My son is fairly technologically advanced counting an ipod, blackberry and my personal laptop as his favorite toys. Knowing this, I knew that Smart-e-bear would be a good fit for him.
This multi-functional, interactive bear is a great friend that keeps kids learning.
For the last 2 weeks, this adorable bear has been accompanying us on roadtrips and keeping my guy company around the house.
Here is what we found:
Getting started:
This interactive toy is offered in 3 styles – a bear, dog, or cat. We chose the dog. When he arrived I was pleasantly surprised by the soft cuddly nature of our fancy new friend. Normally you have to sacrifice cuddleability for features – but not in this case. My son spent quite a long time cuddling him before he realized all of the cool stuff he could do.
Out of the box this bear comes ready to go, all you need to do is turn him on. The box/computer unit in the back also comes with a volume adjustment button, which I LOVE because I always find toys play too loud.
Features:
On power up the cute voice introduces itself and immediately asks to play.
This bear plays music, tells stories and plays games. While Smart-e-bear comes pre-loaded with a few options from each category, their full service website is setup to allow parents to customize what games, music and stories go on the bear.
This awesome feature ensures that playtime is always fresh and exciting as new media and software downloads keep smart-e-bear growing and learning with your child.
Installing the software is as easy as a few clicks. Smart-e-bear is even compatible with Mac computers, which impressed me because nothing is compatible with Macs.
Parents looking to see if they like the system can download the software and look around, but you can only listen to fun music, stories, and games if you have a smart e-bear or one of his friends.
Once loaded, smart-e-bear asks toddlers to make choices based on them touching his paws and feet.
My son loves the pre-loaded version of Simon says. Before we got Smart-e-bear he hadn’t heard of the game, now he is a pro! He is also very fond of head and shoulders, knees and toes because in the middle the bear sings the song in Japanese. Too funny!
Having the ability to change what is on this bear makes it a godsend for traveling. This gives parents the ability to make it a new toy whenever they want, which is not something that is found very often.
We highly recommend this toy as a choice that your child won’t grow old of easily.
Additional noteworthy features:
- smart-e-bear, smart-e-dog and smart-e-cat can calls your child by name (select from over 1,000 names)
- smart-e-bear, smart-e-dog and smart-e-cat are bilingual. A free application is available for download to switch from English to Spanish and back!
Recommended for children aged 2+
Priced at $80
