Leap Frog Learning Drum -- banging and counting and learning? Oh My
Written: Sep 01 '06
Product Rating:
Durability:
Pros: Clear and concise enunciation, four settings (each with two different songs), interactive design, sturdy
Cons: Just read the darned review.
The Bottom Line: This is yet another stimulating toy marketed to hormone-driven women as "educational" when all it does is count and spout out the alphabet. Get some flash cards/pots&pans instead.
I'm such a rebel. I have tattoos... I dye my hair... I don't believe in plastic surgery and baby competitions... Heck, I quit my job to stay at home with my son and don't feel like that's a bad thing.
When you look at the reviews for this toy, you get the feeling that the Leap Frog Learning Drum will make your child the smartest little tike on the block. Whether or not this is true hasn't been tested by an independent panel -- the panel has found that if your child is the only child on the block, it automatically makes him the smartest however. Anyway, I'm rebeling against the five-star ratings of this product. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad toy (per se)... but I do have a few issues with it.
Toy Information -- or: Annoying Toys that the companies are marketing as "educational."
The basic, boring information... The Learning Drum by Leap Frog is amazingly enough... a drum. Whoa... never saw that one coming, eh? It's manufactured by the Leap Frog company -- one that delights and excels in providing educational and stimulating toys (by stimulating I mean annoying). You can find it virtually anywhere toys are sold and it usually retails for $19.99. It is a simple white, red and blue (someone was feeling patriotic) plastic drum with the controls and sound on the front side. The top is a clear plastic that allows you to see the red LED symbols (such as your ABCs or 123s) that appear whenever you hit it. It is fairly light -- my son can pick it up easily (he's 9 months) yet also sturdy. He's been playing with it from about 5 months on (as soon as he could sit up) and he's a rough one -- especially since he's discovered his loveg of throwing the toy off to the side because he doesn't want to play with it. I believe the recommended age is from 6 months up. However, if your child can sit up well on his/her own... I don't see why they can't start playing with it then. Actually, it might be better to start them early -- the more captive the audience, the more play time you'll get.
I believe the Learning Drum takes 3 AA batteries. This is one of the better toys when it comes to battery consumption. I've been using it virtually every day with my son for over 4 months and the batteries are showing no signs of weakening yet.
So... what does this "drum" do that pots and pans can't?
The Leap Frog Learning Drum has four different settings (five if you count "off"):
*Alphabet -- the baby hits the drum and letters of the alphabet appear in order (after Z the toy virtually gives you a standing ovation)
*Counting to 10 -- baby hits and the drum counts to ten (with raucous applause after)
*Follow the Beat -- baby follows the beat of the drum
*Interactive Song -- baby can go buck wild and just smack the darn toy with abandon to the song
Each of these settings has two different sounds, ie: for the Follow the Beat section you can choose a regular drum beat or one that sounds like it's coming from a steel drum. Each song has a higher pitched sound and the songs it sings can start to grate after a while. Thankfully, Aidan can't play with this longer than a few minutes (oops... did I say that already?)... so I don't have to hear it.
The drum also has two volume settings.
Ok, let's start with the glass half full
Babies like to bang on things, so it's only natural they would like to play with this toy. My son loves to turn it over and hit the bottom part (don't ask me why) and it will keep his attention for a few minutes. The children who provide the sound for the Learning Drum enunciate very well -- they speak each letter and number very clearly and concisely. It is a good toy to help expose your child to their letters and numbers early.
The drum tries to encourage your baby to play with it, but also comes with an automatic shutoff in the event the baby wanders away.
Moving on to my favorite part... the glass half empty
At first I liked the toy, but its brightness soon faded.
Ok, I said Aidan would play with the toy for a few minutes. Did I also mention it involved me sitting down with him to play it? If I left him to his own devices the toy would be abandoned almost instantly. Perhaps he is a bit young, but I had hoped his attention span would improve with age. It hasn't. He actually played with it LONGER when he was 5 months because he couldn't crawl and thus was held captive near the toy. The sounds are very high-pitched and the red LED lights are pretty bright -- it is definitely a stimulating toy (even on the lower volume setting). If your child has a low-threshhold for that sort of thing, you probably don't want to purchase this toy.
Another problem I had was with the automatic shutoff. At first I thought it would just send it into "sleep" mode -- meaning once baby bangs on it again, it'll come back on... but that's not the case, you have to switch to a different setting to get the toy to come back on and a 9 month old doesn't have the motor skill to do that yet.
The absolute worst part about this toy
I am a cynical, sarcastic pessimist. I do not believe in rewarding children even when they do wrong. If you give your dog a treat every time he ignores you and doesn't sit down, will he ever learn to sit? No. Now, positive reinforcement has its place when a child does something good and wanted... but it should not be used if they do something wrong. I'm not advocating smacking the kid upside the head for their error, but at least tone it down with "Well, Timmy, that was a nice try... but maybe you should try again."
