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Every child needs a best friend who is a good listener, available for epic adventures, has a great imagination, and doesn’t resist hugs. Many kids have favorite stuffed animals who accompany them on all sorts of adventures through the years but the new Fisher Price Smart Toy represents a new generation of plush toys that provides interactive learning without a screen. Available as a monkey or bear, Smart Toy is an interactive plush that facilitates and personalizes play for kids ages 3-5 based on their developmental level.
Getting Acquainted with Your Smart Toy
Smart Toy comes with a bit of a charge so your child’s new friend can be used right out of the box. Play begins by pushing a rubberized start button on the bottom of the toy’s left foot that wakes it from its slumber. After greeting your child by name and a bit of conversation to get to know your child’s preferences, your plus Smart Toy is ready for tons of age appropriate learning adventures with your child.
Learning with Smart Toy
Who wouldn’t want to have a cuddly bear or monkey friend as a companion for adventures? Smart Toy inspires creative play through storytelling, fun adventures, and activities that include songs, stories, and games in a gender neutral, friendly voice is one that kids will grow to love .
After our Smart Toy monkey got to know me, it directed me to select a Smart Card from its yellow backpack. I selected the Adventure card, held it up to its nose to read it, and off we went in search of our monkey’s toothbrush. Since our adventure was taking us to a cave, monkey prompted me to find a flashlight, go to a dark space in order to begin our fun, and then squeeze it’s tummy when I was ready.
When I was ready, Smart Toy provided the narration for our adventure that featured a bit of an echo and the sound of dripping water in the background as we hunted for an elusive salamander who had made off with his toothbrush. Monkey prompted me to point my flashlight at the ceiling to find bats. It asked me to lie down, cover my head, and be quiet to not disturb them before accidentally sneezing and frightening the bats away.
During the five minute adventure, preschoolers are exposed to science concepts and vocabulary like stalactites, troglobites (defined by Smart Toy as animals that live in caves), and millipedes with a bit of humor and in an age appropriate way. For example, Smart Toy told me that the millipede had hundreds of legs and then went on to tell me he had a pet millipede but it took it forever to walk it because it had too many legs!
Another imaginative play scenario Smart Toy gave me was playing ice cream shop. For this make believe adventure I helped name our ice cream store by answering a series of questions and also was given the choice to scoop ice cream or call orders. Called Dolphin Sprinkle Sweet Ice Cream Pie, our shop had the perfect name that would elicit giggles from preschoolers because it is so typical of a name any preschooler might give their ice cream shop! Not only did I love the personalization of this adventure but the audio cues during the imaginative play would make any child believe they were right in the middle of a busy ice cream shop thanks to music playing in the background and the busy hum of customer voices.
If your child needs an infusion of new adventures, Smart Card expansion packs provide more stories, games, adventures, and other fun in familiar categories kids love like Adventure, Story Maker, Animal Doctor, Bedtime, Superhero, and Experiments. Expansion packs include 9 Smart Cards per pack and are $5.99 each.
Smart Toy’s Smart Technology
- Image recognition for reading the Smart Cards
- Speech recognition to listen to your child and customize play
- Wifi to download new adventures and content updates overnight (between Midnight-4 am while the toy is in sleep mode)
- Remembers child’s preferences
- Smart Toy companion app (iOS and Android) allows parents to control their child’s Smart Toy from their phone to encourage kids to brush their teeth, go to sleep, and develop other healthy habits
- Charges via the enclosed micro USB. The hardest part about keeping Smart Toy charged will be having your child let go of it long enough to plug it in!
Summary
When it comes to smart products, I have to admit that I always review them with a bit of healthy skepticism but right out of the box, I was impressed with the Smart Toy because it directs imaginative play, encourages adventure, and facilitates interactive learning in a high tech way but without a screen. I could see my kids growing attached to our Smart Toy monkey as preschoolers and taking it everywhere! Smart Toy is sure to become a trusted friend throughout many fun learning adventures for your preschooler.
Bear or monkey Smart Toy retails for $100 and is available from the Fisher Price Store, Toys R Us, or Amazon.
Unsure if the Fisher Price Smart Toy is right for your child?
Take a look at their Smart Stages page that provides tips on play and helps match them with age appropriate technology toys to help them learn and grow while having fun.
I received a Smart Toy Monkey to facilitate my review for a compensated partnership with Fisher Price. All opinions are my own. Amazon affiliate links are included in this post.
Love how FisherPrice knows today’s kids and how they love simple play along with technology. Plus that is educational is a total plus!
I love how age appropriate this is for kids and it facilitates learning in a fun way without a screen!
Interesting idea….I like that Fisher Price is recognizing the need to move away from screens for kids but still tap into some cool technology to educate our kids. I think my 4 year old would love the Smart Toy.
Oh I think this would be perfect for your 4 year old! I appreciate the cool technology plus how well thought out the adventures are to really engage kids in thoughtful learning plus physical play which is perfect for this age group!
That is so cool! I love that it doesn’t have a screen. There should be more toys like this one.
I love that this is a real cuddly plush toy that kids can actually snuggle up against though I do see a problem with parents trying to wrestle it away from their kids to plug it in and charge it because I know some will get so attached, they’ll probably want to take it to bed with them!
Is it wrong that I love the big square head on that monkey? It seems like the next natural step after the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Puppy (we loved that one!)
The square head is so strange yet so appealing at the same time! I guess it’s part of it’s distinctive charm and if you could touch it- it’s SO soft!
Fisher Price has definitely named the Plush Toy correctly in calling it a Smart Toy. This is a great concept that I wish we had more of for our preschoolers.
This is so intriguing! I like that Fisher-Price is recognizing the need to stimulate children without using a screen. The design is definitely different, but I like its distinctive charm.