Have you met Elmo? He’s a good friend of ours. My girls and him go way back. He came to Tee’s second birthday party and helped decorate her cake. He plays with my kids and keeps them amused while I’m making dinner or doing the dishes. My girls visit him on Sesame Street, and they make music and dance together.
So we were all really excited to find out that Elmo was coming to stay with us, along with his three friends Prince Elmo, Cowboy Elmo, and Captain Elmo. When he finally arrived, my kids impatiently circled me like hungry lions around an antelope as I worked to get Elmo out of his box.
Depending on which hat he’s wearing, Let’s Imagine Elmo has four interactive play modes – a playful prince, a counting cowboy, a singing sea captain, and just himself.
When he has his crown on, Elmo plays Prince Elmo Says – the kids can bounce him, tickle him (well, squeeze his tummy actually), or squeeze his nose. Do it correctly and Elmo makes a cute sound effect (a honk when they squeeze his nose, boing noise when they bounce him). Once the kids go through one round correctly, Elmo gives two directions at a time. “First bounce Elmo, then squeeze Elmo’s nose.” There’s a little happy noise when they get it right and a sad horn sound when they get it wrong.
When we put his cowboy hat on, Cowboy Elmo invites Kay to squeeze his nose and count along with him. She’s pretty good up to about 14, but he’s helping her learn all the way up to 20.
With his sea captain hat on, Captain Elmo sings and plays a sounds-of-the-sea identification game. After introducing one of four ocean sounds (seagull, dolphin, horn, or bell), he plays music with the sounds embedded and the kids squeeze his tummy when they hear the sound he’s looking for. And when Elmo doesn’t have a hat on, the girls can bounce him, tickle his tummy, and squeeze his nose to hear him talk and laugh.
Of course kids aren’t limited by the built-in functions. Pirate Tee and Captain Elmo went on a treasure hunting adventure the other day.
And Kay took Prince Elmo for a piggy back ride around the house.
A couple of thoughts about these hats. I wish there were some kind of built in storage or system for keeping them together. We’ve already been on several “hat hunts” in our house, and I know there’ll be more. Two-year-old Kay gets frustrated sometimes that she isn’t able to put the hats on by herself, but four-year-old Tee doesn’t have any trouble.
My one peeve? There’s no volume control. I firmly believe that any talking or noise-making toy should have some kind of volume control, or at least a “Mommy has a headache” setting. Despite this, Elmo has been a welcome friend in our home, and the girls love his company. I suspect Let’s Imagine Elmo will be a hot toy this Christmas!
Let’s Imagine Elmo is great for for kids 2-4 years, and since the toy is a PTPA Winner, you know that other parents have tested and approved of him too! Let’s Imagine Elmo is available from most major toy retailers and Amazon.com.
Win Your Own Let’s Imagine Elmo Toy!
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Let’s Imagine Elmo
Disclosure: I am a part of the PTPA Brand Ambassador Program with Hasbro, and I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
it’s fun to watch child play with elmo and talk to them, having him join with play time, and meal time
He makes lots of sounds, he reacts to gestures of tickling and hugging and he teaches kids to talk and role play!
i love watching my daughter interact with elmo when he is on tv. elmo is her favorite and she always gets so excited when he comes on
I love watching my daughters face light up when she sees elmo. It teaches her how to interact.
Elmo was my fav,my daughters, and now my grand daughters’
Elmo encourages a child to use his/her imagination, to communicate and to have fun!
helps with expanding their creative dialogue and sense of play!
She loves having a friend to chat with, and I like that Elmo is a character that she recognizes!
really help the kids to role play
Helps kids through fun and role playing for sure!
Playing pretend! Elmo is always imagining himself as different things.
My daughter has always loved Elmo. He talks to children on their own level so he feels like a friend, but he teaches along the way! π
Seeing my goddaughter interact with her tickle-me-elmo toy is absolutely adorable! I definitely feel as though Elmo toys facilitate social interaction in children
Elmo is a friend! Helps support role play and social interaction!
she sings songs she makes up!
My niece just loves Elmo. I see it boost her imagination by teaching her singing and dancing and movement in general.
Elmo encourages interaction and to sing and dance and move
My little one loves to dance with Elmo!
my little one lights up when Elmo starts singing and dancing, completely engages him
Elmo helps my daughter use her imagination to interact with him. Elmo makes my daughter happy and comfortable, and confident in her story-telling abilities.
my nephew lights up when he sees Elmo – he’s only one, but there is a lot of chatter, giggles and hugs!
Elmo encourages communication and kids love to talk to him.
I like that Elmo leaves kids laughing and talking to him.
Elmo’s big happy face always makes my little ones smile. They love his show, and all the songs and having one in real life would give them all kinds of imaginative ways to play! That will boost their imagination for sure!
Elmo has a bright personality! The sounds always help!
By interacting with them so they realize what they do leads to other actions
It helps him to imagine different types of people and play with his “friend”
It helps a child to use their imagination while playing with Elmo by envisioning Elmo (and likely themselves) as different characters in different situations all while teaching them to follow directions and learn to count, etc. in the meantime. Impressive toy. π
He’s like a little playmate; they feel safe and open to explore, learn and experience things with Elmo by their side π
My son loves Elmo. His first Elmo was the LOL Elmo. HE loved the giggling and the movement, he would copy Elmo. We than bought him the Rock and Roll Elmo. HE loves to Dance around to it and use the micorphone to try and sing along. He has a little sister coming in January that needs to start her own collection of Elmo
Who doesn’t love Elmo and he is great for activity and role play.
Elmo gives a child a friend to talk too, play with and since elmo loves to pretend, your child can do all the pretending they want, so many activities for a c hild to do with elmo
Elmo promotes imagination by allowing kids to interact with him and make choices as to what they are thinking about.
Elmo really encourages his pretend play.
It help is imagination
My daughter loves Elmo, he makes her laugh and sing and play
I love how you can dress the Elmo up and role play. My girls would love that. They are both big fans of Elmo π
My son loves to sing and play with elmo
My daughter loves to have a conversation with her dolls, teddy bears and i believe elmo will do the same for her
My little guy is non-verbal with special needs & does not do imaginative play. But he does try to copy the sounds & words Elmo & other Sesame Street characters make. He would love an interactive toy like this.
By singing song and being silly
Elmo makes my son happy, so that he enjoys his playtime even more and he loves to ‘interact’ with Elmo and imagine fun adventures π
Playing pretend of the charActers from the Sesame Street.
But not only limited to that, i teach kids etiquettes and manners using toys and making up situations.
Kids can make up their own situations too
What a wonderful world Elmo makes π
elmo has taught both my kids their letters and numbers