Baby Einstein Caterpillar and Friends Activity Gym Review
- Posted On November 2, 2019
There’s a ton of activity gyms and playmats out there that could be perfect for your baby. The market is flooded with new products every day, not only in this particular category, but in all of them, and that does not make things any easier.
Newborns
Number of activities: 6
Multi-Sensory Exploration; Sit & Play; Lay & Play; Tummy Time
Thankfully, some companies have a good track record, so you know what to expect from them, and such is the case with Baby Einstein. This is one of the most popular products online when it comes to baby mats, and we’re here to see if that popularity is justified or not.
Baby Einstein Play Gym Caterpillar: The basics
As mentioned earlier, Baby Einstein is one of the best-known names in the business of baby entertainment and development, so we naturally had high expectations when it comes to this Caterpillar and Friends Gym, and we’re happy to report that we were not disappointed.
The mat offers a cozy and soft solution for your baby’s entertainment needs, and it will keep your baby active for a long time. It features six activities your little one can engage in, as well as dancing lights and classical music. The playmat itself is washable and presents some gorgeous bright imagery for your kid to enjoy during tummy time.
The product doesn’t come with a tummy time pillow, though, so you will need to get one of those separately. The star-shaped battery-powered toy really is the star of the show, providing some excellent features like motion-activated lights and a total of eight classical tunes. It is removable too so that you can attach it to any crib, carrier, or another gym, and it will continue to work as intended.
The other toys featured in the gym are also detachable and include a sizeable baby-safe mirror, water-filled teether in the shape of a leaf, frog-shaped rattle with beads, discovery cards showing real images, ring rattle and a plush Dog chime.
What You See and What You Get
As soon as you take the Baby Einstein Caterpillar and Friends Activity Gym out of the box and set it up, you’ll see that you’ve got a high-quality product on your hands. More importantly, you’ll realize that the gym has a ton of potential in terms of entertainment and education for your kid. The product offers a variety of activities with several significant benefits, both physical and cognitive, provided by each.
The gym comes with a soft and large playmat, and the star toy that is included can play classical music and provide a light show. The six activities included can give your baby hours upon hours of fun, and when tummy time comes, there will be plenty for your little one to look at with the colorful depictions of real-life items right there on the mat. It will be easy for your baby to work on their back and neck muscles during tummy time with that sort of stimulation.
Another thing you’ll notice as soon as you unpack this gym is the material of the mat, which is easy to wipe and can go into the washing machine as well. This will be very helpful with a newborn, as accidents tend to happen at this stage of a baby boy’s and baby girl’s life.
How to Use
Babies and exercise are quite an adorable combination. But it can also be amazing what your baby can figure out and accomplish when left to their own devices. Your baby will get exponentially stronger over time, especially if you give them the right tools to achieve that growth.
When you put your little one on their stomach, they will instinctively work to prop themselves up, thus strengthening their back, neck, and abdominal muscles. This position alone will encourage them to try and push the boundaries of what they are already capable of and help them to develop. And with the Caterpillar and Friends Play Gym, tummy time is only the beginning.
The eye-catching soft fabric toys that hang from the arch above will give your baby something to reach for while they are on their back, and the sizeable mat will provide them with plenty of room to move around and explore. As you can see, the possibilities are endless with this product.
Don’t be afraid to bring the activity gym with you when you travel or go for a short visit. It is easy to pull the gym apart and set it up again at another location in a matter of minutes, so it is highly portable. Whether you put your baby down on their tummy or their back, they are going to get a lot from the experience.
The mat will provide something to look at and keep them interested in trying to push themselves up, while the hanging toys will have them trying to sit up so they could play. Either of these exercises will be very helpful for your little one physically, but the gym provides cognitive stimulation as well, in the form of the baby-safe mirror, giving them a look at themselves, or the singing and flashing star, which will give your kid a refined taste in music with its classical melodies.
Buyer's Guide
PROS
- Easy to clean
- Highly portable
- Movement activated
- Cute and engaging toys
CONS
- The material of the mat doesn’t provide much traction, especially when wet
- Small for older babies
Advantages
Babies come into this world ready to grow, learn, and explore from the first moment of their life. As parents, we understand our role to protect, nurture, and feed them on an intuitive level. But we also know that we need to guide and teach them. For the majority of human existence, we didn’t have access to the tools we have today to help our kids become the best versions of themselves.
Play gyms belong in this category of newly developed tools we have at our disposal, and the Baby Einstein Caterpillar and Friends Activity Gym is a shining example of that development. Play gyms are becoming increasingly popular because of their ability to assist your child’s development, and this particular gym is highly equipped to do so as well.
One of the most important things it will provide help with is the muscle strengthening of your little one. Because there is such a cute and colorful play mat, tummy time will be a breeze, allowing them to work on their six-pack from day one. This will eventually lead to their ability to sit up, roll over, and crawl.
Another critical aspect of development your baby can gain from this product is hand-eye coordination. As their sight develops, the shapes, textures, colors, and toys will become clearer, and they will practice reaching and touching them, thus working on their depth perception as well.
Disadvantages
There aren’t many disadvantages to speak of when it comes to this excellent baby gym, but no product is perfect, so we will point out some of the issues with the Caterpillar and Friends Activity Gym. Probably the main disadvantage of using this playmat, and any playmat, in general, is the issue of cleanliness.
When you concentrate your child’s play area to a small space like this, you increase the chances of the area getting populated by germs or bacteria. This is why it’s so great that his particular product is so easy to clean and keep sanitized, and you should make sure to do that as often as possible.
Another thing that could be an issue is the fact that this gym is not going to be large enough to accommodate your baby once they get a bit bigger, so you will probably need to find something else to keep them occupied or simply get another more extensive gym.
By this point in their life, though, they will have a more pronounced ability to socialize and spend time with other children or adults, so we’d recommend focusing on that when they outgrow the Baby Einstein gym.
To Conclude
For any parent looking for a balance between functionality, durability, and entertainment, this gym will be an excellent purchase. It offers a great way to educate your little guy or gal while keeping them captivated and engaged at every moment. It is also made of durable polyester, which is going to be easy to care for and clean, and it has a durable and robust frame, so it has the potential for long-term use.
Catherine is a writer from Canada who simply loves toys, collectibles and superhero figurines. Writing is her passion, but she also loves reading, enjoying her “me time” and finding new ways to improve her work and ways to entertain the readers.
Menu:
About us: