Hello Kitty Pretty Pushchair Toyologist review - so easy to push and play!

Last Christmas I spent a long time choosing my daughter's first pram – like choosing a real pram I felt there was a lot to consider. I was pleased with my choice except one thing, she found it really difficult to turn and a year later still does really.

This is where the Hello Kitty pushchair steps up to the mark. I am so impressed with the swivel action on the front wheels, it is the easiest pushchair for a little one to manoeuvre... I wish my buggy was as easy to push!

It seems well made, no problems so far and is pretty easy to fold flat so you can store it away neatly (very important in our house).

It has some little straps and a bar across the front so little ones can play easily at sitting their toys in. It is a plastic clasp so maybe not suitable for children much younger than the recommended age if you don't want pinched little fingers. My little girl who is going on 3 loves the clasp though as it is more realistic and wants to learn to do all these things.

It's a nice girlie design and pattern – extra cute with a little felt flower on the hood. The other great feature is that they can easily push the seat back to recline it, and with that and the hood down they can get their toys off to sleep. It also has a bottom compartment for storing dolly's essentials, or if you're my daughter, for storing leaves and conkers you have collected out on your walk.

It feels quite sturdy, here is my little girl zooming along with it. If you are wondering what's happened to her doll, in typical Squiggle style she insisted on taking her dinosaur for a walk instead. She then insisted he preferred to sit underneath where he would find it much bumpier... like a trampoline.

Hey it's her pushchair!
And we love it!

The 'Hello Kitty Pretty Kitty Pushchair' will be available in Toys R Us for Christmas.

As if by AniMagic – Ruby the Glamour Pet Review

So here's what I had the other day from my toddler...

Well I thought I had a good few years before the dog pestering happened. I explained it would be too lonely while mummy was at work and she was playing at Granny's.

Later that week I told her we were going to get a big box of toys to play with and we had to test them to see if they were good for other boys and girls to play with. This was her response...

Well luckily for me (and her) Geoffrey did not disappoint and there was indeed a perfect little puppy. I was pretty certain she was going to be completely delighted with her Ani-Magic Glamour Pet pup Ruby, and she was... and still is!

Ruby the puppy is just perfect for little girly girls who love animals. Perfect for me too as I don't have to take her for walks or worry about her eating the furniture.

She is:
Pretty on the eye
Very very soft and always ready for a cuddle (and a kiss)
Happy to let you dress her up with her reversible coat
Even happier to have her hair styled
Very well behaved in the car
Doesn't jump up at visitors
Only prone to very lady like little barks

She never:
Wees
Whimpers while you are trying to eat your lunch
Wants a walk
Sheds hair on the furniture
Complicates holiday plans (fits very nicely in a backpack)

My favourite thing about Ruby is just how soft she is. My daughter fell in love with her instantly and loves using the brush to do her hair and adding the little clips which come with it.

Day Coat / Night Coat (for that added glamour)

Ruby had batteries included which just about made my day and she comes with some sound effects. When you brush her hair she is designed to bark and when you press her close to your face to make a kissing noise. These kind of work but we found we had to press quite hard rather than just using the brush or snuggling up.

This little pup has brought my daughter a lot of joy and is perfect for little girls who love to play at taking care of animals. Ruby is a little patch of pink and glitter I just couldn't say no to having in the house!

Ruby will be available soon from Toys R Us.

Hello Kitty Sweet Treat Food Bar Review

Our family is full of girls (so far) and if there's one thing the little girls in our family love it's playing food shops. My daughter has 5 girl cousins ranging from 2 to 13 and when they are all over this is what tends to be the first game of choice (followed by schools and a dance show!) The minute we saw the Hello Kitty Sweet Treats Food Bar box it screamed girl heaven and my little girly girl was very excited!

We couldn't wait to open it, but I have to admit my heart sunk slightly when we did... there is a bit of assembly to do which is fine but there are stickers to stick on everything. This may not be a problem for everyone but it's always nicer when things are ready to go (mummy got a little stressed trying to stick things in a straight line).

Time to get sticking!

Once assembled it is full of delicious treats to make and pretend to sell and little ones will have lots of fun - maybe not a toy to promote healthy eating mind! There are a wide range of sweet treats – macaroons, chocolate, donuts and ice cream (oh if only they were real). It also comes with some great accessories – a sauce bottle, serving utensils and a grater.

Ta Dah!!

