Review: Fisher Price Swirlin' Surprise Gumball Machine for Toddlers & Babies

We got this Fisher Price Swirlin’ Surprise Gumball Machine over 3 1/2 years ago and it is still one of our favorites. It has held up great over the years. 

It comes with 4 balls with goodies inside. There’s a lollipop, piece of candy, a teddy bear, and a ring.

The balls get dropped into the top and then once the lever on the side is pushed, the gumball machine lights up, plays music, and pops out one of the balls.

The first few times Cocoa Puff used this, he squealed with excitement. He learned the cause and effect of this toy really quickly.

Froot Loop liked it too, but he was more methodological about it. He was on a mission to get the four balls out and then back in. With Cocoa Puff, we race to see if I can put the balls in quicker than he can get them out. We both laugh a lot. 

Cocoa Puff is so proud of himself when he gets the balls out and then picks them up and puts them back in. Froot Loop laughs and says that he “flushed” it! 

There’s two volume levels on here, which is a huge plus. The louder volume is VERY loud, but the softer one is tolerable. The songs vary from a couple seconds long to quite a while. The music plays even when the gumball machine is empty and the lever is pushed. 

There’s also a knob in front that twists around and makes a clicking noise. This was always a big hit with the boys too. 

Cocoa Puff plays with this toy quite often. Froot Loop used to play with it pretty often too and still does on occasion since he likes music and flashing lights. Actually, we have to repeatedly ask him to stop playing with it while Cocoa Puff is using it. For the life of me, I cannot find my pictures of Froot Loop playing with it. I think they're on my other phone that got damaged and not all the photos got transferred over...

My one small complaint is that the base isn’t any larger than the top, so it’s easy to topple over. This could be easily fixed by making the base a little heavier or a little wider. 

The balls are fun to play with by themselves too. They’re a little on the hard side, so I don’t encourage throwing them. They’re fun to roll around and the little toys inside spin around. Each ball also has two brightly colored circles on the poles. The size is great for little hands to hold and carry around. They’re also a good tool to encourage crawling if you roll them in front of your baby. 

This gumball machine needs 3 AAA batteries, but they last forever. I think we’ve only replaced them twice in over three years. 

What’s your favorite thing to get out of a gumball machine?