VTech First Steps Baby Walker > Reviews (95)

I decided to purchase this for my second child, I am a fan of Vtech toys and think most of thier products are good value for money. Toys for our first child consisted mostly of hand me downs from our family, but was disappointed when they didn't hand this down to us and bought us a different walker for our son.

I now understand why, my nephew continued to play with his unil he was at least 3. The walker we had for our first child was more basic with less features, so when we were able to afford this for our second child I couldn't wait to go and buy it.

It is very bright and interesting i would think to most children. There are lots of activities for kids to use; piano keys, telephone handset, butterfly which changes mode between music and learning, twirly knob things that turn round, little puppy that features a 'puppy says' ie 'puppy says clap your hands', and coloured shapes that you can press with numbers on them.

My daughter really liked this toy, she was unable to walk when we got her it but that didn't matter as the front detatches from the walker so kids can play with it on the floor. Without the front attached the walker is quite light so unless a child is able to walk unaided i don't think I'd recommend that they use it unless the detatchable part is on it as it may well tip backwards and they would get a fright if they fell back and this fell as well.

When she was more steady on her feet she began to use it as a walker and really enjoyed pushing it around everywhere and of course crashing it into things. I would say its very sturdy as it has survived a good few bashes and hardly even a scratch on it.

There are enough different activites on the walker that it keeps kids entertained for a good while, the piano keys light up and play music, when pressed they also say the letter eg 'a' and then the word of the picture on the key eg 'apple' and then a crunching noise as if biting into an apple, for e its elephant and an elephant noise. My daughter likes this part of it and has fun trying to make the sounds that she hears.

She also likes flipping the butterfly wing that changes the modes, and pressing the shapes with numbers on them, similar to the Vtech phone that she also has it says things like 'yellow circle' and 'blue square', so helps them recognise colours and shapes which is good.

We got this for my daughter when she was abotu 9mths, i think Vtech recommend it for around 6-36mths, and i would say this is about right, it will last right through and our daughter is now 2 and a half and still plays with it, and our third child also gets the play out of it too as it has lasted well. All you need to keep it in good shape is give it a wipe if it gets dirty and change the batteries, which I have to say last quite good even if they play with it alot, I think I have changed the batteries once in two years, so not bad going at all.

The only thing i would say is that the phone feature could have been better, all it does is detatch and reattatch, it has 3 or 4 little balls in it that rattle when shaken, and when it is reattached it pushes a button which says 'well done', or the child can press it when the phone is off it. This has a habit of falling off if it is banged into something, but not too much of a gripe. It doesn't fold either so can be difficult to store if you're short on space, but its not too big, mroe of an awkward shape to store.

Overall a really good toy for your kids and if you are planning on having more you are able to keep this for them to use as well as it lasts well.