From mummy's point of view I love how compact it all is. A lot of food toys I have been put off buying as we just don't have the space. As all the parts are small this doesn't take up much room, it doesn't really pack away though and would be great if you could fold it up!

The smallness of it all is also attractive to my daughter as she just loves little tiny things. Now all her tiny animals and toys she has collected have a wonderful sweet shop to visit to help complete her play world!

It is robust and well made but I did have a couple of niggles with it. The foods selection doesn't really relate to any shop my daughter would visit in real life. The idea of the ice cream is great and she loved it but she was looking for a cone to put it in. They do give you some takeaway boxes but they are hard to put together and a bit small for the food. I don't think my little one has ever had ice cream in a box so just seemed an odd choice! I wish they had provided a couple of plastic cones and a couple of bags for selling the snacks and donuts, or maybe some little plates. We have some little plastic plates so we've been using those to play. There is a sign / menu which stands up which is a great idea but they have only provided a small amount of paper. Easily replaced but a bigger pad would have been nice!

I'm pretty certain most little girls (like mine) will really feel the wow factor when they see this toy – especially as it's Hello Kitty. There are just a few little things I would love to change/add to make it perfect so my daughter could get the most out of her role play games with it. Having said that she has been having lots of fun playing with the donut fryer, pretending she's at the fair and catering for her toys birthday parties.

Duplo Read & Build Review

Well I absolutely love this, I think it is such a fab idea! Basically the Read & Build set comes with a story book and enough Duplo bricks to be able to make the characters in the story. The set we received to review was 'Busy Farm' and the book is a simple rhyming farm story about a rooster waking up the farm and then falling asleep himself. From the packaging it looks like you can get other sets with different stories and I'm sure it would be lovely to collect a few but we really enjoyed this one.

Each page has a part of the story about one of the animals and a simple illustrative picture of how to make that animal from the bricks. They are just very simple (3 or 4 chunky bricks each) but great for little ones to get the idea of following instructions themselves. This is the part that made my little one pleased as punch, she could do it ALL BY HERSELF!!

At nearly 3 years old (and an experienced Duplo player) I expected my little girl to find it a bit too basic but she loved it. She always loves pretending to follow instructions (or constructions as she calls them) but this time she could actually do it. She was holding the pieces up to the book to check them and was really proud of herself when she made the animals. They were a bit back to front the first few times but that doesn't matter!

Although aimed at slightly younger children she enjoyed the story, and once she built the animals they were busy making all their sounds and reenacting the story.

It would be fantastic if they also did a slightly older version of this, I'm going to have to check as I would buy it for her for Christmas in a flash! I would say this set would make a perfect stocking filler for a one or early two year old. It's a great first step into the wonderful world of Lego.

The Duplo will be available at Toys R Is soon hurray!!

Mothers & Baby Play & Learn Toyologist Review

The Ravensburger Mothers & Babies learning game is a lovely, well made and well illustrated puzzle game which will help children learn while they play. There are 12 sets of mother animals and 12 sets of babies. You simply have to match the parent to their babies (for example the sheep to the lambs) to fit the tight pieces together. It's a lovely way for little ones to learn their animals and all the different baby names. 

My daughter really enjoyed playing it but the matching of the animal pieces was very easy for her. She is approaching 3 and so knows all the babies names and had no problem matching the animals and fitting the puzzles together. She wasn't all the happy about my suggestion we give it to her younger cousin though, "but I really like it" she protested!!

Then we decided to have a look at the games – there are four suggested games to go with it and this is where it becomes more suitable for my daughters age group.

We decided to play swaps where you deal the cards out, see how many pairs you already have, and then take turns to swap cards with each other to see who can match all their pairs first. This was much harder for her to get the idea of but she's catching on and it's good fun and great for her to learn! I think when other friends her age or a little older come round to play we will really enjoy playing the games together.

I think if I was buying it as a gift I would buy for roughly a 2 year old. That way they can get full enjoyment from the puzzle and learning the animals first, and then get even more fun from the games and start learning to play them as they get older. The game will be available soon from Toys R Us., have a look at our photos, they illustrations really are lovely for children aren't they?!

Melissa & Doug Doorbell House Toyologist Review

My eyes lit up when I saw this one, it's a great idea - basically a little street rolled up into one little box! And it's a pretty little wooden toy, us parents seem to have a thing for wooden toys don't we? Probably more so than the kids!!

