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It’s that time of year again, time to start thinking of gift ideas for all the little ones in your life. One of the hardest things about selecting toys for young children is finding one that is not only age appropriate but catches their attention. In my books VTech has definitely hit a home run in this case. The moment I set the box down in Hazel’s room to set up the Go! Go! Smart Animals Zoo Explorers play set, Hazel was all over it.  Ryan the rough and tough Rhino was already singing and flashing away on the outside of the box. This had Hazel squealing with delight and no matter how fast I went to free him from the box, it wasn’t fast enough.

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This is were I made my first mistake, never ever build toys with your toddler around. Not only are you not fast enough, they enjoy playing with all the parts that you need and start wandering around aimlessly with them. Before I knew it Ryan the Rhino was in the bath tub and the zoo entrance was on the stairs. This is the point where I decided to throw the instruction manual to the side. The pieces do come bagged in several groupings but nothing is labelled. I found it much easier to use the box as a guide and build it exactly as I saw it. Once I used the box as my guide I had the Go!Go! Smart Animals Zoo Explorers set up in no time. Aside from fighting off an eager toddler, the only other “tricky” part was ensuring the stickers were placed in the correct spots and weren’t wrinkled.

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The VTech SmartPoint technology in the Go!Go! Zoo Animals Explorers set allows for interactive learning. As you guide the animals around the track and stop on the smart point resting areas the animals will interact. Each animal will respond with something different at each smart point, such as phrases, sounds and sing a longs. It’s a great way to develop language and motor skills while creating  imaginative play.

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While at fifteen months my daughter has quite grabbed the concept of guiding the animals around the track,  all the lights, sounds and bright colors still  had her entertained for hours.  The set is geared for children between the ages of one and five, and I’m sure we will be guiding the animals along the track in no time.  On a recent trip to our local toy store we added Tyrone the Tiger to our zoo. The Go!Go! Smart Animals offers three different sets, 8 additional animals and an additional track set. All 3 sets are able to conjoin, as well as the additional track.  We’ve had such a great time playing with the Zoo Explorers set so far that we’ve mentioned to a few people that we would love to add another set or a few more animals to our collection for Christmas.

For information on where to purchase the VTech Go!Go! Animals Zoo Explorers play set as well as the additional items in the collection please visit the VTech website.

Disclosure: I received a sample of a product to facilitate my review. No other compensation was provided and all views and opinions stated on this post are 100% my own.

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