Baby Einstein Color Kaleidoscope

There is a lot of discussion and controversy at the moment, about whether marketers are capitalizing on parental fears (much of it fueled by our present economic insecurity and worry that our children will be far worse off than us) and pushing unnecessary toys and gizmos on children designed to give them a purported edge in the classroom and in life. I have to admit that we have seen our own Destiny Baby do well while Travel Gift Series“>traveling, with ordinary, every day objects. In fact, he got some of the most fun on the road out of the country, while kicking around empty family-sized plastic bottles. Literally, hours of fun. Still, we do selectively buy toys that we think will help stimulate him and help him reach developmental milestones. We created this site, in fact, as a way to document publicly our attempts to get the best educational learning toys in hopes of sharing and learning from others.

So, we got our son a Baby Einstein Color Kaleidoscope when he was about 6 months. It was maybe a little early, as he couldn’t manipulate the squeeze handles on his own yet. But he enjoyed the music, recorded voice reciting the names of colors, and flashing colors. Before he was a year he could manipulate the squeeze handles, which he would do randomly, making the device say, “Red!” or “Green!”. By around 15 months I saw he started to use it with purpose. He would squeeze particular handles to get the color he wanted. The best moment for us, was the first time, he said, “Red!” before the device did, correctly naming the handle he wanted to squeeze. We read, go for walks, and review colors in other ways, but it is possible that he picked up some of his color knowledge from this toy.

The biggest pros: The toy is practically indestructable. Our toddler has thrown, dropped, banged, bitten, and otherwise run it through the gauntlet, but it looks the same as the day we bought it over a year ago. Also, the electronic voice that recites the names of colors is clear, to me, compared to other talking toys.

Bonus feature: When you squeeze two handles together, the device flashes and says the name of other colors! (e.g. squeeze red and blue to get purpose, yellow and blue for green, and so on.)

Cons: It’s a little heavy, and can be used as a weapon. We had to get on our son a few times when he wanted to throw it…it could hurt someone. Used as directed, though, and you’ll have no problems.

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