My Child Roundabout 4-in-1 Activity Walker (Citrus) Review

I am the father of an eight-month-old and we tested the My Child Citrus Roundabout 4-in-1 Activity Walker for three weeks. This is a seated walker designed to hold the child upright allowing them to move along with their feet. The My Child walker offers multiple sensory toys which make sounds, lights up, and have different textures to engage the child; the child can rotate between each of the various toys with the 360-degree rotating seat whilst the walker is in a stationary position. The walker easily converts between its rocker, activity centre, and walker mode with simple adjustments to the walker. When placed in the walker setting the toy allows the child to freely explore the environment and explore the room.

The My Child walker, priced at £79.95 at the time of writing on Amazon (UK), stands along side similar products from other brand such as Babymoov, Red Kite, and Baby Einstein; its price which places it in the mid-range price for a walker. All the walkers offer similar seated support positions allowing the child to move freely by moving their legs, an advantage of the My Child walker is the ability turn fully and explore the toys at the both the front, sides, and back of the walker whereas its competitor tend to lack toys all-round the walker. Previously I have used the Baby Einstein Around We Grow 4-in-1 Discovery Centre walker which allows the child to walk around a central activity centre and explore the wide range of sensory toys.

The product arrived well packaged in a relatively large box which was light and easy to move. Inside the box, each attachment came in a plastic bags which made find the pieces easy for installation. The instruction manual contained clear instructions with easy-to-follow illustrations for the assembly; a Phillips head screwdriver and batteries are required but not provided. The seat, unlike my other walker, could be easily removed which made cleaning very easy; however, the seat is not machine washable and wipe clean only. The rest of the product is hard smooth plastic which can be wiped clean.

The walker took around twenty minutes to fully assemble and once built it was strong and sturdy. I was very happy with the design of the product and its stability. I tested the “Citrus” version of the walker which is very bright and colourful; it was very eye catching for my daughter who was curious as to what I was building during the assembly. A “Neutral” version is also available which offers muted pastel colours. The walker itself is large and takes up a fair bit of room so is not ideal for small living spaces, and it cannot be folded like some of its competitors to place away when not in use.

My daughter who was testing the product greatly enjoyed the bright colour and was keen to explore and interact with the walker. In the walker mode my daughter was able play with the sensory toys in the front of the walker as the seat was locked in position when in this mode, which were all within easy reach. This was the most used function of the walker and the one that my daughter enjoyed the most. My daughter was free to explore the living room and engage with new things around the room, and she enjoyed the independence she had now that she was not restricted to cruising using other objects. The difference in the viewpoint also had her excited and explored the room running from one end to the other. The walker itself was wide enough that it was not able to fit through the doorway preventing her from leaving the room; this was ideal as it mitigated the danger of her accidently approaching the stairs. Another safety concern was the risk of the walker tipping, however during our use the walker was steady and stay upright despite the many bumps. Furthermore, the wheels were far enough from my daughter’s feet that there was no right of her getting them trapped.

Although the walker was advertised as having speed restricting wheels, on smooths surfaces such as the laminate floors in our house the walker travelled very quickly that my daughter was not able to properly control her speed and bumped into walls and objects causing her head to move violently. Her bumps also caused the bounce board to fall off the dock in the back as there was no way to lock it in place which was annoyance and eventually the bounce board was omitted entirely. Furthermore, although the walker was at the highest setting it seemed as though my daughter’s feet were reaching the limit of the product and within a short time span she may be too tall for to use it comfortably.

The walker can also be used as a rocker or the activity centre mode with the installation of the bounce board. The bounce board was easy to install for these two modes and simply involved placing the board on the mounting points on the frames. For the rocker mode the rocker feet should also be engaged by pulling these from the side of the base which was very easy to do, it also clicks into place so you also have an aural confirmation that it is properly locked in. However, I was unable to test these two modes as the bounce board raised the “floor level” and so the legs of my child were in the bent position when placed in these modes and so was not safe to use. This was extremely disappointing as the walker could not be used from six months old and so my eight-month-old had outgrown two thirds of the walker functions in a short time span making it low value for money for long term use.

Overall, in my opinion the walker is well constructed and easy to assemble. The bright colours and wide range of sensory toys certainly made the walker enjoyable for my daughter and engaged her. It gave her independence to roam around the room and explore her surroundings whilst being supervised. The 360-degree seat would have certainly been a good source of enjoyment to explore the different toys keeping the child’s curiosity entertained, but she could not use it due to the height limit. Even at the highest setting my eight-month-old daughter is too tall to use the rocker and activity centre setting and will soon outgrow the walker setting, giving this product a short lifespan of two or three months, which does not make it a good value for money. I also had concerns with the fast speeds my daughter was moving at on the smooth surfaces and needed very close supervision to prevent injury. The walker is also large and could not fit through the doorway when in use which is ideal as it prevented my daughter from leaving the room, however it could not be collapsed when not in use which is not ideal in a small home.