Leapfrog Counting Candles Birthday Cake Review
My daughter received this as a gift for her 2nd birthday. I think that is the perfect age for this toy, although my older kids (3, 5, and 8) have all had some fun with it, too! My two-year old does need some help blowing out the candles sometimes, but she absolutely loves this little cake! She is at the age where she just loves singing the birthday song, so this present was a great choice for her!
What I like:
1. You press the button and each time you do, a candle lights up. So, you can light just one candle, or two, or all five...it's up to you. When you have the number of candles lit that you want, just wait a second and if you don't press the button again, the bday song will start. My two year old likes to press it until all 5 candles are lit (even though she is 2!), and she counts out loud along with the little voice coming from the cake.
2. It's cool that while the song is playing, you can press the buttons to hear cool sounds and fun melodic variations thrown in. I love that if my daughter starts pushing buttons during the song, it just adds to the fun of the song, but finishes! I get so tired of toys where a push of a button stops something right in the middle to go on to something else! Little kids love pushing buttons over and over, so I think whoever designed this, did it RIGHT! Thank you!
3. The best thing about the cake is that you can actually "blow out" the candles (via a little grouping of holes in the middle of the cake). And the cake says "Yay!!" after you do, which my kids love and join in on.
4. It has a volume adjustment. (Parents always LOVE to be able to control the volume a bit!)
5. It is little! I love that it is little, which means my 2-year old can pack it around easily and it doesn't take up much room on a shelf.
What I'd like better:
1. The birthday song is instrumental and it is just plain too fast for its target audience (approx. 1-4 yr. olds) to keep up with as they try to sing along. When we sing for birthdays at our house, we always slow down/pause slightly after saying the name, before singing the final "Happy birthday to you." (Most people I know do the same thing.) In the instrumental melody the cake plays, not only is it too fast all the way through, but it doesn't slow down or pause at all at that point in the song. I wish it did and I think it'd be better if the whole song was slowed down a bit. The little ones would be able to sing along with it better.
2. I actually like that there is an instrumental version of the bday song, but I think the toy would be better if there was also an option to have the bday song with KIDS singing. Of course, they wouldn't be able to sing a name, but they could hum in that spot, then finish the song. I say KIDS, because my children (and I think most are the same) much prefer their music and musical toys that have kids voices singing over the ones that have grown-ups voices doing the singing. Plus, I think with kids singing, the song would've been recorded at a more appropriate speed for little ones to sing along with.
3. To me it's a little odd that the "cake" is blue. (I know, it could be blue frosting!) This is not really important and I know kids couldn't care less, but just to me personally, I'd have liked it better if the cake was yellow.
Overall though, I think this is a very cool, fun little toy.
Leapfrog Counting Candles Birthday Cake Feature
- Press the star button for a birthday party anytime, complete with light-up candles and singing
- Blow on the candles and watch them go out--just like on a real cake
- Press the balloon button to sing along to a counting song or 5 fun songs about growing up
- Hear children's thoughts on the best things about birthdays
- Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog Learning Path for customized learning ideas and insights from LeapFrog
Leapfrog Counting Candles Birthday Cake Overview
Make every day a birthday! Five candles light up one by one, and children can blow them out, just like on a real cake! Sing along to a counting song, five songs about growing up or add birthday lyrics to an instrumental tune. You can also listen to children's thoughts on the best things about birthdays.
Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog® Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand the learning.
Learning Skills:
-Counting
- Music
- Pretend play
- Motor skills
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 07, 2010 21:37:34
