Palace Pets

Like a lot of people, I am a big kid when it comes to Disney. I love the romance and the heroism and best of all... the villains. I don't think any evil villain ever comes close to the wondrous evil that is Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent (and I have a big soft spot for The Little Mermaid's Ursula). Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to review a toy that bore the Disney logo - Palace Pets.

When I opened the box expecting the magic of disney to come pouring out, I was sadly disappointed. All the things I love about Disney were obvious only by their absence. To me, the Palace Pets were trying too hard to be adorable - aspartame sweet and a bit tacky. Of course my five year old daughter absolutely LOVED them! More surprisingly, my three year old son hasn't stopped wanting to play with them since the moment he saw them.

We were sent the Palace Pets Pamper and Beauty Salon which is very ornate and has plenty of little shelves and places to store the pamper accessories.

My son spent ages making it neat and tidy (he'll make someone a great husband one day!) I have to admit that the golden bathtub looks very inviting - I would love a scaled up version for my own pamper time. I like the fact that the Salon has two open out portions to make more room to play but folds back neatly for putting away.

The set comes with an exclusive pet, Rapunzel's kitty Summer, that has a cold water colour change feature.

There are three different categories of Palace Pet to collect: Furry Tail Friends, Primp and Pamper Ponies and Talking and Singing Pets. We were sent one of each.

My daughter loved their removable tiaras and enjoyed swapping them around. As the name implies, the Furry Tail Friends have impressively fluffy tails - very tactile and brushable. The ponies have long hair tails perfect for grooming and decorating with the clips provided.  My favourite was the Talking & Singing Pet. Larger than the other collectibles, this pet delivers cheesy one liners about friendship and meows a catchy tune. It took no time for my son to learn and repeat the phrases. I just love hearing his gruff little boy voice with a girlie lilt saying Let's collect things together! As well as the furry tail, this pet has real eye lashes framing her impossibly huge 'please love me' eyes.

This is not the sort of toy I would normally buy for my kids (unless possibly a new range of Evil Villain Pets was launched) but I cannot deny how much they have loved playing with it. It must be that Disney magic after all!

Schleich Safari

I have talked before about how much I love the exquisitely detailed Schleich animal figures. My two little ones use them for a wide variety of imaginative games and they are great for learning the names of the more exotic animals that are not often encountered.

When I was sent a selection from the Wildlife range to review, I thought the best thing to do would be to let them speak for themselves and take you on a 'Schleich Safari' on location at my house!

Here goes...

Pelican - £4.99

Zebra Foal - £2.89

Camel -  £5.49

Polar Bear Cub - £2.89

Pogona Lizard - £2.89

Tiger Cub Standing - £2.89

Meerkat Sitting - £2.89

That was a surprisingly relaxing way to spend part of my Monday morning!

Matchbox Collectibles

As a little girl growing up, my two best friends were both boys. I did have dolls to play with but the influence of my male friends meant that I also had a fondness for tree climbing and the more traditionally 'boy' toys.

One of my treasured possessions was my Matchbox car collection. I may have had very little appreciation of make and model and horsepower, but I loved the colours and shapes and designs.

Not many of my childhood treasures followed me into adult life but my Matchbox cars in their collectors case, marked with my name in indelible ink to claim it as mine, did.

It never took pride of place, it was just tucked away and forgotten until I stumbled upon it from time to time. It truly was like discovering a secret portal back to my childhood every time I opened the lid and gazed upon the familiar die-cast metal contents.

When I had children of my own, the cars were offered as playthings. Each of my four oldest daughters now has a memory of discovering  mummy's toys and maybe connecting with the child I once was.

As my girls outgrew toy cars, the collection was once more packed away.

After the irretrievable breakdown of my first marriage, I had a ruthless sort out to prepare for moving from the family home and starting a new life. The car collection did not fall victim to my streamlining. I saved them for the day when future grandchildren would visit and I could say to them "These cars belonged to granny when she was little girl."


Little did I know that my new life would include the miracle of two more children of my own.

