LeapFrog Learning Connections Train

I had been looking everywhere for a reasonable priced train set within my sons age group, and I was getting really frustrated as the all seemed to be for children from 3 years. It was really annoying as every time he saw them in store he was really excited.
Then I spotted the learning connections train set, by Baby Leapfrog, suitable from 9 months. It was the last one on the shelve. Usual price £19.99, but it was on sale for £9.99.
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...unpacking process. You know with the little plastic ties, that are usually done that tight you cannot even cut them off, so you have to stick it out and untwist. This wasn't helped with my boy who was trying to snatch the thing out of my hands,

One engine and five carriages later, and it was finally free from its plastic tie prison! So anyway, the first thing that I noticed apart from the bright coloured set, was that on the train ... more

I had been looking everywhere for a reasonable priced train set within my sons age group, and I was getting really frustrated as the all seemed to be for children from 3 years. It was really annoying as every time he saw them in store he was really excited.
Then I spotted the learning connections train set, by Baby Leapfrog, suitable from 9 months. It was the last one on the shelve. Usual price £19.99, but it was on sale for £9.99.

So I arrived home and started the dreaded unpacking process. You know with the little plastic ties, that are usually done that tight you cannot even cut them off, so you have to stick it out and untwist. This wasn't helped with my boy who was trying to snatch the thing out of my hands,

One engine and five carriages later, and it was finally free from its plastic tie prison! So anyway, the first thing that I noticed apart from the bright coloured set, was that on the train engine, there was two switches. One acted as the on/off and volume control - which even on loud, isn't really that loud. The other switch to control the mode as there are 3 different things that this little train does - numbers 1-5 - colours - music. To support this each carriage has a different number on its side and the same amount of 'passengers' in its carriage. And each carriage is a different colour. The other feature is that each carriage has a magnet, as does the engine, and this is how the parts link together.

The main unit is predominantly blue, and has a strange looking frog as the driver.
Car 1 is red and has 1 little teddy as a passenger.
Car 2 is orange, and has 2 bells as passengers.
Car 3 is yellow and has 3 ducks for passengers.
Car 4 is green, and has 4 drums.
Finally, car 5 is blue and has 5 blocks, and each block has a number written on it from 1 - 5.

After the unit is initially switched on, what happens from there totally depends on the mode selected.

When in the number mode, there is a choo choo sound and this is immediately followed by some music and a friendly female singing ' all aboard to counting town, tickets please'. When the cars are attached, the voice changes to a friendly child, who says the car number, and what passengers is in. If the car is higher than one, the child voice will count from 1 to the relevant number. In between the counting, there is a little jungle, a train bell of the train choo choo's.

When the train is in the colour mode, the female sings ' hook up the cars, lets have fun, heading out on the rainbow run.' This time the child voice says the colour of the car, and there is a noise to emphasis the passenger, so with the bear for example, you hear a growl.

When the the music mode is selected, the female sings ' the music train is on the track, singing a song clickety clack. The music train is ready to go, get on board hear the whistle blow'. In this mode when a car is attached, the female sings a little song about the colour, number and passengers.

The overall design of the train is brightly coloured and made of strong plastic. Any features that are on the train such as the numbers, are not actually painted on, but are designed to be a part of the unit. This is a good idea so that nothing can be worn away throw usage. Each part is really smooth, and there are no sharp edges, corners or even seams. Each carriage is really light, so it can easily be picked up.
Although the parts have magnets to connect, the carriages with the exception of number 5 have been hollowed out and can be stacked on top of each other, and connected with number 5 to the back of the engine.

I would recommend this product, as it is a fun way to introduce colours, numbers and counting. Even with all the music, bells ringing and the choo choo's this isn't something that is really that loud. Although it is aimed for babies from 9 months, I noticed that even older children seem to like this product.

I marked the 12 - 36 month range group for this as there wasn't anything about 9 months, and I didn't want parents being misled into believing that this would be suitable for much younger babies. 

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