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

cyning

I received the Smart Stages Crawl Around Car I have a 7 month old and a two year old.

First impressions are that this is a toy you want to assemble before your very inquisitive toddler catches sight of it! Screwdriver and about a half an hour required: the back of it was quite fiddly to put together.

It really is too old for a 7 month old I think. She likes how the ball goes down the side of the door. Other than that she doesnt have much interest. The two year old seems to love sitting in it pretending to drive... she is in it constantly!

evolving_doors

I got the electric chair:)

So .. initial impression.
It was hard to give him 'exclusive' time with it as he has 2 older siblings jostling for position with the new toy.
The child (13 months) still plays with it after a week though which is good.

Initially he liked lifting the seat up and down (maybe it's for future toilet training... putting the seat down.. always ladies!!).
He liked pointing to the smiley face on it. He's not too gone on the buttons though but likes music so doesn;t mind giving a bit of a shimmy when his siblings are mashing the buttons down.
Since he is nearly walking, his favourite way to play with it is to stand on it and use it to support him standing up on the seat. I think it's centre of gravity is designed not to tip over so we're not really worried about that

Like everything else, the older siblings still fight over it too (2 and 4 yrs) and are having fun doing the ABCD, stand up sit down game thing.

The music is kind of infectious too.

basilt

We received the Laugh and Learn Crawl Around Car. it's currently being road tested by a 10 month old and a 2 year old. It's proving very popular so far. First impressions: this is really great fun and really holds their attention! It took about 40 minutes to put together, so I would recommend doing that bit while the babies aren't around.

Thanks so much!

newtoboards

Right first impressions of the train. It is bright and engaging and my son has no problem pressing the buttons and interacting.

He isn't that interested in the train itself at the moment though but he has another fisher price train that he loves (and no longer works well because of all the playtime). On that one he puts his teddy in and sends it around the room while blocking and pulling at it.

This train is smaller in that he can't fit his teddy in it and I think this is the reason he's not that interested. He gets frustrated, throws the new train away and goes back to the old one.

His favourite part seems to be the little figures and he will chew on them and throw them around and put them in his old train for the odd spin with teddy.

Dravokivich

We got the chair for our kid he loves it. His favourite thing is sitting down and standing up with the sounds that it triggers.

The only thing I'd say against it is there really needs to be some sort of grip on the legs. He's incredibly curious and is learning to stand and prop himself up. So while sitting on the chair it makes sense to him to turn around, reach the top of the back and try to pull himself up. Only the chair keeps sliding all the time.

ahappychappy

Well the jury is in and here is our household review. I was very fortunate to have two toys on trial, the Laugh & Learn Puppy Smart Stages Train and the Laugh and Learn Smart Stages Chair. They were tried by a number of children ages 11 months, 18 months, 26 months and a very bouncy three year old!

Laugh & Learn Puppy’s Smart Stages Train

We found the train familiar and it is only after coming across some photos from 7 years ago did I realise we had an older fisher price train for my elder son hence the familiarity. The train is bright colourful with little guys to place in the carriages. There is an option to have the train remain still or for it to go forward playing songs and chatting away to the child.

Good Points
•It is well made and has plenty of play options for children
•The movement feature was a huge hit – my little man spent time playing chicken with it!
•Music and chat has enough options / mix to not drive a parent demented!
•The age range I think would be 6 months to about 2 years old which I think is pretty unique – I don’t feel the three year old knocked a lot out of it.

Areas for improvement:
•There appears to be no sensor so it when it is travelling it keeps going – this has caused some tears – fingers were ran over a couple of times.
•The train part is very heavy and has been picked up and dropped by my little man (11 months) an improvement would be to reduce the weight.


Overall verdict, this is a good quality well-made interactive toy that would provide I think good value. I would buy this at an early stage for a present to get the best value.



Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Chair

The Chair needs a bit of assembly and I would advise doing this without the assistance of little people. It is a lovely bright toy that is a chair with activities built in – a little book on one arm of the chair with a built in remote on the other arm. The chair plays music and recites the ABC and other little phrases. The seat of the chair pops up and it has pictures inside that the chair interacts with.

Good Points
•It is well made and sturdy – my youngest stood up and down on it and it stayed secure.
•The “peek a boo” game it plays engages all the children
•Again the music and chat has enough options / mix to not drive a parent demented!
•The age range 12 months to three years old I reckon is bang on the money – the three year old sat “reading” their own book to the chair

Areas for improvement:
• One thing that really concerned me is the bottom of the chair does not provide good grip so I would recommend having some sort of grips etc or ensure it is placed on a mat etc.

