Toyologist Competition - win Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

This month is the final Toyologist competition of the year, meaning this is the sixth one I've run on the blog this year. Time certainly does fly. The prize this time is an Orchard Toys game, called Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. Aimed at children aged 3 and over, it's described as an "action lotto guessing game" and helps children to learn about the parts of the body, as well as develop memory and colour matching skills. Although I've not played this game, we love Orchard Toys games - they're always so bright, colourful and well made.

If you would like to enter to win this prize, then first follow this blog via RSS (orange jellybean top right!) or email (red jellybean). Then leave a comment below, telling me what your child's favourite singalong song is. It doesn't have to be your child actually - it can be any child you're close to, like a godchild, grandchild, niece, nephew etc.

If you want a second entry, then tweet the following:

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Enter the competition on @kateab 's blog and you could win the game! bit.ly/vPMxUn

Please don't forget to leave a means of contacting you as I have had to redraw prizes before now. Also, if you do win, a prompt answer should mean that you can get your prize before Christmas so it's in your interest to give me a quick response.

Terms and conditions

To enter, leave a comment below, saying what is your child's favourite singalong song along with a valid contact email address or Twitter ID, which will be used to contact you if you win.
An additional entry can be gained by tweeting as stated above.
Please ensure follow this blog via RSS or email.
Maximum two entries per person - multiple entries will be discarded.
The prize is a Head Shoulders Knees and Toes game.
The competition closes on Wednesday 23rd November 2011 at 8pm.
The winner will be drawn at random from all valid entries.
The winner will be contacted that evening and asked to provide a postal address and contact telephone number within 48 hours or the winner will be re-drawn. The prize will be sent out by Toys R Us after 1st December.

UK entrants only.
There is no cash alternative.

Of trains and racing cars

We were very excited when we were invited to an event organised by Scalextric last Friday. The timing was perfect - just at the end of half term when you're running out of things to do. The trip to London meant a trip on the train - and although the children have been on trains before, they have never been on the fast trains that run down to London from here. When I told them where we were going, they were giddy with the anticipation of it all.

And who doesn't love Scalextric? As a girl from a family of girls, I was always a tad jealous of friends who had brothers as they would have some Scalextric to play with. Husband was pretty happy too, as he loved Scalextric as a child and more to the point, he'd got holiday booked which meant he could come along to his first blogger event.

A day trip to London means an early start from here so we were all up for 6. Actually, Monkey wasn't so my husband took great delight in waking him up - a small revenge for some of the early starts he's put him through! The sun rose as we reached Preston station and waited for our "London train" to arrive. We got on and found our seats - thankfully, a table of 4 to one end of a carriage. Monkey's eyes were wide as he took it all in and noticed how fast the train was going, even as we left the station. However, the novelty soon wore off, he got into playing on his DS and barely noticed a thing the rest of the way! Typical.

Toyologist Competition - Win a Pinypon Giftset Travel Pack

This month's competition is a lovely toy for little girls. The Pinypon Travel pack includes 2 dolls, a poodle (cos it's the Paris version), over 30 accessories and 3 postcards. It's worth £11.99 and suitable for ages 4 and over.

If you want to enter to win and already follow this blog, leave a comment below and tell me, as this toy is travel-themed, what your favourite place to travel to with children is. Don't forget to leave a valid method of contact - either email or twitter ID. I've had to redraw prizes before now because people don't respond.

If you would like a second entry, which is entirely optional, then tweet "Fancy winning a Pinypon toy for your little girl? Enter @kateab's competition like me! http://bit.ly/qTxYUf" THEN leave a separate comment to say you have done.

Don't forget to like the Toys R Us UK Facebook page (not a condition of entry) - it will keep you up to date with new reviews and competitions.

Terms and conditions

To enter, leave a comment below, saying what is your favourite place to travel to with children along with a valid contact email address or Twitter ID, which will be used to contact you if you win.

An additional entry can be gained by tweeting as stated above.

Please ensure follow this blog via RSS, email, Facebook or Twitter.
Maximum two entries per person - multiple entries will be discarded.
The prize is a Dyson Pinypon Giftset Travel Pack (Paris).
The competition closes on Tuesday 25th October 2011 at 8pm.
The winner will be drawn at random from all valid entries.
The winner will be contacted that evening and asked to provide a postal address and contact telephone number within 48 hours or the winner will be re-drawn. The prize will be sent out by Toys R Us after 1st November. UK entrants only.
There is no cash alternative.

