Chicco Walky Talky Walker

The Chicco Walky Talky Walker is easy to assemble and store away between uses or to throw in the trunk of your car to take with you on a quick trip.

For a person who is often impatient and struggles to follow directions, I found the instruction manual to be clearly written without too many steps, and the diagrams describing how to put the walker together were easy to follow. I was able to assemble the product in approximately 15 minutes. I found the brake pads and wheels to be a challenge to push in by hand; however, I did not need any additional tools.

Once assembled, the product is attractive and fairly compact. It has a lot of bright and vibrant colors from the base of the walker to the objects on the entertainment tray. It is not bulky and can be easily disassembled by sliding a latch under the tray until it folds up. It’s also lightweight, so adults can easily carry it to the closet or even from room to room if desired.

My daughter, who is 6 months old, sits comfortably in the seat; however, she is not quite tall enough for the lowest height option. There are three height options, but I think one or two more would be helpful for babies who don’t quite fit into the average height range. My daughter being too short isn’t able to comfortably reach the floor to practice moving from place to place in the room. Regardless, she did enjoy sitting up in the walker so she could stretch her legs.

As she attempted to play with the entertainment objects, she struggled to push them hard enough for the object to play music or talk to her. Most times, I would sit and play along with her and found myself hitting the hippos so they would talk or sing. The flowers are a bit softer and also slightly easier to push. Ultimately, I found myself improvising in order to make better use of the walker until she grows a bit bigger by removing the entertainment piece and offering her another toy while she stood up in the walker.

The play tray is also educational in that it teaches tots ABCs, colors and other words in six different languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese. I found the multi-language feature to be extremely unique, and I can imagine an older baby engaging with this a bit more than a six month old. However, if the goal is for an English-speaking baby to learn other languages, it may be helpful to have the other languages repeat after the English version. For example, “one” followed by “uno” when Spanish is selected.

Regarding practicality, overall I am pleased with the walker. The cloth seat is easy to remove making it simple to throw in the washer if there is a spill. The entertainment tray is removable, and I can quickly wipe down the plastic base and the entertainment piece when needed. I find this to be very important because a parent’s time is extremely valuable. The entertainment tray being removable is an excellent feature for a baby to play with it on the floor or on the go.

Walkers are known to be a safety risk for babies who live in a multilevel home. However, we tested the brake pads, and I was pleased with the feature. On a negative note, when trying to move the walker there is a lack of steering because the back wheels do not turn at all. I imagine this can be frustrating for a baby.

The walker is recommended for children who are a maximum of 26 pounds and 33 inches tall. It does come in one other color choice that’s less vibrant, if that’s more your style.

Overall, the walker is very practical considering it can be easily stored or traveled with and it’s also simple to keep clean, which every mom can appreciate. Although our daughter hasn’t figured out how to operate all of the toys on her own just yet, I think this will be a great place for her to learn and play as she gets a little older.

Price: $90

Where to buy: amazon.com