Product Review: Friendly Toys Little Playzone with Sound and Lights

As promised, here's my review of the Friendly Toys Little Playzone with Sounds and Lights!

I ordered this bad boy from Amazon.com for $99.99 (with free shipping because I have Amazon Prime) and it was totally worth the money. Our apartment is taking a super long time to babyproof because my landlord's home is old and the renovations they did somewhat haphazard, so we need a safe place for Andrew to play while we continue cutting carpet strings, sealing up random holes in walls, installing window guards, etc. (Grrr.)

A pack 'n play is great and definitely serves it purpose for travel, but I wanted a bigger area for Andrew to be able to crawl around in at home and I wanted to be able to climb in with him so we could play together. The Playzone is all that and more for us. Without an extension pack (available for additional $) the Playzone creates 13 square feet of safe play space which is just about all our tiny apartment can handle. If you have the space, though, you can add square footage with the extensions or even purchase two or more full Playzones (it seems full sets are a better deal for the money.)

Pros: The plastic of the Playzone is sturdy, but not hard so that Andrew cries when he bangs his head on it. It has a built-in activity wall that he loves, with a colorful piano that plays 7 full songs, a mirror, a detachable phone, and more. It also has a locking gate which I don't use at the moment, but which will be handy to leave open when Andrew is older and the Playzone is more of a fort he can go in and out of than a playpen.

Cons: We have our Playzone on top of a foam mat for extra cushioning and the walls seem to slide around a bit when Andrew pulls up on them. The movement is not enough to make him fall, but I can imagine that he'll be able to move the playpen around a lot more when he is older. (The playzone didn't move as much when it was directly on the carpet, but we definitely needed the cushioning.)

Also, two of our walls doesn't connect as tightly as the others. I don't know if this is a design feature for easy disassembly, but it will definitely get interesting when Andrew figures out how to disassemble it himself! Granted, the product packaging warns to never leave a child unattended when in the Playzone...

The verdict: The pack n play is still the safest place to leave your baby when, say, making a much needed bathroom break, but the Playzone is a lifesaver for a mommy who needs to keep an active baby occupied when she needs to check her email and he just won't get his legs in the darn holes of the jumperoo! We have a lot of fun playing in it together, and I don't have to worry that he'll fall over and hit a corner of the wall (we have many odd angles) or knock into the coffee table. Also, I think being able to stand on a solid floor is doing wonders for his standing skills (he pulls up, walks around, and sometimes lets go to balance for a few seconds.)

To put it short: I'm a fan!