Baby Jail: A Review of Baby Kids Infant-Toddler Playland

I didn't even realize these were still being sold! I purchased the Today's Kids Playland when my first daughter was born almost 11 years ago. We are still using it with our newest addition who is 1 year old. 

The Today's Kids Playland is made up of six individual pieces. Each are made of heavy plastic. They join together in any order to form a hexagon or rectangle. Four of the panels have slats that look like bars on a jail cell - which is where we got our nickname for it. 

The other two panels have two different types of activity centers. The white one has a phone, a variety of spinning objects, a spinning ball and a mirror. The yellow one has three cutouts on the top and three doors on the bottom. Three rubber items in the shape of a cat, a dog, and a penguin come with this side. As your baby gets older, he can fit the rubber shapes into the cutouts at the top. If he has the correct one, he can push it through and it will rock back and forth through a series of turns to the bottom. There, he can open the door and take it out. At 1 year old, Danny is still using the rubber shapes for chew-toys. 

I probably hung onto this after giving away quite a bit of my baby stuff because of the ease with which it stores. The slatted section fit between the yellow and white sections and then all of it is secured into a bundle with 3 very long plastic screws. These screws store in the white section when the Today's Kids Playland is in use, so everything is kept together! 

I love to use the Today's Kids Playland outside. I put a blanket on the grass and put the Today's Kids Playland on top. Danny positively loves it and will stay outside in the Today's Kids Playland for about two hours before he starts crying for something different. I usually will put other toys in there with him to keep busy, but the idea that he is confined outside and I don't have to worry about him venturing off the blanket is nice. 

Inside, we use the Today's Kids Playland to confine Danny in our living room. Since our house is so open, we want to keep him from going past the couch, but there is nothing there to secure a gate to. I have 3 sections of the Today's Kids Playland wedged in between the couch and our entertainment center. Though he is beginning to figure out how to move it, I have managed to outsmart him so far. 

The one major drawback I have found is that putting this thing together can be difficult. Though all the walls fit together, I often have trouble with other people besides myself knowing how to do it. Where the pieces join, one piece sort of has to be lifted up and pushed onto the other piece, then pushed down. This allows theToday's Kids Playland to bend at will without falling apart, but it can be difficult to make sure the unit is together securely. 

After 11 years and three kids, the Today's Kids Playland is still holding up pretty well. The mirror on the white piece is starting to get brown spots on it, but the plastic all looks clean and doesn't look the least bit worn. The clear plastic on the spinning ball hasn't clouded up at all. 

I wonder if I'll still have this for my grandkids???