Pete's Expert Summary
My human, in their infinite and often misguided wisdom, has procured a Fisher-Price monolith of garish plastic. Ostensibly, this “Caring for Animals Farm Playset” is for the Small Human, a creature whose primary skills are noise and gravitational unpredictability. It purports to “teach” things with its cacophony of songs and phrases, a futile effort given the student. From my perspective, its overwhelming cheerfulness and endless electronic sounds are a direct assault on the sanctity of my afternoon nap. However, the collection of small, bite-sized animal figures and the tantalizing prospect of dropping things through the hayloft suggest it might not be a *complete* waste of floor space. There is potential for supervised chaos.
Key Features
- Interactive electronic farm playset with 45+ songs, sounds, and phrases for toddler-friendly storytelling fun
- 3 Smart Stages learning levels grow along with your child & teach counting, opposites, animal sounds, and colors with fresh songs, sounds & phrases
- Multiple play points: Press the barn door button or drop figures through the hayloft for songs, sounds and phrases. Turn on the barn light, “hatch” the chicks, and “pop” the corn in the spinning silo
- Playset comes with 1 farmer figure, 4 animal figures & 2 food play pieces, all sized for small hands to grasp & move, helping to strengthen fine motor skills
- Helps foster fine motor skills and encourages imaginative storytelling play for toddlers and preschool kids ages 1 to 5 years old
- Smilestones: Bringing a smile to milestones This toy helps foster Pretend Play with a familiar setting to stage their stories plus fun prompts and realistic sounds to encourage farm animal play
A Tale from Pete the Cat
It arrived in a box far inferior to the plain brown shipping carton it was encased in—a gaudy prison of cardboard and transparent plastic. I watched from my perch on the armchair as the Human unceremoniously freed the structure and presented it to the drooling, squealing Small Human. The immediate eruption of a tinny, upbeat song about farm life confirmed my deepest fears. This was not a toy; it was an acoustic weapon. For an hour, I was subjected to a symphony of moos, oinks, and nonsensical phrases triggered by clumsy, sticky fingers. It was an affront to my finely tuned senses. Eventually, the Small Human was carted off for a mandatory hosing-down, or whatever it is they do. Silence, blessed silence, returned to the living room. The farm sat there, a vibrant eyesore in the quiet space. My curiosity, a beast I can only occasionally tame, got the better of me. I slunk from the chair, my paws silent on the rug, and began a formal inspection. The plastic felt cheap, the colors were offensive, but the silo... the silo had small, yellow bead-like things inside. A light tap with my paw sent them spinning with a satisfying *pop-pop-pop* sound. Interesting. My investigation grew bolder. I saw the small, chunky pig figure lying abandoned nearby. A perfect test subject. Grasping it delicately in my mouth—it had a bland, plasticky flavor, zero points for taste—I hopped onto the arm of the sofa, positioning myself directly above the hayloft. My target was the gaping hole in the roof. I let the pig drop. It fell through the chute with a clatter and triggered a triumphant trumpet sound followed by a cheerful, disembodied voice shouting, “Whee!” I froze. I had controlled it. I was the master of the “Whee!” I found the cow and the chicken next. Drop. *Clatter*. “Let’s count the animals!” Drop. *Clatter*. “The chicken says ‘Bock-bock-bock!’” This was power. This was a machine I could command. This so-called “playset” is not for play, you understand. It is a primitive Rube Goldberg machine, a device for studying cause and effect. It is beneath me to “play” with it. However, its capacity for generating precisely targeted, irritating noises upon my command gives it a certain strategic value. When the Human is on a long phone call or attempting to read a book, I find that a carefully orchestrated symphony of dropping animals and spinning corn can be… remarkably effective. It is a crude tool, but a useful one. It may remain.