It is basically a wooden box done up like a house with four doors and four working doorbells on each door. Each door bell makes a different sound and you will need to get some batteries to get them going! The feature that really sets this aside is that each little door has it's own dainty lock and key. They aren't chunky ones for little fingers and it has taken a little time for my almost 3 year old to get to grips with them. It is fantastic for her coordination though and although she wanted me to do the locks at first she is now learning that with a bit of patience she can do it herself. It is really good for her I think! I like the fact that the keys are more realistic to real keys rather than chunky plastic ones, I'm just worried she will get a bit too good at it and master our front door!! The keys have a subtle number engraved on them which match the numbers on the door and she picked this up straight away and they are attached to the handle of the house so they can't get lost!!

I would say children under 3 would struggle with the locks but you can leave them open and they will happily play with the dolls, doors and doorbells.

You get four dolls with the house, 2 girls and 2 boys which fit neatly behind the doors. I had thought there might be some decoration behind the doors but it's just plain wood. This didn't cause my little girl any disappointment though, she is happy playing house with the dolls. The general story line to her play being they all go round and ring on each others door bells to see if they want to play, they all announce they are too busy sleeping / playing / eating / watching telly, so they all have to go home again... then finally they all decide to go for a sleepover at one of the houses.

I love the imaginative play this little toy encourages, and I love the details in the pictures on the front if the houses. It's a great toy to take along with you if you are going away, you can lock all the dolls in their houses and then carry it easily by the handle. I took it as a surprise toy for my little girl on our camping trip and it worked a treat. We called it her doll's holiday home and she sat and played happily with it while we got things ready.

I would love to be able to buy this for friend's children as a gift as I don't think it's a toy people will have seen and it's such a great idea. It's a bit over my usual gift budget though from what I can gather so that would be my only area for improvement! Otherwise a fab toy and mummy's favourite from the toyologist box!

Watch out for it on Toys R Us shelves as it is coming to stores soon!

Ding dong! Hear a doorbell in action:

Fun with Puzzle-A-Round

Time for another toyologist review and it's another hit - the Peppa Pig Puzzle-A-Round.

I'll take that...

My daughter, like a lot of children absolutely loves puzzles. Plus they are just one of those toys that, as a parent, you really don't mind buying for your, or other peoples children. You can plainly see how much children get out of out of them and so I'm always on the look out for new ones! 

I had noticed similar 3D round puzzles in the shops but to be honest I hadn't considered them. I guess I expected them to be just novelty factor, fiddly and unlikely to stay together. The Puzzle-A-Round has proved me wrong! I actually had no idea how they work – they are very robust being made of shaped plastic pieces which are not going to bend and wear away after you have played with them a couple of times, which is what I had feared.

Squiggle was excited and here is our first attempt in pictures and video.  I did have to read the instructions to start off with to make sure I knew what to do. When I first saw all the pieces I did worry it was going to be a bit difficult for my daughter but she picked it up surprisingly quickly. You can see how she got on working it out from our video at the bottom of the post. She is just a few months off turning 3 and actually this puzzle is the perfect age for her – it challenged her (which you want), but completely held her attention and after giving it a go she was able to do it which of course made her very pleased with herself.

After a few attempts she is now pretty speedy at doing it and knows just what to do! It is recommended for ages 3+ which is about right I would say as younger children may find it a little hard to push all the pieces in properly. Still fun with an adults help though!

What she did find a little difficult were the very top and bottom sections where you are basically piecing together logos. It's a shame they couldn't have just taken the pictures all the way round, she seems to have the hang of it now though!! You build the top and bottom sections in two halves and then twist them together to make the ball. This meant the bottom section has to be built upside down. I thought this would baffle her but no, upside down pigs don't seem to be too much of a problem!!

When the ball is finished you can admire it by placing it on the stand... or if you're my daughter roll it around the house laughing and hide your dinosaurs inside pretending it's their egg!

Honestly this isn't a novelty toy. After we had built it 10 times I mentioned to Daddy that she loved it "I know we've just built it 20 times" came his reply!! She also chose it as her toy of choice to take to Nana's house yesterday and it was a big hit there too.

I have loved watching her play with this and see her mind ticking over while she works it all out. It has really held her concentration and brought her lots of fun. I would happily buy it for a birthday gift for another child or as a stocking filler. Peppa Pig Puzzle-A-Round will be available in Toys R Us soon so watch out for it!