Overall verdict, this is a good quality toy that would be a good buy maybe from Santa for first Christmas etc or indeed a good one to share in a house of little ones.

Sesame

So we've had the fisher Price Smart Stages™ Train for a few weeks now.
So far, we're very happy with it and it gets played with, either all, or parts of it, most days.

Initially, I though it sounded expensive and to be honest, I wouldn't buy it myself for that price. I'm very skeptical generally about toys for younger children, who'd often be as happy with a spoon to bang on a bucket. I also have a four year old so my 9 month old baby has not had any toys bought for him ever (poor neglected baby) as he's happy with his big brother's.
We were happy to get this train to try out but my opinion of some toys is that they may promise a lot more than they deliver. It might be all flashing lights and tunes and in an appealing box, but after a while, some toys end up tossed aside after the novelty wears off.

The train was different and I would nearly reverse that statement as it delivered more than it promised. I say that, as for instance, I didn't realize until we were playing with it, that it actually moved along the floor on its own. It also had a big repertoire of sounds. It wasn't repeating itself all the time. The sound quality is also great so it doesn't sound tinny like some other toys.
The smart stages aspect, where you can alter the language to suit the development stage is clever.
Maybe if Fisher Price were trying to sell this a bit better, they should empathise the fact it helps crawling development by moving along the floor. My baby loved that and had great fun following it. I don't think that was clear on the box, or else I missed it.
The build and plastic parts are a high quality.

What we loved:
The chimney, or bit on the engine that you pressed to light up and play and move the train. That was a great size for him to manage on his own. Its just right, the speed of movement was just right and the tune it played when moving differed depending on the stage set.
The three passengers are also a good size for his hand. The fact they rattle is another nice little touch.
The carriage hitches are simple and easy to hook on the next carriage. He didn't mange it but his brother helped him with it. We also had another toy that we hooked onto the engine to pull along. This increased the fun potential as the train could, on its own, pull along some of our other toys.
The contents, words and songs, have good quality sound and the choice of songs is well thought out. My favourite is the ABC song. Least favourite is "she'll be coming around the mountain".
I can already see how the toy will be used as my son develops. He loves the spinning parts on the back carriage and the chimney for pressing on. He is genuinely surprised each time it responds when he presses it. Maybe he has a very short memory, but its funny to see. He has no interest in the number buttons on the side yet. I have shown him but he hasn't pressed them on his own yet. Its good to have parts like this though to maintain his interest.
The newest thing he has started to do is to put the passengers into their places. This has happened by accident once or twice so he will probably soon learn that they also respond when placed inside. This is because the floor has a sensor of some sort when moves when you press it.
Another thing I just thought of that we really liked, is that even though it will move of its own accord by pushing the chimney, you can also push it along the floor like any toy car as the wheels are not fixed. Its a nice feature as it can be pushed by hand and it will move smoothly.

What could be improved?
The carriages are quite shallow and if you move the train quickly or take a hairpin bend (as little boys tend to do) the passengers fall out. They could be a bit deeper.

A hitch on the last carriage could make the train even longer. It would be nice to be able to add more carriages behind it as an option. Also I don't know why the 2nd and 3rd carriages are stuck together but it would be more inventive if they were separate so the two carriages could be attached in different orders.

There's something wrong with the electronics on mine. Now it could be that the batteries are low from when I received it or something else, but it won't play the full ABC song or it will cut out mid-action. It does a dah-dah noise and stops. Not all the time, but sometimes. Sometimes when we press the chimney it says "bye bye". It doesn't sound like it should do that.

Overall, great toy, and its shown me a little of what I know to look out for in future when I'm shopping for toys. I'd give it a 9 out of 10!

txt_mess

Excitedly we were given the opportunity to review the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car , I have a house full of girls but specifically this was aimed towards my 6 month and 2 year old who were at both ends of the scale for trying this product.

Initial impressions where slightly taken back by the size of the box that arrived , quite a significant toy not something that could be missed.

The Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car arrived in a couple of parts all large and a couple of minutes later (well 15 minutes and a screwdriver later) it was all set-up , my tip if writing to Santa for this I would ask him to get the elves to assemble it in advance.

It is sturdy toy, the look and feel are bright and attractive which quickly gained the attention of my 2 year old.

The car's main "toys" are an electronic dashboard with steering wheel, lights , music/voice and then on each door are further shape sorters and ball slides.

