This toy probably saved my sanity...
Written: Jul 10 '02 (Updated Jul 10 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Keeps infants occupied, nice songs and silly sounds, entertaining
Cons: Doesn't fold for storage or travel
The Bottom Line: Excellent entertainment for very young babies stuck on their backs. Colorful with a nice variety of music.
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| mizgnomer's Full Review: Playskool Kick Start Gym |
Our experiences:
My little boy has been a very alert baby since the day he was born. When he was tiny, before he figured out that he could use his hands and play with toys, Mommy and Daddy spent all day, every day, entertaining him. He liked toys that would hang over him, and loved music, so when I was looking for more toys to occupy him the Kick-Start Gym seemed just like what we needed.
I think he was just under 2 months old when we brought the gym home. I will admit that I had a bit of difficulty putting it together. I'm a woman who is proud of the fact that I am handy around the house and don't need to rely on my husband for fixing things or putting items together, but I did need his strong-arm assistance with this one. One of the screw-holes didn't line up, and I couldn't get the screw into the hard plastic.
From the beginning my little guy absolutely loved it. He had a habit of "dancing" whenever he heard music he liked, so even before he realized that he was the one making the music play his dancing kept the music coming. Initially we kept the toy on the continuous music setting, because the other setting causes toys on the top of the toy to spin -- but the noise of the motor scared him. A few weeks later he actually started to prefer the other setting (with the toy-spinning).
I say that this toy saved my sanity because it was the one toy I could trust to keep my little guy occupied for extended periods of time. I loved playing with him, but even the most devoted Mommy needs a break from entertaining a demanding little one every once in a while. It was a great way to keep him occupied if I needed to make a phone call or run to the bathroom (with him still in sight, of course). I slowly started going back to work (from home) when he was 4 months old -- I could put the Kick-Start on the floor next to me and he would play with it for a full 30 to 45 minutes! Nothing else ever held his attention for that long!
This toy is supposed to grow with the child -- they can play with it laying on their backs kicking the blue "kick-pad", they can play with the dangling and spinning toys after they sit up, and they can play with the spinning toys after they stand up. My son, however, started to lose interest in the toy as soon as he could sit up. The dangling toys just weren't fun for him (although he did like one of the toys on the base -- more on that below). He did like standing up with it and playing with the spinning toys when he was first learning to stand at 6 months (we didn't allow him to pull up on it though -- we would put him in front of it, already standing). I'd say he totally lost interest in it by about 9 months -- possibly because he had spent so much time with it already and would rather play with newer toys.
The toy will move back if kicked with enough force. Even the instructions state that it should be placed against a wall or a piece of furniture to avoid slippage. I'm actually quite fine with the toy being the weight it is -- because when my son got older and started standing to play with it, he liked to try rocking it back and forth on its base, and when he occasionally pulled the toy over on himself it was light enough that it didn't do him any harm.
Back when I purchased this toy it was the only one of its type available, but since then I've seen other toys on the market that have additional features that this one doesn't (such as folding for storage, or being re-configurable so that it changes as the child grows). My biggest complaint about this toy is that it doesn't fold down. Even though it was my son's favorite we always left it behind when traveling because it would have taken up so much space in the car.
Even though this toy went into storage when my little guy was 10 months old, I really am glad we had it. I don't know what I would have done without it.
Product Description:
The Kick-Start Gym is just what it's name describes -- an activity gym with toys & music that activate when a large blue "kick-pad" is kicked.
The toy consists of a wide, green base in the shape of a "U" -- the bottom of the "U" is where the blue kick-pad is situated. There are cute shapes and figures molded into the green base -- hearts and flowers with bumble bees, a frog, a snail, etc. There are cute little feet molded into the blue kick-pad.
There are two toys included on the green base. Now, I got this toy in mid-2001, and apparently the toy has undergone some changes since the one pictured above. Where the one pictured has little toy bumblebees that you can move along a long, winding wire/pipe, that toy has been changed on my version. In it's place is a orange flower that stands up straight, and two toy bees are on the flower's stem. My son was never interested in this toy. The flower's stem isn't long enough for the bees to be moved up and down -- in fact the stem is so short it is hard to even spin the bees. The other toy on the base he did enjoy playing with -- three flat, hard-plastic, smiling flowers in different colors, connected at the bottom to the base. They can be flipped forward and back, somewhat similar to turning pages in a book (which my son always liked to do).
