Little Live Pets Suprise Hatching Chick

Little Live Pets Suprise Hatching Chick is our first toynreview of 2017 and this review was the first assignment for our new guest writer Charlotte, here is what she thought

The Surprise Hatching Chick from Little Live Pets is a great addition to any child's toy collection. At only £14.99 available at all good toy stockists. The hatching chick looks, acts and sounds so real that children can't help but fall in love with it. They're new to the Little Live Pets range & just in time for Easter.
This toy is aimed for children aged 5+, girls & boys encouraging them to play together. There are four colours to find – Patty the party chick, Blossy the daisy chick, Tilly the dancing chick & Beaky the rainbow chick & that is another one of the surprises, or you could be one of the lucky ones who will find the Limited edition golden chick!

The simple 1-2-3 instructions makes it super easy for children to grasp. Remove the tab, twist the key to unlock the chick from the bottom of the egg & take the tape off then wait for the chick to hatch. The chick taps & chirps inside of the egg just before it hatches out. H was amazed when the chick jumped out and started hopping  around chirping. You can hatch your chick again & again by pressing down the chicks feet back into its body & inserting it back into its egg which opens freely.

Little Live Pets Hatching Surprise Chick includes an egg, a surprise chick & an instruction booklet, batteries (3x LR44) are also included.RRP is £14.99 and ages suitability is 5yr and over

The more you pet your chick the more it interacts, putting other chicks together they will interact with each other. The Little Live Pets range is continuing to grow with new pets coming for spring my two really enjoyed playing with the chick and my eldest (age 8 has wanted to hatch the chick over and over again and my oungest age 5 loves to pet it and play.

These are a lovely alternative to an Easter Egg and a great gift

Star Wars Rogue One Gift Ideas

Last year we were late to the party with the new Star Wars movie and missed out on some of the action figures and toys for Christmas, we will not make that mistake again! We know that Rogue One is coming and we  have already started planning for the kids gifts, knowing they will want Star Wars goodies to coincide with the release of Rogue One

We have picked up some bargains in the toy department of Fenwicks and have already bought the female character figures as they were in short supply last year, we picked up this Jyn Erso costume as soon as it came on sale in the Disney Store 

we have also been testing this great Force Lightning Energy Ball from Uncle Miltons range of toys by Flair

Here's our Vlog

The price tag is a little high on this one and whilst I do appreciate the STEM connection and educactional value we had expected a larger energy ball for the price. That said from this penny pinching mummy, my boy LOVES it and ha played with it every day practising his force harnessing technique!?!?!? He loves to try to break the stream by placing another finger somewhere on the globe. So I can tell you if you have a Star Wars fan in your house this will be a hit.

You can buy these and the rest of the Uncle Milton Range from Flair 

This review item was sent to us free of charge but opinions are our own.

Snuggles My Dream Puppy

Part of the Little Live Pets range, this Snuggles My Dream Puppy is adorable and erfect if like me you dont want an ACTUAL puppy pooping around your house! Its soft and fluffy and his tummy moves to make him seem like he is  breathing like a real puppy he snores sleeps and needs feeding too and he (sorry ours has been designated a boy, yours can be a girl if you want!)  has already been listed in the Argos Christmas Top Gift List.

Check out our video here

We Love
His realistic actions
He comes with an adoption certificate
There are lots of ways to play with him, feed him, stroke him, tickle him and give him kisses (he kisses back!
He has loads of different sounds

Room for improvement

We just love him, so much so I had to make a new video so you could hear all about him instead of watching my kids fight over him!

You can find Snuggles at Character and you can enter competitions and download free My Dream Puppy activities at My Dream Puppy Club

Singamalings- Silly Little Singing Things

Singamalings are 'Silly little singing things', cute plush toys that Sing, Jabber and Harmonise! So they can sing their own little songs, harmonise with you or another singamaling or just make cute little noises (their very own language).

Check them out here

and here is our video review ....



