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While on a visit to Sydney a friend loaned me the Valco six sided play yard for Baby. It came highly recommended by my friend who described the playpen as both spacious and sturdy. The play yard is a hexagon shape with a length of 2.0m, width of 1.8m and height of 65cm. So it is a huge play space for Baby!

When I removed the Valco playpen from it’s box, I noticed the frame of the playpen is made of tubular steel with a  mesh fabric finish – resulting in a strong yet lightweight playpen. The frame folds flat and since it is six sided, the three panels fold against each other making it great for easy storage.

The playpen comes with a padded fully washable play mat. So after deciding on a suitable location for Baby’s play area, I lay the quilted play mat down in the perfect spot.

The play mat is big – I measure it as 2 metres across on it’s widest stretch. I simply expand the playpen frame (it stays connected) over the playmat. I secure the feet of the frame to the play mat with good quality clasps. To finish off the assembly, I secure the mesh walls to the frame with zippers and velcro. It took about 15 minutes for myself and Dad to assemble the playpen!

I place Baby and her favourite toys in the Valco Hexagon play yard. She explores her new play space and even plays peek-a-boo with me bobbing up and down. It is the perfect height and such a generous large size for Baby who is now walking.

Not only is the playpen spacious and practical, it looks great – with a snazzy silver theme. Baby seems happy with her play yard too!

The play yard is easily dissassembled too. We just unclipped the frame from the mat, undid the velcro sides and unzipped the mesh which was held in tension on the frame. Folded the frame in half and folded up the play mat giving it back to our friend – too easy!

To find out more about the Valco Hexagonal Playpen visit the Valco website.

The Chicco Open Seas Playpen was delivered during Mothers Group at my place, amongst the chaos of Mums and Babies in every corner of my house. All of us were curious to see this portable playpen. The last time Australia saw this type of “portable” playpen was nearly 10 years ago.

Initial impressions were the playpen was very attractive in appearance. As the name suggests, the Open Seas Playpen has a sea theme – complete with a dolphin, fish, crab, starfish, sea horse and turtle. The playpen is surrounded on all four sides by a strong sheer netting in a beautiful hue of blue. As baby was lowered into the playpen, there were many comments from the other Mums that she did look like she was submerging into an underwater world.

Once inside the playpen, baby looked around and explored her new aquatic environment. The big play area of one square metre was sufficient for baby to freely crawl around. She crunched the tactile starfish, played with the dolphin’s tail and pulled herself up to stand on two of the soft handles. There is a soft handle on each side of the playpen and the handles are cleverly designed to be a helpful height to assist a baby learning to stand. These handles can also be used to attach toys. Two soft toys come with the playpen, a turtle and a sea horse – these toys have proven to be a hit with Baby and her friends.

The portable playpen was easy to assemble and very similar to assembling a portacot. The frame clicked easily into place and the colourful mat featuring all the sea creatures was placed at the bottom. In fact, the mat can be removed and used as a playmat or used as a mattress if needed. The playmat is also fully washable.

Another cute feature of the Chicco Open Seas Playpen is that one of the netted sides unzips – to allow baby to get in and out. There is a small height difference between the playpen and the floor, so it’s sensible to put a mat or rug to compensate for the height difference to make it easier for baby to crawl in and out. Once Baby left the playpen, she turned around to crawl back in! After Baby had finished playing in the playpen, another baby was quick to explore the playpen.

We all agreed the Chicco Open Seas playpen would be great to take in the boot of the car when visiting Grandparents or friends that may not have a suitable play space for baby. It’s easy to assemble, bright, fun and when the babies have finished playing is compact to fold up. The playpen comes with a very practical bag with a handle to make it easy to transport.

The playpen is made by Chicco, a company which is over 60 years old and is still family operated. To find out more, visit the Chicco website www.chicco.com.au The Chicco Open Seas portable playpen can be purchased online from Baby Kingdom www.babykingdom.com.au. To purchase the product, click here – http://www.babykingdom.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=4974&section=search&cat=

I purchase lots of my baby products online. The convenience of clicking and having the products delivered to your door is fabulous with a little one.

I recently came across the Baby Kingdom website http://www.babykingdom.com.au and I’ve found it excellent for ordering baby products online.

The Baby Kingdom website offers quality baby products, organised in neat categories, with detailed product descriptions, including product dimensions and photos. I’ve found the user interface easy to navigate and best of all the products are competitively priced!

I ordered the Jolly Kidz Smart Hexagon Playpen in Natural from the Baby Kingdom website. It arrived in a couple of days in a convenient flat pack. I chose the Jolly Kidz playpen because it was simple, large, made of solid timber, represented good value for money and seemed easy to assemble.

So I unpacked the playpen and started to assemble it. The playpen comes with six timber segments to form the hexagon, twelve durable blue plastic safety corners, an Allen Key and some screws. My advice is to screw the rounded safety corners on each timber segment first and then the playpen fits neatly together with simple press buttons.

I was impressed by the proportions of the playpen. The timber frame is an ideal height for baby and the large area gave the playpen a spacious feel. The timber frame has a smooth natural toxin free finish, so Baby will be safe if she decided to test the timber with her two new teeth!

So with the playpen assembled, I scattered Baby’s favourite toys around and placed Baby in the centre of the playpen. I watched closely for her reaction. She crawled around her new playpen a few times, smiled at her toys and after a while of playing gave what appeared to be a nod of approval. It was rather a ‘nod of approval’ or a ‘very tired nod’ – after playtime in her new play space her afternoon nap was much longer than usual!

The playpen comes with six straight connectors for extension and a play mat is also available to compliment the playpen. For more information on the playpen and accessories, visit the Jolly Kidz website http://www.jollykidz.net

Here is a direct link to the product on the Baby Kingdom website. While you’re there, have a browse around the Baby Kingdom website and see some of the other great products available.

To purchase the product, click here… http://www.babykingdom.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=4332&section=10&cat=Play+Pens