Customer Reviews

Little Playzone with Lights & Sounds Play Yard

5 star:		(139)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Perks:

1) Looks kid-friendly. Neat and colorful. It is oodles better than my first playpen purchase, a bizarre contraption we later discovered is also marketed separately as a dog enclosure!
2) Has a locking gate.
3) Is pretty stable on hard floors when placed on 2'x2' interlocking foam playmats (purchase separately).
4) Has suction cups for hard floors (I haven't used them).
5) Each wall piece is light weight and easily assembles and disassembles.
6) The play wall comes with batteries already installed. Thank you.
7) The bear stickers other reviewers have complained about were not included in my kit (spring 2005). I won't miss them.

Drawbacks:

1) The Playzone is small. I found it less expensive to buy two and combine them, rather than pay for shipping on several extension kits.
2) The battery-operated music is loud and there is no volume control. I taped cardboard over the speaker (located on the exterior wall) to muffle the sound.
3) The mirror is the same flexible mirror found on all toddler toys. I dislike these mirrors because they provide distorted images and are not durable for future generations of kids who will use this Playzone.
4) I wish the gate lock was easier to manipulate. You push a button and slide a latch to retract or release two prongs. Locking the gate can take a second because I have to slightly lift the gate so the prongs extend properly into the holes in the lock. I'll get used to it. If not, wall segments are easy to pull apart and reattach (though that's kind of loud).
6) The gate is not full length top-to-bottom. There is a trippable lip you step over when going into or out of the Playzone.

All-in-all this is the best play yard I've found on the market as of spring 2005. With a few tweaks it could be great.

Update four months later: The Playzone is still great. Our kid can push two segments of gate outward a little at the yellow joints, (this is noticeable because we configure the Playzone in a square shape), but it's not a big deal. We don't bother using the gate door, preferring to just walk/climb over the wall. Our kid enjoys the music buttons on the entertainment panel, but I wish this panel was included in a separately-purchased expansion kit so that the core product was sold at a lower price. Two Playzones combined leave ample room for Mom and Dad and baby to play together. Our cat can jump in and out via a couch placed next to the Playzone (a good thing for us).

I have not experienced a problem with the door hinge that another reviewer mentioned. My door locks when you close the door and move an outside lever that pushes two blue plastic "bolts" from the wall base out and into holes in the door. A locked door shouldn't open when a toddler pushes or pulls on the door. If that happens in your case, yeah, contact the manufacturer.

I envision never needing to lock and unlock the door. While our kid is small, it's easier for us to climb into the Playzone. When our kid grows bigger, we'll just leave the door unlocked.

Our son loves this -- he doesn't think of it as being a "cage", but rather as a fun play area. He hardly ever cries when we put him here, unlike his play pen.

Suggestion -- buy 2 sets, which is equivalent area wise to buying 4 extensions, but costs less (especially with shipping), and provides 2 gates and 2 activity walls, unlike the extensions, which are just plain blue walls. A single set is no bigger than a playpen.

Another suggestion -- remove the bear stickers (which are on the blue walls) or turn these walls inside-out so that the sticker is on the outside of the play area. Otherwise, your child may tear off (and eat?) the sticker.

Our 10 month old son is all over the place. He is into everything so we thought we would give this a try. We bought two (from EBAY as a pair - saved almost 50.00 including shipping). Over all this is a fantastic product, and great for keeping little ones out of danger when you can't hold them or watch their every move.

The Good:
1. The Playzone is thick plastic which is sturdy and so easy to clean.
2. The colors are nice (red, blue, and yellow)
3. Has built in play wall which my son loves.
4. If you buy two you have tons of room. There is enough room for my son, his cousin, my husband and I all to fit in and have room to play and move around.
5. Has a gate that is childproof. We have not had any problems unlocking and locking it. Anyone with children knows that anything childproof is more of a hassle to use.
6. The walls are about two feet tall. They have enough height to keep him inside yet short enough for him to look over and feel less confined.
7. Easy Easy to put together and take apart.

