Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

I bought this for my 18 month old grandson who usually likes to sit and play. This toy is not what I imagined it would be. He likes to throw the balls, which there are plenty of. To sit and play like he does with other toys, not so much. The gumballs are designed with many colors and some have tiny colored balls inside, but that's about all I can say at this point on a positive side. Maybe he'll like it more when he's older. Time will tell.

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

Bought this for my grandkids. Doesn't always work right, sometimes lets more than one ball fall. Sometimes you can push the lever or turn the key and no ball falls, but still a cute toy. My three year old grandson loved it.

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

It is just like a gum ball machine and my son loves watching the gum balls roll down. Now he can make the balls roll down and I don't have to worry about them going into his mouth.

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

My 18 month grandson loves balls and loves to put in and take out - so this was a wonderful instant hit. He has found ways to play with it that the designers never thought of. It is a stay and Nana's toy, I like those as well as the take home variety so my house is fun too.

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

This is one of the most frustrating toys we have. It has such great potential but then fails almost completely because of simple design flaws.

We got this because we were looking for cause and effect toys - we had the standard pop up animals but wanted some variety. This looked to fit the bill and my MIL got it for my son when he was about 14m (now 18m).

The concept is great and my son LOVES all the balls. There is a nice variety.

BUT, there are four problems that renders it almost usless in teaching cause and effect.

1) As noted by others 2 out of 3 of the switches impossible for my son to use on his own - the key takes a lot of hand/wrist strength particularly for a motion that is already a challange to learn and the lever will NOT work unless one hold the base steady with one's other hand - and I'm speaking for myself my son doesn't have the strength/dexterity to pull the lever even if I hold the base. Extremely frustrating for my son and myself.

2) The button in front is quite easy for my son to operate BUT as noted by others if the door is open - which is what my son wants - he can't press the button. CRAZY DESIGN! What were they thinking?!?!?

3) This next one doesn't bother my son AT ALL, but bugs me a lot. The mechanism that keeps the balls from falling works inconsistently - sometimes after using a switch such as the button to lets through one ball,sometimes more. BUT, it doesn't always "reset" so when my son is done pushing the front button over and over again until there are no more balls to drop and we start to but balls back in they just fall through again. I always have to turn the key a few times to get it to reset - I haven't been able to figure out a consistent method either in direction or number of turns - it just finally works.

4) This last one is my son's biggest frustration - it's really hard of is little fingers to get the balls out. Generally he just gives up and lifts it up and shakes the balls out of the bottom. (Making a huge racket!)

Unless I'm actively playing with my son the only thing he really does with this toy is pick it up and carry it around and eventually dump all the balls out. He then LOVES to play with the balls -shaking and banging them together, rolling and throwing them, carring them around, etc. He'll even but them back in. But the balls plus a bucket would allow him to do all that.

It is hard to believe anyone actually playtested this toy.

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

Bought for my 1 year old son for his birthday. He got to play with it after my 2 nephews (10 and 7) and 6 year old son had totally tested it out for him. Needless to say the box should had said 1-10 year olds !!!

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

playing on the floor

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

This is a great toy! With any toy with balls, you'll always have to clean them up, as the kids take them out constantly. But my 12 month old son caught on very quickly...without us even showing him..you just have to open the door to get the balls out..He loves this toy!

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

I think the idea behind this toy is a good one. However, the person who designed it really didn't think it through too well. And yes, I read all the reviews and now know they were all correct. It's important to note that this toy was purchased for my 16 month old daughter who is of average size. First, here's how the toy is supposed to work: the balls are held in a rather large container on top; there are 3 levers from which baby can choose from to make these balls come swirling down (a couple at a time) into a chamber below where there is a plastic door-flap baby has to lift in order to get the balls out and start the process all over again. Here are the problems: two of the 3 levers are VERY hard to move - one must be pulled back and forth and the other has to be turned like a key. The last lever is a simple one - merely a tab baby can press down on and here come the balls! The other two levers would be terrific in the development of fine motor skills if IT DIDN'T TAKE THE STRENGTH OF SAMSON TO MOVE THEM. So what happens? My daughter gets frustrated and doesn't want to be bothered with it or Mommy (that's me) has to turn all the levers for her. In addition, and by far my biggest concern, the door at the bottom is way too small (like others had mentioned). The plastic door-flap (which is a hard plastic) can be held open by propping it up on the yellow tab above it. This presents 2 problems: 1) this yellow tab is the only lever that functions the best. Once it's being used to hold the door open it can no longer be used as a lever. This kind of makes playing with this toy futile and 2) if you DON'T use the tab to hold the door open and baby tries to pull the balls out by just letting the door flap hang down, the edges of the door are rather sharp and tend to scratch the back of my daughter's hand. I realize that this maneuver is difficult to describe, but please believe me when I say, it's not the safest of toys. I actually like most of "Parents" toy line and have quite a few of them. Hence, I'm surprised they would create such a terrible baby toy. Bottom line: don't buy this item.

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

A good toy for a 6 month old and for a 2 year old sibling

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

babies caught on really quick how to drop the balls into the top. the balls are perfect size to fit into their hands.

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

I have a 1 year old and she loves this

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

Got this for my grandaughter and I agree with the other review, all I pick up is balls and she gets mad at the door where the balls are SUPPOSED to come out. All she does is put the balls in the top and try to take them out at the top, if she can get them, (stuck nana help, help). Don't wast your money.

Comments about Parents Sugar Chute Baby Gumball Toy:

Your child will play with this for 10 minutes and be bored to tears, he/she may play with the balls and you will have to pick them all up! Both my kids had a hard time removing the ball from the little door. This was a gift to my son that was put in the garbage within a month!!! Don't waste your money!