This week's Toys R Us reviews

Sponsored post

Baby Born Interactive Star

This is the latest incarnation of the Baby Born series.It has moved on from the original version that my step daughter had about 10 years ago.



She comes with one outfit, a dummy, a potty, nappy, bottle, feeding bowl and spoon. There are also some bits of jewellery which are child sized. This means that you can either give her water through the bottle or special food with the spoon. Then you can put her on her potty to do a "poo" or she can do a wee when you press her belly button.Just make sure you have tightened the valve on her back before putting water in her or she leaks as granny discovered! Even though this is 3+ toy my 9 year has loved being her mummy. She is a very cute looking baby whether asleep or awake:





What is good compared to the early Baby Born is that you can put this baby in the bath as its waterproof and has no electronic parts. She is well sized so that a 3 year old wouldn't have much trouble holding her.For a first real doll she would be ideal as if my daughter is anything to go by your child will get years of fun with her.



Smasha Ballz Ninjaaah

This toy is very much designed to appeal to boys with its Ninja look and the fact that the packaging says:

• Smash 'em
• Chuck 'em
• Slam 'em

My son was very keen to chuck him around, I wasn't so keen as we have a small house! He makes proper Ninja sounds when he is thrown or whacked. Here is a little video showing some of them with me operating him:

Apparently the more you whack him the more noises he makes. This is obviously an incentive to do it more and more! If like me you discourage your children from chucking stuff around the house then this is not the toy for you. It does also respond to patting and dropping too which reduces the danger issue.

My son periodically goes back to this for short periods but it hasn't grabbed him that much after the initial excitement. Maybe other children would enjoy it more and it would do better in a home where it could be really thrown around!




Pokemon Electronic Pokedex

We have only ever watched Pokemon on YouTube so I wasn't sure what my son would make of his pokedex. In fact I was surprised at how much he enjoyed it!

The pokedex has information on 45 of the Pokemon characters plus a trivia quiz. My son seemed to manage to work out how to use it without any instruction which is more than I did!

Here is a video showing some of what the pokedex can do:

It is a very simple black display but it seemed enough for my son to see what he was doing. If you have a big Pokemon fan then I'm sure they will get even more out of it than my son did. I remember my now teenage step sons being heavily onto Pokemon at his age!

A pretty basic electronic toy but if my son is anything to go by a popular choice on Christmas Day!



Zoobles Family Day - Jump Rope

The Zoobles Family Day jump rope set will be available soon on the website. We have had a few Zoobles in the past which my daughter loves so it was nice to get a new addition. The nice thing about this one is that it actually does something rather than just allow the zooble to pop open on the magnetic pad.

Here is a little video of me making Zippy skip:

We discovered she skips much better when closed though she can pop open on occasion! All of my daughter's Zoobles can skip on the jump rope as they are close enough in size and weight. There are perching points for up to 3 Zoobles on the play set too:

And they can all share in the cardboard picnic. Not sure how long the picnic will survive before getting lost or ruined but the rest of the set is well made.

A nice addition to a Zooble fans collection or a great first piece to start a collection.

Toys R Us Review: Furby

The Furby was one of my daughter's favourites from our latest box. It is an updated version of the original Furby for the current generation. I remember being thoroughly annoyed by the old style Furby so I was hoping this one was better.

One of the main new features is the fact that the Furby comes with its own app for iPhone and iPad. This enables the child to interact with the Furby via the various options:

First stop was the Pantry where with a flick of the finger you can feed Furby with a variety of foodstuffs (some of which aren't quite food!). The Furby reacts to each different item with chomping and various changes in its eye. You can learn its favourite ones by these reactions.

There is also a burger bar to make a customised burger with an array of edible and non edible items:

When happy simply tap your burger then flick:

The app also translates Furbish so that you can talk to the Furby. The apparently random noises are actually a complex language.

Here is a video of my daughter with the Furby:

As you can hear even she eventually finds its non stop chat annoying! She did enjoy getting a reaction for tickling and hugging the Furby though. What was quite funny was the Furby's reaction to having the video played back to it!

The new Furby certainly has a lot more going on than its original incarnation. It is much more interactive via the apps and its eyes and wiggly ears. It doesn't shut up though unless you put it somewhere dark and quiet... We found a basket and a blanket quite effective!

