Emma Goodall and her five-month-old son Will tested out Fisher Price’s baby gym offering. Here’s what they thought.
Fisher Price’s Music & Lights Deluxe Gym is packed full of interesting interactive features to keep a baby busy. In fact, “fun is the feeling you take away when looking at the mat,” says Emma, making this one of our best baby gym recommendations.
The gym is extremely colourful, and you can attach toys to the floor mat if your baby isn't yet at the reaching stage.
One of the standout features is a purple, musical toucan that sits on the top of the arch, but there are several other toys included for babies of all ages to enjoy.
“My five-month-old son really engaged with grabbing and twisting to reach the toys and move them in different ways, while a friend’s two-month-old stared happily at the bright coloured items.”
In terms of value for money, Emma rated this for its ability to keep a baby occupied and for its range of toys for different ages. For this reason, we’ve named this our best baby gym overall.
Design
Age suitability: From birth
Emma found setting up Fisher Price’s activity gym extremely quick and easy – in fact, the hardest bit was deciding where to put all the accessories.
The design of the gym is extremely bright and colourful and it has different hanging animals with smiling faces and designs.
“It is very bright!” says Emma. “Whilst I think this is fun and great for a baby it does look very bright and a bit garish in my living room.”
She did, however, find it light and easy to move around – and her baby was transfixed. “My little boy's face instantly lit up under the centre of the gym as he tried to reach the monkey and butterflies,” she said. “I found it simple to pop the toucan on and off the top so we could use it as a focus for sitting practice too.”
Emma found the mat itself easy to wipe clean from the odd bit of spit up and likes that it can be given a proper wash if needed.
Comfort and features
“Something I like about the activity gym is the ability to attach the hanging toys to the floor mat,” says Emma. “This really helped me to get Will to engage in tummy time for longer periods of time.”
The lower loops on the arches enabled Emma to clip toys and encourage Will, who is on the brink of rolling, to play on his side more.
“The biggest surprise is how interested Will was in the large giraffe toy; he happily sits holding the giraffe or trying to tug the leaves out of its mouth,” she adds.
He was also enamoured with the crinkling sound of the noisy leaf on the mat, something that Emma didn’t notice at first.
Value for money
At around £60, this gym is in the mid-to-high price bracket for a baby gym. Cheaper options are certainly available but Emma thinks it offers value for money because it lasts from birth until crawling and keeps her son occupied with a wide variety of different and simulating toys.
Emma considers it well-made and likes the added bonus of a musical toucan. “I found it worth the money to keep my son busy," she adds. “I think this activity mat would be great for a parent who wants to encourage more movement and gross motor skill development,” she adds. “On an extra note, my 3-year-old loved turning the music on for his little brother and dancing around to it!”
For its multiple toys and ability to grow with a baby, we’ve named this Fisher Price gym our best baby gym of all those we tested.
