With all the lovely weather we've had this weekend, I decided it was time to clean all the garden toys down, ready to let the little horrors out to play. Yes, I know, you'll all blame me now if it rains tomorrow. Anyhow, while doing all this sprucing up, I realised that the children had outgrown some of these toys, and we were going to have to find new homes for them (the toys of course not the children, although any offers will be considered). One of these toys was the Little TykesActivity Gym, that was bought for the younger two for Christmas four years ago, and as I'm feeling a bit nostalgic I thought I'd tell you all about it.
~~~The hard bit (part 1)~~~
Right when we first bought this Gym it came packed in a very large box, completely unassembled. So we had to put it together, which from reading the very clear instructions should have been an
easy matter taking less than ten minutes. Well that was the theory, it actually took us over an hour. You see, it sort of slotted together, but there were bumps that you had to click into place, and it took an awful lot of force to actually get them to click.
However, once we had actually got it together it was very, very sturdy, I can't see it ever falling apart while being played on.
~~~Looks like fun~~~
Right, so we finally managed to put it together, so what did it look like?
Well it's a very brightly coloured cube, which has holes for climbing through on each side, and a bright pink slide. There is also a platform inside the cube, which means there's a nice little den area. All of the surfaces are made from plastic, and are very easy to clean, a hose pipe does a great job.
~~~The fun bit~~~
Once it was set up we had to decide where to put it. Now we have a pretty large lounge so during that first winter we had it set up indoors, and the children had plenty of fun playing on it. However, eventually we decided it was just to big to stay indoors, and so we moved it into the garden, where it has stayed ever since.
When we bought this our younger children were two and three, although the three year old has a number of difficulties which meant he was like a very large eighteen month old. Both children loved crawling through the holes and sliding down the slide, and played with it right up until last summer.
~~~The educational bit~~~
Now when I review toys I like to add a bit about what skills your child could be developing while they play with them, so lets look at what your little cherub could learn.
Well, let's start with the obvious, all that climbing, crawling and sliding is going to help to improve their gross motor co-ordination. This is something that one of my youngsters has great difficulty with, and it was wonderful to watch him become more confident.
Another thing, they may learn is turn-taking, especially if you have more than one child that's playing on it. This is a vital skill for any child.
The final thing that this can encourage is imagination. Now I can almost hear you saying “what but it's just a climbing frame”, but think about it, with a little imagination it can become a fort, or a pirate ship, a castle or even a house.
Now, this is the most important part, so I hope you're reading carefully. The Little Tykes Activity Gym is considered suitable for children between the ages of eighteen months and four years, and for most children this would be a pretty good guideline. Smaller than average children upto about five, will still be able to play.
Being made of sturdy pre-formed plastic, it is extremely strong and stable but I would suggest that it is used on grass or carpeted surfaces rather than on concrete or hard floors, as even a small drop could hurt a child.
As with all toys of this sort I would say that adult supervision is pretty much a necessity.
~~~The hard bit (part 2)~~~
Now that the children have grown too big to play on this we've decided to donate it to the children's ward. This meant that we had to clean it up, which was extremely easy using a hose pipe and cloth, and then put it down. And if we thought it was hard to put up, then we found it nearly impossible to put back down again. It involved a lot more banging and thumping and took, yep you've guessed it, over an hour again. I must admit this was actually very reassuring, as it showed just how strong it actually is.
~~~The value for money bit~~~
We paid £50 for our Activity Gym, and it appears to be no longer available in the shops, but I have seen it on ebay starting at £10. As it's lasted four years (and is still going strong) I personally feel that it was excellent value for money especially as it was fun for the whole time.
OK, so it doesn't look quite as good as new now, but if we weren't going to donate it to the local children's ward, I would have been quite happy to sell it on and therefore make it even better value.
~~~What the kids thought~~~
Ashleigh (6) ~ I liked played on the slide, but I'm too big now and I can't get through the holes anymore.
Michael (7) ~ Michael can't talk very well, but he used to love climbing through the holes and going down the slide and would spend hours playing on it when the weather was nice.
~~~And what their mum thinks~~~
I personally thought this was great value for money, it's bright, colourful and extremely well made. It gave me hours of pleasure both watching my children develop their physical skills as they played on it, and joining in with their role-playgames where it was the castle or pirate ship.
Although it is only suitable for a relatively small age group, I would still recommend it, if you can get one, especially as you should be able to easily sell it on (or donate it to a children's ward or playgroup) once you're child has outgrown it.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
i totaly agree very good value for money . my children love climbing about on ours . little tikes are a very good make and easy to sell second hand when finished with
1pinkpear 08.08.2005 20:05
I agree with what you are saying because I used to have one..............great review and hello :)
princess789 31.03.2005 14:21
Great review, a fantastic looking toy. Amy plays on one of these at nursery & she loves it - Karen xx
Mar 28th, 2005
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
