MostRoyal.com – Page 4 – Toys & Gear tested by our Little Prince for the Royal Seal of Approval.

Baby Boredom-Ball? [VIDEO]

I purchased the Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Learning Basketball toy for my son when he was almost 6 months old. I liked the toy because I thought it would grow with him well through his first year and, hopefully beyond. I have to say, once we set it up and gave it to my son to play with, I was a little disappointed. I was hoping the toy would have kept his attention a little longer than it does.

Also, what’s with the name of this toy, “Learn Learning?” Is this really the best someone could come up with?

The “learning” aspect of the toy is as follows: the buttons on the backboard light up, and it describes the shapes, colors, and numbers. The hands on the face of the toy really do nothing except move back and forth as you pull the basket down. I was hoping that they would prompt a song or a noise at least. It also counts and plays music each time a ball is put through the hoop. The main joy our son got out of the toy was listening to the voice count as he would drop a ball into the net. Provided you keep this up at a regular pace the voice and music gets more excited. For whatever reason our son has always loved counting and this toy delivered on that.

My son only uses the toy occasionally now and quickly gets bored with it. Perhaps as he gets older and plays differently, it will hold his attention a little better, but by then I might as well have a bigger basketball net for him.

My biggest complaint is that the design is very top heavy. I would say this is my son’s biggest complaint as well! He gets pretty frustrated with the toy when it falls over, which is basically every time he touches the darn thing (see video). In fact, I gave him the toy to play with this evening to see if he would be more attracted to it (at 13 months old,) but all he did was stand in front of it and tip it over backwards. He put the ball through the hoop once after I showed him, and pushed a couple buttons, but moved on from it very quickly. He is more attracted to the balls than the toy itself. I should have just bought him small basketballs to play with!

The batteries die pretty quickly if the toy is left on. Sensors in the basketball hoop detect when the ball is dropped through. These are always on, so when you are not playing the sensors are still draining the batteries. We learned this one night when my husband was up late and catching up on work He kept hearing this low buzzing and clicking noise. Thinking he was going insane he eventually found himself crawling around the room trying to pinpoint the sound. It was the dying batteries in the basketball net. Turning this off between uses fixed that problem; an automatic sleep mode would be a great addition.

All in all, I give the Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Learning Basketball toy a 3 out of 5 stars. Users on Amazon give this toy positive reviews, so perhaps it’s just not right for us.

5-Point Harnessed High Chair! [VIDEO]

I purchased the Fisher Price Space-Saver High Chair for my son at around 12 months of age. We live in a small Brooklyn apartment and do not have space for a standard high chair, and this one straps to one of our kitchen chairs, saving us a ton of space. He had previously been using a much older version (about 11 years older, handed down to us by family,) that he was decidedly destroying at mealtimes.

This chair has been a life saver for us. Mealtimes can be a headache, a mess and with the previous chair my son was able to literally rip it apart whenever he would get angry about the food I was insisting he eat. This chair is solid. The tray is solid too; it stays locked on and he can’t rip it off (yet…).

AND this high chair has a FIVE POINT HARNESS. Which means he cannot get out of the chair! It’s like strapping him into a stroller. The tray requires two hands to put it on and take it off, but that’s ok. I will take that over having to pick it and all of my sons food off the floor.

Fisher-Price-Space-Saver-High-Chair3 — Note from Dad/Jeff: This seat was really easy to un-install and re-install from our kitchen chair when I needed to take photos of it for the website. You can easily bring this highchair over to grandma’s, a restaurant, etc.

Maybe this is overkill, but for a kid who does his best to squirm out of every high chair he encounters (restaurant chairs and the ancient chairs owned by family being the main culprits here,) this one holds up against his tirades.

One thing I have not yet tested is how well the seat comes clean, and boy do I need to test this! [UPDATE BELOW] I do laundry once a week at the laundromat, it’s easy to forget the high chair as I am gathering and putting giant bags of laundry into a cart, and packing up my son with toys and lunch and anything else we might need for an afternoon at the laundromat, aaah… city life… In any case, I will update this review once I give the seat a wash.

5-Point-Harness and the chair fabric in need of a major scrub down.

I give the Fisher Price Space-Saver High Chair a 4 out of 5 stars because as a stay at home mom, who is feeding my son most of his meals, I have found this chair to perform great for us. He can’t get out of it and he can’t rip the tray off, which is all that matters to a strung out Mommy! I will update this post once I wash the seat.

