Fisher-Price launches Smart Stages™ – the first toys that evolve as the baby grows

Dav

Fisher-Price has launched Smart Stages™, a new feature in its popular Laugh & Learn toys* that helps babies discover and learn at their own natural pace.

In a nutshell, the new Smart Stages™ technology from Fisher-Price offers a brand new and innovative way for toddlers to discover the world, with the toy adjusting its content to the baby’s level of development. Parents can input their child’s age for content updates, just like an app. The toys evolve with age appropriate content, as a baby grows at their own natural pace. This keeps the toy exciting for baby as they develop and encourages exploration and discovery.



The content of Smart Stages™ is categorized into three stages, ranging from 6 to 36 months. The exploring level starts at six months. That’s about the time when a baby experiences feedback and learns its first words. In the second stage at about 12 months, baby is encouraged to build on learning. In the last level at an age of 18 months baby is already gearing up for early role-play. To perfectly match their baby’s needs, parents can also change the development stage manually through a switch. Find out all about the Fisher-Price range of Smart Stages toys here.



* Selected Laugh & Learn toys

Want to try it out for yourself? Boards.ie and Fisher-Price would like to give forum members the opportunity to conduct a product review of one of the new Fisher-Price Smart Stages™ toys. We’ll send you a toy for you to play with your child, and then you let us know what you think – as simple as that!



Simply send your name, address, contact number and child’s age (bearing in mind that these toys are suitable for between 6 and 36 months) to me in a Private Message. We have 10 toys for review, so I'll randomly draw 10 names and make the necessary arrangements with you all.

Dav

Hello again everyone,

I've gotten an extremely positive response to this already, so thank you all. There's been a pretty diverse range of applications too, so whilst I initially said I'd make a random drawing, I might just ask Fisher-Price if there are any specific families/children they'd like to see get their hands on the toys. A few of you who've been in contact have two or three children within our requested age range, so I think that if we can get a good test of the different stages of these particular toys from one household, that would provide an interesting and useful review.

I'll check with FP and see - I hope you don't mind my making this slight alteration. If this goes well, this certainly won't be the last time we have an opportunity like this to share with you all.

KateSk8

Hi dav this is amazing, my son is 6months old, and the top pi (red little truck) would be ideal for him...just wondering, are these for sale yet??

Dav

I don't know, but I'll find out now

January

I know the yellow chair one definitely is, it's advertised on TV but not sure about the one you're asking about.

indigo twist

I'm nearly sure that there was a link in the first post originally to the Fisher Price site, and they were all up there, so I assumed they were available to buy? That link seems to have been edited out now though!

The chair is definitely available to buy, it's in Argos for €45.99 (and 3 for 2 offer is on for toys in Argos until tomorrow! ) I'm not sure about the car.

cyning

KateSk8 wrote: »

Hi dav this is amazing, my son is 6months old, and the top pi (red little truck) would be ideal for him...just wondering, are these for sale yet??

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/2393416/Trail/searchtext%3EFISHER+PRICE+CAR.htm

Argos have them! It's very cool looking

KateSk8

Thank u didn't think they'd be that pricy oh well x

uck51js9zml2yt

KateSk8 wrote: »

Thank u didn't think they'd be that pricy oh well x

3 FOR 2 makes them 60 each if people wanted to get together.

Dav

Hello all,

So as mentioned already, the toys are available right now in Smyths Toys and other shops around the country.

I'm going to pick names tomorrow and review them with the Fisher-Price people, so I'll be contacting people directly probably Monday with a view to getting things out in the post either Monday evening or Tuesday morning. The toys themselves are already sitting in an office waiting for a name and address

KateSk8

week exciting, would be over the moon if I was picked! lol have fun who evers pick

ahappychappy

Fingers crossed - love Fisher Price still wish I had my little school with the finger people!

Dav

Right, that's it, I'm picking people now, thank you everyone for getting in touch. If you've been selected, you should heard from me on Monday.

Sesame

Who else is waiting for the postman today?

indigo twist

Sesame wrote: »

Who else is waiting for the postman today?

Boooo not me, unfortunately!

We actually did buy the big yellow chair, though, for our nine-month-old, as a result of this thread! Weirdly enough, it says on the box that it's suitable from twelve months on? I got the impression from this thread that it was suitable from six months on.

He's not too interested in it so far anyways, but maybe he'll enjoy it more as he gets older.

cyning

Postman has been and gone with nothing for me sob sob (unless bills count )

Maybe tomorrow!

ahappychappy

Post man skipped us. So we are going on look out tomorrow. Nice to know something nice is coming to the door!

newtoboards

Waiting too! Very excited to see what we get.

Sesame

Maybe tomorrow.......

Moonbeam

Well done to all those chosen:)
I can't wait to hear how you get on.
The car looks awesome!

Sligo1

We got the train late this afternoon! Looks fab! But haven't had time to open it as have been mad busy today. Going to have the grand opening with the kids tomorrow .

cyning

I got the car today I am so so thrilled I just cannot wait to put it together

ahappychappy

Just a brief note.
Train and chair arrived here yesterday evening. We unpacked train straight away and our little man (10 months old) was delighted. Lots of noises lights and it moves! So it is a huge hit. He is paying particular attention to an oval spiner on the carriage of the train. Spent a good time today following it around and putting the three little characters in and out of the train. The chair needed a small bit assembly which was simple and quick. We set the chair to the 12month setting it appears to be the youngest setting -in saying that I have not read the full instructions yet. There is a flap on the chair to open and close and it activates a voice, which is bringing on ggushing giggles. There is a book on arm and a remote control on the other. This also appears to be a hit I think my little man is in love with the voice of the chair.ðŸ˜႒

newtoboards

Got the train today. We haven't let our son play with it yet but that is for tomorrow. I'll let you know initial impressions with him soon.

