VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker (Frustration Free Packaging), Blue

Why it's worth it

The activity panel detaches for a baby who can only sit, then clips back on so a new walker can push the whole thing across the room. It covers the entire stretch between sitting up and walking, which is the part you can't predict.

If you don't know the child's exact stage, buy this one. A baby who's still sitting plays with the panel on the floor. A few weeks later that same panel goes back on the frame and becomes something to push. Nothing else here stretches across such a wide window, and you don't have to interrogate the parents about milestones to get it right.

The panel is busy in the way toddlers like. Five piano keys, a phone handset, three shape sorters, light-up buttons and spinning rollers, all in reach at once. Zero to Three flags pushing, balancing and climbing as the gross motor work pediatricians check at the one- and two-year visits, and a push walker is a straightforward way to get some of it.

From our review of 7 gifts for toddlers

What we like

• +If you don't know the child's exact stage, buy this one
• +The panel is busy in the way toddlers like
• +The two-speed wheel switch matters more than it sounds
• +At about four and a half pounds, it's easy to carry between rooms or take to a grandparent's house for the afternoon

What to know

• –It's the loud one. There are songs, and they repeat, and you'll learn them
• –The push half gets outgrown fairly quickly