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Chad Valley Jungle Friends Bouncer review
Best Budget Baby Bouncer
The Chad Valley Jungle Friends Bouncer is a simple, lightweight and entertaining baby seat that won’t break the bank.
By Gemma Wilcock | Last updated Jan 23, 2023
See all of our tried-and-tested picks, including options for every budget, on our best baby bouncer round-up page.
Good for parents who
- Want a simple bouncer seat
- Have a tight budget or want a spare baby bouncer for childcare
- Would like a bouncer that can easily be moved around the house
Pros
- Very easy to use
- As baby grows, the bouncer responds to their movements
- Removable, washable cover
- Bright, colourful pattern that baby will enjoy
- Gripped feet to prevent the bouncer from slipping around
- Light frame that can easily be moved around the home
Cons
- Doesn’t have a toy bar and no baby toys are included
- Seat only has one recline position
- Needs to be dismantled for storage or travel
Product information
- Age range: Suitable from birth up to 9kg
- Dimensions: 42.2 × 53.3 × 48.3cm
- Weight: 1.6kg
- Materials: Polyester
- Colours: Currently only available in Jungle Friends pattern
- RRP: £25
What is Chad Valley Jungle Friends Bouncer like to assemble?
It took our tester, Luci, just 17 minutes to put this baby bouncer together. She did it alone with no tools, and found the instructions and illustrations easy enough to follow.
She did, however, get a little confused when it came to identifying the right parts, which she said would have been easier if they’d had numbered stickers on them.
The seat can be taken apart for storage by removing the footrest and base frame tubes, but you do need a screwdriver for this. As such, this bouncer wouldn't regularly be tidied away at the end of the day unless you have the time and inclination to dismantle it each time.
While Argos has an online support page if you need assistance, we couldn’t find a copy of the instructions online so you’d need to call the customer service helpline if you lost your paper copy.
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Is the Jungle Friends Bouncer safe and stable?
The Chad Valley Jungle Friends Bouncer comes with a covered three-point harness (no trapped fingers here!) and a seat that is so deep our tester found she could leave the harness secured but slide her three-month old in and out without having to keep unclipping the buckles every time.
It doesn’t come with an insert for newborns and our tester felt a small baby may get a bit lost in the deep seat, but the the angle of the bouncer and the seat provide enough support and room for babies to grow.
The frame was light yet robust enough to stay in place when our tester’s baby was enthusiastically bouncing away, and it didn’t topple over when knocked.
You may want to watch out for the legs though, which do stick out a little and could catch between your toes if you’re not careful. The wideness is intentional for added stability, however, and the legs have grips to stop the bouncer from moving around on slippery flooring, such as wood or tiles.
The manufacturer’s advice states that the seat is not suitable for babies weighing less than 3kg and they don’t recommend using this product once your child can get into a crawling position.
What’s it like in day-to-day use?
Chad Valley's Jungle Friends Bouncer is a simple and basic baby bouncer with none of the fancy bells and whistles you see on other baby seats, such as the Joie Serina 2-in-1 Swing. Yet our tester liked how portable it was and how easy it was to use day-to-day.
The seat is made from polyester but is soft enough for a baby’s sensitive skin, and the material wraps around them snugly with lots of room for growth. Because it is so roomy, our tester was able to lay a towel in the seat for her daughter to relax in after bath time (speaking of bath time, don't miss our guide to the best baby shampoo for your little one's gentle skin).
One of the benefits to the Chad Valley Jungle Friends Bouncer is that it weighs just 1.6kg so is very portable without being flimsy. Luci was able to pick up her baby with one hand and move the bouncer up and down stairs and from room to room with the other so that her baby always had somewhere to sit. The bouncer was even small enough to be stored in the bath when it wasn’t being used.
The seat can’t be folded but can dismantled for storage or travel, so you could take it on holiday with you or away for a weekend. Just remember to take your screwdriver.
When it comes to recline, the bouncer only provides one recline position and it doesn’t lie completely flat, however it is a good angle for a newborn baby to rest in after a feed.
The chair can be bounced with a push from your hand or foot and, as baby gets bigger, they can start the motion themselves.
Read next: We've carefully selected the best toys for newborns to encourage early development through play.
How easy is it to clean?
This is an area in which the bouncer came up trumps. The cover is removable and comes off very easily by unclipping the back and sliding it off the base.
You can machine wash the fabric on a cold, gentle cycle but our tester found she didn’t need to. Both milk and tomato ketchup stains wiped away with no problem and the frame was cleaned with a damp cloth. You can also tumble dry the cover on a low heat if you need to dry it quickly.
The Jungle Friends Bouncer comes in a mint colour with a themed animal print and our tester reported that it looked perfect after testing.
How does it look?
The colourful print on the Chad Valley Jungle Friends Bouncer may not be to everyone’s taste, but our tester’s baby loved it.
The bright colours provided good visual stimulation, but our tester felt a bar with some sensory toys for babies attached (which the Chad Valley doesn’t have) would keep older infants entertained for longer. But as the bouncer can only be used up to 9kg, this may not matter so much.
Overall, the bouncer boasts a unisex design and it isn’t big or bulky so won’t take up too much space in your home. The seat might not blend in with your décor as nicely as other baby bouncers, such as the BabyBjörn Bouncer Bliss (which we also tested and loved), but the colourful animals – including cats, monkeys and zebras – are a fun addition for little ones.
Is the Chad Valley Jungle Friends Bouncer good value for money?
Costing just £20 currently, this is one of the lowest priced bouncers on the market (and the lowest we tested), which makes it great value for money.
The fabric isn’t as good quality or as versatile as the materials on more luxurious bouncers like BabyBjörn Bliss, but our tester’s baby was thoroughly happy resting and playing in it.
Final verdict
There’s no denying that the Chad Valley Jungle Friends Bouncer is more basic than a lot of the bouncers we tested, but what it does do is provide somewhere safe and comfortable for your baby to sit wherever you are.
If you don’t want to splash out on a baby product that will only last for six months, then the Jungle Friends Bouncer may be just what you're after – and it's cheap enough that you could even buy a spare for the grandparents' house too.
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All prices correct at time of publication.
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