Playskool Sesame Street Smartphone

You know how kids always seem to want to play with the phone/remote/pad but can tell when it's not working (taking batteries out of a remote control does not trick them into thinking it's a real remote). This solves some of that. The fact that the buttons seem to do something keeps the kids entertained. Add the bonus of having recognizable Sesame Street faces and voices makes it hold their attention a little longer. Elmo, Abby, Cookie and Ernie will talk to your child as they press it. When they get older they will realize it's a phone and put it by their ear and talk into it as well. I think it can definitely be used for sometime but I think it will slowly grow out of favor for other more exciting toys. I probably wouldn't recommend it earlier than a year because it is kind of heavy and big for that age. Probably 15-18 months is a good time for them to start playing with it and hit the ground running.

Perfect! I got this to keep in my purse to entertain my 10 and 11 month old grandchildren when we are out and about. They think they have my phone from my purse. It's very cute and if your kids know Elmo or Cookie Monster, and other Sesame Street characters, they will like this toy. The buttons are easy to push and low volume, which I think is a plus when out to dinner. If you get this, keep it in your purse for special times, and they will not become board with it. Of note, even my older grandchild likes to play with it.

Once we started finding the telltale little teeth marks on the backs of our iPhones and iPads, we knew it was time to buy our son his own "smartphone," the cautionary tales of "screentime for children under two" be damned. No--we bought him this "faux" smartphone, and this purchase has been a pretty good one overall. Here's what we like: 1) It's designed like a regular smartphone--rectangular shape, home button in the bottom middle, and nine "apps"--to make your child think that this is his own smartphone. So far, it has kept our child's interest, though he still lunges for our devices sometimes. His interest in our devices has definitely waned. 2) The characters are engaging. Each character says something different, and each character says up to three (or more) different sayings, depending on when you press their buttons. Some of their sayings aren't necessarily grammatical (e.g. Cookie Monster: "me favorite color is blue"; Elmo: "What's your favorite thing to do today?"), but my memory doesn't go far back enough to know if this is in line with Sesame Street, and certainly I'm not worried my son is going to say "me favorite color is _________," at least not through adulthood. (And I just wrote what was probably the worst run-on sentence in the history of mankind, so what was that expression about not throwing rocks if you live in a glass house?) 3) The lights and colors keep our son fascinated for a pretty decent amount of time. 4) The touch screen is quite sensitive, which allows our son to manipulate the touch screen himself--and it seems to amuse him to no end that he's able to elicit these noises from the phone. 5) The phone is quite sturdy. We haven't had any major accidents with it yet, but it looks like it will last. Here's what we'd improve upon: 1) The home button is what activates the nine "apps" on the touch screen. If your child doesn't press the apps frequently enough, then your child has to "reactivate" the touch screen by pressing the home button. This is, of course, all lost on our under-one child; all he cares about is that the Sweet Lil Elmo who was talking to him (ungrammatically) about weekend activities all of a sudden went away. So, as it turns out, the toy ends up being much more mom-and-dad interactive than I hoped it would be. On the other hand, it is supposed to be a toy for older kids, so this is all pretty understandable. 2) The phone is pretty bulky. It's approximately three times the thickness of a regular iPhone, so if the Sesame Street characters belting out ABCs didn't already scream out to your kid that "hey! This is NOT a real iPhone!", then the bulkiness of this toy will definitely give it away. These two things above are minor, however. This toy keeps our little guy entertained--even if only for a few minutes at a time--and he lights up when he hears Elmo "calling" him. For $13, the price is well worth it. A few final notes: 1) We find the noise is perfectly adequate. This is a huge con for lots of other reviewers--maybe they're living in louder houses with more children, which would then make it understandable that they can't hear this smartphone over the din of the other noises in their house, but this phone seems like the perfect volume. It's definitely not quiet enough that I would take it on an airplane or anything like that--it's basically just a regular volume. I actually like that it's regular volume and not loud, both for my child's ears and our sanity as parents. 2) The item description says that there are some small parts that could be a choking hazard for children under three. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not seeing anything like that. Our child is well under one and we let him munch on this phone for snacks in between meals. The battery cover is encased in recessed screws, and I can't see how the home button would pop out. So, if you're looking for this product for a child who is under the age of three, I'm not your attorney, and I'm not your torts attorney, but I can't see why you wouldn't be fine purchasing it.

This is a decent product. It does hold my little one's attention. It seemed to me that she just jabs at the buttons, listens and then jabs some more before the song or message is finished. She was too little for t.v. when we bought her this, but now that she is older I showed her an episode of Sesame Street. To my surprise, she recognized the characters and called them by name. This is her only Sesame Street related toy so it is the only reason she would have known the characters. Based on that, she is paying more attention to the toy than I originally guessed and that makes me pleased to know she actually is learning from it in some fashion. My little one isn't too rough on her toys, but it has lasted several months so it can withstand a beating.

Love this phone for my 10 month old who loves Elmo. My problems with it though are it's SUPER quiet. Like barely able to hear it quiet. And there seems to be some sequence to the buttons and when you can press them. I wish it was more like a free for all that any time you pushed any button it did it's thing. Still like it though.

My toddler enjoys this toy phone. There is only 1 button to press, the lower middle blue one. when you press it - various parts of the screen light up and a sesame street character will talk. you can tap the characters to make them talk or other sounds play. its fun to play with, especially because my toddler loves pushing the home button on my iphone, so now she has her own button to push! i would say it doesn't keep the child occupied for very long because you can go through all the options quickly and its just one button to push, but its good to have as an option mixed in with other toys to play with.

This is a pretty cool and in-depth kids toy. Lots of buttons and options to interact with it. It's pretty close to a real smartphone in appearance, although much thicker so little hands can really get a good grip on it. Our son loves it and it is a perfect distraction at times he'd be going for one of our actual phones. Seems to be pretty sturdy and has survived a number of falls already.

The package says 18 months to 4 years. I bought it for my 5 month old because he is constantly trying to play with my phone, my laptop, my Kindle... (I'm a grad student; he's a lap kid). He's too young to make it do what it was intended to do, but he's happy doing to it what he was doing to my phone - dragging his fingers around it's "screen" and making it light up and make noise. He also likes chewing on it. I read (needs citation) that Fisher-Price still has BPAs in their toys; I'm hoping the same isn't true of Playskool. The screen is really just a flat panel over very sensitive buttons that light-up and control a command. There is one for the alphabet song, one button will count with you (up to 10) every time you press it. You can "call" Elmo, Cookie, Ernie, or the fairy (I'm old school, I don't know her name). And they will have a "conversation" with you or you will get their "voicemail." The weather button cycles through the characters talking about the weather - I like to play when it's sunny, etc... But you have to press the blue button first for it to do any of these other things. Mine is too little to use this without help, but I knew that going into this. Once the blue button is pressed the screen becomes active and will remain live as long as it is being played with - or until someone uses the switch on the back to turn it Off. All in all, I really like this product. I'm hoping the screen holds out for another year or so, so my kiddo can actually play with it as intended. It was a little grubby when it arrived, like it had been banged around in a stockroom for a while, but a little wipe with a damp cloth and it was fine. The manufacturers packaging was very cool - no twist-ties - raffia! I started carrying a pocketknife when my oldest was a toddler because all the toys came strapped into their packages. This one, once you pop the cardboard open, you just remove the tape, untwist the raffia, and feed it through the holes in the back of the phone. Simple, easy, and safer than a knife (I'm a klutz).