There are so many toys and games on the market today. If you are like me your social media pages are loaded with advertisements for the next, the latest, the greatest toy that promises to be your child’s favorite. It can become confusing and overwhelming, not to mention expensive. When you look in your child’s toy box you are likely to find all those other toys that made the same promises, only to be ignored after the box was opened. T3 is dedicated to the review of all kinds of toys, both the much loved tried and true classics and the new, to help you decide which toy is the next best addition to your child’s collection. Because this is The Gift of Gab, these reviews will look at the appropriate age and skill level for each toy, the language concepts, vocabulary, as well as the social and motor skills that are part of each toy or game design. Play is how children grow and learn. Toys can help!
Amazon.com
For my first review I have selected a classic, that seems to be undergoing a revival of redesign. Some efforts are a bit more successful than others, but all are based on the same basic idea.: The Stacker. The idea is pretty straight forward. Graduated sizes of plastic rings in attractive colors that can be slipped easily onto a central peg. So, let’s start with the classic, pictured above.
Fisher-Price Rock - A - Stack
This is the one most of us think of when we think of a stacker. The manufacturer, Fisher Price, describes it as follows:
Age Range: For babies ages 6 months and older
Educational Objective; Hand-Eye Coordination, Motor Skills. This toy helps develop fine motor skills and gross motor skills as baby grasps, shakes, and stacks the rings
A Classic stacking toy with 5 colorful rings to grasp, shake, and stack. The top ring has shiny surface with rattle beads inside. The toy has a bat-at rocker base for wibbly-wobbly play.
All of this is true, but this toy is so much more. Fisher Price’s description correctly emphasizes the motor skills that can be part of play. Lets look at the other elements of its design that Fisher Price does not highlight and the vocabulary and concepts that can be learned through play.
Color: The colors Red, Orange Yellow, Green and Blue are not only there as visual attractions, they are also arranged to reflect their relationship to each other on the color wheel (ie: red + yellow=orange) with the resulting secondary color between the two primary colors.
Sizes: The rings are presented in graduated sizes., allowing for concepts of comparative size (smaller, smallest, bigger, biggest) as well as size labels (small, medium, large, extra large)
Sound: The top ring is a rattle, providing opportunity for the introduction of rhythm into play.
Other concepts: Top, Bottom, Middle, First, Last, Ring, Round, Hole, On, Off, Next, Noisy
What you can add to the play:
While your child may love to independently play with the Stacker , you can join in. By making requests you can expand your child’s ability to play with others. Here are some sample requests to get you started:
Find the (Red ring, biggest one, first ring,)
Give me the (next one, smallest ring, noisy ring)
Which ring comes (first, next, last)
By using this toy to its full potential you can add not only utility, but months of extended play to bring your child to the next level of development.
Fatbraintoys.com
The Next Level: The Spin Again
The Spin Again is available through Fat Brain Toys. I love it! You can see from the photograph that the child’s motor skills face greater challenge with this toy, although the basic idea behind the design is very similar to the stacker toy in out first example. This toy will wobble, as the “rings” wind their way down the stack. If your older toddler is still mastering the concepts discussed above in our first example, this may be a great option.
The manufacturer highlights the following features:
SpinAgain
The first ever stacking and twirling toy!
Encourages hand-eye coordination and early engineering skills
Instills a sense of wonder as kids watch their builds twirl and spin!
Eye-catching colors include magenta, lime, teal, lemon, red, sky blue, and more!
Includes: 6 discs, a reversible wobble base, and a corkscrew pole
Vibrant, eye-catching colors
Made of strong, coated ABS plastic
BPA-free
I liked this toy for children up to age 3 or 4 years of age. We find more subtle color choices and different shapes to provide opportunities for vocabulary expansion. We have action based play to engage more active toddlers. The child must wind the shapes onto the spindle and then unwind them to remove them and play again.
Additional concepts: Color comparisons, more mature color labels (lemon vs yellow, magenta vs red etc.) Right, Left, Clockwise (turn to the right), Counterclockwise (turn to the left)
The wobble presents opportunities as well for cooperative play. The child may need to ask for help in holding the wobbling toy to wind or unwind the pieces. this is an important step for 3 and 4 year olds in preparation for pre-school or kindergarten.
What you can add to the play:
Use this opportunity to teach Right and Left in directions to screw the pieces on or off. The helpful chant ”Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosy” has taught many of us right from left. (Much better than a rubber band or ribbon IMHO) I don’t know about you, but I use that all the time to myself as I build things.
Variations on a Theme: Decide for Yourself …😍 or 😒
The following designs are runners up in my review of stacker toys. What do you think? Too busy for an introductory toy? Too plain to teach a multitude of concepts? Too expensive? Still worthy of consideration?