Altogether a fun interactive toy but you may find yourself reaching for the ear plugs!

Toys R Us: Bakugan Mechtavius Destroyer

We haven't really much experience of Bakugan in our house so this Mechtavius Destroyer was an eye opener. The box contains 4 figures which fasten together to make one big figure.

 

 

The idea seems simple enough and the picture on the box shows which character goes where:

 

What I didn't realise was that the comprehensive intructions had been put on one side when my son took out the parts! I therefore struggled a bit and ended up with this:

 

Then I found the instructions and discovered that you need the Mechtogan Activator to open special parts of the figures before you can put them toghether!

 

Basically this is a magnetic card that when applied to the right part of each character open up secret parts. This alongside the step by step instructions made construction a lot easier. I therefore ended up with the correct final Destroyer:

He is already to take part in battles against other Bakugans. Unfortunately we don't have any more but my 6 year old said the final figure could kill a 100 enemies it was so big!

 

If your child knows about Bakugan and how to battle then this would be a good addition to the collection. If like us you know nothing then it's a 3D jigsaw or a handful of action figures you can play battles with. It does seem well made though.

 

This week's Toys R Us Reviews

The Amazing Web Shooting Spider-Man

I have to say my son was very excited to get this toy in our latest box. Like many young boys he loves anything Spider-Man related even though he has never seen the films!

The toy needed 4 batteries before it could be used. The webs can then be shot out by pressing buttons on Spider-Man's back.

His head flicks from side to side as he shoots:

We discovered he only shoots well if his poseble arms aren't pointing too high in the air. It's a real shame that the webs don't actually stick to things they hit. They are fine for knocking down the target that came with the set and also made a good noise against our bin!



Cars: Lightening McQueen Hawk

My son's friends were all keen to have a play with Spider-Man but I'm not sure how much staying power it will have.

This toy is a product to go with the AirMater film from the popular Cars series. My son is a bit of a fan but not a major one so recognised the character straight away and was keen to try him out. He soon mastered how to convert to flying mode:

The toy has 75+ phrases and sounds and the video below will give you a taste of some of them. It also can shoot out missiles from underneath!

My son has had lots of fun shooting down other toys using the missiles. The range of noises means that there was plenty of variety (there is also an off switch!).

Returning the car to road mode wasn't easy for my son and he needed me to push the wings back in. Otherwise the toy provided plenty of entertainment and lots of fun. I'm sure it will get played with lots.

This week's Toys R Us Toyologist Reviews

Dragon Chase Game

This Dragon Chase is a 3+ game for 2-4 players so ideal for a family like mine. It needed batteries to be inserted before we could play it which requires a screwdriver. My daughter stuck the dice stickers on in a random order. The dragon's body then is slid into slots on the game board. My daughter needed some help to do this and then we put the dragon head into the body.

The game itself is simple to play. Each player chose a colour piece and put a jewel on the top. Then the die is rolled and either you move forward the number of spaces on the die, miss a turn or activate the dragon. On the board itself some squares instruct you to move more spaces either backward or forward. There are also safe squares which mean that your jewel is taken off making it safe from dragon attack.

When the dragon is activated it swings its head and neck around randomly and can knock jewels off:

I was very unlucky and my jewels kept being sent flying! This meant I was sent back to the beginning lots and lots... Meanwhile my children safely got to the cave and could deposit their jewels.

It is a very simple game with simple rules and my children found the dragon fun. I'm sure we will get hours of fun from playing it.



Dino Bite Game

The Dino Bite Game is a 4+ one as it requires some manual dexterity. For assembly batteries are inserted into the base and the T Rex clipped onto the base.

Once switched on the T Rex starts to snore with ambient background noises. Each player rolls the die and has to pick out a baby from the nest using the tweezers. This can be an easy 1 baby or a nail biting 4!

My 9 year old found it easier than the 5 year old to extract the babies. They both jumped whenever the T Rex woke and attacked!

A simple game and if you don't want the noises it still works with power off or even batteries out. It also doesn't take a long time to set up and play as once you've been attacked by T Rex you are out.

This week's Toys R Us Toyologist Reviews

Sponsored Post

We are having lots of fun trying out the latest batch of toys from Toys R Us. Here are the first couple!

