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riostoker
08-15-2002, 06:45 PM
My daughter's first birthday is coming up. I'd like to get her some toy she'd really enjoy for her birthday. I don't really have anything in mind, so it can be big, small, expensive, inexpensive, whatever. I'm just wondering what were some of your child's favorite toys when they were 12-18 months. Any suggestions for a real winner for her b-day?

Thanks!

brubeck
08-15-2002, 07:49 PM
My daughter turned one last November and of course then got a ton of presents at Christmas. The toys she got then that she is STILL (8 months later) playing with are:

Neurosmith Jumbo Music Cube (an excellent toy, you can find some real discounts on this if you search online) $50

Leapfrog Alphabet Schoolbus (she isn't even using any of the alphabet quizzes yet, just the music part so it will be with her for a LONG time) $25

Bucket of Megablocks (cheap imitation of Duplo blocks but lighter, she loved this at first as a container she could dump out and later one to sort colors, now she builds huge towers) $10

Reader Rabbit Toddler software (she is growing into this slowly but loves to use the computer by herself and likes the music and cartoons) free with $3 shipping from mail flyer

Board Books (alwasy in style) $various

riostoker
08-15-2002, 09:16 PM
Thanks for the ideas. The Neurosmith Cube and the megablocks were two things I had been thinking about. I have one question about the Neurosmith Jumbo Block though... can you tell me about the music? Is it the type of thing that is really loud and annoying to adults (like the FP Cruise and Crawl Playground)? Or is it pleasing music (like Baby Mozart)? I know that is a subjective question, but I always worry about toys that make noise. Some of them are SO loud and obnoxious! Does it have a volume switch?

brubeck
08-16-2002, 04:52 PM
There is a loud/soft switch on the music block but the soft switch is still loud enough to be heard across the room. You can also turn the music off.

The music is digital quality, and there are singing voices. It's not that the music is tinny and annoying, but if your child plays with it a lot, you will find it repetitive. Everyone deals with this differently. I actually sing along unconsciously with the songs (open the door, it's a rectangle, close the door, it's a rectangle).

I don't know if this is atill going on, but Babycenter recently had the Music Blocks on a good sale (the Jumbo and the regular) so you might want to check out their price.

suzska
08-18-2002, 08:01 AM
Yes, the low volume setting is still a little loud.

If you get the Music Block, you want to invest in a few of the cartridges. We have almost all of them now (everything except the Disney ones, Jazz, and Surf-n-Rocks; we got the Mozart one because we bought the Mozart Music Blocks for Christmas coming up--got a great price from Amazon a few months ago. We tried it out and put everything back in the box to save for Christmas except for the cartridge). Amazon often runs a Buy 2 Get 1 Free offer on the "blocks" as they call them with a special code, but it doesn't look like it's going on right now. The Jumbo Block doesn't come with a cartridge, but has voices that sing a few lines about the shapes on the outside. These do get annoying after a while.

You can also try http://www.neurosmith.com for the following offers:

*Free Disney Cartridge ($20 value) with purchase of two other Disney Cartridges
*Free Nutcracker Cartridge ($20 value) with purchase of Bach Cartridge

Just be aware that the Cyber Cartridge does not work with the Jumbo Music Block--it's for the Mozart Music Blocks. Evan's still too young for the Music Blocks--he just wanted to chew on them, which is why we put it away for Christmas when he will be closer to 2 years old. By "them" I mean the little blocks that you turn around to make the sounds, not the cartridges. But the Cyber Cartridge is really cool if we could get it to work with WindowsXP (we've been having trouble and forgot about it for now since we're not playing with the Music Blocks). Anyway, it lets you download new "blocks" for a few dollars instead of the $20 that the other ones cost.

Having said all that, my favorite blocks are "Sounds of the Orchestra," "Rhythms of the World," and "Bravo Opera Blocks." You can sample them at Neurosmith's site (above).

Oh, yeah, Evan has a bunch of Mega Blocks, too. Right now he likes to hold them up and have us name the color. Sometimes he can pick out a color if we ask him. He doesn't get into building stuff with them so much right now. He's too interested in cars, cars, cars, right now. And books, but that only happened in the past two months or so.

laura_winckler
08-18-2002, 01:26 PM
My son really enjoyed his Little Tykes ride-on car and the Tomy Ball Tower. He still plays with both of those items a year later. We also got him a kitchen with dishes and food; that's also a big hit, although frankly I think that he would be perfectly happy with dishes and food but no kitchen. I would also recommend Mega blocks, which we are getting my son now, but he could have played with them much earlier. They are easier to put together and pull apart than Lego Duplo blocks.

rachelfran
08-23-2002, 11:08 PM
the info on the jumbo music block says that it IS compatible with the cartridges... My son loves the block and when the t.v. is on - the volume on the low setting isn't bad at all - I have other cartridges to use with it but it's still pretty new so we haven't changed the cartridge yet -

suzska
08-25-2002, 11:44 PM
The Jumbo Music Block works with the individual cartridges, that's true. But it DOES NOT work with the Cyber Cartridge. I actually called Neurosmith about this. Evan got the Jumbo Music Block last Christmas, and my brother also bought the Cyber Cartridge because Neurosmith was (and I think still is) offering it for half price. The Cyber Cartridge plugs into a base that hooks up to your computer (I believe with a USB cable, but don't quote me on that--DH is the computer/networking weanie). You then go to the Neurosmith site, pay them a few bucks, and download "blocks/cartridges" that are only available from them and NOT as separate cartridges. There are also 3 free ones. Things is, it doesn't work with the Jumbo Block. It ONLY works with the Mozart Music Blocks, or whatever that thing is called--it's the one that is a white base with red, orange, yellow, green, and blue blocks/cubes that you turn around and arrange in different orders on the base and then press a button to play your creation. Thing is, the cartridge also doesn't support WindowsXP (?--I think that's right--whichever operating system we're using these days), so the thing I have is useless right now until DH has time to sit down and figure things out or Neurosmith updates their software. Which is too bad, because it's a really cool idea, and the new "cartridges" only cost a few bucks.

Okay, I was just at Neurosmith's site, which they've changed all around, and they're calling the Music Blocks, Maestro Music Blocks now, or something like that. And, yes, I know it clearly states that the Cyber Cartridge is not compatible with WindowsXP, but we weren't using XP when we bought it, but we also didn't have the Music Blocks yet, because I didn't know it wasn't compatible with the Jumbo Block. Make sense?

elaine_l
08-26-2002, 05:13 PM
Big hits:

The wagon-of-megablocks - fun blocks, fun wagon - she pulls this around everywhere, puts stuffed animals in it, etc.

A ride-on toy with the push handle behind - we have a tonka dump truck

A See-n-Say (Winnie-The-Pooh)

A Sesame Street saxophone

An Oscar The Grouch garbage truck with the "corn popping" action in back.

A shape sorter (make sure it's hard plastic, not a soft one)

Linda
09-03-2002, 10:55 PM
My toddler will be 2 this month. Two things that have stood out as "favorite" gifts from her first birthday are the Radio Flyer Tiny Trike and the Froggy toybox from Step 2. She still cruises around inside the house on the trike and loves to play in the toy box. (Not to mention that you'll need somewhere to put all of those great new toys :-))

elaine_l
09-04-2002, 06:30 PM
Of course, this week, what my (2 yo) daughter really likes are a set of $1 funnels from Home Depot. :)