Update: Since writing the above review of this highchair, I have washed the seat cover twice. The first time I sprayed the cover down with a stain remover shortly before washing and it came clean beautifully. The second time I washed it I did not use the stain remover and it still came perfectly clean! So I still stand by my originally rating.

21 Must Own Baby Board Books

If there’s anything we do, it’s a lot of research. This list of 21 must own baby books has been curated after days of scrutiny. We combed through our personal collection, read countless Amazon reviews, talked with other parents, pulled from library shelves (a great resource!), sourced teacher recommendations, dug through blogs and forums.

In short, if you own these 21 books – or even half of them – your babies’ library is off to an excellent start.

Is every book listed here perfect for everyone? Maybe not. In fact, we included one book that drives us nutty. But, since everyone else seems to love it we wanted to squash our harsh negativity and give you the chance to love it too. (We’ll let you know what book it is below.)

When possible, we have linked to the Board Book version being sold on Amazon.com.

So, here they are, MostRoyal’s 21 Must Own Baby Books:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Let’s be honest, as a parent you are required to own this one. This is a no brainer. It defines the entire genre and with good reason. The story has a nice flow, the illustrations don’t grow tiresome and best of all it works great as a bedtime book. I personally like all the little details. For example, check out the clock. According to the watch face it takes this kid two hours to fall asleep! …I can relate to that.

Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

A story that relies heavily on its illustrations, and doesn’t disappoint! The rambunctious gorilla sneaks away the keys from his zookeeper and silently releases the other animals of the zoo from their cages as he says goodnight to each. All of the animals then follow Mr. Zookeeper home for the night. This is a book that is wonderful to share with your newborn and your toddler.

Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? A Lift-the-Flap Book by Karen Katz

This is a cute lift-the-flap book for toddlers, helping to teach body parts and concepts such as “behind the cup.” As with most lift-the- flap books our son loves to be involved in lifting the pages to reveal the babies’ belly buttons and mouths, etc. The illustrations are colorful and cute, and our son loves to find our belly buttons now and point his out too. I look forward to him growing with this book for many more months.

Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book by Rod Campbell

This book is really cute. It’s about a child looking to find his perfect pet, so he writes to the zoo and they keep sending him different animals. Some are too big, some are too tall, etc. Finally they send him the perfect pet that he decides to keep. Someday maybe our son will get one too!

Guess How Much I Love You by by Sam McBratney

Okay, this is the one book we can’t stand. To be fair, the story is super cute and the illustrations are very well done. My complaint is in the author’s decision to write out the characters names in full each time they speak. Saying “Big NutBrown Hare” and “Little NutBrown Hare” doesn’t roll off my tongue. (My mom also can’t stand it and had to switch to a different book midway.) That said, this book comes up time and time again in lists, reviews and discussions of great baby books. It came up A LOT. So, maybe it’s right for you. Just not me.

Pat the Bunny (Touch and Feel Book) by Dorothy Kunhardt

This is the classic interactive touch and feel book for kids. Main characters Paul and Judy can do all kinds of things, and they invite your little one to do the same. Children love the interactive nature of this book and enjoy doing the activities along with Paul and Judy. One word to the wise, it is recommended that you do not purchase the plastic comb bound version of this book, as children can very easily pull it apart. Why anyone would bind a children’s book with a plastic comb binding is beyond me… This is a cute book for kids and a must have for any library. Your children will be playing with it for a long time.

Peek-A Who? by Nina Laden

A colorful and surprising peek-a-boo book for little ones, this colorful book has an animal hiding behind cut out pages allowing your little one to anticipate the turn of each page. With colorful illustrations and rhyming text, this book will keep your child entertained every time you read it, and for some that could be multiple times a day!

A Good Day by Kevin Henkes

Really cute and straightforward illustrations are paired with a wonderful story of four creatures who start out having a bad day. Everything turns around for the characters and in the process they learn that life will get better. Essentially a, “Don’t cry over spilled milk” message that kids can easily understand.