Good luck everyone!

Toyologist Competition - Win a Dyson (toy!) Vacuum Cleaner

This month's prize is a Dyson DC14 Vacuum Cleaner worth £22.99. It's suitable from age 3, and it can really pick up bits off your carpet. Perfect for little helpers. We reviewed the Dyson Ball last month which is similar but hopefully doesn't suffer from the same issue with falling over all the time. 

If you would like a chance to win the playset, just leave a comment below and tell me what househould chore you wish your child could do for you (imaginary children allowed if you're not already a parent!). If you're not already following my blog in any way, pick your favourite above by clicking one of the jellybeans in the top right - there's one for subscribing via RSS, one via email, one for liking my Facebook page and one for following me on Twitter. All or any of those will keep you up to date with the latest events on the blog.

Please, please, PLEASE ensure you leave a valid and regularly used form of contact. I've had people lose out on prizes because they have not left an email address or twitter account that I can contact or they haven't checked their email regularly enough.

Leave your comment (one per person, subsequent ones will be ignored) by Sunday 25th September at 8pm.

Don't forget to like the Toys R Us UK Facebook page (not a condition of entry) - it will keep you up to date with new reviews and competitions.

Terms and conditions

To enter, leave a comment below stating what household chore you wish your child could do for you, along with a valid contact email address or Twitter ID, which will be used to contact you if you win and follow this blog via RSS, email, Facebook or Twitter.
One entry per person - multiple entries will be discarded.
The prize is a Dyson DC14 toy vacuum cleaner.
The competition closes on Sunday 25th September 2011 at 8pm.
The winner will be drawn at random from all valid entries.
The winner will be contacted that evening and asked to provide a postal address and contact telephone number within 48 hours or the winner will be re-drawn. The prize will be sent out by Toys R Us after 1st October. UK entrants only.
There is no cash alternative.
Good luck everyone! 

Toyologist (Guest) Review: Keter Handz-on

This review is another guest post by Keris, whose website is here. Keris writes in various places across the internet and has just had her second book published. You can read all about her and her blog by visiting her website. Keris was sent the Keter Handz-on to try out and here she reports back on how she and her son Joe got on with it.

The arrival of the Keter Handz-on Creativity Desk was greeted by 2-year-old Joe hopping up and down next to me, yelling, "Open! Open!" While I went to get scissors, he actually started ripping open the box with his bare hands.

I emptied the pieces out of the box and looked at the assembly instructions, but they really weren't needed - it was pretty straightforward. It all just clicks and slots together and I had the whole thing built in, I'd guess, less than a minute.

And as soon as I had, Joe sat down and yelled for paper. And he hasn't stopped playing with it - and yelling his demands - since. And this is not a child who sits still easily or, generally, willingly.

Toyologist Review: Dyson Ball

So I bet you can tell from the name what this this is! It's a kids-sized version of the new generation of the Dyson upright cleaner, called the Dyson Ball - you know, with the ball that steers the cleaning head around. Inside the chamber, you have toy "dust" - which is pretty colourful for dust if you ask me, it's like someone has hoovered up a lot of miniature Lego pieces and they all spin around to imitate the "cyclone action" of the real thing when it's switched on. Allegedly, it does pick up small beads and pieces of waste paper into a small bin, but when I tried, it didn't seem to have that much suction and the little bin remained empty.

Toyologist (Guest) Review: Keter Artisto

This Toyologist review is a bit different. I'm pleased to welcome Simone, from SFR Product Reviews, as a guest poster. Simone was sent the Keter Artisto to review with her daughter Liv. Here is what they thought of it...

The Artisto double sided easel table from Keter is one of the latest additions to a fantastic range of larger childrens' toys. A double artist table - perfect if you have two children, the main feature is the perspex sheet held firmly in the middle of the table which allows children to be as creative as they want to be. On either side of the perspex sheet are "lips" which allow paper to be held into place, absolutely ideal for painting!

Toyologist Review - Lite Sprites

Missy avec Lite Wand, swing & sprite

As I mentioned in my post last week, this month's parcel was rather girl orientated and Missy Woo was rather happy about that. Part of the delivery included some brand new toys, which are just reaching the shops in the UK this month. They're called Lite Sprites. The five sprites are fairy-like and glow in different colours. One of the sprites, Prisma, comes with a Lite Wand and one of them is a naughty sprite who rejects colour. All of them have their own light pod which is basically their home. And they all live in a world called Lite-Topia. Got all that? Good, because I have a feeling you are going to be hearing a lot about these little sprites. 

