Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium

When it comes to quality toys, you can't buy better than Fisher Price in my opinion. When I was pregnant, my mother bought the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium for baby's cot. It has turned out to be the best gift that we were given, and I can't speak highly enough of it.

The aquarium is intended to be mounted on your cot and for this purpose has two tough plastic strips with holes in them, to be strapped onto the cot side. It's ...
...so please be vigilant when putting in place!

The dimensions are 10 ½ x 9 ½ inches. The aquarium is housed in white plastic emulating the shape of waves. In the centre there is a see through plastic panel with bubbles embossed on it and inside are a big fish, a little fish - both of which rotate in a swimming action, a clam - which opens and closes and a starfish that spins. Obviously this contains water too! This can light up (if option ... more

When it comes to quality toys, you can't buy better than Fisher Price in my opinion. When I was pregnant, my mother bought the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium for baby's cot. It has turned out to be the best gift that we were given, and I can't speak highly enough of it.

The aquarium is intended to be mounted on your cot and for this purpose has two tough plastic strips with holes in them, to be strapped onto the cot side. It's very heavy (down to the 4 x D batteries inside) so please be vigilant when putting in place!

The dimensions are 10 ½ x 9 ½ inches. The aquarium is housed in white plastic emulating the shape of waves. In the centre there is a see through plastic panel with bubbles embossed on it and inside are a big fish, a little fish - both of which rotate in a swimming action, a clam - which opens and closes and a starfish that spins. Obviously this contains water too! This can light up (if option selected) and light fades in and out on different parts of the aquarium. There is a sea background which is nice and bright too.

The main controls are to the top of the plastic housing, out of sight. There is a volume dial (which can go fairly loud, but not especially quiet!), a button to change the melody and lastly a switch to move between 3 different settings. The settings are;

1 bar (represented as a dash) ~ sound only
2 bar ~ sound and lights
3 bar ~ sound, lights & movement

There are 6 different melodies to pick from (it doesn't work it's way through them - they need to be selected) and these are;

3 musical melodies - one is "go to sleep" but the other two I have not heard before, they are quite sedate. Melody lasts for about 5 minutes before going off automatically.

3 aquatic/watery sounds. The first sounds like a busy stream bubbling away, whilst the other is like a fountain/light water flow and the last one is crashing waves

At the foot of the aquarium see-through panel is a white plastic area with raised up "droplets". To the bottom left there is a two-tone roller ball, which, when baby bats at it will cause the clam to open and close. In the centre is a large blue press pad - this is for baby to press on and off (I always leave the main controls "on" and then I just press this to start and stop - much easier with my hands full!). On the right is a flip down lever - this will spin the starfish. Both the lever and the rollerball will work without having to switch on.

The aquarium requires 4 x D batteries, which although not cheap will last for ages as Fisher Price are quality toys and don't "gobble" batteries like some cheaper toys do. Even when battery is going a little flat, the sound remains unaffected for quite a while and only the lights seem to dim.

Make sure when you purchase your aquarium that the water hasn't leaked out - I had to return our first one (to Argos) as it was only half full. Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium is available from Argos, Toys 'R' Us and most large retailers for £23.99.

Caitlin loves this, and it does a good job of soothing her to sleep. Before she went into her cot, we put this on her changing table and she liked to bat at it and watch the fish. Now it's on her cot, she gazes at it and it helps her hand/eye coordination. She can see what her actions are doing "by pressing this - this happens" which is rewarding to baby. I also use this in other parts of the house too - for instance if she is lying in her basket in the sitting room. To use it this way I press it on in her room and then put the baby monitor on - then I can have the music wherever I place the parents unit!

I have a similar toy to this, which is also a projector and it pales in comparison to the quality of this one. The batteries don't last five minutes and there is no volume control or different melodies to choose from. The only disadvantage to this aquarium is the loudness of the mechanics, whilst the fish are moving but it's not a big deal.

All in all - a first class product. 

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