Baby Einstein Octoplush

Posted In: Babies

Onita Thackston says...

Our twin boys loved 'Ollie the Octoplush' from one month onwards -- they believe Ollie talks to them, they respond to his cheerful face, babble back and brighten with wide smiles at the tunes.At six months they self-activate color buttons on Ollie's arms and hug him for comfort.Good to alternate between the 'color talk' and music, they'll learn colors in French and Spanish as they grow.The underside of each arm is satin fabric in its corresponding color.We are VERY selective with developmental toys and Octo is one of our best buys so far!

Posted on October 31, 2011

Bess Baragar says...

We received this toy at our baby shower, and were thrilled to get it. However, when we first started using it with baby, we noticed that it began to say the wrong color associated with the wrong foot. we would press the red foot, and it would say yellow. or press the white foot and it would say purple. Sometimes now, I'll just be walking by it, without pushing anything, and it will shout out a random color. Obviously, this isn't teaching our daughter anything!

Posted on November 1, 2011

Piper Bowden says...

My daughter absolutely loves this toy.She is 10 months old now and this Octoplush has been her favority toy since she was able to hold for the first time many months ago.This toy works wonders for us.It calms her when she is crying or can't fall sleep, it makes her happier when she is excited, it absorbs all of her anger when she is mad :). It really works wonders. She has plenty of toys and she uses them all, but for the things that matter, this is the toy she grabs.The only bad thing about it is that with all of the drops and hits, the music box inside does not live long. We have gone through 3 of them already and we keep on buying them because our daughter loves it!

Posted on November 2, 2011

Orville Aden says...

I'm not a huge fan of Baby Einstein stuff, but my son loved this octopus as an infant. We would play the songs for him again and again and he seemed to like it. One thing they don't show you is that the underbelly of the octopus is colorful and a baby likes to look up at the BOTTOM of the octopus, not just the face part. We hung this toy (has a velcro strap on top) over our son's bassinet when he was awake during the days. When we took it down to play with it with our son, we would sometimes spin it around while he looked at the bottom of it. It held his attention so he must have liked it.



It is soft and (I thought) a decent size. It's true that it doesn't "sit up" well for long. It ends up getting kind of floppy-headed and its head will lean back on its legs when it's set down on the floor. This doesn't affect its use in any way, it's just an annoyance for those of us who keep trying to get its head to sit up nice.



The songs are played by pressing on the head. It IS really sensitive, but that's so a baby can make it work. The color words are played by pressing the circles on the feet. They are too difficult for a baby to work.



I didn't mind the music, although I agree with one reviewer who said one of the songs reminded her of circus music. There is one song which is kind of frentic (I called this one "the crazy song"). The music is very electronic sounding, not soothing. This toy is definitely designed for play time.



My son is almost 2 now and we still have the Octoplush. Here are my observations after having this thing for so long:



1) The toy will go crazy when the batteries are low. Before they stop working, they seem to make the toy act bizarre and work in weird ways. If your Octoplush is acting up, it may be the batteries need to be changed.



2) The songs are long (as one reviewer pointed out). But you can stop the music at any time by pushing one of the buttons on the feet. It'll say "blue" (or whatever color you push) and then be quiet.



3) My son can barely get the feet buttons to work even now. I can get them to work just fine (it's not broken), but even a young child (not a baby) has trouble with it.



4) It's true that you can choose English, French, or Spanish for the color words. That's great, but I can speak enough French and Spanish to tell that some of these words are pronounced so poorly that it's hard to make out what the little electronic voice is saying (some of them make me laugh). Don't expect your child to "pick up" all these words while blithely playing with the Octoplush. The quality is not good enough for that. If the recordings were better (which would be easy for the company to do), then maybe so. This is the main reason why I don't give this toy a 5-star rating. I think this is its biggest fault...the poor quality of the recordings for the words (including the English too).



But that being said, this toy only costs about $12 so I think it's well worth the price.

Posted on November 2, 2011

Shela Arguellez says...

This toy is 3 languages, most toys are only English and Spanish and I specifically purchased this because it goes to French as well.My son's aunt is willing to teach French to him and this toy will help Mommy practice with him!

Posted on November 4, 2011

Myriam Spitler says...

My daughter received this toy for Christmas.It quickly became a favorite of hers and therefore my husband's and mine as well.Baby girl is 9 months old now, and this guy keeps her entertained during diaper changes, toweling off after a bath, or anytime we need to put her down for a second to grab a diaper or a change of clothes.She has really put him through his paces and he holds up well.He's been spit up on, chewed remorselessly, even chucked into the diaper pail and he always comes out unscathed.

Posted on November 5, 2011

Gerald Bachas says...

I've noticed mostly mamas of younger babies have done reviews, so I thought I'd add one for my bigger boy. :)



He's 13 months, and takes this thing EVERYWHERE with him. If he realizes it's in his bed without him in there too, he'll stand there and cry until someone fetches it out for him, then run away all thrilled.



He knows how to turn the music on by himself (has for a few months now), and even knows to push the arms to stop the music. Smart boy!



He's not talking yet (aside from mamamamama ;D) so the colours being read to him still don't register I don't think, but if he stays in love with this another 6 months, then I could see this as helping him learn!

Posted on November 6, 2011

Shaun Fergeson says...

My husband bought this octopus for our daughter. She will smile at it when it plays music, but she's not very interested in it. I don't blame that on the toy as she's just not that into any of her toys.



The color spots on the arms are a little too difficult for a baby to push since you have to squeeze it just so between your thumb and forefinger. The octopus head plays very easily though. Maybe annoyingly so. I'd placed it in a chair while my daughter was sleeping and then put some clothes on top of it and the thing started playing music. Twice! And the songs seem to go on FOREVER. I usually press one of the legs to get it to shut up. Thankfully, there is volume control and I never use the loudest setting. Oh, and I hate the music. The first tune reminds me of circus music. That's just a personal preference though and it might not annoy others.



It's odd shape makes it difficult to hold or tote around. My daughter who carts around the largest and heaviest objects her tiny hands can carry, has never toted this anywhere.



One of the arms is no longer working despite the fact that this toy gets minimal play.



On the plus side, I think this is a toy that I will get more use out of as my daughter grows. Once she can press buttons on the arms herself, I think it will aid her in learning her colors. Maybe even in Spanish.



I gave this a rating of 3 stars. One star was deducted for the broken arm and the other was deducted for the awkward shape and the parental annoyance factor.

Posted on November 6, 2011

Aleida Kite says...

My daughter is 4 months old and we have to take this toy with us whenever we visit friends of family.It plays music fine for her and the colors work.The only problem we have is that she listens to the music so often that the tunes get stuck in your head.

Posted on November 7, 2011

Cleo Granda says...

This was recieved as a baby shower gift. My son has loved it since he was born and even now at 10 months old. Highly recommend it!

Posted on November 9, 2011