These toys are very clever, especially when used with the Lite Wand. It can collect colours from a colour wheel but Missy Woo was very impressed when I put the wand on her favourite dress and the wand picked up the main colour - and then we shared it with the one of the sprites just by pointing the wand at the sprites! Impressive stuff. The sprites can remember these colours but also has 10 favourite colours built in. They can "catch" spells too but the naughty one, called Bleak, can cast spells. 

Toyologist Reviews: Girly Heaven!

Our Toyologist parcel this month had a definite theme. A very, very girly theme. Nearly everything was aimed at little girls so Missy Woo was overjoyed. (We'll skim over the fact that Monkey was somewhat underwhelmed to put it mildly). So Missy Woo and I have been busy having very girly bonding sessions playing with everything. Consequently, she has been in heaven.

Firstly, we have the Melissa & Doug Princess Stamp Set, modelled here by Missy Woo. This is delightful and nostalgic as a craft toy if you are old like me and remember toys like this. Hardly any plastic in sight, it comes in a wooden box with 9 princess themed wooden stamps; 2 ink pads, one pink and one purple; and five coloured pencils. So, it's pretty durable, and it all packs away nicely in the wooden box, which looks somehow prettier and eneater than a cardboard box. The stamps work well and make nice pictures. It kept Missy Woo occupied on a wet weekend afternoon.

Toyologist Competition - Win a Jumbo Colouring Pad - Princess & Fairy

July's competition is to win a jumbo colouring pad by Melissa and Doug, worth £4.99.This has 50 sheets with Princess and Fairy designs on them; perfect for budding princesses. It's aimed at the 4-6 age bracket - Missy Woo would love it but she's not getting her hands on this one!

Toyologist Review: Power Rangers Samurai Switch Morphin Figure and Power Rangers Samurai Disc Cycle

Why do I get them confused? Every time I go to say "Power Rangers", I say "Transformers". I mean, honestly! They are NOTHING alike but I've got them muddled in my head. Obviously, this is because I am A GIRL. I know nothing of these things. (We'll skip over the fact I am also too old for either to have been around when I was actually a girl.. cough) I am rubbish.

Monkey, however, being a boy and into all these things, knows the difference and laughs when I get it wrong. He can't even take pity on his own mother. Tut.

Toyologist Review - Nerf N Strike Barricade MREV-10

I've said before that I don't really like guns as toys for children. I'm just uncomfortable with the concept. However, I know that it's impossible for me to ban them; they'll play with them anyway.It's just it makes me uncomfortable to hear children talking about shooting each other - even if they don't generally watch programmes with scenes of shooting.

That said, we've been sent Nerf guns before and at least they aren't harmful or anything. So, this time around, we get sent the Nerf N Strike Barricade to try out. It's smaller than the other Nerfs we've been sent previously - we got sent the Recon and the Rapid Fire Blaster before which are both huge. This size is far better for a boy of 6, which is the suggested lower age limit for Nerfs - and easier to run around with and perhaps the odd "stealth" mission.

Toyologist Competition - Win a Webkinz

During the Toyologist programme, I will be running one competition each month to win toys so you can join in the Toyology fun.

This month, you can win a Webkinz, worth £5.99. These are cute soft toys which come with codes that you enter on the Webkinz website to play with the online version of your toy.  

If you'd like to take part in the competition, first make sure you like the Toys R Us Facebook page, then leave a comment below. Please ensure you leave a valid email address or means to contact you (eg via twitter) so you can be contacted easily if you are a winner.

Good luck!

Terms and conditions

To enter, like the Toys R Us Facebook page, then leave a comment below, along with a contact email address, which will be used to contact you if you win. (If you set up a Disqus profile before commenting, this information won't be  displayed.)
The prize is a Webkinz. The winner will be sent a Webkinz selected at random.

The competition closes on Monday 27th June 2011 at 8pm. 

The winner will be drawn at random from all valid entries. 

The winner will be contacted that evening and asked to provide a postal address and a contact telephone number within two days or the winner will be re-drawn. 

