As soon as I opened the door Mason came running to see “What’s this” as he yelled and pointed excitedly. For a little man who doesn’t talk much he certainly made that clear! He was captivated before we even unpacked the box, and we are talking about a little fella who’s attention is hard to grab!
So once he popped on some pants we unpacked the box from Snazzy Baby and set about putting the i-Mat together, pre-loaded with a recorded message on the pen from Aunty Lou. His little eyes lit up as if to say, WOW How Cool!
Within about 2 minutes Mason completely had the hang of the iMat. Touch the pen on this and it says a word, touch this one to turn it on and off, and this one makes it louder. (He likes it loud). So luckily there’s a headphone jack in the pen so Mummy doesn’t have to listen to the sound of the Moo Cow all day long! The only tricky bit we found was trying not to press the Voice Record button constantly…his boisterous grip is a bit rough. But being such a big solid easy grip pen makes it great to control and touch the right spots on the mat.
But I was blown away by how stimulating it was, how quickly he picked it up, and how well it actually held his attention. So we all sat and played for a while. Even Nanny and Pa got in on the action for a bit of a giggle. “Ooooh how do they say Kangaroo in Spanish?” And asking lots of questions, like how much does it cost, can you get more mats to extend it and many ooohs and ahhhs. I think I could see Christmas Shopping ticking through their minds already! Turned out to also be a good spot to sit for a snack and then lay under for a quick nap. Boys huh!
Needless to say Mason was pretty rapt in the iMat, I was very impressed with it, and Nanny & Pa were certainly very entertained and commenting on all the educational benefits their grandies could get out of it. We might need to stock up on some more pens though!
It’s little surprise that the iMAT has won numerous awards overseas and here in Australia. I know Mother & Baby Magazine wouldn’t take their awards lightly. The i-Mat is educational, introducing kids to new words in verbal and written form and also working on those fine motor skills and learning universal controls such as on/off, volume and record. But our number 1 rule here is that it has to be fun, and I can’t tell you the last time I had so much fun with a kids toy. I can’t wait to see what mats they bring out next so we can add to the collection.
i-Mat Features
Includes:
- 4 soft padded interactive play mats – puzzle style interlocking
- 1 voice pen – large grip for toddler hands
- USB Cable – for use as new mats are released
- Features:
- Bright colourful pictures with name bubbles (visual & written cues)
- Point the voice pen to hear the names of the animals & landscape
- 3 languages – English, Spanish & Chinese
- World Wide animals – giraffe to kangaroo, penguin to beaver
- Volume Control
- 2 Games – where is the animal & which animal makes the sound
- Voice recording function in pen
- Head phone jack in pen
- USB connection in pen – to download additional sounds & games as new mats are released
Our thanks go out to Louise at Blossom – Learning that’s fun for this fantastic review. The original article can be viewed here.
