As my son is a huge animal fan, I found myself not able to decide whether to buy him the Fisher Price Little People A to Z Learning Zoo Playset or the Fisher-Price Little People Zoo Talkers Animal Sounds Zoo. Ultimately, he ended up getting the first from us, and the latter from his grandparents, but I thought I would mention some of the pros and cons of each.
Animal Realism: This definitely goes to the Zoo Talkers. While they both look cute, the Learning Zoo animals look far more "cartoony" than those for the Zoo Talkers.
Sound Quality: In my opinion, this is close. I think the Zoo Talkers has slightly richer, better sound, but they are both decent for a child's toy.
Box Accuracy: Tie. The box for the Learning Zoo shows a nice, translucent blue for the waterfall yet actually came as a far cheaper looking solid light blue; the box for the Zoo Talkers shows a zookeeper, polar bear, lion, and monkey yet comes with a gorilla instead of a monkey (which is mentioned on the back of the box, but this is very easily overlooked when purchasing online). They also curiously sell the gorilla separately (hence how we ended up with 2), yet don't even currently offer a monkey.
Expandability: Zoo Talkers wins here, but only because the Learning Zoo already comes with a full compliment of 26 animals. The Zoo Talkers currently allows you to expand the set with the Safari Truck and lion cub, penguin, seal, alligator, bear, dolphin, tiger, rhino, ostrich, elephant, gorilla, orangutan, flamingo, hippo, as well as zebra/leopard/whale bundled each with a book. Naturally this also adds to the cost of the product though.
Price: The Zoo Talkers wins in initial cost, but I doubt many children would be content with only the 4 figures that come with it. Once you factor in the cost of additional animals, the Learning Zoo becomes pretty competitive.
Educational Value: Definitely the Learning Zoo. The Zoo Talkers only does (at this time at least) the name and sound of a few animals, while the Learning Zoo does the name of the animal, the sound, and the first letter of the name for all 26 animals included (one for each letter of the alphabet). In addition, the Learning Zoo also has a button that quizzes on the various animals and sounds.
Quality: Zoo Talkers wins here. Once assembled, it is nice and sturdy with an "ice arch" that doubles as a handle to easily transport the play set. The Learning Zoo has the speaker/main play section attach to the mat, but the other parts are merely attached by clipping them by means of the fence only. This fence is easily disconnected and younger children will require an adult to reattach the parts for them, and any attempt by a child to move the play set will necessitate the reattachment. I wish the Learning Zoo was also more of a "one-piece" construction.
Quality Control: In our case the Learning Zoo wins here. All functions of the Learning Zoo worked upon arrival, whereas one animal for the Zoo Talkers arrived visibly defective and consequently didn't work.
Function: Tie. With the Learning Zoo, if the mat is not completely flat (as is to be expected to happen if used on carpet) an incorrect sound/name may be given when pushing a button. I have found this happens fairly often forcing me to carefully try and spread the mat out. In time the crease from shipping should decrease which may help with this. With the Zoo Talkers the animal has to be pushed down fairly straight in order to get the sound to work which may be difficult for younger hands. I've also had the base give an incorrect response several times (will make the wrong sound or give the wrong name) which I would assume happens if the animal isn't pushed on quite right (I've even had it make the lion cub sound/name and we don't even own that). ***Edit 11/29/11 Now that my son has had this for a few weeks my initial impression of the Learning Zoo was correct in that the mat has indeed flattened so that it now rarely gives an incorrect response when one of the buttons is pushed. My son (he just turned 2) still gets a surprisingly number of incorrect responses when using the Zoo Talkers when he doesn't push the animal down correctly. It is hard to subtract a star for this as I cannot duplicate the errors so it is something that no doubt will not continue once he gets coordinated enough to put the animals on a little better. It is disappointing though as this set is meant for his age range and I find it hard to believe that other toddlers don't suffer the same issues (and shouldn't something have been done about this during quality control testing prior to manufacturing?) Consequently, I now think that the Learning Zoo pulls ahead in this category.***
Fun Factor: For my son this is definitely the Zoo Talkers at the moment. He loves pushing the various animals down the slide, tipping the one platform causing various animals to land on the slide, putting the animals on the platform to hear the sounds, etc. The Zoo Talkers has a good mix of activities to entertain, whereas the Learning Zoo obviously focuses more on the educational aspect which I decided to rate separately.
Overall they are both great products in their own way and I don't regret that my son has both of them as they excel in different ways. I do find the choice of "sounds" that Fisher Price made for some of the animals rather curious though (only the alligator is currently available for the Zoo Talkers so the rest only applies to the Learning Zoo). I can understand using the sound of splashing water for the x-ray fish, but I (incorrectly) assumed that the animal sounds would all be vocalized sounds rather than clopping hooves (for the zebra), and chomping/eating (for the alligator, camel, koala, and giraffe). I am also disappointed that the lion and the tiger sound the same in the Learning Zoo, although they are different for the Zoo Talkers.
I have two little girls, a 7 1/2yr old and a 1 1/2yr old. My older daughter was the first grandchild on both sides and received many gifts as a baby/toddler. I think we owned every Little People toy out at the time. One of her favorites was the Fisher Price A to Z learning zoo, she loved all the different animals and it really helped her learn her letters as well. I was really disappointed when I saw it was discontinued and that this replacement only came with a few animals instead of the 26 that came with the other.