The contact telephone number will be used by the courier to confirm ETA of deliveries.  

Facebook have no affiliation or responsibility for this competition. 

UK entrants only.

There is no cash alternative. 

A return to Toyology with another review: Silver Cross Classic Deluxe doll's pram

If you've hung around this blog long enough, you'll know that last year, we were invited to be Toys R Us Toyologists, testing and reviewing toys. Monkey and Missy Woo absolutely loved this and the parcels were greatly anticipated. Excited little faces would implore me to open the box from "the Starman" - as they came to believe that such a person existed as the tape used to seal the boxes had the Toyologist star on it.

Anyway, we were very excited to be invited to be Toyologists for a second year, hence the shiny new badge in the sidebar. The excitement built to a fever pitch until last week, the Starman sent us a new box of toys to try. And so, it's time for another review.

Netmums Review: Lego Ramses Return

After Missy Woo was sent Littlest Pet Shop Hamster Playground a few weeks back, I was asked if I'd like to review a Lego game with Monkey. As he loves Lego, it wasn't a difficult decision to say yes! I was pestered almost daily by him until it turned up. He has tons of Lego and is always after more. And, if he can't do it, he expects us to help!


The game is quite small - on a board that is no more than a few inches square - and the first task, is to put the game together. It's Lego so it comes with full instructions that Monkey could mostly follow but because he's a tiny bit young for the game (it's suitable from 7), he needed a bit of help with following those. Even the dice for the game is made of Lego and he liked putting that together.

And then you have to play the game! The game involves collecting pieces of treasure from the corners of the board whilst trying to avoid getting cursed by the Mummy. Part of it is also a memory game as there are crystals hidden away under the temples and you have to remember which colour crystal is where if the dice lands on a colour. We found that the rules weren't particularly extensive. The children seemed happy enough to sit down and play it by themselves - one of Monkey's friends came round for tea one day, so they played it and no arguments ensued. Always a bonus! I guess if they are happy enough playing it, then should we worry if they are following the rules exactly? I guess not. The instructions offer some alternative rules so it does allow some flexibility, and well, I'm not going to complain if they are not doing it exactly right.

The game only takes about 10 minutes to play, which I think is perfect for that age group. It would take longer if played by all four players it's designed for. Everything packs neatly back into the box and because the board is still quite small, it can be put away made up, which is a bonus. Because of the number of small pieces, I'd hate to play it in a car - we have enough minute pieces of Lego secreted around our house in the hope they'll get found one day as it is; putting them in the car would be just asking for trouble!

All in all, we enjoyed this game. It's made well and it has a lot of versatility to it. And with an RRP of £9.99, I think it's good value. Even if it doesn't keep them occupied for hours, it fits in with their attention span and so, I'm guessing it's a game that will actually get played to a finish instead of abandoned halfway through.

I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

Netmums Review: Littlest Pet Shop Hamster Playground

My children love getting toys to try out and review. Unfortunately, having a girl and a boy of primary school age, toys are rarely unisex so one of them is generally going to be disappointed and we have strops about the unfairness of it all.

This week, it was Monkey who was disappointed as I was sent the Littlest Pet Shop Hamster Playground - really not his thing these days. I did my best to keep it away from him for a while - I forgot to hide the parcel before they came home from school one day and he spied the word "TOYS" on the box. He actually believed me when I said it was not toys then read the word "Hasbro" as "Hash Browns" so I got away with it for a day or two as he honestly thought he could eat the contents of the box. Bwahahaha.

So, yesterday afternoon, Missy Woo and I gave the toy a run for its money whilst he was at football. We had an hour or so. The first fifteen minutes were spent getting the toy out of its packaging. Grrr.... it's a pet peeve of mine but this seemed worse than normal. In particular, there were lots of what looked like small animals that were actually just cardboard cut-outs. There was sticky tape, double knotted thread, and some plastic clasps, bit of plastic, and that thin stretchy, almost invisible yarn. Honestly, is all that completely necessary when it's already in a cardboard box?

Once devoid of its packaging, there was thankfully little or no assembly to be done. The playground comes with two small animals - hamsters, I guess, d'oh! - but there is space to fit more on. I guess it's a collectible set, so they are encouraging you to buy more, but Missy Woo was a bit disappointed she couldn't put animals everywhere. Annoyingly, nearly all the promotional images I've seen of this on toy shop websites show up to 8 animals on the playground, giving the visual impression that they are all included. Please, don't do this - children of that age don't read the small print.