Singamalings are available from Argos priced £9.99, suitable from age 3 up and you can catch up with them on YouTube

My First Bananagrams

Have you heard of Bananagrams? We love it, its kind of like scrabble but without the board or the score keeping! We are huge fans, so we jumped at the chance to review My First Bananagrams . The game is aimed at 4 and up and has loads of ways to play ....

We love

• The tiles are brights and colourful
• The games support the curriculum in most schools
• The kids have loved making word with no clue they are learning!
• The tiles are marked to ensure they are the right way
• There are loads of ways to play
• The game is easy to throw in a bag to take out and about with you
• The instructions are clear and plentiful

Room for Improvement
I can't think of any, we love this game!

Follow Bananagrams on Facebook and you can buy the game on amazon 

Brio Ride On Dachshund

There are not many toys that leave me wondering how best to describe their awesomeness but this Brio Ride On Dachshund has me a bit stumped, I know that this is the kind of toy that captures your heart and goes in the loft for your grandkids, its timeless and gorgeous, but that doesn't really express my utter love for it!

Termite loves is and zooms around the house on it and with an upper weight limit of 25kgs she still has plenty of play life left with it. Here is her video....

We Love

• It is Sturdy
• It was really easy to put together (under 5 minutes and no profanity)
• Brio is a great brand with a fab heritage
• Its sooooo cute
• Easy to use
• Beautiful workmanship

Room for Improvement

I cant think of anything I'll be honest, my biggest concern for my readers would be that a £70 price tag is hefty but as I have seen it and seen how much Termite enjoys it, I can honestly say I would pay that for it, Its a real investment and I think it will last years, maybe even for the monkeyfooted grandchildren!

Connect with Brio on Facebook and Youtube

Peppa Pig Classic Toys

We are totally chuffed to have gotten a sneak peak of the new range of Peppa Pig toys from Character. Here is our unboxing video

And here is more from the range

      

We were sent ...

Air Peppa Jet: The Air Peppa Jet has everything little ones need to take Peppa on an imaginary adventure! The jet features pull down stairs, a rear storage compartment, and an openable cabin for children to move Peppa around the interior. A Peppa Pig figure comes with the set, and Miss Rabbit sits in the pilot seat. Peppa loves to fly too, so children can flip down Miss Rabbit to make space for Peppa in the cockpit. Also don’t miss Peppa’s luggage which is included in the box!

Home and Garden playset: The Home and Garden Playset is the iconic Peppa Pig home from the TV show. The house opens up to reveal four rooms and an attic with lots of accessories included for hours of imaginative play. The playset neatly folds shut and holds all the accessories within it for easy storage. There is also a carry handle for little ones to take their playset wherever they wish!

Retailing at 19.99 this comes under the category of bigger gift for us, but you are getting a classic toy that kids will rcognise from the Tv show and its easy to spark imaginations when everything is all connected recognisably so I think they are good value for money. The toys will be available in Argos and keep an eye out on our facebook page for details of the Twitter Frenzy on 20 July 

Chubby Puppy - Review

We were recently sent a chubby puppy to review, it created a lot of enjoyment at monkeyfeet HQ although it has caused fights over which child is actualy is Chubby Puppy's parent!

Heres our Vlog

The puppy is priced at £16.99 and come in an assortment of 'breeds' ..

I'll be honest the puppy was smaller than I imagined but the kids seemed to know exactly what the were getting andf they really enjoyed playing with it, they've made him/her walk (shuffle limp and hop) through a variety of obstacle courses and off the chair and table to much hilarity.