When my 6 month old was in the car would found the gaps were quite large to a child who was only starting to sit so with the addition of a few cushions that issue was overcome , however the door used for older children does not have a latch to hold it closed so a lot of care has to be paid to ensure your child doesn't lean to the left. The main winners for my youngest were the lights and noises and the balls in the side door which she did chuckle at a lot in excitement.

My 2 year old was a different matter the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car comes with Stages so with a flick of the switch the voice is more engaging in the way she talks to your child. My daughter loved sitting in the car and driving and she was engaged and responded to the prompts of the friendly voice. I think the other toys in the car were ignored in favour of the steering wheel and lights and in fairness she now loves sitting in the car on the floor while relaxing in the evening. My opinion is the car seemed to work better with the older child as she really did love the interaction.

Positives : Bright, colourful, Smart Stages allows to entertain older and younger children.

Negatives : No latch to hold door closed , assembly in advance to avoid waiting children getting upset.

Overall : A good investment in a quality toy that does grow with your child I would recommend the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car.

cyning

We were given the opportunity to play with the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car.

My initial impressions are to make sure to assemble this before your toddler catches sight of it! It took about 30 minutes to assemble without little hands to help.

I have a 7 month old and 2 year old. The 2 year old loved it when she finally tore herself away from climbing in the box The dashboard lights up as it plays music, it has a shape sorter in one door and a ball run in the other. She loves to turn in upside down and stand on it while it rocks too (when my back is turned): so it is definitely very, very sturdy! She absolutely loves pretending to drive in it and beeping the horn. She doesn't particularly like sharing it with the 7 month old!

To be honest it is slightly old for the 7 month old. She is just starting to stand and because there is no catch on the door it's dangerous at the moment. She likes the music but mostly unless her big sister will sit in it with her (and they do both fit which is a big plus) she completely ignores it. I've tried her sitting in it with cushions but at the moment it's just not for her.

As a big negative for older children: the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car sings songs on Stage 2/3. One of the songs for example is if your happy and you know it go beep beep. But if the child beeps the horn it immediately stops the song. It's the same with all the songs: the second the horn is beeped (which is a big part of the fun!) the song stops.

I wish the door had a latch too. The price point is an issue too: it's aprox €85-93. I personally think €60-70 would be more than enough to be honest. I know we didn't pay for them but I had been looking at this for Christmas and had discounted it as a choice for this very reason.

There are so many positives though. It has been played with every single day since it came. The music is lovely and not too loud: it doesn't have that ear piercing quality that other toys can have! The two year old uses it for everything: dolls go for drives, she puts them to bed in it, try's to sing along to it.

Overall the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car is a really good toy. It is utterly loved here. I would definitely reccomend it, but maybe at a slightly lower price.

SarB89

We received the Fisherprice Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Chair. My son is 26 months old.

Our initial impression:
My son was very excited to try this out when he seen the box. It was easy to assemble and only took us 10 minutes to put together.The toy itself is very attractive with its bright colours and music.

Good Points:
The chair itself is great, my son loved sitting on it and pressing the buttons to hear the music. The options of different stages for age groups is a great concept. Easy assembly.

Negative Points:
The battery compartment is not easily accessible. You must remove the legs each time you need to change the batteries. This is a complete inconvenience in my opinion.

Overall Impression:
My son lost interest in this toy quite fast, I feel like the limited functions of this toy are its downfall. While it very attractive, the activities etc are quite repetitive and failed to hold my sons attention for long.
I myself expected a lot more from a fisherprice toy, also when you take into account the retail value in the stores it does seem overrated.
In my opinion the battery compartment is a design flaw, having to unscrew the legs, then the battery compartment just to change the batteries is a major negative for us parents.

I myself would not recommend this toy based on the pricing in stores at the moment. ( Smyths 44.99)
For the price of it, I would of expected it to have a lot more interactive features.
I would rate this toy 5/10.

indigo twist

SarB89 wrote: »

In my opinion the battery compartment is a design flaw, having to unscrew the legs, then the battery compartment just to change the batteries is a major negative for us parents.

Absolutely agree with this.

My boyfriend put it together without realising that he needed to put the batteries in before assembling it. So I had to unscrew the legs, unscrew the battery case, put in the batteries, rescrew the battery case, screw the legs back on ... only to realise that the batteries I'd put in were faulty, so then I'd to repeat the whole process! Completely pointless, it definitely could have been designed better!

evolving_doors

Final thoughts for the Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Chair


Good points:

Sturdy enough… Even though 14month old is just learning to stand, I’m not really worried about it tipping over or anything.
Kid learns to sit down, seriously though that is a good skill to have for an active child to just chill out for a while.
I kind of left him at it initially but when I went over and played with him (showed him the pictures, standing up and sitting down, lifting the lid and putting stuff in, counting along with the voice) then he kind of engaged with it more and still does now.
Didn’t mind putting it together but nearly forgot to screw in the back part until I read the manual (duh!).
I get the feeling that it might be a good precursor to toilet training as there’s a lid that goes up and down (and they learn to sit the hell down for once in their busy day!). I noticed the seat lid always ends up ‘down’ so maybe he’s learning to keep the ladies happy!