The playground consists of a hamster wheel, which you turn with a handle, a spinning hamster ball which is detachable for rolling around the room, and a spinning apple perch. There's a little house in the shape of a piece of cheese, and a cute little water bottle. It also has some tiny pieces of hamster food and a bed, which I'm sure to curse when I tread on them in the days to come. It's pretty solidly made, unlike some flimsy plastic toys. The animals need to be clicked into place on the wheel and perch which Missy Woo seemed to find quite hard to do at first. It was the same with the hamster ball - she had to ask me to twist it together properly.

That said, Missy Woo seemed to love it from the moment we (finally) got it out of the packaging. She told me that she thought it was great and that she loved the apple and the hamster ball best. She also said she might not play with it every day - go figure! She was however moved enough to draw a picture of it, which she insists she is going to take into school to show everyone what her new toy looks like. She also made me take a photo of this masterpiece so that I can share it with you all. Here, then, is Missy Woo and her tribute to the Littlest Pet Shop Hamster Playground.

All in all, I thought this was pretty good value, although I can't help feeling it would be better with more figures to play with. And much less packaging.

Oh, and true to form, Monkey came home from football and promptly threw a tantrum about not having his own toy. Hopefully, we'll have a boy toy to review soon. At which point, Missy Woo will sulk. I can't win.



Littlest Pet Shop Hamster Playground is widely available. I found it for £14.99 in Argos but it's more usually £19.99.

I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

Review: Zoobles!

I was sent a new toy for me and Missy Woo to review. They're a new collectable aimed at girls called Zoobles. Curled up into little balls, they open up when placed on their "happitat" to become little character to play with. There are apparently over 150 of these to collect.

When I first received this, Missy Woo said she'd never heard of them, despite my having seen a Zoobles advert on the channel they were watching a day or two before. She soon remembered as she started talking about the happitat without my mentioning it, and also she could knew what you had to do to make them come alive. She was keen to get it out to play with it. When you place the Zooble on top of the happitat (it's magnetised), it sprang open and had wiggly ears. If you place it inside the happitat, the Zooble could go to sleep. The Zooble is quite small - which is both a blessing and a curse; small enough for little hands to hold easily but also, easily lost.

The Zoobles are grouped such that they come from different lands. Ours came from Petagonia. If you visit the Zoobles website, you can explore these lands as well as update your collection of Zoobles as you buy them.

Given that there are 150 to collect - and of course, some of them are rare - I think they are quite expensive at £5.99 for a single Zooble, although you can buy two for £9.99 and playsets for £19.99. At those prices, it's like those partwork magazines; when you add up the total cost, your mind is totally blown. They're even a bit expensive for pocket money treats, unless I'm a scrooge. They are aimed squarely at girls over 4 - although Monkey was interested in them too - but I can't see us building up anything other than a small collection thanks to the cost. For me, that is the biggest issue - although that is not a concern for Missy Woo.

But then it wouldn't be, would it?

(I was provided with a Zooble toy to review and have received no other compensation. The opinions stated are my own and not affected by the aforementioned compensation.)

Some last minute present ideas for kids - a bit of a mega post

As we've been so overwhelmed with toys from Toys R Us, it's been hard to know what to review. Some of the toys I'm going to mention haven't actually been played with yet - there has been so much, I have held some of them back until the day itself.

The first of those is the Sticky Mosaics Unicorns set (£14.99). Earlier in the year, we were sent Sticky Mosaics Dinosaurs and we absolutely loved it. I don't think I've heard a bad word said about them by other Toyologists too. So, we're giving the Unicorns to Missy Woo for Christmas as the designs are full of her favourite colour, pink. However, I have no doubt that Monkey will be helping her make the pictures.

Then there is the Jolly Octopus game (£14.99) In this game, you have to remove crabs with tongs whilst the octopus spins. If you get hit, he spins further and giggles. We actually gave this game away to another family and they loved it as it was pretty simple to understand. However, the parents also reported back to me that they had spent many a happy hour playing the game once their children had gone to bed! The octopus has two speeds so you can start it slow for little children and then increase the speed as they get better at it. Sounds a hoot!