The Chubby Puppy is from Spin Master Toys and is available to buy in most big toy stores 

Educational Play The Schleich Way

I've seen Schleich figures in many shops and visitor attractions over the years but we have never owned any, just recently we were contacted to see if we would help out with a new campaign they are launching ' Educational Play The Schleich Way'

So Schleich have launched a catalogue with ideas and games on how to use the figures in their range for the most educational benefit. Now I'm one of those mums who sees learning in everything we do and I love making up games and plays with the kids, on a recent holiday we forgot to pack our card and to be brutally honest there are only so many times I can cope with Monster High Top Trumps, so I resorted to making games up.... We played 'What animal am I' a lot and I now cant wait to try that again but with some of our new figures. We also played Bedroom Boules. Bed Golf and Finger football! All the games we made up with things we had to hand so it just goes to show you don't need fancy technology and a house full of toys to entertain the kids! So you can imagine this project sounded right up my street

you can download the brochure here or by clicking this image

The brochure is free and if you are a bit cynical. like me, its not just a blatant advert for Schleich toys! There are loads of helpful bits of information about play, with game ideas, information on language development and tips to encourage play and combat boredom. I love that the games and ideas suggested can be adapted for your situation. 

Keeping in mind some of the ideas on Balanced play and different game ideas we took the opportunity to throw our new Schleich animals in the rucksack on a trip out....

First we talked about perspective and optical illusions, aaaaargh elephant in the road!

Then we did some role play in the car where the kids made up a space pony/ alien zebra story!

Termite tried her hand ant some disappearing animal tricks.

There was some 'fungus amungus' dressage (I played no part in that idea it was all them!!!)

And then we shared our dinner 

I love the idea behind the brochure and man alive I get the attraction with Schleich figures the quality and detail is awesome and even the kids noticed a difference when they got their hands on them with comments like 'ooh thats heavy' and 'ee look at the wrinkles on this elephant'!

There is also a competition in the brochure, not that you need any more encouragement to download it,  to win £100 worth of toys thanks to Schleich and Uk Mums TV

La La Loopsy Style n Swap - Review

My Peanut loves La La Loopsy dolls (although I've always found them quite strange, my opinion is not the important one here) and we have a little collection of the larger dolls, so when we were asked to review the new range of La La Loopsy Style n Swap Mini's she was over the moon. Here's our unboxing video....

This set is priced at £9.99 but the range also includes multi sets at £16.99 with two figures in, or play sets ranging up to £26.99.

Overall I think we prefer the minis as they are easily transportable and fun for imaginative play, all three of my kids has enjoyed playing with this figure, changing her outfit and hair (much hilarity at making her bald!). these would make a greta gift (I say that a lot but this really is our price point for gift for school pals party's)  theres a nice small collection to add to and I like that they help fine motor skills for little Termite 

You can find out more about La La Loopsy on the website or by following them on Facebook and Twitter 

Pom Pom Wow Uk

When I was asked if we would review Pom Pom Wow Decoration Station,  my first thoughts were how much mess would be created by my Peanut and a bunch of pom poms, all that wool all the bit and pieces, but I knew she would love anything like that so I said yes and Im so pleased to report NO MESS.

The set is not at all what I thought it would be and its actually all neatly contained and ready to use with no cutting or hours or  wrapping wool around cardboard. The kit contains all you need to get started

Heres our tutorial and unboxing video

You really can Pom Pom anything though, I mean look at this Fiat 500 ...

We really enjoyed this set, it was easy to use, sturdy and great fun, as you can see in the video the ink need to be covered properly as ours dried up when we mustnt have put the lid on, but that's to be expected, the whole set is well made and I think great fun and  good value for such a big craft set.

Pom Pom Wow is priced at £29.99 and available from larger toy store (Smyths, Toys R Us and The Entertainer) or from Character Online .

I will be taking part in a Pom Pom Wow Twitter Frenzy on 31 May from 5-*6.30pm and you can join in for the change to win some great prizes simply follow Pom Pom Wow Uk and us #PomPomWow.

Pom Pom Wow will be taking over Uk Mums Tv on Saturday 28th May as well so do pop over and see whats going on!


Connect With Pom Pom Wow UK on Instagram Facebook and Twitter   

Brio Safari Railway Set

If you have kids you have probably got or have had Brio in your house. We love it and we're happy to review this Brio Safari Railway Set.

Its great for little hands, really easy to put together and I love that its compatible with all the other Brio sets so there is just no limit to your creativity. Its  really good for hand eye co-ordination trying to get the train past the cheeky monkey who wants to steal the load! The rrp is £21.99 and it would make a great gift to start someone's collection, or just add a new section to and existing one.

