We all know The Baby Einstein Company as a successful company with great ideas for educating children. With several videos, a great deal of CD’s, books, and toys, this company is an educational smorgasbord! Many of the videos have toys which correspond to them. My daughter has the Sing and Learn Monkey that goes along with the “Baby da Vinci: From Head to Toe” video. “Baby da Vinci” teaches your child about the different parts of the body. The Sing and Learn Monkey does this also. The monkey wears a blue shirt with a picture of a foot on it.
On the bottom of the monkey’s right foot (left if you are facing it), there is a hand. When you squeeze his foot, you hear, “Find your head…Touch your toes. Find your eyes…Touch your chin,” and so on. In between mentioning parts of the body, you will hear monkey noises and/or children laughing. I think that the voice that mentions the body parts is that of Julie Aigner-Clark, the founder of The Baby Einstein Company.
There is a musical note on the bottom of the monkey’s left foot (right if you are facing it). When you squeeze this foot, the monkey (voiced by a child) sings the classic children’s tune, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” set to bouncy music.
This toy give you a great opportunity to play and interact with your child. As the monkey sings the different body parts, you can show your child as you point to them on the monkey. Better yet, if your child is old enough (my daughter has had this monkey since she was about nine months old, so she didn’t exactly get the concept yet), have your child show you where each body part is on himself/herself. If you put your hand in the puppet part of the monkey — under the back of its shirt and into its mouth — you can move its mouth as it sings. There is also a button in the monkey’s mouth and if you press it after you activate “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” you can control the speed of the song yourself. The Sing and Learn Monkey provides a great supplement to the “Baby da Vinci” video.
You can purchase the Baby Einstein Sing and Learn Monkey at Babies-R-Us stores for approximately $15.