Sassy Developmental Toys Review

Like many parents, I’m familiar with, and have many, products by Sassy. Indeed, I’m pretty sure every military family has a copy of the Who Loves Baby? Photo Book – a great baby friendly photo album to keep family faces familiar. Sassy products are affordable, colorful and incredibly useful during baby’s first year and include everything from bath toys to bowls to sippy cups and interactive toys. Sassy recently redesigned its developmental toy line in an effort to engage baby’s senses and improve learning.

Sassy Developmental Toys

Babies move from sensory development to perceptual development.  That means that from birth to 4 to 6 months, babies are developing their primary senses – vision, hearing, taste, touch and smell.  Beginning as early as 4 months, babies use those senses to learn about the world.  They move from senses to perceptions.  That’s why you’ll see Sassy toys for 0+ months identified with words such as, Inspire:  Vision, Taste, Hearing or Touch.  As development moves to perceptions, the products for babies 3+, 6+, 12+ are labeled, Inspire:  Fascination, Communication, Imagination or Exploration.  Those phrases reflect the transition to using the senses to learn about the world.

Our Experience

Baby Girl has been acting like a little CEO lately with her Phone Of My Own and Touch and Talk Laptop. The flip open Phone is intended to Inspire Imagination with lights, sounds and texture. There are four big buttons that say phrases in English and Spanish, as well as three small rings that rattle on top of the phone. It’s the perfect size for Baby Girl’s little hands. She can easily play with this toy all by herself and there’s something ridiculously cute about seeing her hold it up to her ear and say, “Hiiiiii” even if she does hold it backwards.

The Touch and Talk Laptop is fabric covered and opens with 8 brightly-colored buttons and a large mirror. There are three different play modes for the Laptop so the “keys” on the laptop will say colors, music or rhymes. Designed to Inspire Communication, the Laptop says a large variety of phrases in both English and Spanish and, of course, Baby Girl gets to babble away and repeat the sounds while looking at herself in the mirror. I really like how bold and easy to use the Laptop is for Baby Girl. It’s soft sided so it doesn’t crash and clank about when she drops it, and its’ really easy for her to open and push buttons to get to work. Even Toddler Boy has gotten into the act and seems to like the Laptop, too.

To Buy or Not to Buy

To Buy… Sassy products are easy to find in major retailers nationwide and are very reasonably priced (the Phone is $4.99 and the Laptop is $14.99). My Own Phone is one of those toys you throw in your diaper bag and love to have on hand when you need to distract baby – and it’s perfect for that. The Laptop makes noise and is talkative without being annoying and Baby Girl really seems to enjoy both toys.

Or Not to Buy… The toys are pretty predictable baby toys. I’d love to see Sassy expand the selection to include some young toddler toys, too.

Shop! Browse Sassy’s website to find toys by age or category (playing, bathing, teething, etc). The Where to Buy search function will help you find a local retailer and you can order many Sassy products on Amazon.

Disclosure: Thanks to Sassy for providing the products for the purposes of this review. The opinions are my own and uninfluenced by receipt of product. Others may have a different experience. If you make a purchase through the Amazon link I receive a (very) small referral fee. Buying through my links is a great way to support The Shopping Mama.