Allie is four months and one week old. She plays with toys now. She pulls things towards herself. She chews and feels and explores.
Wanting to get a reprieve from holding her all day long, I decided to find some of Grace's old baby toys. She had a saucer, a walker, a jumperoo, and some assorted noisy toys at this age.
I knew that Allie would love them.
I hoped that Allie would love them enough for me to get some work done around the house and play with my firstborn and her dollhouse.
Maybe even exercise.
Or blog!
I don't ask for much.
My simple requests in mind, I crawled into our dank, dark basement crawlspace this morning, hoping not to meet anything with six or eight legs.
Twenty minutes later, I crawled back out with the toys, having successfully avoided all things creepy and crawly. Among the toys I found was Grace's Sing-Along Stage.
Assuming that my handy husband had removed the batteries before he stored it away, I grabbed some fresh AAs and a screwdriver and sat the baby in the Bumbo seat.
My handy husband had not, as it turns out, removed the batteries.
Three years in the dank, dark basement crawlspace, and the batteries had leaked their acid out into the battery compartment of the Sing-Along Stage.
"Rats!" I grumbled, causing Grace to come over to see what I was doing.
I cleaned out the battery compartment, making sure to get all of the acid and grime.
Unfortunately, as I cleaned, the springs that were supposed to hold the batteries in disintegrated and fell out.
"Now what am I going to do?" I said out loud.
You can play with me! Grace offered.
Not so helpful.
Anyway, this toy was awesome. It sang and played music and Grace would sit (and later stand) in front of it and dance and sing and watch herself in the mirror and I loved every minute.
I would not allow a little battery acid to stand between Allie and the awesomeness of the Sing Along Stage.
I put the batteries into the compartment even though the springs weren't there to hold them in. I hoped that, if I replaced the back panel, the batteries would not fall out and the toy would work.
Sometimes, I am more hopeful than smart.
I was wrong.
I contemplated, gnashing my teeth.
Then I had a brainstorm. What if the music failed to play because the circuit wasn't closed? Maybe those springs had a dual purpose!
If that was the case, I just needed something metal to wedge in there.
I was about to dissect some pens for their springs when I thought about aluminum foil. I grabbed the roll from the kitchen, tore off two little pieces, and rolled them into little balls.
After stuffing the little balls into the compartment where the springs had been, I replaced the batteries and the back panel.
And the toy started singing.
I was so proud of myself that I posted this on Twitter:
And then Grace took the toy from Allie and sat in front of the stage for an hour, singing and dancing and looking at herself in the mirror.
(I was too excited to look up the spelling ahead of time. It's actually MacGyver.)
Lindsay says
Hi, thanks so much for posting this! My daughter's toy keyboard now works again and can be loved a 2nd time round with my niece!
Melissa says
I found your page through a Google search, and I had to let you know that your top just saved a corroded Furby! My daughters day has been made, thank you!
Tara Ziegmont says
Yay! So glad to hear it!
catherine treloar says
i have been searching the web for what seems ages! looking for a soft toy that talks but has no batteries in it my friend had a teddy like this but does not know who made it so i thought go on the net no luck so far i think i am looking for something that does not exist anybody out with any ideas?please thanks catherine
Jaye says
I tried this on my children's play house that plays music. It didn't work. Oh well.....
Donna says
I am so thankful I stumbled upon this!! You saved me! I have a cool vtech abc train that had bad corrosion and one spring completely eroded away. I couldnt stand the thought of tossing it when I knew my daughter would love it! I cleaned it up the best I could and used the foil and it works and she is loving it!! Thank you genius!!;)
Melissa says
Oh my goodness, thank you so much! I got this AWESOME table activity center from my sister and my 9 month old loves using it to stand up, but it’s definitely not as fun as having all the sounds! I’m so glad you wrote a post about this!
Steven says
Thanks to you and your ingenuity I was able to fix a favorite device of mine. It's a Festivus miracle! Thanks for making my holiday a very happy one. Peace & Love.
Erin Carlson says
God bless you! You just fixed my secondhand elliptical machine I just bought. Thank you thank you thank you. I was about to be very angry.
Martha G says
You are a LIFE SAVER!!! my toddler had been obsessing over a toy that’s been impossible to find. I magically came across it on OfferUp and came home to get it all cleaned up and ready for him. Come to find out the batteries had exploded and the seller that sold it to me had gone above and beyond to repackage a used toy and sell it at a premium as brand new. I was SO upset until I came across your article. It was our last hope and IT WORKED!!!!! thank you soooo much for sharing your knowledge and wisdom!!! You made my day- even year! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!
Helene says
Thank you! I am a nature teacher and as I was putting my animals together for a program I am teaching tomorrow, I opened the battery compartment in one only to find old battery leakage! Then I found your posting and now my program is saved!! You are a true genius!
Kristiana says
Your tips saved my day! It works like magic! Thank you very much.
Mike says
I know this is 7 years later...but thank you so much for this post!!
We found an old Christmas toy that my partner’s dad had given her before he passed away, and when we found it the battery had leaked and the spring had fell off, was so upset!
But finding this post we had it fixed right away! Seriously, thank you so so much!!
And merry Christmas to everyone!
Tara Ziegmont says
I'm so glad to hear it. I hope the toy lasts for many years to come!
Alex says
Hi
I just wanna thank you for sharing this findings.
I tried it on my remote control and it works.
Parker says
Has anyone had this catch fire? I'm paranoid about that. It does work great, but has anyone had issues with the tin foil being in there long term? Thanks!
Tara Ziegmont says
I've used it for years with no troubles, but if you are concerned, don't do it. Use your best judgement.
june says
Yeaaaaa.. my animated santa too suffered from corrosion... till i read this... thank u sooo much... He;s back working. alllll lit up as he shud be... a christmas miracle.. 🙂
Eve says
It worked!!! Feeling very smart too. Thank you!!
Ann njeri says
2019 n your post just saved me from sleeping in a dark house waiting for the electrician to come fix my electricity inhemeter that uses batteries and one of the springs broke off as I was replacing the old batteries!!! thank God for this post.
Nisha says
Thanks a lot. I'm so glad that I read your post you saved my day girl. My son had a toy train in which I don't know how the batteries leaked and destroyed almost both the springs and one point to, but with help of your post I made it work .
Lisa says
Thanks so much! My son bought me a set of three light up ghosts around seven years ago. It wasn't bad enough that the cat chewed through one of the wires...so I had to work some magic with electrical tape, but I forgot to take the batteries out last year and one of the wires corroded off. I was really sad, thinking I would not be able to use them this year. Then I tried Google, found your site, put in a bit of foil and turned on the switch. And they lit up and am happy!
Thanks again!
Cathy says
Just to let you know your brilliance is still being appreciated, fixed a Geotrax train today with balls of tinfoil. Pretty proud of myself just finding your super informative blog. Thank you for caring enough to post the things you learn, so that others' lives are a little easier. 🙂
Robin says
I am so going to try this in my guitar hero guitar! We got out the band last spring during our time in quarantine and found the compartment corroded. We took the batteries out and the spring broke off. I was devastated! I'm going to try this later tonight!
Tara Ziegmont says
Did it work?