We got this for my son when he was less than a year old. Although he couldn't press the buttons at that point, he loved playing with the five hanging pieces(one has a squeaker, one a rattle, one crinkle paper, one purple flowers you can spin, and one a bell). He mouthed these a bit when he was younger as well, which was entertaining to him and slighly gross to me :). He really loved the tunes it plays. Once he was around two, he was able to activate the buttons (a bit tricky) on the five numbers, and be able to make the different sounds play for themselves.
This caterpillar is well padded, and includes a handle to carry it with, and velcro straps to mount it to a crib. The cloth is colorful and appears to be color fast, at least for our kid sucking on it, and the hand-washing we did with a washcloth. The colors are still bright after more than a year of use.
The caterpillar has the numbers one through five sewn onto five different colored segments. There is a button under the middle of each number that you can press to activate sound. The button is relatively easy to depress, it's just a bit hard to find, and mashing down on the stripe overall (as a baby / toddler will) doesn't always work.
Beneath each of the segments is a colorful shape with a picture on it: one bluebird under '1', two butterflies under '2', and so on. The pictures match the 'numbers' version of the songs by showing that many of whatever is sung about.
There are four different modes: numbers, colors, music, and musical medleys.
The numbers mode plays a short song about the number in a friendly voice, e.g. "two little butterflies love to fly, two little butterflies fluttering by. One, two."
Colors mode plays a similar short song about the color, or if pressed a second time, the color sung twice (cooler than it sounds).
Musical mode announces a composer when a button is pressed, then plays a brief excerpt you'll recognize from that composer
Musical medleys plays a longer version of each song without describing a composer.
Pro:
+ the songs, sound, and music are nice, my kid loves them, and they never got on my nerves which is a testament.
+ the toy is well constructed, colorful, and appears very safe for toddlers.
+ a mixture of numbers to keep toddlers entertained and learn the numbers 1-5, pictures of that number of items, and tactile toys to entertain infants. Colors as well. Very educational for a young child's toy!
+ although it doesn't have a volume switch (that I found), it is a reasonable volume.
Con:
buttons are a little hard to find for a kid, who doesn't necessarily think to press the same place an adult does (the center of each number).
This is absolutely a great educational toy!
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