Black on White by Tana Hoban

No words. Iconic images. Simple, strong, and oddly interactive as the work is on you and your child to point to the illustrations, talk together and bond as a family. The others in the series are very popular too, but this one stands out as the best after researching the general consensus.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle

Iconic illustrations by Eric Carle are paired with a nice rhythmic text from Bill Martin. This book is part of themed series, each starting with a different bear (Baby Bear, Polar Bear & Panda Bear). We find Brown Bear to be the strongest of the set. This book is also a good reason to do some research before buying. We had picked up another book by Eric Carle assuming it would be just as good. Nope! So it’s best to stick with this series and one other listed below.

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

Everyone needs a good counting book. “Five Monkeys” provides that with a nice lyrical text, charming illustrations and a great ending. In short, the story is that Momma tries to put the monkey children to bed, they start to jump on the bed when she leaves, someone falls off and hurts themselves and she tries all over again. I won’t give away the ending but it’s very cute.

I Kissed the Baby! by Mary Murphy

Much like Black on White, this book is filled with illustrations utilizing contrast and well placed color. As a result this makes for a great infant experience. The story builds as the barnyard animals all ask about the newly born baby duckling. This one is filled with a sweet tenderness that parents and children will enjoy.

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

This one will give you a serious case of “The Feels.” The tender text starts with, “”I’ll love you forever. I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” This book may put a lump in your throat and tears on your shirt as you think about your own parents and begin to understand how the love you feel for you own child was first felt by them for you. Highly recommended.

Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton

Selecting a single book by Sandra Boynton is a difficult task. Her works come up all the time in “best of” lists. You can’t go wrong with Moo Baa La La La. Beyond this perennial favorite we personally like the silly Hippos Go Berserk!, the beautiful message of Happy Hippo, Angry Duck and our bedtime standard The Going-To-Bed Book (read our full review).

On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

This book articulates many of the emotions a parent feels for their child without becoming too saccharin. There is a great magical quality to the illustrations – although sometimes the “composited in photoshop” look feels a little strong for me. This book makes a great present for new parents and would make a fantastic addition to any baby shower gift. Another popular Tillman book is The Crown on Your Head, for which we wrote a full review.

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

A delightful book tacking concepts about shapes, colors and sequences. The entire text is made up of only 5 words (4 in the title) so you can imagine the creativity involved in telling this story. A very clever book that will make you laugh.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

The Design! OMG. The design and illustrations are just fantastic. The text lives up to the challenge with a great rhythmic pulse and playful vibe telling the story of a young child waking up to find freshly fallen snow and his adventure exploring. This book was also the 1963 Caldecott Medal winner. Much like Goodnight Moon this is a must have.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen

One of the best parts of researching this article was finding this book. I had never heard of it before. I know what you’re thinking, “Well this can’t really be about a bear hunt.” Nope, it is. The story is based on an old camping chant/song and it’s a playful romp as a father and his four children go trekking through vistas in search of a bear, find it, and then get chased all the way back home. A great read-aloud book.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

This is the most popular book by Eric Carle and there is little question why. The very hungry caterpillar eats his way through the pages of the book in bright bold colors. Also, kids seem to love butterfly metamorphosis stories. So, start with the best.

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss

You need to have some Dr Seuss! This board book has an excellent text that’s full of silly sounds. This will be something your child will want you to read for many years and eventually they will want to read it out loud themselves. A classic.

Munch! by Matthew Van Fleet

Yes! Yes, just buy this one. We love this book so much we wrote an entire review about it. Our kid loved this the first time we read it when he was just a few months old. Not only has the story held up, but his enjoyment continues to deepen as he has grown older and begins to explore the tactile elements. Of all the Matthen Van Fleet books (and they are all worth owning) I also think this one has the strongest writing. Great rhythm to the words and a super fun read!

This toy has a pull string. It does so much more! [Update!]

The VTech Chomp and Count Dino asks the user to feed it certain foods, which are provided on little pucks with an image of the food. The child is supposed to put the pucks into the dinosaur’s mouth and they then fall into its stomach where the kid can retrieve them. He also loves watching us tow the dinosaur by the attached pull string. …more on that later!

Our son loves taking the little “food” pucks out of the compartment and he tries to feed the dinosaur. At 13 months he doesn’t know the difference between the pucks, and therefore doesn’t follow its instructions, but he is starting to become successful at getting the pucks into the dinosaur’s mouth. It took him a few weeks to understand that he really needs to push the puck through, as it doesn’t just easily slide through the hole (the puck needs to trigger a small switch inside the mouth so that the toy responds). My son really enjoys this toy and he has spent a good amount of time sitting and playing with the pucks, putting them in and taking them out of the Dino’s belly.

