Mozart Cubed: The Embryonics Mozart Magic Cube

The Embryonics Mozart Magic Cube from Munchkin, Inc. is a fun educational toy that teaches your child the basics of music composition.

The yellow and purple cube measures five inches and has one large button on each face. One button activates a digital orchestra, and the other five activate a piano, harp, flute, violin, and French horn. As your child presses the buttons, the five instruments are added to or taken out of the orchestra. Rhythmic flashing lights indicate which instruments are playing during any of the several classic songs stored in the Magic Cube.

With the Mozart Magic Cube, your child has the ability to customize compositions. Your child may choose to hear the full orchestra or simply a solo. The important thing is that the selections are all up to your child.

This toy encourages development by allowing your child to make choices and immediately see the results of those decisions. This toy is also beneficial because it helps to your child understand that music is not just noise but a combination of multiple instruments playing their own parts.

A negative aspect of the Mozart Magic Cube is the weak quality of the digital music. The sound is very electronic and should be improved. With the electronic technology now available, there is no reason why the Mozart Magic Cube cannot have highly realistic synthesized musical sounds. Hopefully, the manufacturer will invest a little more time in product enhancement and deliver a truly spectacular version of this toy in the future.

Another negative aspect of this toy is that the electronics are a little fragile for a toy. For some reason, little boys love to drop this cube on the floor to see if it will bounce. On good bounce on a tile floor will be more than enough to put your Mozart Magic Cube into a permanent electronic coma.

With the exception of the weak music quality and fragile electronics, the Mozart Magic Cube is a great toy for teaching your child the basics of music. Your child is likely to love it.

Baby Gyms Provide a Workout for the Brain

A baby gym normally consists of arches that extend over a small cushioned play mat. The gym sits on the floor and provides you with a comfortable and stimulating place to lay your baby when you are unable to hold him or her. (The Tiny Love Gymini is one of the best-known baby gyms.)

The important feature of the baby gym is the arches. These arches generally have several holes that allow you to suspend toys over your baby. The suspended toys give your baby interesting objects on which to focus. This helps with the development of eyes and visual processing skills. The suspended toys also provide your baby with objects to bat around with his or her hands and feet. This helps the development of motor skills.

When selecting a baby gym, try to find one in black, white, and red. If you cannot find one with these colors, look for a gym with a lot of contrasting colors and bold patterns.

When setting up the baby gym, suspend the toys in locations where your baby is likely to hit or kick them by accident during normal movement. As your baby repeatedly bumps the suspended toys by accident, your baby will begin to realize that he or she has control over his or her environment, which is a major developmental breakthrough. If you watch carefully and are lucky, you will actually witness the precise moment that your baby realizes that he or she can manipulate objects by moving arms and legs.

Tupperware Shape-O Toy Puzzle Ball

The Tupperware Shape-O is one of the most recognizable toys in the history of developmental products. This odd looking red and blue plastic sphere has long been a fixture of children’s playrooms. We’ve all seen those little yellow shapes scattered across the floor and many of us have had the pleasure of repeatedly opening and closing this contraption for excited toddlers.

For those of you who do not already own a Tupperware Shape-O, here are some of the product highlights and developmental benefits.

The coloring of the Shape-O is a bold palette of primary colors. The sphere is half red and half blue with assorted yellow pieces. These colors contrast well, which makes the toy attractive to small children and simple to use.

There are ten of the yellow pieces. Each piece represents a different shape (e.g., circle, triangle, square, etc.) On the surface of the sphere are ten corresponding holes. The object of the puzzle is to get each piece into its proper hole. This appears to simply be a game, but it is much more. The Shape-O is a tool for teaching the important developmental behavior of matching. As the child matches each piece to its corresponding hole, the child learns to study and compare each shape. By recognizing the differences and similarities between each shape, the child begins to build an understanding of space and proportion. This is a crucial step in developing the ability to interpret and differentiate more complex shapes.

Each yellow shape piece is numbered with digits and a corresponding quantity of dots. The numbers and dots make the Shape-O a helpful tool in teaching the child the concepts of numbers and counting.

The one negative feature of this product is the opening and closing mechanism. To open the sphere, you must pull handles at the poles of the sphere and twist the hemispheres in opposing directions for many rotations. The Shape-O’s red and blue hemispheres will eventually separate just enough for you to turn the Shape-O horizontal and vigorously shake the toy until all of the pieces fall to the floor. To close the empty Shape-O, you must spin the hemispheres in the opposite direction until the toy tightens down and the two hemispheres fit together snuggly. This procedure may sound simple, but you will quickly grow tired of all the work. Once your child masters this puzzle, you will start experiencing conflicting feelings. On one hand, you’ll be happy that your child is getting smarter, but you will grow to dread opening and closing the toy.

The good news is that the Shape-O is worth the effort. It is a wonderful developmental toy that will provide your child with hours of fun and some valuable lessons in shape, differentiation, counting, sorting, and memory.

Oh, and by the way, it’s Tupperware, so when your child’s Shape-O gets dirty (and it will), you can always toss the whole toy (pieces inside) into the dishwasher.

Tiny Love

Tiny Love is a company that produces developmental toys primarily for babies. They offer a nice selection of toys designed to fill specific developmental needs at specific growth stages.

Tiny Love is best known for its Gymini activity gyms and Symphony-in-Motion mobiles; however, they have a full line of products to aid in all of the developmental stages of the first year.

Jump into Learning with LeapFrog

LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. is an educational toy and video company which is widely known for the revolutionary LeapPad electronic interactive reading tool. LeapFrog makes a wide variety of educational toys that promote basic learning skills through casual play. LeapFrog has a line of educational DVDs that teach letters, math, reading, etc. LeapFrog also has education products for children all the through way high school.

Little Tikes Piano Hits a High Note

Through the years, Little Tikes has made several versions of a small piano/xylophone. This product is a good tool for teaching your child about music and the production of sound.

These Little Tikes pianos have large keys that are easy for babies to use. The pianos normally come in four- and eight-key models. The eight-key model contains a full octave and is far superior to the four-key model.

The main disadvantage to the Little Tikes piano is difficult cleaning. Over time, dust and crumbs fall through the keyboard and accumulate in the bottom of the piano. You will have to take the piano apart to do a proper cleaning.

With the exception of cleaning difficulties, the Little Tikes piano is an excellent tool for introducing your child to music and sound production.