This review of the Chicco Talking Farm is a guest post by Angie.
When my daughter started showing interest in different animal species and their sounds at around 13 months old and began imitating them, the grandmothers immediately set out to find the perfect toy.
The winner of this shopping trip was the Talking Farm
The Talking Farm in detail
The sturdy little house (anyone who claims to survive 4 years in a child's room without damage has to be quite durable) with many cute animals is very appealing in color, about 30 cm high and wide, and conveniently has a small carrying handle.
In the middle, there are 4 light-up areas (blue, green, yellow, red).
At the front "on the meadow," we also have the numbers from 1 to 10 as orange buttons. At the top left, you can change the language with a small sun. At the bottom left sits a little bear in a car, on which the control (off/quiet/loud) is located. The battery compartment is on the bottom and must first be unlocked with a screw. You need two 1.5 V batteries.
The basic principle is simple: you press a figure, a male voice (in my opinion a bit monotonous and therefore annoying in the long run) names the color and the species, then the corresponding sound plays. Besides the usual animals whose sounds you can easily imitate (there's a little bird, a duck, a cat, a rooster, a horse, a cow, a pig, a dog, and a sheep), there are also sounds that take some getting used to (a rabbit – here they probably wanted to imitate a hopping sound, and a butterfly, which plays a short melody). In addition to the animal figures mentioned above, there are 2 little bears. One bear, which is located above the color bar, plays various well-known children's songs, to which the bar flashes in a light-organ style. The other bear, at the bottom left, is "responsible" for the various games with 3 difficulty levels.
Animal sounds and terms
In the first level, an animal sound is played and the corresponding animal must be pressed. Afterwards, you are asked for the terms; here the numbers are also included. In the last game, you have to press the buttons in a certain order. If you have done the task correctly, you are praised (in my opinion a bit too bland; a fanfare sound or similar would certainly be more motivating here), if you don't succeed and press another button, it is explained and you can try again. You can play through all 3 levels in sequence (if you complete a level, you automatically move to the next) or you can select the desired game by pressing the bear button.
If no button is pressed for some time, the child is prompted a few more times to continue playing before the voice says goodbye and enters standby mode.
My daughter was immediately enthusiastic and the farm soon became one of her favorite toys. She is now slowly starting not only to imitate the animals but also to repeat the animal names and colors. Although she cannot yet use all the functions (we are currently working on the first game together), she can still keep herself occupied with it for longer periods when Mom needs a break. I believe that this toy has an extremely high learning and fun factor and I am already curious to see how it works with the English version.
The Talking Farm can also be bought on Amazon: Talking Farm on Amazon
Read also: Brio Toys – Playing with wood
Photo from Amazon.de