He grew so attached to this toy, that when he would play with it he would hold the pull string in one hand while feeding the dino with the other. He was so insistent on not letting go of the string that he took his first 10 steps while pulling the dino across the room! We were thrilled to say the least. Bonus points for that! Up until that moment he had really only been walking while holding onto our hands, even if it wasn’t needed. I think it was a security thing. The string apparently fulfilled that role and now he walks on his own. If only we could keep up!

Being a VTech toy, the music is lacking any sort of… musicality. I have decided that VTech puts no effort into creating decent songs and tunes for their toys. They are often out of tune and each song just ends, strangely. This is a bummer since the VTech Chomp and Count Dino seems to sing incessantly. I swear, these are undiscovered songs written by the Shaggs.

UPDATE:

Our son is now almost two and half and this toy has come back into our lives with a whole new level of excitement. He loves feeding it, dragging it around, pretending that he’s a dinosaur and tons of creative play. I’m really glad we held onto this because it’s had a whole new second life…and I’ve gotten a bit more used to the music. 🙂

I give the VTech Chomp and Count Dino 4 out of 5 stars because my son really enjoys playing with it, but I just can’t stand the music!

Is It a Book or Is It a Puppet?

Curious George Pat-a-Cake has been a fantastic book in our house. One of the many items we received at the Holidays from family, this book was a hit from the beginning. Thanks to my husband (a complete character in his own right,) my son LOVES puppets. He also loves books (yay!) and the combination of the two is a win-win for everyone.

Basically, George’s arms are little finger puppets. You simply stick your hand in from the back and make him go through the motions of Pat-a-cake.

Along with “Munch” by Matthew Van Fleet (previously reviewed) this book is a go to when needing to distract and cheer up my son. He knows Pat-a-Cake now, except that when I do it on my own, he needs to find the book and pull it out. “Only George does Pat-a-Cake, Mom!!” (George also gives great hugs. …Talk about making your kid love books.)

Beyond the simple rhyme and puppet action this toy has been an interesting learning experience for our son. He kept wanting to figure out how it worked. Watching him try to do so was obviously super adorable. Watching him eventually put it all together, stick his fingers in the puppet and make it move blew his mind.

This book has provided us with non-stop laughter and excitement for the 7 months we have owned it. In fact, we had to eventually ban it from the bedroom or else nap time would never happen.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Fond Memories Were Created With This.

The “Playskool Poppin Park Elefun Busy Ball Popper” was a gift to my son when he was 5 months old and he has enjoyed this toy from the beginning. First, this was a great developmental toy that really encouraged him to develop his hand and arm coordination, something he needed to work on due to a birth injury. His excitement for this toy made movements like grasping and wrist supination something he would do due because of his own motivation.

At six months, when he was standing supported, he loved feeling the air gently blow in his face as he would watch the balls pop out of the trunk. As he matured he began figuring out how to push the button, cause and effect, and began playing with the toy independently of us. I think that is when it became the most exciting for him. He would screech in excitement every time he would start the elephant up again, this was probably around 7 or 8 months, and a huge highlight for us. We have lots of fond memories of those days.

At one point, around 10 or 11 months he became frustrated with the toy, and would get angry when the balls ran out and stopped coming out of the trunk, but this phase was very short. I have since brought it out again now that he is 13 months old and he is loving it like a new toy.

My only complaint of this toy, is that it is rather noisy, but I suppose that is to be expected as it has a little motor to blow the air and plastic balls out of the trunk. That fan sound combined with the music can be a little intense at 6am. But, if that is my only complaint then I’d say it is still a great toy! My son loves it, and that’s really all that matters.

We read on forums that other users were unhappy with this toy because the balls don’t always shoot out of the nose and instead tend to hover at the tip. I would actually say that this is a positive. When the balls would pop out consistently (fresh batteries) many times they would overshoot the ears designed to catch them and then they would roll away on the floor. When the balls hover it gives our son more enjoyment. It startles him less and it actually gives him a chance to grab the ball and put it back into the ear. (About 30 percent of the time the ball will eject fully.) He loves to place the ball back into the trunk and feel the wind blow it into his hand again. Overall the battery life is great. We have had this over 6 months and have not needed to replace them.

