Tickle & Giggle Peppa

Amidst the darkness with the clocks going back and the general Halloween mood, it was quite refreshing to receive a product for review that was light hearted and fun and unashamedly cute. I am guessing that there has been a TV advertising campaign because both my little ones knew exactly what this was and what to do with it as soon as they saw it.

It's Tickle & Giggle Peppa!

I had to act as referee as both children fought over who got to tickle the lead character from the popular animated series Peppa Pig. Once calm was restored, they took it in turns to tickle the tummy and hear Peppa react with giggles, snorts and phrases. When I suggested we do a short video to show people the new toy they were very keen. The video did not turn out quite how I imagined but it made my little boy giggle even more infectiously than Peppa when we watched it through together. 

I'm sure fans of Peppa Pig will love this toy. It certainly added a whole lot of giggling to our Halloween.

Peppa Pig Weebles Wind and Wobble Playhouse

Today we were sent a review item from Character. As always when a mystery parcel is delivered, there was an excited buzz of anticipation. Printed on the box were the words 'Sky Dancers'. My Addy read this and couldn't get the box open quick enough. Unfortunately for her, dreams of owning a flying fairy were shattered when the box actually contained a Peppa Pig Weeble Wind and Wobble Playhouse. The sound of her wails of disappointment were drowned out by little brother's whoops of sheer delight.

I remember  Weebles from when I was a child in the early seventies (although I never owned any) and the distinctive "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down" jingle jumps into my head at the slightest mention of them. I did notice that the tune is different now on the current TV advertising but judging by the fact that my son already sings it, I guess it is just as catchy.

I do love the way that the frankly quite hideously ugly original Weebles have evolved over the years and now feature the instantly recognisable characters from popular children's TV.

As a physicist, my husband would enjoy the principles exploited in the Weeble design and my mathematician daughter could probably produce pages of interesting formulae to describe how it works. Me, I just love to see them wobble!!

Eventually, the lure of the wobbly pig distracted Addy from the distress of the absent Sky Dancer and she dived in to wind the handle to carry Peppa up the wobbly staircase, deposit her on the wobbly floor, slide her down the slide and onto the spinning roundabout. If that wasn't enough, there is also a swinging swing, a muddy puddle and a lofty perch at the very top of the playhouse. It is lovely.

Maybe at nearly six years old, Addy is a little old for this set (recommended age 18m+). It didn't hold her attention for a great deal of time. She went off in search of cake to console herself for being Sky Dancer-less! Dylan took advantage of having the set to himself and is still playing beautifully.

Other Weeble characters are available to purchase separately - Dylan wanted Peppa to have friends!

Jump in Muddy Puddles

When I received a text message from my daughter that started 'jcbmudrun', I thought she was having problems with her predictive text option. As I read on, I realised that she was in fact letting me know about a charity race that might interest me organised by JCB of the bright yellow digger fame. This was no ordinary race. Specially designed muddy obstacles were put in place around the course to challenge (and dirty) the battling competitors.

For some reason that I do not understand on any level, I really really really wanted to do this.

The race took place last weekend. Unfortunately I was not able to participate this year but the photographs I have seen online have not put me off at all. I want to do it more than ever.

My husband is fully supportive. My prim and proper 15 year old daughter wants to do it with me. The rest of the family think I'm completely mad.

A mud run of some description will almost definitely appear on my '50 things to do before I'm 50' list.

By coincindence, I received a toy in the Peppa Pig range from Character to review. The toy was "Jump in Muddy Puddles Peppa".

With the insertion of 3xAA batteries and the press of a button, the happy, muddy little pig will jump up and down snorting, counting or delivering classic Peppa phrases.

As well as reminding me (in the cutest way) of my determination to jump in some muddy puddles of my own, the kids love it.

I learned something new about my little boy as well. After he had finished delighting in his new piggie playmate's jumping antics, he went and helped himself to a washing up brush and cloth. "Pig grubby" he told me as he did his best to clean the 'mud' off Peppa's face and dress! I'm sure I can put that desire to see things neat, clean and orderly to good use as I start my pre-Xmas house blitz!

Suitable from ages  3+, Jump in Muddy Puddles Peppa retails for £19.99

www.peppapig.com

JCB Mud Run

Peppa Pig Minis

Travelling with little ones is so much less stressful if you take a selection of toys that are easily portable and can hold a child's interest. I am always on the lookout for such toys and was delighted to be sent a selection of Peppa Pig Minis from Golden Bear to review.

Mini Stick on Felts (RRP £9.99)

This set contained a good sized board with loads of big, bright, colourful, reusable, sticky felt pieces.

The easily recognisable characters from the Peppa Pig cartoon made this an instant success with my daughter, 4 year old Addy. She loved looking through all the pieces to see what she could use for her picture. She particularly like the sun and clouds. She happily told a little story as she used the pieces to build a scene.

Once completed, she proudly held up her creation and announced that she had made a beautiful picture. She then asked "Shall I make another beautiful picture?"

Of course there is no limit to the amount of beautiful pictures that she can make.

As this does not come with anything to store the board or felt pieces, I will need to find something suitable to make it useful as a toy for travelling.

Mini Dough Set (RRP £6.99)

The mini dough set contained two little pots of modelling dough, a cutting tool and two Peppa Pig moulds.

In terms of being useful as a travelling toy, I think it was actually far too messy. Having said that, Addy did love making Peppa Pig, George and George's toy dinosaur using the moulds and then engaged in some imaginative play with the characters until they became squashed beyond recognition from over enthusiastic handling! That signalled the time to remake them. It kept her entertained for ages.


Mini Sketchy Fun (RRP £5.99)

This was one of those little doodle screens that uses iron filings and magnets to sketch pictures and was probably the product that excited Addy the most. She loved the pink colour, she loved that it was 'Peppa Pig', she loved drawing on the screen with the special pen and most of all, she loved erasing her drawings with the plastic slider. She kept exclaiming "This is MAGIC!" and trying to impress her little brother by showing him.

Once the novelty of the 'magic' wears off,  I still think this will have great play value - particularly for a little girl that loves to practise her letters. I don't doubt that it will be hijacked at some point by older sisters for a quick game of noughts and crosses!

Peppa Pig

Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom: The Tooth Fairy has been a huge hit in our house. My daughter likes to have her daily dose of "Elves and Fairies" when she returns home tired from her morning at Nursery school. She is more than happy to watch the same episodes over and over again but for my own sanity I prefer to introduce some variety. To this end, I was very happy to receive a copy of Peppa Pig -International Day and other Stories on DVD for review.

Peppa Pig- International Day and other Stories is due for release on Monday, 24th October 2011. With eleven fun filled episodes featuring the unmistakable Peppa Pig and her family, it is sure to provide plenty of entertainment to keep little ones happy.

There is lots to like about this DVD: the cast of cute characters, the quirky animation, the catchy theme song, the simple story telling. For me, the best part has to be the laughter and the oinking!

For more fun with Peppa Pig visit www.peppapig.com

Entertainment One have kindly supplied a copy of the DVD (RRP £12.99) to giveaway. For a chance to win:

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Winner will be drawn at random from all comments on Friday 28th October.
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