My older girls were as excited as I was when the car collection saw the light of day again for their siblings to enjoy.

My fifth child was another daughter and it was something of a surprise to me with child number six, to give birth to a son. He is not yet two years old but it has already given me such pleasure to experience the world through his eyes. The way he plays is so fundamentally different to the way my little girl plays. In the example of the toy cars, she will name each of them and have them make friends and go on adventures. He will park them in neat lines then zoom them across the room with suitably enthusiastic 'brooming' sound effects! He loves wheels - spinning them and gleefully shouting "Whee-yals".

My Matchbox cars are taking a serious hammering in the hands of my son. He is really a little young to be playing with toys with 'small parts' but he absolutely delights in them. Six little girls (myself included in that number) have used them in their games with very little deterioration in their condition. One little boy, in a very short time, has bent axles, dislodged windscreens and removed large chunks of paintwork. These cars that spanned a generation, will not survive another. My future grandchildren will not hear those imagined words "These cars belonged to...."

I am not sad about this. When I see my little boy heading purposefully off, crying "Tars! Tars! Tars!" (he isn't good with the 'c' sound!) I can't help thinking that my Matchbox collection has waited 40 years to be played with exactly like this.

Easter Gift Ideas

The daffodils blooming in my garden are reminding me that Easter is just around the corner.

I like the tradition of giving Easter Eggs but there are plenty of inspiring alternative gift ideas if one does not want to restrict themselves to chocolate.

These are a selection of Easter Gift Ideas I was sent to review.

Easter with Schleich

Anyone familiar with Schleich figurines will know that they are exquisitely detailed and highly collectible.

The Schleich range is enormous but these farm animals, puppy and rabbits could make a fantastic Easter themed gift.

I made a cute display of them on my writing bureau but my little ones keep climbing up to get them to play with. Dylan especially loves the pig because PIG is one of the few words he can say really well. He can also make a pretty convincing oinking sound!

Rabbit Parade

The thing I love about jigsaw puzzles is sitting down with my kids to solve them together. This panoramic cute bunny picture screams SPRINGTIME and would make a lovely, gentle activity over the Easter holidays.

With 200 pieces generously sized pieces, this puzzle should keep us busy and give the little ones the opportunity to get involved. 

The picture has clearly been subject to some photo manipulation which has led to much speculation from my older (more cynical) children with regards to the method used to encourage the bunnies to snuggle together so closely and neatly (velcro/superglue/kebab skewer - you get the idea!) 

Rabbit Parade is a quality puzzle as you would expect from the Ravensburger brand.

Chocolate Rotator

Ok, so this gift idea does involve chocolate. 

The Let's Cook Chocolate Rotator is one of a range of food preparation sets from Character. This particular set enables children to create hollow chocolate shapes in a variety of designs. One of the moulds is an egg shape making this ideally suited as an Easter gift.

We did have a lot of fun with it but I have to confess that the biggest attraction was licking the melted chocolate spills and excess.

The amount of coloured foil you are provided with is only enough to make a very limited number of wrapped chocolates. 

The chocolate is not included.

The following video shows our not entirely successful attempt to make foil wrapped hollow chocolates.

I think that with some experimentation in how much chocolate to use and which type of chocolate works best, some reasonably good results could be achieved. However, if I am honest, it was the chocolate itself that got my children most excited rather than the ability to create the hollow chocolate shapes. I would probably have been better off sticking to Easter Eggs!

Bizu Style Studio

I did have some concerns when I was sent the Bizu Style Studio from Spinmaster for review. Firstly, my little girl is rather young for the target market of 6+ although with the help and encouragement from her older sisters, there is little she can't manage. Secondly, it seemed a lot more plastic and gimmicky than the sort of toys that I usually buy for my children. However, with an open mind I got stuck into the review.

The kit contained

• a selection of beads to create  jewellery, including 4 animal character heads
• a plastic tower with rotating trays to organise and store your beads and help you to design your creations
• templates with suggested designs
• 4 elastics 
• threading tool
• 2 key chain attachments.

