Bright Starts Bounce Bounce Baby Activity Zone
- Baby and Toddler Toy Type: Other Baby and Toddler Toys
- Toy Category: Baby and Toddler Toys
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Better than Exersaucer for us
Pros
Cheaper and smaller than Exer-saucer.
Cons
No teething elements. Assembly a little tricky.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you want something small, durable, and will keep your child occupied, this is for you.
When we had our baby, my wife was sure that she wanted to get an Exersaucer (by Evenflo). They're pretty pricey for us (at around $100), but I could see the value to it. Our baby is very inquisitive and easily distracted by little activities. When we were in Wal-mart one day we saw the Bright Starts Bounce Bounce Activity Zone for $40 and knew that this was our answer.
Assembly wasn't too bad. There's a tricky part where it pays to have little fingers to place a screw. Still, it went together very quickly (about 20 minutes). The fabric seat was something of a pain to put on. There are some loops that fit around some plastic fins on a rotating ring. Some of the loops didn't fit easily, but eventually I got the seat on. Also putting together the one battery operated activity was not as intuitive, but in the end the instructions got me through everything I needed to know.
We thought we were sacrificing because this was significantly smaller than the Exersaucer. However, the smaller size has been a huge advantage. It's easy for even our four year old to move it, and yet it's still VERY strong and easily holds our average busting 20 pound four month old. It also doesn't dominate our room.
Our son can sit in this for hours mesmerized by a couple of the toys. He loves the shaker/spinner with the little purple head. I thought he would be drawn to the musical item that lights up, but he still doesn't see any connectio between his pressing on the buttons and the lights and sounds coming out. I'm guessing as he gets older, that will be more interesting to him.
Speaking of longevity, even with our above average sized child, I have no doubt this will hold him for quite a while to come. This is very well built. Even with his abrupt bouncing, Kent can't rattle this thing, nor is there any danger of him toppling over, no matter how big his temper tantrum. This is keeping him safely and snugly inside.
Another nice thing is that the platform (where his feet rest) can be adjusted to three heights for when he gets taller. Right now he's 27" and still on the highest level. He loves bouncing himself up and down. The seat turns around very smoothly, which is another big plus.
Cleaning is very simple. A wet rag usually gets up everything we need to clean. The seat itself is made of a water repellent fabric that's easy to wipe off. We have never had to take off the seat to put in the washer, but it would go, although I wouldn't like the idea of connecting the seat back into the plastic ring.
Finally, this is something without all the bells and whistles, which is WONDERFUL for us. My wife and I don't like toys that make noise, and this one only has one battery operated element that does, and you can turn it off if you don't want to give your little one the option of finding it.
On the down side, this doesn't have any real teething elements. That doesn't keep my son from putting all of it in his mouth, of course. There's also not a good place to put things like Cheerios or other toys. However, we don't want our son to use this as a feeding area. Like most kids, he ends up wearing more of his food than goes in his mouth.
The Exersaucer is more expensive (between $89-110), takes up more room, makes more noise, and just doesn't make as much sense for us. Would we take an Exersaucer if it was free? Absolutely. However, knowing what we know now, I think I'd go with this over the Exersaucer, even if it was a little more expensive than the Exersaucer.
Assembly wasn't too bad. There's a tricky part where it pays to have little fingers to place a screw. Still, it went together very quickly (about 20 minutes). The fabric seat was something of a pain to put on. There are some loops that fit around some plastic fins on a rotating ring. Some of the loops didn't fit easily, but eventually I got the seat on. Also putting together the one battery operated activity was not as intuitive, but in the end the instructions got me through everything I needed to know.
We thought we were sacrificing because this was significantly smaller than the Exersaucer. However, the smaller size has been a huge advantage. It's easy for even our four year old to move it, and yet it's still VERY strong and easily holds our average busting 20 pound four month old. It also doesn't dominate our room.
Our son can sit in this for hours mesmerized by a couple of the toys. He loves the shaker/spinner with the little purple head. I thought he would be drawn to the musical item that lights up, but he still doesn't see any connectio between his pressing on the buttons and the lights and sounds coming out. I'm guessing as he gets older, that will be more interesting to him.
Speaking of longevity, even with our above average sized child, I have no doubt this will hold him for quite a while to come. This is very well built. Even with his abrupt bouncing, Kent can't rattle this thing, nor is there any danger of him toppling over, no matter how big his temper tantrum. This is keeping him safely and snugly inside.
Another nice thing is that the platform (where his feet rest) can be adjusted to three heights for when he gets taller. Right now he's 27" and still on the highest level. He loves bouncing himself up and down. The seat turns around very smoothly, which is another big plus.
Cleaning is very simple. A wet rag usually gets up everything we need to clean. The seat itself is made of a water repellent fabric that's easy to wipe off. We have never had to take off the seat to put in the washer, but it would go, although I wouldn't like the idea of connecting the seat back into the plastic ring.
Finally, this is something without all the bells and whistles, which is WONDERFUL for us. My wife and I don't like toys that make noise, and this one only has one battery operated element that does, and you can turn it off if you don't want to give your little one the option of finding it.
On the down side, this doesn't have any real teething elements. That doesn't keep my son from putting all of it in his mouth, of course. There's also not a good place to put things like Cheerios or other toys. However, we don't want our son to use this as a feeding area. Like most kids, he ends up wearing more of his food than goes in his mouth.
The Exersaucer is more expensive (between $89-110), takes up more room, makes more noise, and just doesn't make as much sense for us. Would we take an Exersaucer if it was free? Absolutely. However, knowing what we know now, I think I'd go with this over the Exersaucer, even if it was a little more expensive than the Exersaucer.
