What is The Bilibo Imagination Toy?

by Andy Chen on August 21, 2009 · 6 comments

in Kid Gadgets

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Recently I had a chance to play with- er, I mean, let my preschool-aged son play- with this odd blue thing called the Bilibo Imagination Toy from ThinkGeek.

ThinkGeek’s site had a line that got my attention, which read, “the parents were like ‘What? It’s just a plastic bowl with holes in it. It doesn’t even use batteries!’ Kids just grok it.”  The funny thing is, I saw the Bilibo Imagination Toy and I could instantly relate.  My imagination was already running wild!  This thing looked seriously cool.

  • For ages 2 years – 7 years
  • Winner of the Dr. Toy 10 Best Active Products Award and 100 Best Children’s Products Award and many others.
  • Dimensions: 39x39x22cm
  • Weight: 800g
  • Material is a high density polyethylene that is resistant to shock at low temperatures and is non-toxic

Unpacked, this thing resembled an otherworldly chips and dip bowl… with “eyes”.

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I was confident that I would be able to get lots of great action shots of my son playing with the Bilibo Imagination Toy.  Turns out he could care less!  This was the ONLY photo I could get of him near the thing, and it was 0.001 seconds after I placed it on his head in an effort to get a “helmet” shot.  This was like, take 12.bilibo05Sadly, the Bilibo Imagination Toy was a “miss” for my son.  But I like it!  Except I don’t have a use for it as an adult.  Chips and salsa anyone?

Product Information

Price:$29.99 from ThinkGeek
Manufacturer:Activepeople Toys
Pros:
  • Nearly indestructible. I could stand on it and nothing would happen. No batteries required!
Cons:
  • Clearly not for everyone, like my son! But if you have gobs of imagination, who knows?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 blore40 August 22, 2009 at 11:57 am

Half a bowling ball mold?

2 Julie August 22, 2009 at 4:58 pm

@blore40 ..or Darth Vader’s helmet in Blue? ;)

3 Jo August 22, 2009 at 9:21 pm

Our 4-year-old adores her Bilibo and calls it her Beluga. Funny that ThinkGeek is selling them–they are used a lot by physical and occupational therapists and are sold by special-needs catalogs as well as toy companies. Anyway, have your son flip it over and sit in it. He can rock and slide and go crazy without actually falling. It’s also fun for collecting toys, or using as a giant dog bowl. Or as a step stool to reach Mommy’s iPhone.

4 Andy Chen August 23, 2009 at 1:26 am

He refused to sit in it (inverted). He simply would NOT have anything to do with it. Yet he will play with an empty paper towel roll. Imagination is a funny thing.

5 Chris August 23, 2009 at 1:04 pm

One look at this and I thought “Fat Albert”. One of the characters in the cartoon wore a hat that covered his face, except for 2 eyeholes. I guess kids these days don’t watch that anymore.

6 John Kes August 24, 2009 at 4:20 pm

That would be Dumb Donald. Thanks to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Albert_and_the_Cosby_Kids#Characters

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