My husband adds that this toy can also be great when you are feeling exhausted. It always gets our son laughing, bouncing and keeps him fully entertained – and it does this all in one place! So after an especially hard day at at work you can sit with your kid, play along and catch your breath for a moment. Seeing the HUGE smile this toy put on our son’s face made it a great experience for us and it always energized us to keep playing once he moved on to the next thing.

I give this toy 5 out of 5 stars because our Little Prince really liked it from the beginning. I also know that a cousin of mine enjoyed this toy well beyond 2 years old, so I know it’s a keeper.

Is this Freight Train or Soul Train?

Freight Train, by Donald Crews, is a simple book. At first I was skeptical for its lack of story and simplicity, but we have really grown to like this one. The illustrations are great. It is perfect for a young child. Just basic enough to teach them about a train, with illustrations that are slightly abstract – and wonderfully dated – to help keep their attention.

We love the funky 70’s beat poetry vibe to the text. There is definitely a rhythmic feel and I our son really responds to that. It also makes it fun to read because it gives you excuses be playful with your interpretation and to pause and point out the groovy illustrations.

The length of this book is just right too. It goes by rather quick making it a nice bedtime and nap book. In fact, if our Little Guy starts to get fussy the story is conducive to skipping pages. For those nights when you need a bit more activity you can easily drag it out and point at the pictures, as mentioned above.

This is definitely worth picking up for your little one. Especially if they are into trains (or iconic graphic design from the 1970’s, obviously).

4 out of 5 stars

Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?

“Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too”, by Eric Carle, is unpopular in our house. I purchased this book because Eric Carle is such a beloved author and illustrator, but I definitely felt that this was a thrown together, throw away “story.”

It has the typical Eric Carle illustrations, but the “story” is very repetitive and uninteresting. In short, it’s just a series of animals and each time the author asks, “Does [insert animal] have a mother, too?”

Guess what, they all do.

This makes the book into a long and tedious read and not one that I enjoy sharing with my child; and, isn’t that an important part of reading to our kids? We should all like the books!! My husband HATES this one.

I give this story 2 out of 5 stars for its tedious and repetitive nature. We give it the one star for the illustrations. Although my husband wants to take away that star, too.

Anti-Spill Sippy Cup? [updated]

I feel like I am constantly on the search for the perfect sippy cup. We have tried maybe 8 so far, and of those I am happy with three. The Nuby No-Spill Flip N’ Sip Cup is not one of them. Maybe it was human error, but I put water in this cup for my son the first time we used it, shook it upside down, squeezed the straw, and was I happy to see that it did NOT spill. Off to a great start.

I gave it to my son, turned around to put something away, and when I turned back I found that he was splashing his hands on his high chair tray and that he had sufficiently soaked himself.

I am not 100% sure how he managed this, but I suspect it is all in the straw. It seemed that if he squeezed the straw with the cup upside down the water poured out, which he apparently figured out very quickly! I have not used the cup again since. I am willing to give it one more try to see if I just assembled it incorrectly. But, before that happens all our other cups will need to be dirty! 🙂

UPDATE

Dad here. So we’ve given this cup several more tries, and it is better, but not perfect. We have some issues trying to reassemble it (getting the straw through the hole in the top can be frustrating,) but the leaks are minor. Our son did like the flip top a lot. So much that he would get distracted and play with it . …Not sure if that is a pro or not. 🙂

We give the Nuby No-Spill Flip N’ Sip Cup 3 of 5 stars because it leaked heavily upon first use but seems to be improved after additional usage.

A heartwarming story!

The Crown On Your Head, by Nancy Tillman, is a beautiful, sweet book and I enjoy reading this to my son. The illustrations are unique; at times they can feel a little overly Photoshop-ed, but this does not bother me.

I have to admit, I am typically not a sentimental person, but my son has made me a softy. When I first received this book as a gift I kind of rolled my eyes thinking that it was going to be sappy, but it really wasn’t, and I really like the message. I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t give away the story but for those wanting more info you can go to Amazon and and read a section.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, only because it isn’t something my son gets excited for, but at 12 months, I wouldn’t expect him to be interested just yet.