We bought this toy when my son was about 11 months old.He had been pulling up to standing for quite some time, but just hadn't made the transition to walking yet.As soon as saw this toy he immeditiately pulled to standing and started taking steps!Now, 2 months later, he still uses it even though he can walk on his own.He loves pushing it around the house.
I saw some reviews on the musical version of this toy where some said that the toy was not good for kids pulling up to standing.My son weighed about 20 lbs when he first got it and never had any issues pulling up.The toy never fell over from his weight.
My husband rarely cares about reviews, but he read the review with me when there was only one review for this (5-star at the time) and was sold on buying it. At first, I have to admit that I was disappointed when I unpacked it. It is very lightweight; it's all pretty thin plastic on the whole toy. The picture made it seem like the part with the 'toys' on it was heavy enough to weigh the whole thing down. It's pretty much just a shell, with a few gadgets attached.
When we bought it our child was about 7 months old, and loved crawling. When we tried the walker, our son really needed to put his weight on whatever was holding him up when he wanted to practice walking. So, when we first tried the walker with him, it would have toppled right over (with him) if both us hadn't either been holding our son or the toy.It's definitely not made to be heavily leaned upon by someone with wobbly legs.
We helped our son practice using the walker practically all the time, even though I thought the toy was far too light to ever be a support. It actually became useful in stages. At first, our son was increasingly able to hold his own weight, standing, which is what made the walker increasingly usable. The walker was a little more useful when he could stand well, but the 'toys' on it were totally uninteresting. (At least it's a quiet toy that doesn't need batteries.) Then, he could pretty much take one or two steps with the walker, on his own. Finally, one evening he just crawled to the walker and ran down the hall with it. It was quite a shock because when he pulled himself up, I thought he was going to fall over with the toy. (We'd always held the toy steady for him, up to that point.) I was only a few feet away watching him before I realized he wanted to stand up, but by the time I got up and took two steps to go help him, he'd already started running down the hall with it. (After I recovered my jaw, I woke my husband to see the surprise.)
I'd say if you're interested in just getting something to help your child transition to walking on his/her own, this toy serves its purpose. Your child should probably be steady on his/her feet, meaning pretty much able to stand steadily. Early on, when he'd adjusted to using it, my husband and I still spent a lot of time holding the toy with him because his leaning on it made it roll quite quickly (the wheels are just as thin and lightweight as the rest of the toy.)
If you're like I was, and are looking for a walker that can double as a toy for a baby to play with while sitting, get something else. (I didn't invest much time looking into walkers because we have no stairs to worry about and have mostly carpet floors; so I can't make a specific, alternative suggestion.) It works very well on carpet, by the way. Regular floors, keep an eye on the little one driving.
Personally, I'd hoped it would be a multi-purpose toy (based on the picture), having little things on top of it to play with, but the widgets just flip like pages or spin. In the end, though, our son didn't really need us to invest a lot in a walker because the transition was about a month or two, then he wanted to take steps on his own and didn't want the toy to help him anymore. He pretty much stopped using it after he started practicing on his own.
We bought this when it was about $20, I think. (I'd spent so much on other toys I didn't have much left to invest in a walker at the time.) In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't spend a lot on this kind of toy. Really, it's not necessary to spend more than $20 on a push walker anyway. I definitely wouldn't buy this particular walker for more than $20 or $25. By the time children get the hang of walking with the help of a toy, they will probably just want to try walking on their own, one step at a time.
By the way, I rated this toy 5 stars because my husband specifically asked me to write a review for this (of all the toys I bought on Amazon) and to rate it 5 stars. I love him, he thought the toy was great, and my son's a champion at walking now, so, here's 5 stars. Cheers.
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Ok! so we all love fisher price and I was excited to get a walker for my son I bought it for him when he was 10 months old and we have had it for one month now.It looks great in the picture BUT its EXTREMELY light weight... DO NOT BUY THIS!!! its not meant to work as a walker... when the kid tries to stand up the toys falls over, the kid falls over, and he or she gets hurt.again its very light weight and cheap... you are better off getting something heavy and durable... my son tries to stand up with this toy to practice and he falls over... the toy cant hold the childs weight... and my son is not over weight or fat... just a normal 11 month old baby!
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My daughter got this toy as a gift when she was 6 months old. Before she could walk we used it as an activity center and she would crawl up the face and flip the items. I used the little animal flip tabs to teach her what sounds each animal makes.
Once she began standing she used it as a walker. She is now 3 and her 8-month-old brother has taken it over. He loves spinning the wheels and playing with the activities. The toy looks like new even though we have used it outside on the driveway as well as in the house. Soon he'll be ready to stand and use it. I love this toy.
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I took this out of the box and my 7 month old baby was trying to scale me to get to it.I had to wrestle him away just so I could put the stickers on.Once I gave it to him, he attacked it viciously and played with it a good half an hour without pause.When he did pause, it was only to crawl across the floor and back to it.The only issue I have with it so far is that we have hardwood floors and he wants to stand all the time while holding on to things (though nowhere near steadily enough to use it in walker mode).He likes to lean over it, holding himself up with one hand and standing on his feet while he plays with the toys on it with his free hand.Because the wheels do not lock and we have hardwood floors, it tends to slide out from under him.In that half an hour, he fell about 7 times.
HOWEVER... I'm not one of those mums who sheds a tear whenever my LO falls on his backside or gets a tiny bump on the head.It's a good learning experience for him to fall down now and then, even if it does upset him.It's certainly not the toy's fault that he wants to play with it in such a position but it WOULD be nice if locking the wheels was an option.I'll probably just use something to jam them until he's old enough to walk with it.
He LOVES it.Therefore, I'm pretty fond of it too.
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This was a great purchase and my son was thrilled when he saw the two fotball players on his birthday cake.They also arrive much sooner than the expected shipping period which was much longer than I expected.But it turned out to work perfectly.
