Infantino Merry Monkey Gym, Merry Monkey

Infantino Merry Monkey Gym

With the Infantino Merry Monkey Gym, your baby has a fun, captivating outlet for learning, exploring, and developing his senses and coordination. From the moment they're born, babies are little learning machines, and since this toy is designed for newborns, your baby can start using this play gym right away.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Compact activity mat provides tummy-time fun and plenty of exciting sensory stimulation for young babies The Bad: Compact size is convenient, but it doesn't provide as much play room as some other larger activity mats In a Nutshell: Versatile activity mat provides plenty of fun, developmental stimulation for newborns and older babies At a Glance Ages: Newborn and up

Babies will love pulling on different shapes and textures. View larger.

The activity mat zips up for quick and easy storage. View larger.

Activity Mat Features Variety of Tactile, Auditory, and Visual Activities
The Merry Monkey Gym features a plush, softly padded mat that appliquéd with an oversized, adorable monkey. Baby can pull its ears, which make a crinkly sound that babies like, and feel its nubby nose, as well as explore the other soft textures on the mat. And because babies are fascinated with bold, contrasting imagery and with facial features, your infant will also like looking at the monkey's big, black-and-white eyes.

Your baby can lie on the mat on his back to interact with the activity arch above. It features three bright, interesting, and interactive toys, including a plush zebra, a baby-proof mirror that gives baby the opportunity to discover his own face, and a cute monkey that plays a short melody when you pull its tail.

When you and your baby are finished playing, you can easily zip up the mat to store it away. The activity arch detaches easily and can be quickly installed over your baby's crib, making for more versatile use.

A Toy to Grow with Your Little One
The Merry Monkey Gym offers plenty of opportunity for growing and learning. We especially like that the characters on the activity bar are angled to make important "eye contact" with the baby, which isn't always the case with activity mats. This mat also encourages the "tummy time" that pediatricians recommend for infants for strengthening neck and arm muscles. Unlike some other mats, the Merry Monkey provides enticements for your baby to spend more time on his tummy with its interesting colors, textures, and fabrics.

The Merry Monkey is designed to grow with your little one through several stages of his early development: as a newborn he'll love just looking at the characters and watching you interact with the toys -- but before you know it, he'll be reaching for them himself with his hands and feet, and rolling over on his own to play with the monkey's ears.

Finally, this activity mat's compact size and relatively inexpensive price tag make the Merry Monkey an economical choice. It is a bit smaller than other activity mats on the market, which give your baby a bit more room to play, but its compact size makes it easy to store and carry without sacrificing fun or educational quality.