At the gym…

No, not me (the last time I went was pre-first pregnancy, always under duress) but Florence has been reviewing the Fisher Price newborn to toddler Baby Gym.

It’s a three stage newborn to toddler gym that changes as your child grows.

The first phase is from birth, when they can lie on the mat and play with the hanging toys. The second is for when they’re sitting and the third is the standing and cruising stage, when they can use it to hold on to. It’s made up of a colourful fabric playmat with an animal-themed arch. There are toys that hang from the arch and these can activate music and lights.

Here’s our three favourite things about the gym:

1) The hanging toys. There are three of these – an owl, raccoon and crafty looking fox – and they can also be detached so can be used as separate rattles and teething toys away from the gym.

2) The arch is also a ball run. This is for the later stages of use so not really of interest to Florence yet, but Eliza loves this part. I think it’s great that something so fun has been added to what’s an otherwise functional part of the gym, and it really extends the life of it past the initial stage of use.

3) Space saving. Seems like an odd point, but Eliza had the Fisher Price rainforest gym which is a lot bigger and I was kind of dreading getting it back out (it was fine at the time as we had a giant open-plan living space, but in the new house our front room is a lot smaller). The arch isn’t very wide and the mat folds up, so it doesn’t take up a huge amount of space when not in use.

The only slight negative I have about it is that even on the quieter setting the music is loud, and combined with the lights it could be slightly overstimulating (but you can easily solve this by not turning it on – it does seem like just as much fun to bat the toys around). But it’s colourful and fun, and like everything Fisher Price both my children have a great amount of fun playing with it.

Read our review of the Fisher Price baby chair, Klip Klop Disney Princess Castle and Little People play house. Also, Fisher Price retro Little People (who remembers these from their childhood?)

The Fisher Price newborn to toddler gym costs around £45.