A couple of months ago I was babysitting my then 21 or 22 month old nephew, Drew. We had decided to go swimming and we were putting on a life jacket that had plastic buckles that snapped across the chest and one between the legs. Drew wanted to try to snap them himself so I let him and it took him a while but eventually he got them all. Once he got them I started heading towards the pool and he objected – saying “buckers, buckers” – he wanted the buckles undone and was unable to undo them himself so I undid them. I thought he had changed his mind about wanting to go swimming. Instead, he just wanted to re-buckle the jacket. About 20 minutes later we were still sitting in the yard, buckling and unbuckling the “buckers” on his life jacket.
I was surprised at how long the buckles kept his interest and I was aware that this is great fine motor skill practice for him as well so we sat until he finally grew tired of it. On other days, I had also noticed that he really likes to do put the chest piece together on his carseat, though the bottom part of his seat is sometimes difficult for me to get together so he’s a ways off from being able to completely buckle himself in, he likes to try.
These experiences got me thinking that there should be toys that allow toddlers to practice buckling and I searched for buckle toys found BuckleyBoo, a company who makes stuffed toys with different types of buckles on them that allow toddlers ages 18+ months to practice these skills.
We were sent the 17″ buckley lion for Drew to check out, which made a nice 2nd birthday gift for him. Upon seeing it he grinned and “buckers!” The lion has a rattle in his head and has a very soft exterior. Drew’s mom recently found out that she is pregnant, so I like how the lion is really gender neutral and can be passed down to the new baby regardless of it’s gender. This is true for the other stuffed toys at BuckleyBoo as well which include a panda, monkey, bear, cat, dog and turtle.
The 17″ lion has 5 buckles that are attached to 5 different types of ribbon that allow children to also practice matching. The 17″ toys each have 5 buckles except for the turtle which has 4. There are also 12″ buckleys available that have 3 buckles each. Each buckle is slightly different. In fact, the first time that I attempted to unbuckle the third buckle down, I had to try twice to make sense of how it worked (ps – you have to push near the inside, of the circle, not the outside) so this toy will certainly keep children interested for quite a while. Right now, Drew is able to figure out most of the buckles but unbuckling is still a struggle for him. Sometimes he tries to unbuckle them and sometimes he just quickly decides to bring it over to me or another adult to unbuckle it for him so that he can buckle them back up.
With the toy being quiet and keeping childrens attention for several minutes, this makes for a great toy to bring along to waiting rooms or other places where your children have to go but you’d like them to remain as still and quiet as possible.
I have another nephew who is 2.5 who I have seen playing with the plastic buckle on a lanyard so I’m thinking I will probably get him a BuckleyBoo for Christmas this year. If you decide to shop at BuckleyBoo use the coupon code Mako15 to save 15% off your order through September 22nd.
Connect: You can connect with BuckleyBoo on Facebook and Twitter.
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Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
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