give babies an opportunity to get some tummy time, but also to have some movement at the same time. The toy is made up of two primary sections. The first is a covered spinning base upon which your child is supposed to rest tummy down. The second piece is a brightly colored play mat which is supposed to look like a flower. Each of the petals offers a different "activity" for babies to explore such as crinkly sounds, rattles, a squeaker and a mirror. It's very engaging and all the kids in the house have enjoyed checking the mat out either in depth or in a more cursory manner.
The most important caveat I must mention is that you shouldn't even think of putting a baby on the spinner until he has the neck strength to hold his head up without support. Should your baby meet that requirement, place him tummy down on the spinner and the child should be able to spin himself about, looking at the different toys on the mat. Our little friend managed to figure out how to spin by himself in about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, it didn't engage him for much longer than that as he wanted to "get to" the toys on the mat to mouth them and fondle them. Although he's not crawling yet, he still managed to shimmy himself off the spinner and had I not been right there, I would have been worried.
When the child outgrows the spinner, he can still play on the mat by removing the spinner. The spinner definitely has a limited use life for each child, especially if your child is on the larger side. The mat starts out being quite stiff but after a couple of washings, ours has softened a bit and wrinkled a bit but hasn't faded.
Quite honestly, I find this toy somewhat redundant in our house. We have plenty of other toys that do everything this mat does except for spinning. Combine a Gymini mat and a Discovery Toys Shelly the Sensory Snail and the baby is entertained. Use a large exerball, place the baby on top while holding his feet and slowly roll forward. Place a desired toy just inches out of reach in front of a baby on his tummy. Use your imagination!
Since babies usually spend such a short period of their lives needing tummy time, if you also have a Gymini or other baby gym, I'd say to give this toy a pass. They both have mats for the baby to lie on and you can easily accessorize your Gymini with similar toys. For example, the Lamaze Freddy the Firefly toy has crinkly wings, similar to the butterfly on the Spin & Explore Garden Gym. You can easily hook the Firefly onto the Gymini and your child will get similar benefits.
All baby gyms offer something different, be it a spinner or overhead bars from which to hang toys. Aside from the mat, the use life of these items isn't that long. If you don't already have a baby gym, my suggestion would be to disregard the spinner because of its short usage life and concentrate on which mat design you prefer between various gyms and decide based upon that. The Lamaze Spin & Explore Garden Gym does have an engaging garden design and it's one I'd rank highly except for the fact that I already own a baby gym.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): gift Type of Toy: Baby Toy
Age Range of Child: 0 to 12 Months
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