VTech Activity Table – Toy Reviews By Dad

Being the responsible parents that my wife and I are, one of the first toys we bought our son was the VTech Touch and Learn Activity Desk. You know, we wanted to be those parents that made sure their kids had learning toys scattered all over the house. The good news for us is that our son decided that he really liked this toy. VTech did a great job making this an educational toy, but an educational toy that kids will really enjoy playing with. There are some great features to this toy that we want to share, as well as all the fun personal experiences we have experienced with our kids enjoying this VTech Activity Desk! So, here it is our VTech Touch and Learn Activity Desk review! Enjoy! Quick VTech Touch and Learn Activity Desk Review Let's start with the basics. This toy comes with the activity desk and a small stool. You simply attach the four legs to the desk and the four legs to the stool and boom - they are ready to go. This will literally take a matter of seconds and will even be easy enough for your child to do when they eventually knock the legs out of either the desk or the stool. The desk part of the table has a built-in alphabet game where you can push button and learn about letters or do a "find game" where the table gives you a hint and you need to solve the clue by hitting the right button. This table also has a built in clock, a music mode, and a little light up screen that will teach kids how to trace letters. There is so much to do just with the basics of the desk. If you flip the desk top part open, there is a chalkboard kids can write on, or it becomes an easel with a little clip that will hold paper for art time. There are even slots on the side of the desk you can put art materials into....or even use them as a cup holder. Besides all of these great features, there are also four different activity cards that can be slide into the desk to activate other activities. These cards are double sided and feature a musical instrument page, a classroom page, a human body page, an underwater page, a city page, a numbers page, a farm page, and a seasons of the year page - all with their own different activities. I was also amazed at how much abuse these cards can take. My kids were not easy on them and they still work years after we originally bought this toy! Here are some of the highlights of this toy listed by the manufacturer: 160+ Vocab words kids can learn30+ Learning Activities20+ Popular Melodies4 Learning modes (such as search & find)9 Learning PagesIntended for Kids Ages 3-6 All of these highlights are great, and I'll even tell you that my child likes to pretend this is his school desk if he is playing school with friends, or his work desk if he is playing work - there is just a lot of fun stuff this toy can do! We should also note these toy desks come in two different color schemes, a purple one and a green one. Overall, we have had some great experiences with it, but we also got to list some of the adventures we have seen from this toy in the Annoyance and Danger scale sections! Parent's Annoyance Scale In theory, there really shouldn't be much to this toy that annoys parents. Sure, it makes a lot of noises and sings a lot of songs, but that is all stuff that we can deal with. It is the unexpected things that surprised us. For example, our boys taking off the legs of the stool or the desk and hitting each other with them. I don't know if most kids do that, or if it is a boy thing, or a parenting fail by us - but we couldn't believe they would do that. We have also found our toddlers trying to jump off the stool or the desk, which is always an adventurous thing. However, the benefits of this toy completely outweigh the annoyances. The learning they achieve, the fun they have, and even the unexpected games they create like this toy becoming a school desk or a work desk make this toy get a 3 out of 10 on the Annoyance Scale. The Danger Scale Overall, this is a really safe toy. VTech builds their toys to be safe. Unfortunately, my kids like to do wild things that nobody would expect. Like we listed above, our children have taken out the legs of the stool and desk to use as a baseball bat. And they have tried to jump off said desk.... On the other hand, there aren't any small pieces, no choking hazards, nothing that should be dangers for most kids. So, I'm going to give it a four based on what my children have done, but know it should be less for you. Final Grade, Notes, and Links of Interest This toy has been part of our household for about six years now, it is still played with, it still works really well, and has brought a lot of enjoyment to our children. They are probably getting close to the age where they aren't going to be as interested in it as they used to be, but that is okay. I really love how this toy went from one son to the other with no problem. I also love how they pretend it is their work desk or computer - that it can be used in even more ways then intended. Because of that we are going to give it a gold star rating. If you are interested in some other VTech toys or other toys in general, take a look at these links. The Best Toddler Transportation ToysThe Best Indoor Play TentsThe Best Mario Brothers ToysThe Best Pirate ToysThe best Little People Train Sets As always - enjoy!