Play-Doh Candy Cyclone

There was a great reaction on seeing this come out of the box! My children have loved Play-doh from and early age and are always keen to try new ways to play with it. You can tell I have them well trained as before playing with it my daughter spread newspaper on the floor. She found the toy very easy to start playing with and spent quite a long time creating play-doh candies.

There seemed to be a large number of different sweets you can make from gob stoppers to lollipop and various "boiled" sweets. They all look good enough to eat so you would have to be careful if there are children under 3 around!

Eventually my 5 year old also was allowed a turn though at this point the play-doh ended up ground into my rug.... He didn't have quite as much patience as his sister at making candy but he did seem to enjoy himself.

The kit is very colourful and seems like it would survive quite well from long term use. There are only 4 small pots of play-doh included and as you can see the colours quite easily get mixed up:

If your children are big fans of Play-doh then this makes a fun addition. It seems a lot easier to use than other Play-doh kits we have had in the past. You may well need to stock up on plenty more pots of Play-doh to keep your little candy makers in business!

Fur Real Bounce Around Puppy

The Fur Real puppy was my 8 year old's instant grab from this month's box it really is designed to appeal to girls with its face:

How could you resist those eyes! The puppy not only looks cute but has a little bouncy dance and puppy noises when you play with it:

After a short car journey holding the puppy which yipped at every bump in the road I did hear my daughter telling it to shut up! Once at home and with no jiggles it was a lot less annoying.

There is a trigger on the puppy's back for the sounds and a light sensor in its forehead for movement. When it senses someone approaching it jumps around! If nothing happens for a minute she yawns and goes to sleep (a useful feature.


The fur is nice and soft making the puppy lovely to cuddle which then of course triggers off the happy puppy noises. We liked the fact that the puppy reacts to attention from its owner. If the noises get to much she has an off button on her tummy.

I am sure lots of little girls would be delighted to get one of these puppies. This one has taken up residence in my daughter's bed!

This week's Toyologist Reviews

Sponsored post

Orchard Toys Rhyme Robber

This will be available shortly on the Toys R Us site. My children tried it out with Gramps whilst he was babysitting! Like many Orchard Toy games it is a fun educational one. It is aimed at 5-9 year olds and for 2-4 players.

To help younger players there is a crib sheet which lists all the matching rhymes:

Players then try to collect matching rhymes into their swag bags:

It is a simple game with a level playing field between ages as its down to luck which pair you get. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed playing it and hopefully it's helped with the children's literacy.

The only thing is that it's hard to mix up the pairs at the end of a go. It may be a good idea to use a little bag to shake them in.

Foooz Pro Match Set

My son loves playing football so was very keen on this toy. If you haven't got room for a football table then this is space saving alternative. It will be available soon on the website.

The game has 3 different options. The first is to simply play against a friend and try to score the most goals. My son was pretty good at this one:

The flicking action is very simple to manage and can be adjusted for left or right handed players. We tried playing both inside and outside the house to see how it went. It was fun on both grass and the rug.

The second game was to use the cards to select a trick to try:

Some of these skills take a lot of practice but my son enjoyed trying to score points through the special card:

He got quite good at just hitting the cards that can be hung from the top of the net too:

This game has a lot of variety of uses to stop a child getting bored. The fact that the more you play the better you get. I think we will get hours of fun out of it.

Toys R Us Toylogists: Reviews Week 2

Sponsored Post

Another dip into this month's Toyologist toy box.

Thomas' Daring Drop


This was the toy that got the biggest wow from my children out of our first review box! My son is a big Thomas railway fan and has most of the stories and a large selection of wooden railway. We had never had any Trackmaster plastic tracks before so it was a new experience for all of us.

The set came with pictorial instructions and says adult assembly required. Having tried to construct it with my 5 year old helping I would thoroughly recommend building it on your own! The pieces need to be quite forcefully put together in some places and if not done right then Thomas' comes a cropper.... Once I twigged that there are bits that clip over the edge of the track we were fine.Then it was time to put the batteries in Thomas and set him off around the track. With the points in one direction Thomas bravely chuffs up to the top of Blue Mountain Quarry and onto the perilous drop:

We all enjoyed watching him go round and dropping onto the lower track. He can also go round the lower loop and pass the friendly crane at the side of the quarry. If he does crash on landing then the switch gets flicked to off so no battery is wasted.The set is currently on the website at £39.99 which is the kind of price you would expect for such a large railway (over 4 feet/120 cm of track). It is suitable for 3+ and would make a super main present for the Thomas fan in your life.