The kit can be used to make 4 character bracelets that  link together to make a necklace or by using the key chain attachments, turned into charms. You can follow the template designs or create your own unique bead combinations. 

Organising the beads into the tower was quite a challenge for a three year old but she did enjoy it I am sure that the slightly older girls that this product is aimed at would take great delight in the process. Rotating the trays to experiment with different combinations of beads gave you an idea of quite how much variety it was possible to work into the designs (I haven't checked the maths but apparently 40 beads will give you a possible 15,000 combinations!). There was a fun element once you had made your choice - twisting the top of the tower dispenses your beads down a spiral chute into a collecting tray. 

With the aid of the special tool, the beads are threaded onto the elastic manually. I was worried that this might be a bit fiddly but it wasn't at all. Once the tool was removed, the bracelet was ready to wear.

We were not terribly adventurous with our designs, sticking quite closely to the templates provided, but the jewellery can be dismantled fairly easily to make new creations if you should change your mind. 

The really fun thing about this set was that with two little twists (a little bit like making balloon animals but very much simpler) your bracelets transform into cute little collectible characters and back again.

Additional sets of beads are available with 35 different characters to collect in Glam, Funky, Rock and Wild themes.

I am always a little wary of products that encourage 'collecting' because of the potential cost implication of completing collections but they do seem to be increasingly popular. For aspiring jewellery designers and lovers of cute collectibles the Bizu Style Studio could make a great Christmas present. 

Available from Argos, Asda, The Entertainer, Sainsbury's, Smyths, Tesco, Toys R Us (RRP £19.99)

For more information visit www.thebizuworld.com

Moshi Monster Clay Buddies

This week saw the launch of a new pocket money collectable from E-Max - Moshi Monster Clay Buddies.

The Moshi Monster brand is already well established through the online game which involves adopting and caring for a pet monster and completing various puzzles to earn rewards that can be exchanged for virtual items for your adopted pet.

The new collectible adds an element of hands on creativity to the brand.

Each blind foil pack (which retail at £2.99) contains modelling clay, cardboard Moshi features and an adoption booklet with instructions on how to make your Moshi monster and information about the character. There are 48 different characters in the range to collect.

It was quite exciting opening the pack to see what was inside but no doubt there is the downside of disappointment when you find that you have just bought a character that you already have in your collection. They wouldn't be quite so easy to swap with friends as trading cards.

The modelling clay was a good quality - vibrantly coloured and easy to work. It was nice to see the children engaged in squishing, squeezing, rolling, and flattening  activities. The instructions were very clear  and it did not take long to create a reasonable model. The video shows our progress as we attempted to make our very own 'Luvli'.

A brand new website, www.myclaybuddies.com, is being created in conjunction with the launch of the Moshi Monster Clay Buddies, giving children the opportunity to upload pictures and videos of their models.

None of my children are really of the age to get excited by Moshi Monsters but I can certainly understand the appeal and the Clay Buddies would definitely make great little stocking fillers.

Moshi Monster Clay Buddies are available to buy from Toys R Us, The Entertainer, Smyths, Next and Hobbycraft.

****
UPDATE
Moshi Monsters Clay Buddies are now on Facebook

Collections and Collectibles (review)

As a child I had a collection of key rings. It was all a bit pointless because I had not a single key, but I suppose that pointlessness is actually a defining element of most collections.

As an adult, I had a yearning to collect novelty teapots. I imagined them displayed on a country style welsh dresser in a cosy kitchen and selecting different pots to brew for different occasions. In reality, my collection consisted of a grand total of one completely hideous, tacky teapot that was supposed to look like a table set for tea, but didn't. It also carried the warning 'not suitable for boiling liquids' which rendered it somewhat useless as a teapot. Apart from a cup of green tea first thing in the morning, my hot drink consumption consists entirely of coffee these days so my unfulfilled novelty teapot phase does now belong to another life.

