The Baby Checklist
Playmats & Baby Gyms

Fisher-Price

Glow and Grow Kick & Play Piano Gym

7.3/10 overall

£35.00

A budget-friendly, feature-packed gym built around a light-up, detachable piano that grows through three Smart Stages learning levels.

Reviewed by SepehrNot yet hands-on tested — based on research & published specs
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This is Fisher-Price's mainstream, mass-market answer to the activity gym: a soft mat, a high-contrast toy arch with ten linkable toys, and a removable piano panel with five light-up keys, 85+ songs and phrases, and three Smart Stages settings that change what the piano teaches as the baby gets older, plus a freestyle mode with real piano notes. It covers Lay & Play, Tummy Time, Sit & Play and Take-Along modes, so it's genuinely usable from birth through toddlerhood.

Against the Lovevery Play Gym, the comparison is almost a mirror image: where Lovevery strips things back, this one leans hard into lights, sound and repetition, and it costs a quarter of the price. Against the Bright Starts 5-in-1 gym, it's a more traditional flat mat rather than a convertible ball pit, but the piano's stage-based learning modes give it a longer developmental arc for less money.

It's the sensible default for parents who want a genuinely useful, well-reviewed gym without spending big, and who don't mind noise and lights in the living room. Families wanting a calmer sensory environment, or who've already got enough battery-powered toys underfoot, will find the Lovevery or Little Bird Told Me options a better fit.

The one real limitation: the piano runs on batteries and, like most Fisher-Price electronic toys, the same handful of tunes on repeat will wear thin on parents well before the baby is bored of it.

What we liked

  • Very low price for the number of features included
  • Three Smart Stages settings mean the piano's learning content changes as baby grows
  • Multiple play modes take it from tummy time through to sit-and-play toddler use

Where it falls short

  • Piano needs batteries and adds noise some parents find grating on repeat
  • Piano panel itself is only wipe-clean, not machine washable
  • Less premium fabric and finish than the pricier options here

Specs

base
Fabric mat over foam padding
mat_size
Large fold-out mat, portable for travel
washable
Yes, mat is machine washable; piano panel is wipe-clean only
age_range
Birth to 36 months
arch_toys_detachable
Yes, arch and 10 linkable toys are repositionable and detachable; piano detaches for take-along play

How we scored it

Developmental Value

How well the mat/gym supports tummy time, reaching, grasping, tracking and sensory development across the newborn-to-infant stretch, and whether it genuinely grows with the baby rather than being outgrown in weeks.

7/10

Smart Stages settings and linkable toys give real range for the price, though it's less considered than Lovevery's design

Build Quality & Washability

Fabric and foam quality, how the mat copes with milk, dribble and inevitable nappy leaks, and whether it's actually machine washable rather than spot-clean-only.

6/10

Mat washes well but the electronic piano panel is wipe-clean only

Value for Money

What you get for the price versus rivals in this list, factoring in how long the mat stays useful before it's outgrown.

9/10

Weighted by importance for this category — see our editorial policy for how we test.

The alternative

Lovevery

The Play Gym

A Montessori-inspired play gym designed to be reconfigured across five developmental stages, from newborn tracking to toddler standing play.

7.8/10