Make some noise for the Raa Raa playset

Today was one of those indoor days. We were trapped in by the weather, both feeling under the weather and it seemed the perfect moment to review the Raa Raa the Noisy Lion interactive playset – thank goodness we did! It really did bring some excitement and fun into our house today.

My little girl has watched and enjoyed Raa Raa the Noisy Lion and recognised the show straight away when she saw the box – her little eyes lit up which always make mummy very happy. I could see it was much more than she had expected when I told her we had a new toy to try out.

The set has some great features, it comes with a Raa Raa figure, tree house, car and some little drums. The figure has a little hole underneath which means he fits easily into the car, the sound buttons and the swing. The swing was a particular hit with my little girl!

There are two noise points on the set, when you press RaaRaa down near the door he says various phrases which your little one will recognise. When you press him down near the car canopy it makes the noise of the cubby car starting up and the tree shade zooms up the string. We loved this, I wasn't expecting the palm leaves to move and Squiggle played with this and the cubby car over and over.

The fun sound effects aside, I think the real fun is in the tree house – it's much more than a Raa Raa toy! Very well made and hardy for play it makes a great base for all your child's small toys to climb ladders, play house, go for a swing and have a great time. My daughter's monkey have already been knocking on Raa Raa's door, swinging on the trees and going for sleep overs on Raa Raa's little bed. Her toys have also been having lots of fun playing hide and seek around the tree. 

From the box it looks like you can buy other characters to add to the fun (something my little one quickly spotted!!) which I'm sure would be great for Raa Raa fans. Even though it's based around a television programme it encourages roll play and imagination for stories beyond the animated ones they have already seen.

It has kept my daughter happy all day and I'm sure for a lot longer, I'm surprised by how much I like it too! Everybody that has been to visit has been taken to play with this toy, she is so please with it and it has brought lots of fun. 

You can get a better idea of the interactive features in our video... take a look and see what you think!

'Baby Annabell doll' and 'Baby Annabell Bed with Lullaby' Toyologist reviews

Why we've been going gaga for her!

We have been busy playing again... This time with baby Annabell and the baby Annabell bed with Lullaby.

When I pulled these toys out of the box Squiggle was very excited, the pressure was on me to get them out of their packaging as she stood over me demanding I do it faster!!

We got the cot out first and she absolutely loved helping me put it together. It's really easy to assemble - no screwing needed! She loved the little bedding set which consists of a blanket, sheet and pillow, and she was giggling that everything had sheep on. She was most excited though by the fact the cot had it's own mobile (you will need a screwdriver here to add the batteries). She was over the moon pushing the button and playing the little tune on it (which has sheep baaing through it!).

Then we got Baby Annabelle out, I was really interested to see how she'd go down with my little girl as she's never really shown much interest in her baby dolls. She has always refused to put them in her pram, opting to take penguin or giraffe for a walk instead! Straight away she was a lot more taken by this doll and I think it's mainly down to the interactivity of it. I find some dolls slightly freaky but she's actually got a really nice little face!

She's a very clever little doll, when you give her the dummy or her sheep bottle (both included in the set) her cheeks actually move along with the sounds so it really looks like she is sucking or drinking. My little girl loved this, she spent a long time running back and forward to the cloakroom sink to fill the bottle with water and give her another drink. It was very cute to watch, she was tucking her up in her cot, giving her a bottle and then turning the mobile on to get her off to sleep. Baby Annabell laughs, cries and sleeps and I have spotted my little girl singing her little lullabies along with the music to help her drift of to lullaby land.

I have four nieces who are all older than my little girl and have all gone through phases of baby Annabell obsession. I think from this I was a bit of an Annabell sceptic and wasn't sure why she was any different from any other dolls... but now we know! She is well made, lovable, has features that bring out the caring side of my little girl, and most of all she is actually getting played with! She had a 4 year old friend round to play recently and she absolutely fell in love with both the cot and the doll and kept wishing she had one herself. It's great that it's suitable for older children and so will hopefully stand the test of time!

If you are on the look out for a baby doll for your little one to love and take care of I would really recommend this toy. Have a little look at our video to get an idea of some of the features and see the smile on my daughter's face!

No messing, just fun! Princess Aquadoodle review

So we've opened possibly the most exciting box to ever land on our doorstep and it's time to start our Toyologist reviews!

I was delighted to be sent an Aquadoodle to review, and what could be even better, a Cinderella one! My little girl does have a very girly streak in her and loves a princess so I knew this would go down well. In her own words when I showed it to her she said... "my new toy is magnificent"... that's a bit of a tongue twister for a toddler. 

