VTech - Rhyme and Discover Book

We got two of these Vtech Rhyme & Discover Books for our twins last Xmas (December 2008), and they played with these at least half an hour at a time, several times a day. At 10 months later the kids (now a little over 2 years old) still play with them regularly, anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes a day, sometimes more.

The books have been smeared by sticky hands and wipe clean well, and they have been dropped countless times without damage.

Just recently, 10 months later, we have changed the batteries (two AAAs) in one of the books, and the other one is still going on the batteries that came inside it.

The pros are:

*Price (you get lots of bells and whistles for this amount of money) and batteries included

*Durability

*Cleanability

*Visually interesting (Four panels or "pages," for a total of seven different pictures/sides to look at, plus a couple of two-sided movable pieces that make sound effects, and three light-up "tab" buttons in the shape of a lamb, kitten and puppy, each with their own sound effects)

*Huge musical variety -some songs have a couple bars of vocals and some are just instrumental

("Ring around the rosie," "Twinkle twinkle little star," "Mary had a little lamb," "Little Bo Peep," "Hey diddle diddle," "Bingo," "Three little kittens," "This is the way we ...," "Old McDonald had a farm," "The farmer in the dell," "Rockabye baby," "This old man," "London Bridge is falling down," "Three blind mice," "Sur le pont d'Avignon")

The cons:

*The on-off switch has two volume choices, but the louder option is a little too loud for young ears. The lower volume is fine, and it would be nice if toy makers would put the volume switch somewhere less accessible to the child. My kids, and the ones I've babysat, all seem to like to crank the volume to the highest setting, and the highest setting seems as though it has the potential to damage hearing over the long term. (This is a problem with many toys, and not unique to this one.)

*It would be nice to have the entire song for some musical selections (you get only part of the song and not all the lyrics either), but it's not a huge minus considering how many songs are included

Overall, based on my kids' experience with this toy, I would recommend this to my friends and/or give as a gift.

Update October 2010: These books are still in the toy box rotation and going strong in spite of many falls to the floor and some banging on the play/train table. We changed batteries again, so in total one book has had its batteries changed once and the other has had batteries changed twice. Now that the kids are 3 years old, they don't play with these books as much, so we're getting ready to hand these down to a younger cousin.

The Vtech Infant Learning Rhyme and Discover Book brings together two of our daughter's favorites books and music. While the book is only 6 pages it does provide a variety of songs and sounds. There are things to grab and pull and colors that light up! Our daughter loves playing with the book, and unlike a traditional book it does not get soggy when she tries to eat the pages!

Features-

It focuses primarily on three animals Dogs, Cats, and Sheep

Plays a variety of songs such as BINGO, Mary had a Little Lamb, Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star, Little Bo Peep, and Three Little Kittens.

Two volume settings

Lights in Red, Yellow, and Blue

Each animal makes the appropriate sound

As others have mentioned it easy to clean sticky fingerprints are easily cleaned

Durable it can be dropped without too much fear of damage

Someone mentioned that the red light contains lead... but I am not so sure it poses a risk. Outside of that there is not much chance of child getting hurt from this toy.

Final Verdict Our daughter loves the Vtech Rhyme & Discover Book It provides catchy tunes, flashing lights, and stories what more could you want?

5 Stars

Buy VTech - Rhyme and Discover Book Now

I was about to purchase this book for my son for Christmas, but checked it out on the website (where they test different products for lead, bromine, etc.) and the red head tab on this book has low levels of LEAD. Even if its low levels, any level of lead is BAD....so I just wanted to give parents a heads up.

Read Best Reviews of VTech - Rhyme and Discover Book Here

Our 11 mo. old Daughter was playing with the vtech nursery rhyme book, the one with the lamb, cat,& puppy on it, while she was in her pack 'n play. I just happened to look over at her and she had a funny look on her face and was mouthing something. I thought she had a bit of fuzz or something in her mouth because she had nothing but a couple of toys with her in the pack n' play. I was horrified when I pulled a piece of plastic with very sharp jagged edges out of her mouth. I had no idea where it came from until I looked closer at the vtech nursery rhyme book and realized that the paw of the kitten button, that lights up on the side, had broken off. The piece was so sharp I know it would have really hurt her if she'd swallowed it. We are following up with vtech to let them know that the animal buttons on the side are not secure.

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This is one of those toys that grandparents buy and you are the parent are stuck with! The voice is very annoying and it's not really educational either. They only read half of the "story" on each page, which doesn't really make sense either. Overall, pass this one up and use your money on something else.

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