Philips Magic Theater

I totally got sucked into all the hype around the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium when my toddler was an infant and bought into the whole "miracle toy" claim. It did end up working wonders for us, so much so that if we forgot to bring it with us overnight somewhere, we'd mildly freak out. At age 2, the toddler still loves her aquarium and goes to sleep gazing at the soft glow of colors and the strangely addictive and soothing new age-ish theme.

The Philips Magic Theater works in a similar way in that it will play a selection of pre-recorded songs and nature sounds and gently rotate projected images onto your walls. The big difference is that your child won't be able to turn the device on and off himself, but the 6 visual slides sound intriguing as they correspond to the different stages of a child's development. So for a newborn, high contrast, simple shapes can be projected and then as the baby grows older, complex shapes and colors can be used. 2 blank slides are included so you can channel your own crafty self and make your own images so there really is no limit to what you can project.

And as expected, the Magic Theater can be set to go for 5, 10 or 15 minutes, at which point, it will softly fade away. Hopefully your child will be sleeping by then.

Get it at the BabyCenter Store.