Bad Points:

Might be a little bit pricey (currently €36.50 in Smyths) but it’ll probably come down in price eventually and then again it’s bulky enough to not be a cheap ‘toy’.
Dunno what that green handle is for!
Maybe I got the ‘try out’ version but the numbers on the buttons are already fading out.


To conclude:
It’s a toy/seat with buttons and sounds on it, nothing more nothing less. I wouldn’t expect it to get the kid into Mensa or anything, so I’d be dubious about the ‘stages/learn thing’. But then again he does interact with it.
Age wise; I suppose it is good for a 1yr old just learning to stand and sit by themselves, dunno what the long-term outcome will be.
Would I buy it, probably yes… I think. Anything Fisher Price is always sturdy enough and a trusted brand in our house, so I would consider this if you are looking for something for a 1 year old.
Score… 7.7 / 10

basilt

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car Review:

This car was road-tested by a baby boy who is almost one year old, a little girl who is 19 months and also an additional friend who is 8 months old.

Assembly and Build Quality: This car took about 30 minutes to assemble and I had some confusion in following the instructions- It wasn’t immediately clear that a dashed line meant inserting a screw. Once I figured that bit out, assembly was easy, but took some time. Not one I’d like to tackle on Christmas morning.

Functions: The primary user of this car is a boy who is almost one. He is not yet walking, but is at the stage where he’s trying to stand. He loves this car. He was incredibly busy the first time he got into it, and spent a long time trying out all the buttons and putting the balls into the slot on the inside of the door and spinning the rolling wheel at the back of the car.
Two other children also tested the car. This is where the Smart Stages technology is evident. While our one year old spent his time pushing buttons to get the music to work, and clapping along with the songs, he didn’t attempt to “drive” the car with the steering wheel, or turn the key in the ignition. His friend who is 19 months old had great fun pretending to drive and putting petrol in the tank. She was also able to put the shapes into their relevant slots, a task that is slightly beyond a one year old. Our third reviewer is just 8 months old, and not at the crawling stage yet. She was also very amused by it’s functionality. She sat quite happily on a cushion in the car and used her feet to hit the buttons on the dashboard.

Bad points: Only one of the doors opens on this car, and our one year old kept leaning over the closed door to look at the outside where the balls go. He isn’t walking yet, so this was a bit dangerous. We now have the closed side up against the couch to prevent any injuries. I would prefer if both car doors opened.

Conclusion: This is a great car; I would certainly recommend it to other families. It really does grow with the child and encourage their development. I would give it an overall score of 8 out of 10.

Sligo1

We received the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Puppy's Smart Train. As I posted previously, first impressions were quite good. Lovely colourful and bright model. And the quality is great which I have always found fisher price to be. Very sturdy and has no problem bouncing back from kids throwing it down on hard surfaces!

Initially my son of nearly 2 years did not have a lot of interest in this toy. But the last week or 2 he has played with it everyday! He does not actually appear to be listening in to the sounds and the various stages of the smart stages recordings. But more just likes putting the carriage on the front and moving it along the windowsill and the floor. He loves putting the little figures in the carriages and pushing the chimney so the train moves along by itself also. He has been obsessed with trains the past few weeks so this has possibly added to why the train has been played with so much .

My 7 month old daughter to be fair, hasn't really had much of a chance to play with the train as my son has taken over. Initially when he wasn't showing a whole lot of interest she liked spinning the little spinning wheels on the carriages. She liked it when the chimney lit up and also the stage 1 smart recordings. Most of all she likes the little figurines. She loves holding them in her hand as they are the perfect size for her to do so. And she also likes holding them while I am giving her a bottle.

To conclude, I think this is a lovely toy of great quality and very hard wearing. I don't think it would get a whole lot of use for a child much over 2 years old but definitely for ages 2 and under. The voice quality of the recordings is clear and audible and not too repetitive. I would recommend this and would give a rating of about 7/10.

po0k

Product: Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Smart Stages Chair
Child: 16 month old boy

Initial impressions:
I covered most of this in my last post.
Easy to assemble. Sturdy. Batteries nicely secured. Bright and cheerfully coloured. Sounds are varies and not annoying.