Rising up from the U-shaped base are two yellow arms that curve so that they lean out over the baby. On top is a white piece shaped to look like clouds (including a smiling yellow sun and a few more cute bugs). The white top includes a handle (to be used by the parent moving the toy, or by the baby practicing standing), a bar containing a number of toys, and two dangling toys.
I'm not overly impressed with the hanging toys. They are cute and colorful. One is a bird, the other a butterfly. The front and back are two different colors, and they each spin when batted. I've seen other reviewers complain that their children can remove these toys -- apparently this is another change in my newer version of the toy as I don't even think I could remove them (maybe my husband could, but not without a lot of straining). My son was never really interested in these toys (except he did go through a phase of kicking them while on his back under the toy, which was cute). Pushing the toys forward activates the music and toy-bar, however pulling them doesn't. When my son was learning to bat at things we thought it might be nice to put him under the toys "backward" (with his head near the kick pad), so that the hanging toys would be above his head and he could bat at them -- however the bars that the toys are suspended from don't move when pushed from that direction, thus the music wasn't triggered to play and my son quickly lost interest. As I mentioned he did enjoy kicking the toys, and although I've seen other reviewers state that their baby got a foot caught that way, we were always careful to watch out for this and it never happened to us.
The spinning toys are all circular type toys suspended on a bar that runs along the length of the top "cloud" part. There is a variety of colors and shapes, and well as some more bug pictures molded in. One of the pieces is full of little beads that make noise when the toy is spun. The toys are designed so that they look interesting when the toy bar is spinning.
There are 3 settings: Off, Continuous Music, and Activity. When it is set on Continuous Music, kicking the kick-pad or pushing a dangling toy activates a silly sound followed by approximately 10 minutes of music. If the toy is activated again while the music is playing, another silly sound will play and a different song will start. In the activity mode kicking the kick-pad or pushing a dangling toy activates the spinning toy bar -- which will spin for a couple of seconds, followed by a silly sound and a song snippit. It is worth noting that the motor that makes the toy-bar spin is quite loud -- it took my baby some time to get used to it.
Long versions of the songs are played in the Continuous Music mode, shorter versions (or song snippits) are played in the activity mode. There are 10 songs ("Three Blind Mice", "Hickory Dickory Dock", "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Hello my Baby", "This Old Man", "Skip to my Lou", and some others that are familiar but I don't know their names). There is also a wide variety of silly sounds (laughs, boings, chirps, quacks, ribbits, etc).
If nothing on the toy is activated for approximately 30 seconds, the toy will activate the spinner itself and/or play music (depending upon the setting). It will then wait another 30 seconds and activate again before shutting itself off. This was nice because sometimes when my baby's attention would wander the toy would remind him that it was there and ready to be played with, and my boy would go at it again.
The toy takes 3 "AA" batteries. We changed the batteries twice in the 1 year we had the toy -- and that was with A LOT of use, so I don't consider the toy to be a battery hog. It is very easy to clean -- there are no paper-based stickers that will wear off, all of the designs are molded in and are a part of the toy itself.
Quickie Summary:
Pros:
+) There is an "off" setting, as well as two modes of play.
+) A wide variety of music and sounds - not irritating to parents
+) Able to keep even very young infants entertained!
+) Does grow with the child (able to play while laying down, sitting, or standing)
+) Cute & attractive
+) Easy to clean
+) Not a battery hog
+) Teaches cause & effect
Cons:
-) The toy is rather large, but does not fold for storage or travel
-) Can be difficult to put together (if the screws don't line up)
-) Loud motor when the toys turn - can scare small infants
-) The entire toy is a hard-plastic -- there is no variety of texture.
-) No volume control (although I found the volume to be quite pleasant)
-) Does move back when kicked - should brace against a wall or furniture
Final Thoughts:
Quite frankly, I was amazed at this toy's ability to keep my little one occupied for long periods of time. Even though I have some complaints about it, no toy kept my son entertained as well as the Kick-Start Gym did.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mizgnomer
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Location: Tennessee
Reviews written: 306
Trusted by: 204 members
About Me:
Don't meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you're crunchy and taste good with ketchup
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