Toy Review: Fisher Price Lil' Zoomers Spinnin' Sounds Speedway

I'm going to make a small admission here. There are days when 5:00 hits and I just can not "teach" anymore. I spend the majority of my day monitoring crawling and pulling up, reading books, making animal noises, singing, demonstrating in and out or up and down, pointing out new things or preventing 95% of injuries (don't judge I couldn't prevent all of them unless he was literally glued to my hip...and I fell down the steps with him on my hip last week, so that didn't work out too well either.)

But sometimes...I. Just. Can. Not. Do. Any. More. On those days, I count down the minutes until my husband gets home, drink a cup of something caffeinated and do literally anything to try to get Logan to sit still for 20 minutes.

Enter the toy being reviewed this week:

Fisher Price Lil' Zoomers Spinnin' Sounds Speedway

Logan got this gift for Chanukah and he LOVES the cars. He literally climbed on top of me as I started to open the box because I couldn't get the cars out fast enough. They are one piece with a ball in the center that spins and makes them roll instead of 4 little wheels which makes me feel good about choking hazards and what not. They work really well on the hard wood floor, not so well on the carpet of the playroom.

While he was playing with the cars, I quickly and easily assembled the speedway without even needing the directions (score!) I eagerly turned on the machine and prepared to show Logan how the toy works. Essentially, as the car rolls down the ramp it moves over a button that activates the vortex in the middle to spin around and send the cars circling around a few laps before shooting out the bottom. You can also place the cars in the middle to begin with and pull the red lever to activate the vortex.

When I turned it on to the low sound setting I was startled to hear that the machine was SO loud that you could barely hear the music over the grinding gears, a common Fisher Price problem I am finding. Logan was startled too and immediately started crying and climbing up my body to get away from the toy. However, the minute the sound stopped he started playing with it again.

It took a few tries of mommy and daddy exclaiming with glee for him to dive in and now he constantly tries to climb into the center when it is spinning - which can not be good for the toy. He will happily play with cars watching them spin around or just playing with them on the ground while I wait for Cory to get home. Cory also started to teach him to put other things into the spinner, like his favorite bouncy ball, which he thinks is hysterical.

Ok so onto the ratings... Logan would probably give this 4 stars. The noise still bothers him sometimes and it doesn't keep his attention for too long but it is just plain fun for him. I would give it 3 stars - fun for fun sake, but too loud and there is no real education value. (Sorry Fisher Price, I'm not buying that this think teaches gross motor skills.)

I do think it is good to have a few plain fun toys around and I have friends that say their kids still play with this at 2 years old. Maybe it will grow on me a little more, but unless I'm at the end of my rope -this is more of a daddy-son toy.