Target.com
Sassy Stacks of Circles Ring Stacker
The Sassy Stacks of Circles is available from Target.com. By far the most affordable of the four options in this post, it certainly is the most visually engaging. Sassy Stacks is aimed at children 6mos old to 18 months. You can readily see from the picture that there are many language concepts that can be introduced in addition to those described for the basic stacker, above. Here is how it is described on the Target site:
Stack any way! The straight post allows you to stack the rings in any direction, strengthening hand-eye coordination
Count to 8! Each ring features a different color and texture
Chunky sized rings make it easy for baby to grasp, strengthening fine motor skills
Teach color recognition by naming them as baby stacks each ring
Stacking rings has never been more fun with the Stacks of Circles! The center of each ring is the same size, allowing it to be stacked in any direction for frustration-free play. The Stacks of Circles promotes early STEM learning by teaching a child about sorting, size, sequencing and building.
This is a great description for this toy. It emphasizes the features that are most fun as well as educational, giving you as the parent , many reasons to make this selection in addition to the affordability.
I would add the following concepts to the possibilities:
Vocabulary : Texture: Bumpy, Smooth; Design:Stripes, Dots; Opposites: Same, Different, Light, Dark
crateandbarrel.com
Large Baby Stacking Rings
Beautiflul to look at, The Large Baby Stacking Rings from crateandbarrel.com are by far the most expensive of our selections. This is also the only design I found that is made of Beechwood, not plastic. Here is how Crate and Barrel describes this toy:
Timeless and beautifully simple, this set of baby stacking rings features natural beech wood construction. Safe and so much fun for all ages, it's a wonderful gift for baby showers and first birthdays. When this baby toy isn't in use, you'll love displaying it on a shelf in the nursery thanks to the bright, beautiful colors.
Large Baby Stacking Rings 6"Wx6"Dx8.75"H
Pastel-colored wooden stacking toy
Functional but still looks beautiful on a shelf
Beech wood
Wipe clean with soft, dry cloth
All ages
Imported
The Large Baby Stacking Rings are certainly beautiful. I admit that I am drawn to the aesthetics. I wouldn’t mind looking at it in my livingroom. For more practical considerations, this design accomplishes all of the concept and motor skill development opportunities that the classic Fisher Price stacker provides, although it lacks some of the expanded features of the others. The cost may be worth it to your family if you have the financial option, more than one child who will be playing with it or hightened decorating sensitivites. (No judgement from me!) The wooden construction may prove to be more durable with play over time.
mushie.com
Mushie Baby Stacker
Our last candidate is the Mushie Baby Stacker, available from mushie.com. From the picture you can see that this design takes us into a much more subtle direction in color palette. Her is how the people at Mushie describe this toy:
Set of 7x stacking rings.
Made from 100% non-toxic, BPA and phthalate free plastic, these beautiful stacking rings are fun and engaging for your baby to look at, while stacking and grasping the pieces helps them develop their organization and motor skills.
Whimsical design and sophisticated colors make these stacking rings a stylish addition to your home.
This toy is part of our Danish Hygge collection
Details
Stacking toys help develop both the body and the brain starting around six months
Helps improve fine motor skills
The basic skills learned from stacking toys become the foundation for more complex tasks like using a writing instrument
Stacking toys also help kids learn language skills
Designed and manufactured in Denmark.
Like the Crate and Barrel stacker, above, the Mushie Baby Stacker is visually attractive to adults. It is not the most expensive option in this list, nor is it the least expensive. It is certainly different from the others in color, limiting somewhat its utility in vocabulary expansion for color labels and comparisons. I find it interesting that they link this toy design with pre-writing skills. I can see that fine motor control would be a pre-requisite, but I am unsure of the direct relationship with stacking on a spindle.
That being said, this toy may present an option for those children with hightened sensory issues and color avoidance behaviors. If you find that to be the case for for your child, the Mushie Baby Stacker may be a good choice.
It is fun to think about toys. I can’t wait to play with a young friend and learn more about how kids view the world. I hope you found this review helpful and interesting. Please let me know your thoughts. If you have any suggestions for toys I can review in the future or have questions about the possibilities of your child’s favorite toy you can comment on The Gift of Gab Book page on Facebook or email me at francine@giftofgab.site
For more ideas on how to use play to promote speech, language, social, motor and pre-academic skills check out my book The Gift of Gab, apublished by Simon and Schuster, The Gift of Gab is available at Amazon Books or at your local Barnes and Nobel. (Also available as an E-book for instant download.)