I'm not sure what part of the human psyche lends us a pre-disposition to collect but it does appear to be an urge present in some form in us all. Toy manufacturers are certainly aware of this.

My children were big collectors of Pokemon figures (first time round). The marketing was brilliant from the "Gotta Catch 'em all" tag line to the giant posters displaying all 150 Pokemon with check boxes to monitor your progress towards completion. Years later, my girls can still name all 150 Pokemon and tell you that a Wartortle is an evolved form of a Squirtle. We do still have some of the original collectibles but the whole Pokemon franchise has developed beyond my comprehension with the new generations since added.

Other collections included Pogs and Tazos and Puppies and Kitties in my Pocket but none were ever quite as popular or as influential as Pokemon.

Collectibles never seem to go out of fashion.

From a manufacturers point of view they are a winner - why sell a child one toy when you can sell them a whole collection? From a parent's point of view, it makes it easy when Auntie Jane and Granny ask "What does Johnny want for Christmas this year?" From a child's point of view, clever advertising and packaging can create a huge desire and how nice it is to be able to fulfil your child's wants with a simple purchase.

For me personally, I would prefer my children to satisfy their need to collect with something more individual and possibly harder to come by but we are a society that enjoys instant gratification and peer acceptance so the mass produced, easily recognisable, instant collections fit the mood of the moment.

Ocean in my Pocket and Littlest Pet Shop are two Collectible ranges currently enjoying popularity. They are designed to be played with as well as collected, available with a range of play sets additional to the collectible figures.

Ocean in My Pocket Coral Playset - £19.99
Ocean in My Pocket Newborn Pack - £3.99

Littlest Petshop Vehicle - £14.99
Littlest Pet Shop Blythe Set - £12.99

I am already familiar with the Puppy and Kitty in my pocket from years ago and we did just touch on Ponies in my Pocket before my girls outgrew the whole idea. I was quite surprised to see that you can now get Jungle, Snow, Forest and Farm as well as Ocean in my Pocket. To me that is an overwhelming amount of choice and I hope for the sake of parental finances, little girls fixate on one category only or mix and match without the need to "collect them all" as the words on the packaging demand.

Thanks to the likes of Spongebob Square Pants, Finding Nemo and a Shark's Tale, undersea creatures are probably as familiar as pets and farm animals to our youngsters. The Ocean in my Pocket figures are adorable and the playset (although the sort of plastic monstrosity that normally makes me cringe) is intriguing, just inviting you to explore.

I didn't find much to redeem the Littlest Playshop. I  thought the pets themselves were trying too hard to be cute and were actually quite hideous. The packaging includes lots of cardboard cut outs of pets and accessories which just seemed a bit empty and sad and the Pet Vehicle did not look like it was built to withstand much in the way of play. The tag line "How big is your littlest pet shop?" somehow implies that however big it is, it will never really be big enough. The whole thing was just a bit uncomfortable by my set of values.

I gave both playsets to my 2 year old to road test.

She played with Littlest Pet Shop Blythe for a long time, mostly trying to put the sunglasses on her (without success) and saying "silly dolly" every time her shoes fell off (which was often). I know that my daughter is younger than the target market for Littlest Pet Shop but whatever age group is doing the playing, those tiny, ill fitting shoes are going to be lost before long.

Her play with the Ocean figures was much more imaginative, whizzing the baby sea creatures down the slide and animating them with a life beyond their static fuzzy coated plastic bodies. (While I think of it, the fuzzy coating was already starting to attract a lot of fluff and dust which made them look a bit grubby). The figures didn't actually sit too well on the seesaw or seats (in the same way that a real whale/shark/lobster/seahorse probably wouldn't), but it didn't seem to be a problem for the two year old nor an impairment to her enjoyment.

Of the two, I definitely favour the In My Pocket brand but it is ultimately for the parent to decide whether it represents value for money and constructive play opportunities. Perhaps our children would be better served being encouraged to collect key rings, retro Pokemon or even novelty teapots!