I love Brio as a brand because there sets are really good quality and the wood is all responsibly sourced. Any way I have waffled check out our vlog here ....

You can catch up with Brio on Facebook or Twitter 

Blaze and The Monster Machines Twitter Party

We are big Blaze fans here at Monkeyfeet HQ so when were asked to help out with this Wednesday's Twitter party hosted by Nick Jnr and Uk Mums Tv we were very excited, the Twitter party celebrates the launch of the new Fisher Price toy range. You can take a sneaky peek here ....

• The Die Cast Vehicles are £4.99 each and are sturdy and robust and great for imaginative free play
• The Slam and Go Vehicles are £9.99 each and they are really fast and really fun
• Transforming Turbo Launcher is £12.99 and fab value for money provided loads of entertainment and a great introduction to measuring 
• The Transforming Blaze Jet is very clever and very noisy! Be warned the kids will love it, you will want to find some ear plugs!

You can get your hands on the new Blaze and the Monster Machines product range by heading to Argos and Smyths and you can read all about the blaze products here 

Blaze airs daily on Nick Jnr and the Blaze and The Mpnster Machines Twitter party will take place from 1:00pm – 3:00pm this Wednesday (16th March) You can join in too by heading over to @ukmumstv Twitter.  Don’t forget to watch the hour-long special of Blaze and the Monster Machines at 2:00pm on Nick Jr. and tell us what you think using #NickJrBlaze.  Throughout the two hour party there will also be plenty of chances to win some fab prizes and see items from the new Fisher-Price toy range in action!

We will post all the details of our fab STEM party activities on Wednesday so you can see what we got up to.

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Interplay Woodland Fairy Door

Deep in the heart of the squirrel wood stood a statue of the king of squirrels, his job was to guard over the fairy's who protect and care for the squirrels of the forest and he does this by watching over their secret woodland fairy door. At dusk when the light is low the fairies creep out and help the squirrels find food and make sure they are happy and well....

OK this is not quite true but such is the imagination of our children that this is the story created by playing with this simple woodland door!

The door is similar to the the Secret fairy door which we loved last year and so the kids were really happy to take this on our trip to Keilder and install it (temporarily) in the forest.

The differences are that this is slightly smaller but comes with removable base pegs so that you can choose to either fix it into the ground or stick it to a wall.

The doors are great fun, positively encourage imaginative play and are a great starting point for education too, we learned lots about squirrels thanks to the interest piqued by the little squirrel that came in the box.

With an rrp of £9.99, which is the price for the door, squirrwl and a fairy) these are a great price for a gift or special treat and you will love the imaginative stories that come from just letting the kids lead you!

Don't forget to enter our give-away to win one of these lovely sets but be quick there is not much time left 

Unboxing The Newly Launched Teletubbies Toys

If you are a parent of any child under about 4 then you will not have missed the 2015 return of Teletubbies, if you just read that sentence and said o yourself 'return, what's she on about, Teletubbies are new' then honestly you are blessed by youth and I hate you! No I'm joking I dont hate you but I am old enough to remember the hoo hah of trying to get Teletubbies toys for younger cousins when they sold out EVERYWHERE.

We were privileged when Character asked us to be a Teletubbies reviewer! Its been so hush hush though that I couldn't reveal the toys we would be reviewing until now....

Our talking plush, Po and Tinky Winky are absolute favourites with termite (and the big kids) they are super soft but have firm faces which makes them feel really real, if that makes sense? They aren't just like normal soft toys and I really think Termite believes Po is now her bestie! Priced at £9.99 I think these are really reasonable and would make the perfect gift.

