I’m one of those mothers that kept all of her first child’s toys to hand down to the second child. Due to developmental delays, it’s really hard to find age appropriate toys that CJ will be able to enjoy that we don’t already have. I had to pinch myself to be sure I wasn’t imagining things when I was given the opportunity to review the Vtech Kidijamz Studio.
From the website – “Kidijamz is an interactive music station that lets kids record their own songs and music and play it back on a detachable music player. Music mixing is a snap with 20-kid friendly tunes. To find their own beat, kids can choose from 10 different musical instrument sounds, five musical stylings, and three rhythm buttons. Adding to the fun, kids can sing til their hearts content with the included microphone and digital voice effects. A musical scratching disc and light-up keyboard round out the fun.”
From the time you take it out of the box you know this brightly colored toy is going to be fun. CJ kept saying “wow” when he saw it and when we took it out of the box. (”wow” is high praise in our house.) The Kidijamz Studio is described as having an age range of 4-7. It’s actually covering a much wider age span in our house, with the oldest child playing it being 49.
RB, CJ and I played with this in the living room for over an hour. This toy is LOADED with features and the three of us had a blast experimenting with it. CJ had a blast switching among the five different music styles and the ten different instruments. RB and I had fun playing each of the twenty songs and changing the pace. Imagine the schoolbus song set to a beat. That was almost as funny as the three of us trying to follow the keys as they lit up to teach us the songs. Frequently CJ would grab the microphone, fascinated with the sound of his voice with voice effects.
We weren’t finished checking out the Kidijamz when I got up to get a second cup of coffee and RB went to the bathroom. At that point CJ took the toy to his bedroom. After about ten minutes he came running out into the living room with the detachable music player, which he’d managed to activate and was playing back some of the music that had just been created. A bit later we were relaxing watching television when CJ brought the toy back out into the living room because he’d realized that he could set up to play the music he wanted automatically so he started dancing. That was a lot of fun to watch. (So much fun I had to get it on video.) He had a blast dancing. We had a blast watching him dance. CJ kept playing with the toy until bedtime, which was several hours. There’s quite a lot to be said for a toy that holds a child’s interest for the better part of a day.
There’s a media slot on the side for future expansion. How they’re planning on making such a great toy even better I don’t know. Vtech didn’t mention what their plans are in the book but I’m sure they’ll be lots of fun. It could be a lot of fun if they somehow incorporated games into play. I think it would be great if at some point voice could be added to teach children the words as well as encourage them to learn them.
We absolutely love the Kidijamz Studio! I recommend this toy highly. It wasn’t designed to be super complicated to use, which meant CJ didn’t get frustrated trying to figure it out. The toy encourages an interest in music and creative play. It’s won awards including the 2008 National Parenting Publication Awards Gold Seal, the 2008 Preferred Choice Award and the Creative Child 2008 Preferred Choice Award. It’s a lot of fun and kids aren’t likely to tire of it easily. I haven’t seen it in any of our local stores and now that we’ve played with one I’m not surprised. This toy has got to be one of the hottest toys this holiday season, and kids everywhere are going to want one. All you need to get started is 4 AA batteries. Kidijamz retails for approximately $59.99 and can be purchased in stores nationwide as well as from online retailers.