I am not a lover of electronic toys, so my 3 yr old is better versed in coming up with uses for a toilet paper tube than in figuring out what to do with a toy full of bells and whistles.

That said, with the cold weather coming, I am always looking for ways to let him get some exercise at home without turning my couch into a jungle gym.  To that end, the Ride & Learn Giraffe Bike (Winner of the iParenting 2000 Outstanding Product Award) will be a very useful addition to our toy collection.  He has been home sick this week, so this sample came at just the right time!

My son is a sucker for anything animal inspired so this stationary bicycle is designed to look like a cartoon-y giraffe has him at hello.  Though it took him a while get over the initial conceptual confusion of a bicycle that stays in one place, he has been enjoying practicing his peddling and singing along with the songs about letter and numbers and discovering the rules for the games in all 5 modes on the LCD screen. His absolute favorite part is seeing how fast he can pedal and listening to the music get faster and slower as he changes his pace.  My favorite part is that I am happy that he can practice pedaling (and keeping his feet on the pedals) all winter long.  Though I could do without the perky electronic voices, this toy is a nice addition to my son's bedroom (because of the high noise level, it will not be invited into the living room toy collection any time soon!)

Though the toy recommendations are for 18-36 months, my son is almost 3 1/2 and is enjoying it quite a bit.  Our biggest problem will be when he reaches the weight limit of 42 lbs.

Check out the VTech Website to see the great promotions that they are running there–they've put together Playground Packs of their Jungle Gym equipment for 10%, 20% and 30% off. 

I was lucky enough to win a Ride & Learn Giraffe Bike through a twitter contest in exchange for my honest review.