Sligo1

Just a quick note. So we opened the train today. First impression is that it looks very nice and very well presented. Great quality. But then I always find fisher price very good quality tbh. So my nearly 2 year old had a little play with it today. If I'm honest I felt it was a but young for him. He lost interest in it quite quickly. It had 3 different stages of audio for different ages... But he didn't really have a lot of interest in this. Therefore, IMHO I would not buy this for a toddler.

On showing my 6 month old, she loved the lights and the little spinning wheel on one of the carriages. She didn't get to spend a lot of time playing with it today but will do tomorrow and update. I think my 6 year old will get a lot better use out of this and it is more age appropriate for her.

Sesame

Train arrived today. I'm not reading other reviews in case it influences what I say, so sorry if I'm repeating anything.
Box was easy to open compared to other toys. Not screwdriver required to undo it, we like that!
Initial impression was that it was small for a toy valued at 45 quid. I would definitely pass it by in a shop. I think for that price I'd expect something bigger or with more parts.
My baby is 9 months, so I firstly changed the setting to the early one and he was very eager to grab it.
There's 3 little passengers with it which he grabbed first. They are a great size to fit in his hand and rattled nicely and made a pleasing crash when dropped. I'm not being sarcastic, he genuinely kept throwing them on the floor and picking them up to throw again, he loved the noise I think.
The train actually moves which I didn't expect. When you hit the chimney, it play a tune and moves. It initially only played about 3 seconds then stopped. I turned down Th e volume setting it it played longer so I thought the battery might be low, but then when I turned it back up, it played longer again. So maybe it was a sort of lock for the "try it out" in store option. I thought no it working fine now anyway.
So far he had it for about an hour today and enjoyed the 3 passengers more than the train. He also spun the red spinny thing on the back carriage a few times himself and surprised himself.
The music and sound aren't offensive or repetitive at all compared to some other toys. Maybe my opinion on that will change in a month when I report back!
Anyway, Thats all for now, thanks for picking us, it was great fun getting a package today!

Moonbeam

ahappychappy wrote: »

Just a brief note.
Train and chair arrived here yesterday evening. We unpacked train straight away and our little man (10 months old) was delighted. Lots of noises lights and it moves! So it is a huge hit. He is paying particular attention to an oval spiner on the carriage of the train. Spent a good time today following it around and putting the three little characters in and out of the train. The chair needed a small bit assembly which was simple and quick. We set the chair to the 12month setting it appears to be the youngest setting -in saying that I have not read the full instructions yet. There is a flap on the chair to open and close and it activates a voice, which is bringing on ggushing giggles. There is a book on arm and a remote control on the other. This also appears to be a hit I think my little man is in love with the voice of the chair.ðŸ˜႒

you got 2?:)

Sligo1

Moonbeam wrote: »

you got 2?:)

Haha that's what I was going to say! Lucky!

indigo twist

indigo twist wrote: »

Boooo not me, unfortunately!

We actually did buy the big yellow chair, though, for our nine-month-old, as a result of this thread! Weirdly enough, it says on the box that it's suitable from twelve months on? I got the impression from this thread that it was suitable from six months on.

He's not too interested in it so far anyways, but maybe he'll enjoy it more as he gets older.

Eeep I can see why it's not suitable for younger kids ... he got his little wrist slammed in the seat! Will be putting it away until he's older, I think. Just something to watch out for, for anyone trying it! The way the seat closes would be a hazard even for older toddlers.

po0k

Received the chair promptly on October 8th, so apologies in not replying sooner.
15 months old boy who is tall for his age. My partner assembled it, not I.

She says: 'Very easy to assemble, just needed a screwdriver, didn't read the manual'

The chair came at a perfect time where he's taking great pleasure in climbing atop of and sitting on the couch, the pram, the dining table chairs, the teddies and now this

It's quite sturdy with sufficient weight so as not to be easily thrown.
The base sticks out at the back for stabilisation to stop it tipping back.
The flip-book pages gets flipped by him faster than the rhymes can play at the moment.
He presses the buttons on the right occasionally.

When sitting, his hands are a little bit past the armrests so he can't see/reach them easily. His legs are out flat as the chair is a little low.
I guess height-adjustable is probably out of the question due to cost and safety/center of gravity, as would an adjustable backrest?

The sounds are nicely randomized for the seat lid up/down, not so much for the arm rests from what I've seen so far.
The Smart Stages switch is at the left-most position.

What does the lever on the right do? It sounds like it's a selector of some sort as there's a little click when moving it to either the up or down position.

So far, he makes the most use of the cubby hole and as of yesterday, the 'house' we made out of the cardboard boxes.

SarB89

I received the chair for my boy who is 26 months old.

My first impression:
Easy to assemble , attractive looking.

My sons first impression:
He was really eager to sit and stand on it, laughed at the noises and flicked through the book on the armchair..however he lost interest very quick and has not played with it since.

I will continue to show him the different options and see can I generate up some more interest in it for him.

Thanks by the way