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If they're not ready just yet to walk or ride, they can play with the gizmos located front and back. Where Fisher Price has completely missed the mark in the last 10 years with ugly characters and garish, obnoxiously noisy toys, Playskool has picked up the slack. My daughter really enjoys the gadgety things and walking 'by herself.' We have hardwood floors and because of the wheel design - not very sophisticated being all plastic parts - there is enough friction that they don't go so fast as to roll right out from under her. This car/walker is really cool. It's colorful and offers something for various baby stages. Normally I'm not in favor of the giant plastic accessories that are supposed to help babies progress through their natural baby cycles, but I definitely recommend this one just for the fun value. Oh, and for the aching back that comes with toddling toddlers.
It's great that it is light weight so that even though the wheels are not able to swivel, the baby can sort of "float" the whole thing to make turns. It seemed like they were in the "tentative steps" stage forever without getting on to actually walking. One baby was doing better than the other and had been stuck in this stage longer. She would just zip around the first floor of our house happy as can be. It goes together easily and holds up very well - plastic is rain-proof. I am not sure what I think of the ride-on feature of this yet. yeah, some day).So I bought one of these. I do know she loves this toy, though.
It's great exercise for her, too. I think there really is something to this helping them polish up that walking skill. Overall I highly recommend this. We still have it, but it needs some serious elbow grease to be used again (it got left in the rain.
I have never seen a baby go so crazy for a toy. now it's in pieces, I thought I would refinish it some day. They didn't. My other baby didn't care for it as much - she was the better walker when I first got this, and now her sister has passed her up big time. I sort of expected my girls to do everything at the same time my son had done things, which would have meant walking at 12 months. Even now that she is walking on her own she still loves zipping around behind this. One baby took to it IMMEDIATELY.
I tried pushing down on the handle bar to raise the front wheel and this thing will not tip. We actually briefly had one of these when my son was a baby because I wanted the ride-on car - but he was too tall by the time we got it, or so I thought. I have 3 kids - a 5 1/2 year old boy and twin 15 month old girls. Gives them confidence and so on.The activities on the toy aren't too entertaining which is actually a good thing. A friend of mine has a much busier FP walker and the babies get distracted by the toys, don't even use it as a walker. Now, much to my annoyance, he keeps turning this back into a car and riding around on it - and he's one of those absurdly tall 5 year olds so he's more like a 7 year old.
I know someone else complained of tippiness but ours does not tip, not even when you want it to.After a few weeks of this my baby is walking all over the place. Not all kids will love it but for the price it's great to try. I remembered my son had a Radio Flyer walker wagon as a baby and wondered if that had helped. My babies aren't at the ride-on stage yet, though. But it's sturdy, too - there is a hump in the floor to get into our kitchen and she always gets stuck at this hump. Whether that was coincidence or if this gave her the push she needed, I don't know.
So even though as a ride on toy this looks super tiny and useless - maybe kids can make do. :-)
As he was starting to learn how to walk, he took to the toy eagerly. In walker mode, the toy does not flex -- it seems sturdy. In ride-on mode, he now adds his imagination and says that he's driving a race-car or even a truck. It's also OK on pavement, but I advise adult supervision. In our apartment, which has berber carpet, he walked behind it without any slippage or imbalance of the toy. At Grampa's/Grandma's, where the floor is bare wood, the wheels did slip, and he did fall a few times.Now my son is well into his toddlerhood, and he still plays with it with regularity. We received this toy as a gift just when my son was just about the right age. I recommend this toy if you have carpeted areas to use it on.
But it helps). Conversion between walker and ride-on is easy, but be sure to listen for the 'click' of the lock. My only irritation with this toy is the color. It may seem that its light weight would mean that it's flimsy, but it has survived one year of good use with no breakage. He enjoyed putting things in the small storage compartment, spinning the flap-spinner, and shifting the 'gear lever'. I believe (but without proof) that this toy does encourage walking and did help my son learn to walk while having fun.
It seems like the toy has had a good life, and I do not yet see the time when we'd give it away.The toy is light, which makes it easy to carry (if the need arises). This may be because of its simple design. (I'm sure that there are plenty of other factors. Ugh.
He plays with it for 30 seconds or so and then gets bored. We have had this toy for a while, we got it when my son was about 9 months old, now he's 16 months. I think he has played with it for a total of 15 minutes in all that time. Even when he was first learning to walk, he didn't find it helpful. It really just takes up more space than it's worth.
I admit, our version of this toy is a couple of years old, but as far as I can tell, it hasn't changed. The wheels don't turn well, and in walker mode, it tips over VERY easily. My daughter got hurt a couple of times, and I threw it out. The kids do like the spinner on the back, though.
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