Make no mistake, this is a colorful toy that was created with good intentions. It has some neat music and some parts light up.
However, major design flaws outweigh any positives. First, the toy is extremely top heavy. This makes it prone to being knocked over backward and providing it with good potential energy...should it be placed precariously on the edge of a piece of furniture (as toddlers have a propensity to do). Second, the lid barely even opens...unless the lid comes off the main body, which it is prone to do. This, of course, spills the contents and requires an adult to put it back on. Third, the coin-recognition mechanism makes errors, as it judges based on coin size. As with toddlers, sometimes the coin isn't put perfectly into the slot, and it thinks the coin is wider than it really is.
This toy REALLY needs to be re-designed. Make the bottom heavier, allow the box to actually open, and refine how the chest recognizes a coin.
What a shame that baby einstein, a brand that promises (overtly or otherwise) to make your child the smartest thing around, couldn't be bothered to put a little more thought into the design of this toy. I bought it for my son thinking it looked like fun. But once extricated from the packaging (no mean feat, that) it took him about 2 minutes to show me 3 problems. While attempting to put one of the coins in the slot, one of his fingers became painfully caught between the coin and the edge of the slot. He is an infant. His control and coordination are far from perfect. In addition, the chest is very top-heavy since all the features are built into the lid. It's just heavy enough to come down painfully on a little hand (although I doubt it's heavy enough to do any real harm, I'd rather not put it to the test.) Lastly, all of the counting/color/shape identification rely on a switch in the slot that makes a determination based on the size of the coin. If your child is like any child, he's going to put it part-way in, pull it out, and earn himself a false identification of the object, which is, needless to say, somewhat less than helpful for actually helping him learn anything, if that is one of your goals in purchasing a toy like this.
Ok, now that I think about it, it would also be nice if it had a volume control.
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I totally agree with all the reviews on here. This toy is top heavy, and the lid doesn't open very far. However, my child, 18 months, LOVES this toy. We have had it since she was about 6 months, and at that time, she just liked to put the coins in her mouth. At about a year, she tried to put the coins in the slot, but was happy pressing the button on the outside to make the music play. At 18 months, she fully gets it, and it is easily one of her favorite toys.
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We bought this for our son while we were out shopping one day. It has several different coins of varying colors with shapes on them. The chest recognizes which color/shape is being inserted, and will speak that color/shape back to the infant. Whether or not an infant finds this toy to be a fun activity is unknown to me. You see, this toy has a huge design flaw that makes playing with it virtually impossible.
All of the electronics are stored in the lid, making the toy very top heavy. Opening the chest to retrieve the coins inside is virtually impossible for an infant, and difficult for an adult. When my uncoordinated son attempts to open the lid, it simply topples over. Every time. You need to keep a sturdy hand on the base to keep the lid open, which is not going to happen with an infant. It bores him, and it frustrates me. I don't understand why, in 2013, toy engineers would think this design was okay to go to market.
I suppose it's okay if you just dump the coins out, but what infant is going to be able to dump this out, and then return it to a standing position? This things spends more time upside down on my floor anyway.
I'm no engineer, but the first thing that comes to mind is placing the electronics on the bottom. I'm sure that there is some technical or cost-reduction reason for this design decision, but it was made at the cost of the consumer in this regard. They could have even made the bottom heavier to even out the weight distribution, but they didn't.
It's a huge flaw, and I worry about my son hurting himself with this toy somehow. We've been very pleased with the line of Baby Einstein toys, so it's disappointing to see this poorly designed thing on store shelves. I don't normally feel ripped off, but I genuinely wish I could get my money back on this poorly designed thing.
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This toy is so motivating for children to interact with. Great for very little children to work on fine motor, great for all ages to work on communication. Great for older to work on number sets.
This product is very nice. It projects stars onto the ceiling and they change color. They don't move though so it is not something that will distract the little one from sleeping. My 2 year old son loves it too. My only reason for not giving 5 stars is that I can't choose the music easily. It is on a loop and there is only 1 on/off switch for the music loop so you are sort of stuck on whatever is playing. Having said that, the music is nice.
