As promised, here is the first review on Undefeated Daddy. We start with a toy review since Christmas is coming and many parents will be looking for good, fun, learning toys for kids.
First up is the Judy Clock. It’s a yellow and blue clock with red hands that is an interactive toy that helps children learn to tell time or to just have a clock to play with. The kind of reviews this toy gets on Amazon and other websites is one of the reasons I do these reviews. They are confusing and conflicting, and I think I know why. With more details, more pictures, and a video, I think you can make a better decision about whether the Judy Clock is a good quality toy.
If you are wondering what those clear marks on our Judy Clock are, don’t worry. It isn’t paint blistering or anything else. In fact, it’s in near perfect shape despite being well played with and jammed into a closet when not. That’s actually scotch tape. He’s at that phase where he wants to put tape on everything. At one point, the hands were even taped down 🙂
How Judy Clock Works
To play with the Judy clock, you move the hands of the clock. Specifically, you move the minute hand with the little knob that sticks up. As you move the hands of the clock, the little display at the bottom moves in sync with the hands. Thus, if you move the big hand down to the six, the digital style display at the bottom reads “30” in the minutes area. When you roll past the 12, either forward or backward, the hour changes.
Although there is an AM and PM part of the display, this part does NOT move with the hands of the clock. No matter how many times you go past 12:00, it will not click over to AM or PM. To switch the AM or PM, you turn the little red dial to the right of the display.
That small red dial has another use as well. By turning it, you can block the time display at the bottom so it can’t be seen. The idea is that you could move the hands to a certain time with the bottom time display blocked and then your kid could try and tell what the time is from the clock face, and then open up the display to check their work.
Judy Clock Problems, Issues, Complaints
One of the complaints you will see online is that the hands are hard to move. The minute hand moves very easily. I don’t see how anyone could complain about that. The hour hand, however, clicks over as the minute hand passes the 12. This offers up much more resistance than moving the minute hand, and it makes a very noticeable ka-thunk.
We gave this toy to our then 4-year old and he had no trouble moving the hands, including the extra resistance at the 12. In fact, he set about to cranking it around so fast and vigorously that I was worried he would break it. It’s been over a year, and it hasn’t broken yet, so we’ll give it good marks for durability.
Another issue you will hear is that they break easily. In fact, the first one we bought came broken. The hands moved, but only the minutes would change in the bottom display. You could hear a broken gear rattling around inside. We bought our Judy Clock at Barnes and Noble with a member discount, plus they were having 25% off all toys, or something like that. That was lucky, because I took it back and they exchanged it right away. However, based on the number of reviews from people who said it never worked, or broke right away, I’d recommend buying local, or somewhere with easy returns. If it works fine when you take it out of the box, you’re set. If not, get it exchanged right away.
If your Judy Clock digital time display gets out of sync with the hands, there is an easy fix. Sometimes, if your child moves the Judy Clock hands too fast, or with too much backward and forward, the hours number will get off. The Judy Clock time will be off by one hour or two hours, or whatever. There is a white screwdriver slot (a table-knife works fine too) on the back that you use to move the hour number without moving the hands until they are back in sync. It isn’t common, but it does happen every so often.
Judy Clock Review
Of course, the most important thing when it comes to toys and gifts is do the kids like to play with it?
The answer in our family is a resounding yes. The concept of using it to learn to tell time isn’t really how it gets used. The younger kiddo likes to see the clock on the cable box (digital) and then set the Judy Clock to the same time. Both younger and older like to use it as a pretend timer. Once they used it to time travel by moving the time around, and then asking me for dinner in the morning. When I questioned, they held up the clock, “See it’s 5:30 PM. Dinner time!”
Over the course of the year, this toy has consistently found its way out of the toy closet or out from under the bed to be played with. Now, in all fairness, the youngest is obsessed with clocks and numbers. Other beloved gifts include a watch, and a purple desk clock that he has also carried around. If your kids have no interest in clocks or numbers, this might not be as big of hit at your house.
But, if you’ve got the right kiddos this can help them learn to tell time, have adventures, make their own make-believe with time, and more. For that reason, I’m going to put the Judy Clock on the Recommended Christmas Toys list.