Next, something we have played with is the Tomica Big City set which is £39.99. This is a figure of 8 track set with a train, a platform, some roads, garage, pick up truck and figure - plus various other bits and bats. We took this down to Devon for Monkey to play with. It is just the sort of thing he likes as he is big on cars and trains. He loved playing with it and we ended up with the set out throughout our stay. He sulked when we took it down and put it away again. There was plenty to keep him occupied so it was good to return to again and again. You can add other Tomica toys and sets to it which means it would be a good starting point for a Tomica collection. And even though Monkey really loved playing with the different parts of the city, Missy Woo also enjoyed playing with the set, but she is used to her brother playing with cars and often joins in. They gave it a big thumbs up.

A board game we have played with is Pirate Snakes and Ladders and Ludo (£8.99). This is basically two games in one as the board is reversible and are what you would expect from the name - classic old board games done with a pirate makeover. Monkey and Missy Woo seem to know how to play these - they must have learned at school because we don't have the basic versions here - and sit down to play nicely with this. Well, apart from Monkey making up his own rules and deciding that 2 is not a good number so that means he's allowed to throw again. It's really lovely watching them play old classics such as this and they did play so nicely. Good value for money and a nice stocking filler.

Nerf N Strike Recon CS-6

And then there are the Nerf guns. We've been sent two recently. The first is the Nerf N Strike Recon CS-6 (£19.99) which comes in 5 parts so that it can be customised. It has a sight and a red light beam for night times. And then we were also sent the Nerf N Strike Raider Rapid Fire CS-35 Blaster (£24.99). This is like a machine Nerf gun - it has a huge drum magazine which can hold 35 foam darts and a pump action. Now, Monkey thought this was great and had lots of fun with it for a few days. I STILL have a huge problem with guns of any sort as toys for children, even though the darts are pretty harmless. Oh, and I keep finding them in the strangest of places. The darts, not the children. Thumbs up from the children, and a not sure from me. If you feel differently about toy guns, you will probably love this as Nerfs are great for kids of all ages.

A useful stocking filler is the Snazaroo Boys Face Paints set (£9.99). We were sent the girl set earlier in the year and this is definitely more boyish in terms of colours, plus it has black paint which you need to make many of the designs. There is a guide in the box showing you how to do some designs which can be very helpful. The paints are non-toxic and hypo-allergenic. However, I'd love to see them doing a Unisex set of face paints because if you do have both genders, it seems a waste to need two sets, particularly if you have a girly girl and a boyish boy like I do.

And finally, here is something we're holding back for Christmas. It's the Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (£99.99). It's actually listed as suitable for 8+ but I have been convinced by the older child of the house (ahem) that it will be fine to give to Monkey and that he'll help him build it. It looks amazing and incredibly detailed - replicating features from the books / film and has 10 minifigures, including Harry and Hermione. It even has secret sliding stairs! My only concern - as with all Lego sets - is where we're going to store it, be that built or broken down. The potential for my kids to lose important parts is huge - and me to tread on them at an inopportune moment. Still, Monkey does like Harry Potter and I'm sure he will be wide eyed when he opens this on Saturday morning as he is really getting into Lego now, and getting good at it too.

Phew, think that is it for my mega post. Hope these reviews have been helpful for choosing toys for your children this Christmas!

Review: Some stocking filler ideas

Toys R Us are still sending us lots of toys to review. So that the kids don't get overwhelmed, we've held some of them back til Christmas so you may well get a mega post from us over the festivities. 

But there are lots of smaller things we've been sent that I thought I'd mention. 

Back in September, we reviewed the Hello Kitty Plaster Rotator Creator which was a qualified success. Since then, we've been sent two more plaster based craft kits to try out. The first one is the Ben 10 Shaker Maker (£9.99) which, of course, appealed to Monkey. There are two moulds - one of Ben10 himself and one of him in Heatblast form. You pour the plaster straight into the moulds and you shake, oddly enough, to create the models. This was far more successful than the Rotator Creator at creating a good mould first time round. Obviously, Monkey was not impressed about the overnight wait to let it dry fully, but what can you do? He liked painting the mould. This required less adult supervision but still, even though it is suitable for 5 year olds and upwards, it still needed adults around to keep an eye and do some of the steps. 

