Bright Starts Start Your Senses Sensory Giraffe

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Product description:

This giraffe toy has four "feet" -- one plush black and white foot, one red plastic ring with smaller black and white rings on it, one red flat textured plastic, and one small round mirror with a black and white rim. The feet dangle from the plush body, the belly of which also has a black and white pattern. The head and body are plush, but the neck is floppy. A wide velcro-closed loop is attached to the head for attaching to other things.



Review:

I have a 6 month old son, and I'm beginning to notice the short timespan many toys are developmentally appropriate for babies. They just grow and learn so fast! This toy is an exception to that rule. We got this as a Christmas present when he was 2 months old, and at first, he mostly just liked to watch it as we dangled it above him. It caught his interest very well, though -- we would just hold it and twist it gently, and because the neck is floppy, the toys would just dangle and swing around -- worked like a charm at stopping a few fussy fits.



We then hung it from the bars of his activity mat, and he really loved batting at it -- the big black and white foot was the best (my husband called it the "hypno-foot" because of the black and white swirl and circle design -- and it hypnotized the baby.) Once he was old enough, he really liked grabbing onto the ring "foot". Now he is teething, and the red flat plastic foot and the mirror foot are great things to chew on. He has outgrown the activity mat somewhat, but likes playing with the giraffe while sitting or during tummy time. I have a feeling he hasn't found the end to it's uses yet!



Very few toys can hold the interest of a 2,3,4,5, and 6 month old (and likely beyond). The fact that this has a nice large velcro loop for attaching to things also means that you can attach it wherever without having to worry about using the plastic ring things -- it can wrap around a carrier handle or a crib rail just as well (which are hard to attach things to with the rings).



Love this way more than the Lamaze giraffe we also have (he has never been too interested in that one) -- so if you're going for a giraffe toy, get this one instead!



UPDATE -- my son is now 11 months old, and loves having the giraffe attached to the bar across his car seat. It worked as a great distraction on some long trips. I think he'll be disappointed when we move him to the next size up car seat and we have no where to hang it!