The set comes with an Aquadoodle mat, a Cinderella print maker and a water pen. You simply fill the pen with water and place Cinderella under the tap to get going, so simple! If you add water to the mat it turns pink, just like magic. Squiggle loved drawing her pictures and then watching them dry in the sun, ready to start again. She overloaded Cinderella with water the first time but when we got used to it you roll her along and she makes a little heart pattern.

The box says 'no mess' so I was interested to see if it was true. I've tried no mess arty options before and tried leaving her with a water colouring book once – it was a disaster as there was blue water everywhere. This is not the case with the Princess Aquadoodle, I can honestly say it is 100% mess free, hurrah, perfect for silly mums like me who have cream carpets! It also requires no batteries or assembling and won't run out, you just add more water... this is the kind of easy toy I love.

The fun continued with the Aquadoodle today – the sun was shining so we had the paddling pool out  – my little artist was dipping her toys in the water and then using them to make prints on the mat, this soon turned into footprints and was great fun. I think the only thing for us that could have made it even more fun would have been a larger mat, but saying that this smaller size makes it really neat to fold away and store.

My little girl loves her new Aquadoodle and very sweetly asked if she could keep it, it's a fantastic addition to the toy box. It also makes a great guilt free gift as you know your not sending any mess and chaos into anyone's house!

If you'd like to see the Aquadoodle at work take a look at our little video. I am so sorry it is on it's side but you get the idea... I promise future videos will be the right way up!!

We're part of the Toyologist team!

Well it's official! I'm delighted and proud to announce that I have been selected as a Toys R Us Toyologist. I'm one of 24 lucky families who, over the next few months, will be playing with and reviewing lots of toys. I'm part of the purple team which means I'll be reviewing toys for babies and toddlers age 0-36 months.

I'm hoping to write some helpful reviews to give everyone plenty of ideas in the run up to Christmas, so I hope you pop back and have a read! I'll be posting them here but also on the Toyologist Toy Box blog – there you'll find all the other reviews throughout the 3 age categories.

I'm so excited to get started and can't wait to be part of the community and share some fun reviews with everyone.

(YEY YEY YEY!!!)

Cranking up the fun with my little monkey

Squiggle and I are putting together our plea to become Toyologists... we love playing with toys... and talking about playing with toys... and so we would love the chance to review for Toys R Us for a few months! Here's our review for our application.

At the weekend while I was trying to decide which toy to write about and recommend, my daughter came up with the inspiration. She shouted "lets make a monkey jungle!!!" pretty much as soon as she'd got out of bed. So that is what we did (and why she is still in her pyjamas in the photos).

I thought it was the perfect choice, the monkey jungle she is referring to is 'Gears! Gears! Gears! Movin Monkeys' by Learning Resources. It's a fantastic toy which really has it all – great for fun, imagination, cognitive skills, and has a bit of engineering thrown in. My mother-in-law had an old school version of this (by a different make) which she had kept safe since the 70s and which my daughter had really taken to. Ever since we had all been on the look out for something similar for her, and hurrah we finally found this in Toys R Us.

It is basically a really fun and different construction toy - it comes with various pieces you build up to make your very own twisting, turning jungle. You start with some flat green pieces which slot together a bit like a jigsaw. You then build up from there adding cogs, building trees with the parts, palm trees, monkey vines and cranks. Squiggle finds some of the parts a little hard to put together but she is a good bit younger than the recommended age and it's fun to do together. She is quickly learning and as she gets older she'll keep finding fun from it in different ways.

You can follow the instructions or make up your own jungle, it's great because what she creates is different every time and then brings fun throughout the day. She makes up stories about the monkeys nesting on the trees, getting stuck on vines and being chased by crocodiles. Like most children she seems to really love monkeys, they really bring out her cheeky side when she's playing.

It is great seeing her mind at work as she realises how all the cogs go together, and her imagination in full flow as she decides what game to play.

When we've had people round to play it has been a bug hit with both boys and girls, from ages ranging from 2 to 6 (and some 30 odd year old daddies). I have been asked by so many people where we got it from as it's not something most people have seen - that makes it a great gift idea!!

I think this is a top, great value toy which will really stimulate your little ones, as well as bringing them lots of joy. We've almost had it a year now and it is standing the test of time, getting played with more rather than less as the months roll on! Monkey-tastic!!

Want to know a little more? Why not which our mini movie! x