Fluffings

This was the toy in the box my 8 year old daughter reached for first! It's pink and fluffy and very girly. There are three Flufflings currently available on the Toys R Us website. They come in pink, purple or blue and are £19.99 each.

My daughter took hers to school for show and tell she thought it was such fun. Then I discovered she was still only in Try me mode! I had wondered why she wasn't jumping like it said on the box..

Once turned on properly she has 3 modes:

• Dance to her own music
• Giggle and laugh
• Jump around

Here a couple of videos we shot of her in action:

She is really entertaining to watch and not too loud. A conversation piece and fun to share with friends. I think the novelty value would last longer with a younger child. If you have a dog or cat this would either freak them out or they would chase it round the room!

Toys R Us Toylogists - Review 1

Sponsored Post

Opening our first Toyologists' box was a bit like Christmas come early in our house! Lots of lovely toys to look and and try and hard to know where to start... This is what we have tried out so far:

Peppa Pig Giant Snakes and Ladders

This Peppa Pig game is the biggest version of snakes and ladders I’ve played indoors and you can see its scale based upon my 8 year old’s hand in the photo. For a small child this is definitely giant and if it had been bigger it wouldn’t have fitted in our front room (which isn’t huge!).

This was very easy to set up:

1. open box
2. unfold mat
3. place counters and dice ready

The larger size counters and dice make it easier to handle for younger children than traditional sized games (and are less easy to lose). The squares contain all of Peppa’s family and nice big numbers for learner readers.

There aren’t a huge number of squares so the game went quite quickly. This would help with the attention span of small children. Being able to play on the floor is also a bonus as the dice doesn’t get over enthusiastically rolled off the table. At £9.97 its a reasonable price for a game that can be taken any where as its all made of plastic and light and easy to transport.

Ben 10 Omniverse Omnitrix Touch

My son got hooked on Ben 10 aged 3 despite having never seen an episode! I had to buy him a DVD of a few episodes to meet the demand… He was therefore most keen to get this Omnitrix out of the packaging. He had had a different Omnitrix a couple of Christmases a go so he knew exactly what to do with this one.

I did struggle to fasten it on his wrist as the plastic is so new but my daughter had no problem fastening it on herself. Maybe she was less afraid of pinching than I was!

The Omnitrix comes with 3 modes:

• Alien voices
• Sound effects
• Unlock secret messages

This little video demonstrates my daughter trying out the settings:

Each part of the touch sensitive screen brings up a different alien in the voices mode. To use the code mode you need a specially marked pack of Ben 10 products which each have a code. We didn’t have any to try out.

Both my children enjoyed trying to get different sounds and flashing lights from the display. I was quite relieved they both knew where the OFF button was! This is definitely something my son would love to show off to his friends and if you have a big Ben 10 fan in your home then this would be a good addition to their collection.

Ravensberger My First Clock game

It was great timing to receive this My First Clock Game as both my 5 year old and my 8 year old are keen to either learn to tell the time or to improve on their use of analogue instead of digital time telling. The game is aimed at ages 4-9 and has games that suit the whole age range.

The game was quick to set-up with a pop together pair of hands and cards that pop out to play. We set out playing the middle level game where you read the digital time out to the next person who has to try and set the hands of the clock at the right position.

My 8 year old was the best of this at this game even beating me as I forgot about putting the hour hand half way to the next hour! This level of the game is definitely for those that already know something about telling the time, although my 5 year old could read out the numbers.

For the younger players the entry level game involved putting different time cards into the right order. Then they have to say what happens at that point during the day.

There is another advanced level that we haven’t moved onto yet. This one probably needs to be played between children of a similar standard as its more of a free for all than a taking turns game.

At £6.99 this is a great addition to a family’s games cabinet. My children were very keen on it and I’m sure we will get a lot of play out of it whilst my children are learning through fun.