Hi and welcome to the first, but Tommy’s Toys hopes not the last, review of J’s toy of the month. It’s pretty definitive whether a child likes a toy or not…do they play with it and do they enjoy playing with it? J has been taking full advantage of her Tiny Love play mat since we bought her home from the hospital.
Certainly her enjoyment of the Tiny Love play mat has increased dramatically since she started grabbing and pulling at things and I think there is still a lot of scope for growth; as she becomes more and more mobile and interactive with her environment. Even as a really young baby she has enjoyed lying on the mat looking at all the fun animal friends hanging around her. Once she realised she could kick some of them she’s never looked back!
Baby Play Mats
While Tommy can only comment on this particular play mat – the Tiny Love Gymini Super Deluxe Activity Gym, we would highly recommend any high quality play mat for your baby. Different models have different features but the main thing is that there are plenty of different elements to keep them interested and entertained. These play mats have, for us, been a great barometer of Juno’s development, many of the things we see her do for the first time happen on her play mat. Kicking things, reaching for objects, turning herself, trying to crawl she is encouraged to do all these things on her play mat. As a video review Tommy now realises the footage is heavy on J and pretty light on the mat itself! Sorry about that, I’m sure future reviews will improve. So let me run through the features included.
Swinging Animal Friends
There are four animals in this Tiny Love jungle play mat. The Elephant that can be pulled down on its vibrating retractable cord (J’s still a little bit young to get the most out of this at four months). The (cheeky) monkey, which was the first friend that J got a good grip on. The Parrot (evil we’ve decided in our family) gets J very excited and is now eaten on a regular basis. And finally the giraffe, who’s getting a bit of a rough ride at the moment, with J tugging for all she’s worth at the giraffe’s legs!
The Music The music has two settings, the obligatory Mozart and various nursery rhyme tunes. The music is the most disappointing feature of these play mats. The Mozart is terrible and will drive you round the bend, while the nursery rhymes are too short. However there is a pressure pad within the pad that means your child can activate the music when he/she smacks a certain area of the mat. Clearly this is a useful educational tool for babies.
Other Features There’s also a mirror that, starts to become interesting at a certain age, and a little squeaker in one of the birds. The mat its self is washable (just as well) and fairly well padded, although we have chosen to put a further soft quilt under J’s play mat. We really value this Tiny Love play mat as a place where J can entertain herself while we get on with other house hold chores and as a place where she can really explore her boundaries! An essential toy for babies in Tommy’s opinion.
