Review: Fisher Price Dance & Move BeatBo

Every now and then a toy comes along that is a hit with the whole family. Or in fact, a hit with the whole family and EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD, too.

The Fisher Price BeatBo – or Gilbert, as the kids have randomly christened him – is one of those toys.

The indication of this began when I picked him up from the parcel delivery depot, and the box started singing. The lady handing the box over was intrigued so I opened it there and then and she immediately fell in love with the cheery little robot guy jigging around in front of her. ‘Now I know what to get my Grandson for his birthday!’ she said.

And the reactions to ‘Gilbert’ have continued in that way ever since.

Little B was immediately intrigued by him and happily mashed the buttons, wiggling and singing alongside him. She takes him in the car, she carries him around (he is not too bulky for a toddler to carry and also fairly light), and he even attended a friend’s wedding with us and boogied along with the kids on the dancefloor.

He does sound clunky. Literally. When he moves you it is not smooth and soundless, but although initially I found it a bit off-putting it actually kind of adds to his appeal and also makes him appear reassuringly robust – which he definitely needs to be given that Little B is not at all gentle with him!

Gilbert has several songs, but by far the favourite one is ‘freeze dance’, where he challenges the kids to dance along with him and freeze when the music stops – basically it’s musical statues directed by a small colourful robot. All three kids (and me, and the Other Half if we’re honest) find it pretty entertaining – the kids because they enjoy dancing along, and the adults because it’s fairly amusing watching the kids mimicking Gilbert’s rather clunky robot dancing style of only moving his upper body and head.

The other thing that makes the Fisher Price BeatBo fun to play with is his ability to record a short clip and then transpose it into a song. The kids love shouting phrases at him and then listening to their voices being distorted back to them as part of the music. Although Little B hasn’t quite got the hang of this function yet (she just likes to press all the buttons continually to keep the lights flashing and the dancing going), D has really got into seeing what she can get Gilbert to say.

It’s aimed at 9months+, and as a baby toy, the Fisher Price BeatBo provides music, lights, and brightly coloured visual stimulation for little ones to enjoy. It IS musical, and it IS plasticky, two things that can often lead to a toy being something overlooked by parents. But in Gilbert’s case, the music and the plastickyness are endearing and have led to him being a part of our lives that I can see sticking around for years, even once the kids are  out of the baby and toddler toys stage. Potentially even on the same set of batteries…despite regular play the first set we put in are still going strong.

For an RRP of £36.99, you can’t really ask for better value than that!