The Bad:
1. If you decide to take down the pieces are very big and will not be easy to store. With two Playzone's dont even bother with storing anywhere but in an attic unless you have a whole closet or bedroom out of use.

I bought the playzone for my son when he was 8 or 9 months old and he loved it. I bought 2 extension pieces and although it costs more, it's well worth it. I was able to get things down around the house and not have to be worried about him getting hurt. I put some other toys of his in there as well. he thought of it as a playhouse because i had other toys in there. so when the door was shut, he didn't mind it at all. it also came in handy outside while doing yardwork and not having to worry about him running all over the place. My husband at first didn't like how much it all cost(with the extra pieces) but then he said that it was worth it.

This was purchased for my grandson and the squeals of delight when he got in it for the first time were definitely worth the money spent. It is so big that his daddy who is 6'3" tall was able to sit down in it with him. It is easy to clean and very sturdy. The activities especially the buttons for the various songs were no trouble for this little guy. I look forward to bringing it in the house for him during the winter months so he'll be able to enjoy it year round, but I especially like having it outside during the warm summer weather. One word of caution, if you have it outside and have the playmats underneath, make sure you don't have it in direct sun. The playmats will melt due to the mirror, as I found out the hard way.

my 6 month old daughter loves to wiggle around and a regular pack-n-play just wasn't big enough, she would often cry because she would not have any room. with this little playzone she can roll around and move with no restrictions. a happy baby makes a happy mommy. we purchased 2 extension kids to make it a bit bigger. my 2 year old son loves this toy too, he thinks it's fun to turn it into a fort.

I love it! I bough the Lil' Playzone when my daughter was 7 months old, it was a safe and fun place for her to play while I had to cook or do the dishes. Now that she is 15 months old and walking, I leave the door open and she uses it as a playhouse. She loves the keyboard and the phone. The only thing that I would recommend is to add a thick mat to the bottom, you can cut it to fit inside, to keep the walls stable.

My wife and I were looking hard for an item like this for a month visiting various baby stores such as Babies R' US, etc...
However, we realized that all they carry in stock are something called "gates" which refrain babies from entering through some type of passageway.
This product is very good that it can serve as a small, confined play-zone, or you could spread the grids to make it a good 8-foot long fence that can be used as a bigger version of the "gates".
It also comes with one section comprised of small play-center with sound modules, little clickers, and other small gadgets that baby spends some time to play with. One thing I like about this item is that it has a small door to enter the playzone with small locking device.
When your baby starts to crawling around, it probably is one of the hardest times. You have to be on watch every single moment. My wife couldn't handle it during the daytime, so she's tried something like high chair, walkers, carriers, etc. But by far, this is the best system to give both the mom and the baby a good break. I highly recommend this item.
However, I think it is a little over-priced at $100, also it was only available online, so shipping charge was quite a bit.
But for us, it was worth the money. You can also buy extension kits if your baby requires more space.

I purchased this product for a 9 month old. Very often the door would open with him just holding on to stand up. A small blue object dislodged from the door hinge and found it in the toddlers mouth!! I returned the product and notified the manufacturer. Please return this item if you have one.......or remove the small chocking hazard peices.

My six month old recently started crawling and was getting into everything...the fireplace, pulling on cords, chewing on the dog cages etc. I needed something that I could put him in while I did dishes, cooked, cleaned etc. This is great! I ordered the playpen plus 3 extension kits on ebay (its cheaper that way) and now he has tons of room to crawl around. So far he has not protested being in there, which was not the case for his pack and play. Those things are just too small to use for an active baby.

If you buy, I'd reccommend at least 2 extension kits. The play wall is fine, but could be improved. My son loves the spinning things above the keyboard, but when he plays with them he is always inadvertantly hitting the keyboard below. Trust me, this can be annoying as the keyboard is a little on the loud side.