The smaller plush we recieved is great for bed time, super soft and no distracting noises, and priced at £6.99 i think this is a great toy for kids to save up for and purchase themselves. Even better value for money are the collectable figures with a single at £3.99 but a family pack at £9.99 with all of the figures in means lots to play with and whilst the boring adult part of my brain always screams 'They are bits of plastic !!!!' The mummy part of my brain knows that kids get so much from fre platy with toys like this, so far the teletubbies have met the playmobil babies in the mansion, they have played hide and seek and they've had a disco (that last one was Peanuts idea!) They are really sturdy and great fun.

I'm quite taken with the Teletubbies range and I already have my eye on this fab Laugh and Giggle Po for Termites birthday, I think she will love it

If youd like to know more and even be in with a chance of winning some Teletubbies goodies keep an eye on our Facebook page for details of the upcoming Teletubbies UKMums.tv twitter frenzy coming soon.

I Have Become A Secret Agent

Here at Monkeyfeet HQ we have received a very special parcel from character options but the contents are so top secret I'm not allowed to reveal them until 11^th of January

I won't lie t you my friends its taking most of my will power, which is of course why Im eating chocolate while I type! What? I only have enough will power for one thing at a time!


I can give you some clues though....

 

Posted with Blogsy by The Monkeyfooted Mummy

Cicciobello Rumbly Tummy Doll

The Cicciobello Rumbly Tummy Doll gives gives children the chance to role play looking after a baby with no mess! He comes with a spoon, juice box wipes a dummy and a potty. 

 

He cries when he needs something and tells you what he needs (so actually hes really more of a toddler) you then use the interactive accessories and the doll recognises that you have fed/cleaned/tended to his needs. You can see it in action here..

I really liked that this was a boy doll but wants dressed in any particularly sterotyped manner as we find most of the dolls we get given or see in the shops are dressed in stereo typically girly colours or dresses, Termite did however show a huge amount of curiosity at the contents of his ants (i tried hard not to giggle but admittedly failed when she told me 'baby snail in pants see mammy'! 

The doll is fun to play with and although the recommended age is 3+ Termite at two played nicely with it alone, although we did have an issue when the doll (hes named Bob by the way) asked for his dummy which termite had decide was hers, a very comic moment of both doll and actual child crying at each other followed and Ill be honest, Bob lost that battle!

Bob has around 40 phrases he can say to you, he can ask for food, drink, dummy, tell you his tummy hurts and he pumps loudly too.

I personally find the dolls cry a bit creepy but the kids didnt seem at all bothered by it. Peanut loved having such aninteractive doll, shes such a little mammy already to our Termite and now she has an actual little thing she can mother with no complaints.

 

With an RRP of £49.99 he is in the higher end of the doll market but happily it does much more than many of its similarly priced alternatives and its not dressed in putrid pink so I'm happy for my kids to play with it and I think its  great value Christmas or birthday gift

The Cicciobello Rumbly Tummy Doll is great fun, offer Mammy and Daddy a couple of laughs and kept my three entertained for a while. If you would like to see him for yourself he's available in Argos Smyths and Toys R Us 

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Minion Madness With Asda

My kids love The Minions, I mean who doesn't? So we were really excited to discover the huge range of Minion goodies available at Asda. It was decided we would have a whole Mexican (Just because it's our favourite food) Minion Madness Day!

Wearing our new (matching) minion T-shirts for our day of activities, we got started on a day of fun...

First a Minion tea party! We gathered together our minion toys, and because its the summer holidays we went crazy and pushed thoughts of nutrition to the back of our minds setting up cake, crisps, minion sweets and milkshake in our minion bottles!

 

Of course we had to watch Despicable Me 1 and then it was time for a Mexican dinner followed by Despicable Me 2 in our new minion pyjamas! Peanut has pyjamas with interchangeable minion outfits that Velcro on, while Termite and The Golden Child got minion goggles with theirs!!!

 

 

 

 

I have to tell you we have washed and worn our minion clothes A LOT and they have all fared really well. No shrinkage or fading and the quality is great, the whole lot just over £49 that's for 3 t-shirts 2 pairs of pyjamas and a nightie and three really sturdy and great quality drinks bottles which will be ace for the return to school. Have you discovered minion madness yet?

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