And then there was the Galt Cute Cupcakes Kit (£5.99). The moulds on this are tiny as they make 4 mini cupcakes (in two halves) and a cake stand to put them on. The moulds are in a tray like a silicon baking tray. What we found this with this is that the instructions left you with a lot of plaster mix even after all the moulds had been filled. Luckily, we had some spare moulds from something else and still filled all of those too! Missy Woo was delighted with these - and she enjoyed painting them in the pretty pastel colours supplied. They also come with glitter glue which is sparkly girly heaven for a 4 year old. Again, she needed some adult help but still, it was more successful than the Hello Kitty stuff as the models are more robust, but maybe the instructions need looking at to make sure they are correct. 

Moving on from plaster moulds to construction, we also got sent a K'Nex Construction Case (£9.99), which contained all the parts and connectors - and instructions - to build 10 different vehicles. This is great for a child who is showing an interest in building things as the construction ideas go from simple ones to more difficult ones, which means it will remain useful as your child develops the skills to build more complicated models without it being too advanced to start with. We love it for this, as it makes it very good value for money. 

And finally, we were sent the Littlest Pet Shop Blythe Sitters - Perfectly Plaid (£12.99). Now, Blythe dolls have largely passed me by but I can't help to notice the increasing proliferation of them around so I assume they're popular. I'm also guessing, judging by the price, that these aren't the real deal. No matter. The set comes with the doll, fetchingly dressed in a riding hat, woolly jumper, and plaid mini skirt plus her pet horse, a doll stand and a comb as well as a few small accessories that are very sweetly done. These are good for children who love dolls, but as I have pointed out before, Missy Woo, although she oohs and ahhs when she sees stuff like this, she's really not that into dolls and not that bothered about playing with it often. A little girl into dolls would love this more than her. Or you could keep it in a box, and boast you have a Blythe doll. Just don't try selling it on ebay as "authentic". I don't think you'd get away with it - the dolls are really very small! 

Hope your kids' stockings are now suitably filled! Come back soon for some more Toyologist reviews. 

(I was provided with the above toys to review and have received no other compensation. The opinions stated here are my own, and have not been influenced by the aforementioned compensation.)

Toyologist Review Week - Power Rangers RPM Wolf Cycle

Today on the Five Fs, I'm delighted to welcome a guest post by Marylin who blogs at Pure Unadulterated Softthistle. I sent Marylin the Power Rangers RPM Wolf Cycle (£12.98) for her to review with her two boys, Zack and Max. Over to Marylin.... 

When Max (3) saw the box for the Power Rangers RPM Performance Wolf Cycle, he was at it instantly. His grabby hands made sure that he got first dibs. I don’t think Zack (5) was too bothered though, as he’s not really a Power Rangers fan, and he knows better than to argue with his little brother... poor wee thing!

I used to be a Power Rangers fan, back when I was about ten or so, I used to LOVE the Red guy, I would imagine me being in danger, and him coming to my rescue, then making me the Pink Ranger, and getting to be one myself!

The packaging wasn’t too difficult to open, which was lucky as Max was DESPERATE by this point to open his new toy. Once it was out, he was off with the little figure and the bike.

It turns out there are three different “modes” that the bike can go in, “cycle mode”, which is how it arrived, “slider mode” which is vaguely shown in a small picture on the box (no instructions inside by the way!), and a “zord” mode, which I’ve yet to figure out.

Trying to get it into “slider” mode wasn’t that easy to figure out for me, so I don’t think a 4 year old (it’s rated 4+) would have been able to do it alone.

For the price, £12.98 from Toys R Us, it’s not too bad, but I wouldn’t give it to a younger child. The hands of the figure come off very easily (intended by the look of it for some reason?), and can be lost (we now only have one hand, after only about 5 days of play).

I don’t think I’d personally buy any of these for my boys, but if you have a kid who *looooves* Power Rangers with a passion, it’s not too expensive, and I’m sure they would have fun!

As it is, despite the lost hand, Max adores his new black Power Ranger, and carries him around everywhere.

The bike has been left by the wayside under my bed though...

(Marylin was provided with the above toy to review and received no other compensation. The opinions stated here are her own, and have not been influenced by the aforementioned compensation.)

Thanks to Marylin for writing the review and to Zack and Max for testing it so thoroughly! 
This post marks the end of my Toyologist Review Week, but not the end of the reviews. We are still madly testing toys here and there will be more reviews in the coming weeks. If you are interested in testing a toy and writing a review as a guest post, do get in touch - my email address is kateab65@gmail.com .