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.
Monkey claimed this for his own this month - mainly because the latest parcel was light on boy toys. He chased around the house with it - shame it doesn't REALLY pick up stuff, or I could have the cleanest house around. Monkey does love to help me vacuum, which is amazing as he hated the vacuum cleaner when he was a baby! His new found love for it was created when he found out one of his classmates does the vacuuming for his mum at home, and not to be outdone, Monkey started insisting he does ours, despite the fact ours is quite big and a tad too heavy for a 6 year old boy!
This is great for role playing and because it looks - and sounds - so authentic, a child could happily use it to imitate mummy or daddy. It's quite hefty on battery use - it needs 4 x C batteries - but that doesn't seem to give it a great deal of suction .
Something I hadn't appreciated it until someone else mentioned it to me is that it doesn't stand up by itself. I tried ours and it doesn't - you try to stand it up and the top just flops back. This is not an issue for us as we store it in our playroom against a wall, but it could be annoying. I don't know if it is true of the real thing - I am hoping not! This will explain why the picture shows it propped up against my coffee table. The promotional pictures seem to show it stood upright so either I am missing a trick or it's clever photography.
Age suitability is from 3+ but mine liked it, even tho they are probably tad old for it now. Value for money? I find it a little expensive, but then so are Dysons! It's sturdy and well-made so it will last being bashed around your house and last quite some time. A lot like Dysons too, I guess.
