Boon

Benders

Established hazards: None

Confidence: Moderate

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Manufacturer: Boon [all listings]

Boon's Benders utensils are ergonomically designed to bend at an angle that facilitates eating for little ones. As your child gets older and refines his motor skills, you can straighten the benders. The handles have a soft, easy grip and are indeed attractive and well designed for little hands.

Infants frequently switch hands when eating, which means the Bender is suddenly bent in the wrong direction. The utensils are easy to bend, unbend or bend the other way, but it takes an adult to understand and perform the action, and young children learning to use utensils may frequently behave ambidextrously when attempting to eat. This limits the Benders' utility somewhat for the very audience they are designed to assist. Boon advertises that these utensils are appropriate for 9+ months; if there are 9 month olds who are spoon feeding themselves then maybe I should be worried.

The key limitation to this idea, young children's limited sense of handedness, limits its real utility for the youngest utensil-users and for parents, who will still need to hover and assist heavily as their child eats.

Benders are available in light blue/off-white, off-white/orange, and pink/white.

Purchase: Amazon.com |

Boon Bath Goods

Established hazards: PVC

Confidence: High

Rating: Why is this product unrated?

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Manufacturer: Boon [all listings]

Purchase: Amazon.com |

Boon Bath Pod

Established hazards: None

Confidence: High

Rating: Why is this product unrated?

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Manufacturer: Boon [all listings]

Purchase: Amazon.com, Frog |

Catch Bowl

Established hazards: None

Confidence: Moderate

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Manufacturer: Boon [all listings]

The Catch Bowl, as the name suggests, is designed to catch spillage as food makes it perilous journey from the bowl to your toddler's mouth. It also has a wide suction cup around the bottom of the bowl for stabilizing and securing the bowl to a feeding tray, table or counter. Despite its suction-cup bottom, the Catch Bowl and its contents usually end up on the floor at our house. The fact that the bowl sticks slightly to his tray may have made it more of an intriguing challenge, but one which our tester nonetheless overcame with a flourish.

This will probably work well for children at just the right stage. If you like specialized tableware that's stylish to boot, the Catch Bowl may be right for your little learner.

Available in off-white/white, orange/off-white, and pink/white.

Purchase: Amazon.com |

Flo Faucet Cover

Established hazards: None

Confidence: High

Rating: Why is this product unrated?

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Manufacturer: Boon [all listings]

Purchase: Amazon.com |

Fluid

Established hazards: None

Confidence: Moderate

Rating:

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Manufacturer: Boon [all listings]

Fluid's donut-shaped cup may be the first thing to catch your attention; although it entails a slight reduction in cleaning efficiency, it is truly ergonomic, achieving the benefit of twin handles with the cup surface itself. But it's the sippy spout that is an exercise in meticulous and high design. Although appearing to be made of a single piece of plastic, it is actually two parts, closely joined: a hard plastic outer shell with a gentle curve, and a softer plastic inner lining with a rubbery give that is sealed seamlessly into the shell.

This lining helps seal the connection between the lid and the cup without the use of a threaded screw (adhering with an unsatisfying smush, but clearly sealing tightly) but it also does all of the work: The outer surface parts at the top in a small, ovoid opening roughly the size and shape of a cat's pupil, but it forms a slight depression rather than a hole because the inner material underlays this opening in a thin, soft membrane with a tiny slit in it that allows liquid to pass through when suction is applied.

The cup has a moderate flow that invites a lot of heavy swigging, but the lusty head-tilting feels well-supported by its ease of handling. Fluid does not drip much when shaken upside down, but creative users can create a drip-drip-drip effect, which strikes us as a limitation, for sure, when dealing with kids at the "no means not while I'm looking" stage.

The Fluid is available in orange/off-white and pink/white.

Purchase: Amazon.com |