My disappointment ended though when I opened this up. It's extremely cute and filled with fun options (slide, swing, etc), it's a really nice size (my toddler likes to pick up smaller toys and drop/throw them this is big enough that she doesn't try) it also has a built in handle which I like to quickly move it when vacuuming etc.
My only issue with it is that it only comes with a few animals and while you can buy more animals if you check they are currently selling for 1/4 of the price of this set EACH. I hope that the price comes down on the extra animals or they are offered more affordably as a set together. The good news is your little one likely won't know or car either way if they don't have all the extra animals, as I type this my toddler is giving megablocks rides down the slide .
Buy Fisher-Price Little People Zoo Talkers Animal Sounds Zoo Now
My grandson loves his Fisher-Price Little People A to Z Learning Zoo Playset. That set comes with 26 animals and, in addition to "saying" the animal's name and making its sound, that toy gives the letter with which a particular animal's name begins. Naturally, when I saw this Little People Zoo Talkers Animal Sounds Zoo, I immediately thought of his coming birthday and how much he would enjoy this toy.
Like other Fisher-Price products, the Zoo Talkers Animal Sounds Zoo is colorful and well-made. The plastic seams are smooth and pose little chance that a child will be scratched or cut themselves while playing. The animals are cute depictions of the real thing. The jungle environment/scene provides numerous opportunities for imaginative play; I particularly liked this feature. On the downside, the fact that the animals only make sounds adds little to the educational value of this product. Additionally, since little ones are likely to become enamoured of the one animal sound you find most annoying, you may live to regret your purchase!
I found the cost to purchase the add-ons which would "complete" this toy offputting. If one goes to the Fisher-Price website, the 8 figures and the three figure/book combinations offered total $43.99, including shipping. Tax is also charged. The Safari Truck, which Amazon offers, is more expensive at the Fisher-Price site since they charge shipping and tax.
This may appeal to the lower end of and to less mature children at the upper end of the recommended age range. However, I felt it had less educational value than the Learning Zoo and was less appealing overall. Further, the additional monies to "complete" the set and not something I feel is welcomed by parents and grandparents. It is for these reasons that I gave this product only four stars.
Read Best Reviews of Fisher-Price Little People Zoo Talkers Animal Sounds Zoo Here
If you buy this toy, just be aware that there will be no monkey at the zoo. The picture on the box shows a monkey swinging from a tree but it will not be inside your box. This was unfortunate for me because I wanted it as a Christmas present for my monkey-loving 18 month old granddaughter. Good thing I read other reviews and found out about this little snafu before Christmas morning!
Fisher Price substituted a gorilla in its place. I wrote to the company and their response was that Yes, there is no monkey.
The company sells single, 'additional' animals to add to your zoo, since it only comes with three. Among these extra animals you can purchase is a gorilla. Why are they selling gorillas separately when one already comes with the zoo?
It is all very confusing and I have an ethical issue with the company's willingness to deceive buyers. I am busy looking for another play zoo that really does come with a monkey.
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This set is first off much bigger than I expected from the box, but then not too big its obnoxious. It is about two feet by two feet and has a nice carrying handle to take it room to room or easily turn it around to play with it on the flip side. Once I opened the box I was worried it was going to be a project to put together but it pretty much all snaps together except for three screws. I had it together in about ten minutes, and I did have to install three batteries, which were not included.
The Little People Zoo Talkers Animal Sounds Zoo is for ages 1 ½ to 5 years old, and my 3 and 4-year-old sons love it. There is so much to do, both front and back that my boys didn't feel crowded with both of them playing. The set makes so many different noises, not including the music or speech about the animals. There are squeaks, twist noises, clicks and more. My boys are just so excited each time they play with it to make as much noise as they can! There is a slide, swing, twisting leaf, peek-a-boo door and little spots to put the animals.
The only thing I was disappointed with was that the set only comes with three animals and a zookeeper. It is enough for two-three kids to play with but I would like to have more animals. Luckily, there is a total of nine other animals you can purchase to play with in the set that I am sure I will be adding to ours.
Overall, the playset is very colorful, bright and is a great size. I was impressed with all the sounds and interactions you can make and my boys love it. They played with it for a good hour right when we set it up and then played with it again a few more times throughout the day and since then. They even found other random animals and figurines to play with and even put their cars on the waterslide! As far as educational aspects go, I like that my boys can see how the different animals live (North and South Poles, Jungle, and Water regions. I would recommend this playset for any child and it will definitely grow with your child as it is fun for all ages!
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Let me start by saying my kids LOVE this toy. They adore the Wonder Pets. However...FP did not engineer this toy well at all. The flag pole, the tree, and the slide come off so easy!! In fact, it's a pain. My kids are two and three and every 10 seconds something falls off, then I hear "Mommy, this broke, please fix it!" I plan on putting some glue under the tree and the flag pole so it doesn't come off. I gave it three stars because the kids are enjoying the school house, but if it weren't for that I would really give two stars because all the parts come off. I "wonder" why they didn't notice it during testing!
