Which Ball Track for 1 year old?

[kristac]

I'm totally torn on which Ball Track to get DS2 for his 1st Birthday. (He has a 3.5 year old big brother that I'm sure will want to play as well)

Wood: Pros- beautiful, heirloom, higher quality, I like the idea of less plastic toys, Made in Europe ?
Cons- Cost, possible storage for heirloom

Plastic: Pros- Cost, some have the ability to rearrange pieces so more versitle
Cons- not as nice to look at, mulitiple pieces to remove/get lost, more plastic, Made in China?? (anyone know?)

Anyone have any of these? What can you tell me about the size/quality/ play value?

Opinions from non owners welcome as well

Selecta: $56


Haba: $75



Tomy: Ball Party Bounce- $23



Discovery Toys: Castle Marbleworks- $36
this one you can rearrange the layers.


Also is if I get one of the ball tracks above is the Selecta Battino redundant?

[brittone2]

No personal experience with the others, but we have the Haba one and my DD *loved* it at that age (she's 18 months and she and 4 year old DS still enjoy it).

We had friends come visit from out of town a few weeks ago and their almost 1 year old loved, loved, loved the ball track too.

[94bruin]

We have an older Haba one that is pretty simple. Dd got it as a gift around age 1. She just turned 3 and still plays with it. I love the simplicity of it. Most kids that come over will play with it, regardless of their age.

At Dd's new school, they have a set of the Discovery Toy ones. While I've only seen her play with it once, she seemed to enjoy it. However, I don't think it's appropriate for a 1 yo. (Esp since the ball is pretty small, and easy to choke on.) Plus they would need lots of help with setting up a track. A fixed track is easier to deal with. I figure that if she's still into it in a year, I may spring for a Quadrilla.

[veronica]

Your post got me thinking that I have nothing for DS's 1st birthday except all of DD's hand me down toys. I never really saw any of the ball tracks you showed but loved them and started looking on the net because I just can't believe how expensive the wooden ones are.

I came accross this one at fao and it might strike a good balance of what you are looking for. I picked one up for DS and shipping was only $5.50. It is so much less than anywhere on the net, all wood, made in Germany and looks like fun.

HTH.

https://www.fao.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=10416

[baileygirl]

We have the Haba ball track and the one posted before me from FAO. DS likes both of them, but I like the one from FAO better. Mainly because I am always worried about losing the balls for the Haba Ball Track (it comes with several), which isn't as much as an issue with the second one. I don't think it would be redundant to get the Selecta Battino since that is a pounding toy.

[traciann]

we have the discovery toys castle marbleworks. its awesome! i bought it from a resale shop when dd was around 1 and she was able to enjoy it then. I have had kids as old as 6 over playing with it as well, so I think it has a longer lifespan than some of the others shown. I bought an extra set of balls for 5 bucks and its fun having the extra balls.

[vludmilla]

We have the Haba ball track and DD has loved it. She received it at about 14 months and she is now 22months old.

[traciann]

I am glad you like it! It really is a great toy.

[cca]

we have the selecta. Both my kids (dd 3 1/2 and ds 18months) love it and play with it on a regular basis. The balls are fairly large and works out great since everything ends up in ds's mouth. We're going to wait till he's older and then maybe get one of the marble runs.