But the Leap Frog Learning Drum doesn't believe in this philosophy. In their "Follow the beat" section, they will play a certain number of beats (one through four) and ask the child to give it a shot. It doesn't matter if they hit it the correct number of times or not, the drum will still reward the baby with wild cheers of "Wonderful" and "Yeah! Alright!!" followed by wild applause. That is perhaps the most annoying part of the toy for both my husband and I. Actually, I think the hubby hates that part even more than I do. The first time he heard it he threw his arms up in disgust and walked away. He won't even bother trying to get Aidan to play with it.
My overall recommendation
This is an average toy.
I like how it introduces your child to their alphabet and numbers early, because it's always good to lay in a foundation... but on the other hand, that's all it really does. If you have another toy that does the ABCs and 123s (like the Learning Table), this is simply another irritating imitator. Does any baby need 10 toys that all say the ABCs? No, come one now. Yeah, you can play the drums on it... but again, your baby can do the same thing on pots and pans.
You know what's really cool about pots and pans? They make different noises (the lids do too), have different shapes and weights -- your baby will get more from beating on and handling your pots/pans/lids than they will playing "Follow the Beat" or using the "Interactive Song" feature. Actually, you can sit down and play follow the beat on the pots and pans if you'd like, otherwise I'm sure your baby won't even know it's missing.
Just to give you an idea of how low the Learning Drum is on my son's mental list of things to play with:
*Gymini mat
*Puppy
*Mommy's desk
*Mommy's bookshelves
*His bookshelves
*Doors
*Cabinets/drawers
*Pots
*Pans
*Toy fishbowl with Mr. Crab and Mr. Clam
*Blocks
*Random toys
...
*Chairs
*Electronic equipment
...
*Table legs
...
*Dirt
*The Leap Frog Learning Drum
Anyway, that's just my son... and he is a bit weird (I must say). Like you've seen, it has some positives but it also has some negatives. If you're looking for a good toy that has the ABCs and numbers, try the Leap Frog Learning Table. If you want something that doesn't make noise, there are some great plastic link letters on the market that baby and I use to spell different words and expose him to his alphabet. If you already have a toy that does the ABCs, you really don't need this one. I'm starting to learn that, with a baby and life in general, less is better... and this is one less thing you don't need.
Pros:
*Clear and concise enunciation of the alphabet and numbers
*Four different settings
*Two different songs/music for each setting
*High/Low Volume control
*Automatic shutoff
*Made of sturdy plastic
*Batteries last a while
*Toy is very interactive
Cons:
*Very stimulating for baby
*This is just another ABC/123 toy -- if you have a few of those already, you don't need to spend another $20 on this
*The auto-off feature shuts the toy completely down, meaning you have to restart it
*As my son has gotten older, he's found better things to play with
*Pots and pans make cooler drums
*Will this really, truly help your child learn their letters and numbers faster? The skeptic in me says no.
My comments on "educational toys"
I know this shouldn't have an impact on my rating, but I will give you my opinion here. I like Leap Frog (heck my son loves his Learning Table), but I don't like their marketing efforts. According to Lamaze, Leap Frog and Baby Einstein, your children will turn out like knuckle-draggers unless you buy their "educational" toys. No one wants to talk about the overstimulation of our chilldren. No one wants to talk about obesity rates because of the TV (but they're watching EDUCATIONAL programs!). Apparently Einstein himself wasn't really that smart (neither was Aristotle, Heisenberg, or Euclid), because there is no possible way your child will be intelligent without these toys. Heck, by their accounts... we aren't even close to being intelligent because our parents didn't buy us these things. I'm not sure how we crawled out of the dark ages without things like this "learning drum," but how lucky we are now that our children have them. Now, our children will be intelligent!
The reason why I included this here is thus: just because something claims to be educational doesn't mean it is. This thing pops out ABCs and 123s, but there is no proof that your child will learn their ABC's any faster than if you didn't have this toy. These types of toys have been around since the mid-90s, but reading rates in elementary schools remain low. There hasn't been an explosion of 3 year old readers, nor are children coming to kindergarten better prepared than they were 30 years ago. While I have nothing against these types of toys, you need to be careful not to buy into the marketing gimmicks the companies use to sell them. They are often more expensive toys than their non-battery operated counterparts and also less fun. Anyway -- Caveat Emptor -- buyer beware.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 19.99 Type of Toy: Educational
Age Range of Child: 0 to 12 Months
Electronic drum promotes motor skills and learning Four different settings Drum sounds out letters of the alphabet, numbers, musical notes, or a tradi...More at Amazon Marketplace
Electronic drum promotes motor skills and learning Four different settings Drum sounds out letters of the alphabet, numbers, musical notes, or a tradi...More at Amazon Marketplace
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