"Mommy, Let's Play People House!"
Written: May 16 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of pieces to play with, flip-up bed, animal sounds, durable, colorful.
Cons: "Old MacDonald" song that plays is, loud, annoying, and long.
The Bottom Line: An excellent first pretend play toy for your toddler.
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| dagny21's Full Review: Little People Animal Sounds Farm |
Note: I wrote an earlier review on this product quite awhile ago and wasn't happy with it so I've deleted it. Here's the rewrite.
When I was a little girl, I played with Little People toys all the time. They were quite a bit different then, but the concept today is still the same and I knew as my son became a toddler that Little People toys were on the top of my list of things to buy for him.
The Little People Animal Sounds Farm was the first Little People set we chose for our son.
What You Get
~ A red and white traditional-looking barn house. The house is two stories high, and the upstairs is a bedroom for the farmer. There is a window across from the bed and a dial to turn that causes the bed to flip up and propel out the window anything that happens to be lying on it. The house itself has several switches that when pressed or otherwise triggered make various sounds. The sounds include: oinking pigs, clucking chickens, baaing lambs, neighing horses, mooing cows, and a truly annoying version of "Old Macdonald Had a Farm." The house also comes with an additional piece of "grass" that attatches and unattaches from the rest of the house. This piece has a white fence on it and a spinning roller with pictures of various vegetables and bugs on it. The house opens and closes and all the pieces of the set will fit inside once it is closed. The barn door opens and closes, and there are several windows through which little hands can fit to play.
~Windmill that fits into one of 2 spots on the roof
~Weather Vane that fits into one of 2 spots on the roof and makes a clicking sound when turned.
~Scarecrow that fits into a spot on the piece of "grass"
~Wheeled cart made to attach to a horse
~Bale of hay that sits in the cart
~Horse with a corral inside the barn
~Cow with a corral inside the barn
~Pig who sits in a muddy spot outside the barn
~Chicken that sits in a nest inside the barn. flips over to show hatched baby chicks on one side and closed eggs for the chicken to keep warm on the other.
~Lamb who sits in a muddy spot outside the barn
~Farmer
Assembly
This toy doesn't take long to assemble. The barn comes together with all it's doors and moving parts already attached. We did have to snap the white fence onto the piece of grass, and attach the piece of grass onto the rest of the building. Then there were quite a few stickers to attach to the set and batteries to install. In the end, it took about 10 minutes.
Our Experience
This was the first toy we bought that really and truly absorbed our toddler to the point where he could actually play by himself, if only for a few minutes at first. It was really a joy to see our son graduate from baby toys to other more interesting toys, and we made a fine choice with this Little People set. The weekend we purchased it our son spent literally hours at a time in front of it, and it was difficult to get him to the table for meals or get him into bed at night because he wanted to keep playing.
Since then the novelty has worn off, but a year and a half later he still plays with this toy a little bit every single day. As we get more and more toys for him, he manages to find ways to integrate this house into his play. On any given day it might live on his train table with the trains going around the track and taking occasional detours through the barn door or to sleep in the farmers bed. On another day he puts various Little People and other figures in it and plays house.
What we don't like
The piece of "grass" detaches too easily. Once my son discovered this, for some reason he never wanted it to go back together, so this piece has been pretty much worthless to us and never gets played with. The spinner on the piece of grass holds no interest for my son.
The "Old Macdonald Had a Farm" song is just plain awful! It's basically ding ding ding ding ding ding ding to the appropriate tune and it goes on for too long. It also seems louder - though that could be my imagination - than the rest of the sounds the barn makes. The worst part is the trigger for this song is in the most often place pressed on the toy, right on the inside of the barn door where trains, people, animals, and hands all have to tread on it about once every minute or so that the toy is played with.
The Final Word
If you're looking for a first pretend play scene for your child, this is a good choice. Unlike many such toys, even in the world of the Little People, there is no real frustration to be had here. Toys don't get stuck in small places and all of the noises are easy to make happen. We have bought several other Little People sets since purchasing this one, and the barn remains our favorite.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 29.95
Type of Toy: Playscene
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months
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Epinions.com ID:
dagny21
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 in Kids & Family |
 - Top 500 |
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Member: Christine D
Location: Alaska
Reviews written: 388
Trusted by: 66 members
About Me:
Happily married mother of one boy.
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