Fisher Price - Laugh & Learn? Stride-to-Ride Learning Walker?
by Fisher Price
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List Price: Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Fisher Price - Laugh & Learn? Stride-to-Ride Learning Walker?
Customer Review: Obnoxious, hard-to-use toy
Summary: 1 Stars
Sorry to be so negative here, but I do not like this car at all. Just returned from my mom's house. She, very sweetly, had bought this car for my daughter's stay there. I see that it is rated well on Amazon, but I think others should know how obnoxious it is.
Learning Value: In general, I'm not a fan of electronic (lights and music) toys, but I've gotten used to our Leapfrog Learning Table. I feel the LT is interactive, has a good variety of songs, sings the alphabet, counts to 10, and sounds almost pleasant. The Stride-to-Ride is totally obnoxious; it plays "La Cucaracha," something to the tune of "Muffin Man," and sings the alphabet, for some reason, from A to V(!!). The songs all last about 4 seconds, so my daughter, who likes to dance to music, would get frustrated as it turned off just as she was getting into the beat. In terms of learning value: the buttons teach some "cause-and-effect," but IMO the learning value is not worth the headache. (I've had a migraine for 24 hours and am struggling to get La Cucaracha out of my head.
Striding and Riding: My main beef with this contraption is the design. There are two modes: "Striding," in which a non-toddler must manually open the "legs" of the vehicle, so that the toddler may push it; and "Riding," in which the legs must be closed by a non-toddler so that toddler may sit. BIG problem as my daughter (15 months) isn't in the mood for striding one day and riding the next. She wants to be able to ride, then get up and push, and then ride again all within 2 minutes. Plus, the pushing position isn't very comfortable; child must hunch over to push. Another weird thing, the rear wheels swivel, the front do not, so the steering wheel (even though it says "Turning Left!," or "Turning Right!") does not actually cause any turning.
Pros: The sitting position seemed comfy. And the vehicle seems pretty safe (not tippy). If you take out the batteries and only let your kid ride (not push), it would be an okay toy, but kind of a waste of money.
Customer Review: A fun, favorite toy!
Summary: 4 Stars
The laugh and learn stride to ride car was given to my son for his 1st birthday, and it quickly became his favorite toy of all his "new" toys.
It is light enough for him to push around our hardwood floors (we do not have carpet) and it is sturdy enough for him to bang around into the furniture without getting hurt. The walker does move fast when he uses it - but as with ANY walker it should be used under close parental supervision.
He loves steering the wheel, honking the horn, and chasing after our two dogs! It is quite amusing to watch. The car has bright lights which flash along to the music, adding more appeal to the toy. There is a radio button, a button for the headlights (no headlights), and a non-removeable key which when turns and "starts up" the car. The hood has three shape sorter slots and lifts up to "store" things.
There are two functions to it; ABC's and music. There are two levels of sound (high, low and off) and it is also sound activated; when my son crawls by it, it will light up and play a short tune. This function is designed to capture a child's attention and encourage play.
As an educational toy, it teaches left and right (when you turn the wheel), on-off (the headlights, the turning of the key), shapes, colors, up-down (the hood), and helps delvelop balance and coordination.
The sides can lock into place when the time is right to convert this into a ride on car. The sides also unlock if you want to convert it back to the walker position.
I have not had any issues with the stickers peeling off as previous reviewers have had.
Cons: Due to the position of the legs (opens in a V shape) it is difficult for a child to stand completely upright when they try to walk with it. It does move fairly quickly with a 23 lb child behind the wheel, so parental supervision is a must.
Customer Review: Not Recommended
Summary: 2 Stars
My husband bought this at Toys'R'Us kind of impulsively before Christmas after a woman (not an employee) recommended it to us. So we threw down the $30 since our little guy was starting to cruise. I really don't like anything about it, but my son likes it, so I give it a 2 overall.
PROS:
--My son likes the music and lights, and is happy that different actions elicit different responses
--Converts to a ride on (my 3 year old neice had fun playing with it in that way)
CONS:
--Songs are among the most annoying I have heard out of any children's toy
--Very light and unstable. It has fallen on my son too many times to count. In fact, it falls over (usually backward) pretty much any time he tries to stand upright with it. I would have taken it away for safety reasons after the first time it fell over, but it didn't hurt him since it was so light. He can also pick the whole thing up and turn it upside down and he's only 10 months old.
--Moves too fast for an early walker. It gets away from him very easily, which frustrates the heck out of him. He pretty much stopped using it as a walker after a couple of weeks and only uses it as an "entertainment center" (he sits and pulls it over his legs so he's sitting at the dashboard and able to push, pull, turn, etc all the buttons and whatnot).
--My son has smashed his fingers several times with the "hood" of the car after lifting it to get out the little blocks that fit inside.
--Stickers started pulling off almost immediately
Overall, I do not recommend this toy at all. While I don't think it's unsafe, I don't think it's sturdy enough for what it's designed to do. And believe me, that woman's voice is TERRIBLE to listen to when your little guy wants to push all those buttons. It's definitely not worth the $30.
Customer Review: FAVE 5 Stars
My son is 11 months old, and has been using this toy for about 3 months now. He will push it around and "walk" with it while he's on his knees or feet.It wasn't the best when he started to use it to help pull himself up (it would roll out from under him) but we were there and would brace it either with us, or with a pillow so it wasn't a "problem". We were about a month under the recommended age at the time.
He LOVES to sit and ride on it too- something I figured he would grow into. He will climb on to "drive" and then off when he's done.
As with all the Laugh & Learn FP toys, the music and learning aspects are EXCELLENT! I love the volume options. We have several of the L&L toys and it's great that they are all the same type of music (although all vary in options) and same voice for the learning.
This toy has been a must take when we visit the grandparents... the older cousins love playing with it too. We've had to change the batteries only 1x, and it's been used a lot every day--almost constantly on weekends when we are home all the time.
My only wish is that the wheels would turn--maybe have a locking straight option then be able to release it when he's really riding on it. Right now, I don't think it'll be much fun as a rider since you can't change the wheel direction.
One thing- watch the weight limit for older kids. A cousin who is definately in the weight range looked like he was making the seat sag in the riding position. He's 4 and rough on toys, but still in the weight range. It's just not meant for his age.
AWESOME FOR BABIES/TODDLERS! One of my sons favorites, and I TOTALLY recommend this item!
Customer Review: Great in theory...
Summary: 3 Stars
I just bought this for my son who just turned nine months old. He's crawling and cruising the furniture and stands on his own for a few seconds at a time so I figured this would be a good time to get a walker. He's more interested in the hood and shape sorter, the steering wheel and all the little dashboard gadgets than he is about using it as a walker. He used the box it came in as a walker more than he did this toy. In fact he played with the box almost as much as he did with the toy.
So is it a good walker for him? Not so much. And as a toy, I wish my son had as much interest in it as the kids of these other reviewers had. It holds his attention for maybe 10 minutes at most and that may be more because my 5 year old has a blast with it. Baby loves watching big brother fiddle around with everything and so he wants to get in on the action too. In fact, my 5 year old can spend an hour playing with it.
But when my older one is in school, he kind of plays with it here and there but isn't really all that interested. I'm hoping this will all change in the future but for now this walker is a bust for me. I guess it depends on the personality of the child. Mine has a really short attention span. All he really wants is to put things in his mouth. This walker is just a tad too big for him to chew on. Hopefully it will have more success as a ride on but for now, even that holds no interest for him.
Update: My son is now 14 months old and he uses it now as a ride-on more often and still plays with all the gadgets so it worked out in the end.