Good Points:
My son has made alot more use of it over the past 3 weeks, amidst being at his grandparents for a part of it.
The book and buttons got a work-out and still haven't annoyed us with repetition, even the seat-activated button.

The cubby hole under the seat is by far the most used feature, he stashes toy plastic animals, soothers, crayons, food etc. in there which he retrieves later.

The seat itself is frequently used as a step where he stands up on it using the backrest for support and it hasn't toppled over which I'm gladly surprised at.
He will sit in it and read his books as a change from an armchair or the floor.
His teddies also seem to quite enjoy being perched on the seat, keeping guard.

As I said earlier, he's at a stage where climbing on to and sitting on top of everything is the best thing in the world. So having his own chair is great for him.
We were given a painted classroom chair from one of my aunts around the same time and he uses each for different activities.

Improvement Points:
Still can't say I've noticed any 'smartness' or variation in the output though, I'll check with my partner and reply back if she has.
I still haven't found out what the lever on the right-hand side does. Manual doesn't list it. It makes a >click< sound though.
I'm guessing it's just cosmetic for a La-Z-Boy effect?

His limbs probably make him too big overall for it, and while he's tall for his age, he's only just gone 16 months old and I'd have a hard time seeing a 24M+ child being comfortable in it.

For future revisions, some greater degree of adjustability in seat height/vertical travel and backrest horizontal travel would prolong it's value at given the RRP (which seems to be coming down).

If you're aiming for the tech-savvy market and supporting the (great) concept more widely, a micro-USB jack to read off the stats or upload new firmware would be cool.

Overall:
Would recommend to other parents, doubly so if you can get it on sale.
You'll be glad to know the big cardboard box house survives thanks to the wonders of duct-tape.

Thanks,
John

newtoboards

Product: Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Puppy’s Smart Stages Train
Baby: 11 month old boy (just turned 12 months)

Initial impressions:
The train was colourful and very engaging but not as engaging as his original Fisher Price Amazing Animals choo choo train. Sounds are good and not irritating.

Good Points:
The small animals that come with the train have become firm favourites. They have been brought everywhere, shaken to within an inch of their plastic lives and thrown everywhere; frog even took a leap from the top of the stairs this evening much to the delight of our little boy.

The two carriages attached at the back are also very engaging and are sometimes used as a bracelet of sorts with his little hands going through the blue part. He spends some of his time with it moving the little parts around and examining the wheels.

The sounds of the train are not at all irritating to listen to and it's not so loud for me to need to put duct tape on the speaker part to lower the sound (there are a few toys rolling around the floor here with duct tape on them because of their shrill sound).

Our son stopped playing with the train part altogether very quickly (within a week of having it). The reason for this is that he owns the Fisher Price Amazing Animals Choo Choo train and that is one of his favourite toys. Even hiding that for a while didn't make him become all that interested the new train.

Improvement Points:
The train did get thrown around a little for the short while that my son paid attention to it and then stopped going forward. This meant that any interest he had in it evaporated. It's likely there's a fault in the train we have as this is not our normal experience with fisher price toys considering many of the toys end up being driven down the stairs or thrown off of a table and always live to play another day. The train itself is a little small to fit my son's teddy and bits and pieces he likes to have with him into it to send on journeys. He got used to this on his original train and it was too much to expect him to not have that on his current one. This proved to be an issue and I reckon (not that I speak baby) that it is part of the reason why it was ignored.

The main reason it was ignored is, as I said, the fact that he already had a favourite train. We have seen him try to hitch the new carriages from the smart stages train to his amazing animals choo choo train. On both trains it would be good if the carriages were two separate carriages rather than attached as they are and that the train could be extended with other carriages available to attach and grow the railroad.

I read the marketing blurb that came with the train and the fact that the technology adapts as the child grows. To me this implies some degree of learning of the environment in which the toy resides by the toy or even that it learns and adapts based on the user interaction with the train and that is not what smart stages is. It's just a switch that changes the sounds the toy gives when pressing the same buttons so I feel that it's overselling what it is. I was a little disappointed because the toy didn't adapt as I expected it to, I adapted it by flicking a switch. Yes i know that the price should have been an indicator of the level of adaptability of the toy but I am a bit of a dreamer

Overall:
I think the train is a great little toy for baby to play with and chase around. It encourages crawling and interaction with big bright buttons that are easy to press for a tiny persons hands. I would recommend the train to parents for sure.

Thanks for the opportunity to review!