Thingamababy

Frog-in-a-Box by Galt Toys is a jack-in-the-box for babies. This one is rated for 9-month-olds while traditional jacks start around 3 years.

It’s a simple deal. You open the lid and a fabric frog vaults freely about 12 inches into the air. To reset the box, push the interior spring-loaded platform down 5 inches until it locks, place the frog inside and close the lid.

Unlike a regular jack-in-the-box, there’s no fussing with door latches, no worrying about whether you have to crank the handle one more time so the door can close, and so forth.

The lid opens freely to 80 degrees and the frog is triggered when the lid is at a 90 degree angle. So, a toddler needs to learn to open the door completely for the fun to occur.

Now, the box is more like a canister, 8 inches tall, 7 inches wide. It’s made of plastic, but is covered with a removable, machine-washable fabric cover on its base and lid. Frogs adorn the side and the lid resembles a lily pad with crinkly petals.

At 9 months, you do the prep work, and your kid does the door opening.

My boy loved our regular jack-in-the-box when we operated it for him, but then he would turn Incredible Hulk on us and try ripping Jack from the box. So we procured this Frog-in-a-box from a friend knowing he can’t destroy the frog because it’s not attached to anything.

Some observations:

• It helps if you hold and orient the box, otherwise a first-time baby will often be shooting the frog at his own face as he tips the box toward himself. It didn’t faze our boy though. With only a foot jump, the frog isn’t flying too fast.
• The music of a regular jack-in-the-box really helps with instant enjoyment. We’ve had to show him the frog a few times and jazz him up before he got the idea. A secondary issue is that he has to learn to track the trajectory of the frog.
• My 4-year-old daughter loves this toy a little too much. She quickly devised games where she tilted the box and we were supposed to compete to catch the frog.
• A variety of small stuffed animals will work in the box.
• I have no doubt my son will grow to really love this frog as he learns to operate it on his own.

Grab Frog-in-a-Box at Amazon. If anyone knows of a comparable product, I’d love to hear about it. It seems like Galt Toys has the market to itself.

I like watching him do that standing squat as he works with the lid. He’s not walking yet, but has pretty good balance. And yeah, what’s with the hair? The wife says his first haircut won’t occur until his firth birthday. I have other plans.

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008Toys