TRU Review: Cars Aquadoodle
A few months ago, I reviewed a Rainbow Aquadoodle as a part of the Toyologist programme. When it arrived, I thought, "We've already got Aquadoodle mats, we don't need another one!" I quickly realised that not all aquadraw mats are the same, they have different features which make them an entirely different toy.
Therefore when I looked at the box for this Cars Aquadoodle I was interested to see what its 'special feature' was. And it is a special feature indeed. With this one, the mat is surrounded by the usual associated pictures (this time it's obviously characters from the Disney film Cars) and the colour that comes through on the mat is red. The special feature is a Lightning McQueen car that drives along a 'road' drawn by the special roller.
I've had experience of these types of 'follow the line' cars before and that one was rubbish. This one is excellent, it works really well and can pick up either the rollered road or a drawn line using the spare Aquadoodle pen.
If it loses the road or line that it should be following then it meanders around a little bit until it picks up another one, which I thought was rather clever of it. It's very quick to respond and can detect the faintest of lines, which is just as well because the roller works well but creates a bolder line when over a hard surface (not carpet).
My only negative of this, and it's a minor thing and depends on your noise threshold (mine's very low), is that it's quite noisy. Obviously, Lightning makes excited noises as he drives along and that is part of the appeal. The bit that I found gave me a headache (literally) is the whirr of the back wheels. However, like I said I have a low noise threshold; just ask one of my ex-pupils!
Aquadoodle sets can be a little bit pricey,and at £29.99 this set falls into that category. However, for a Cars fanatic (like my nephew; wait until he sees it), it's probably a must. How does it compare to the Rainbow Aquadoodle? It is more expensive but in this set you're getting a car that is responsive and interactive to your child's play, whereas the other set is more artistic. Different areas for entertainment, both worthwhile.
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We were provided this free of charge to review. My opinion is, as always, honest.
TRu Review: Little Tikes Town Playhouse
There are some serious bonuses to this blogging lark, you know. We've been really lucky and happy with all the lovely toys that we've had to test from Toys R Us, and then, just when I thought they couldn't do any better, they send us a house. Yes, that's right a house.
The Little Tikes Town Playhouse is one of the best designs of outdoor playhouses that I have seen. There are four sides to the Town House and this is where the flexibility in the play lies, something for every child.
I especially like the fact that the petrol station has a pump which is compatible with the Little Tike Cozy Coupe car we have, all the children in the garden have headed straight to that to fill up the car. The other most appealing side for boys seems to be the sports side with the football net and basketball hoop. The Boy doesn't take much notice of the fire station entrance at the moment, preferring to crawl in through the tyre hole in the petrol station side.
Construction was relatively easy, it took Mr. TheBoyandMe about an hour with some extremely useful help from The Boy. Tools needed included a drill and a screwdriver, that was it.
One person on their own will not manage it as it needs one person to pull the roof into shape, while the other screws from the inside-up to firmly attach the roof. The only thing that went wrong with the building was a mis-aligned screw from Mr. TheBoyandMe which unfortunately made a small perforation in the roof. Aside from that, it was quick and simple.
The Boy could not wait to get started on playing with the sports features, incidentally this remains his most favourite side of the house to date.
One of the other features that I really like about it is the height, it is quite a bit higher than other playhouses I've seen, which means that he is going to get a good few years play from it. So much so that when a friend came over with her three children (8 years, 6 years and 2.5 years) they played with it for well over an hour, using every single one of the sides and really playing nicely together!
If you are looking for a sturdy, outdoor playhouse, then you would be hard-pushed to find a more adaptable and engaging one than this. The Boy adores it, and happy Boy means a happy mummy!
Thank you Little Tikes and Toys R Us!
The Little Tikes Town Playhouse is available to buy from Toys R Us online and in store for £314.99. For more Toys R Us reviews, please visit the ToyBox application on Facebook by clicking on the banner below.
We Were provided with this free of charge for review. My opinions are, as always, honest.
TRU Review: Jack & Jill Game (Orchard Toys)
The Boy is obsessed, seriously obsessed, with singing nursery rhymes at the moment. And he does so beautifully, right up until the time that I get the Flipcam or voice recorder on my phone out. Then he clams up and refuses to utter a sound. However, one way to get him singing it to play the 'Nursery Rhymes jigsaw set' with him. When the 'Jack and Jill game' from Orchard Toys was delivered for review in our recent Toyologist box, I saw an opportunity! He knew what the picture on the box was showing straight away and started singing it. Could I get the Flipcam out in time? What do you reckon?
This is a beautifully illustrated and brilliant game designed to encourage your little one's to communicate, share and play together nicely. I'm more and more aware of the need to develop The Boy's socialisation skills over the forthcoming months (Nursery next September, eek!) and so sharing is a target to work on.
The set contains:
* four double-sided boards,
* four different coloured character pieces and stands,
* a spinner
* a numbered die
* a coloured die
Each board has a coloured stone at the beginning of the path up the hill, this matches up with the colour of your Jack and Jill. The player boards are double-sided for differentiatied playing. One side has coloured spots on each stone in the path; the other side has a plain stone path. The spinner has six sections on it; three wells and three spilt buckets. It is worth noting that the wells sections are bigger than the spilt buckets, which means the chance of having to 'move back' a space is lower than moving forward. Always a good thing with little ones who want to be the winner!
Players roll the colour-spot die, move their Jack and Jill card to that matching stone on the path and then spin the spinner. If the arrow stops on a well, then the player stays on that stone; if it lands on a spilled bucket then they must move back to the beginning. Play then moves to the next player who repeats the process. Obviously, the first person to reach the top of the hill, and the well, wins.
In the counting game, the numbered die is used. The only difference between the coloured game and the numbered game is the obvious one: move the number of places shown on the die, not to that colour. This variant of the game is designed for older children than three who have a better understanding of counting.
We have just used the colour game so far as The Boy is too young to try the counting game, additionally we've not used the spinner with him because he didn't understand why he had to go back to the beginning once he'd started to move up the path. However, this is one of the things that I love about Orchard Toys; the games are adaptable to the needs of your child. Technically this game is for three years and older, but The Boy is two and he is capable of playing it and enjoying it.
I tested the two 'proper' levels out on my five year old nephew and eight year old niece, and they both understood them and thoroughly enjoyed them.
This game is brilliant fun and of course, encourages your little one's development in various ways:
- identification of colours and matching (colour on die to stone on path) is a mathematical and pre-counting skill
- counting the number of spaces to move from the number on the die
- turn-taking develops social interaction
- language skills are developed through singing the nursery rhymes, following instructions and discussion.
Do you know what Mr. TheBoyandMe and I have always wondered though about that rhyme?
Who on Earth builds a well at the top of a hill?
The 'Jack and Jill' game is available in-store at Toys R Us. For more reviews, please click the banner below.
TRU Review: North Pole Camouflage
Written by Mr. TheBoyandMe who has commandeered this game.
I'm starting to suspect that, somewhere in a deep dark basement, the people who run Smart Games have Ernő Rubik tied to a desk and forced to invent games for them (and not simply as punishment for inventing the Rubik's Clock).
With Camouflage North Pole, Smart Games have another head-scratcher on their hands. 48 different pictures, each representing a different arctic landscape, make up the individual levels of difficult, whilst six mostly transparent pieces are provided that fit into a four-by-four frame; each has either a polar bear, a fish or both printed on it. The challenge is simply to lay these six pieces onto the map so that all the polar bears are on the land and the fish are in the sea!
It takes a few levels to get the hang of how to play, so its advantageous that the first 12 levels give the position of one of the pieces. Once past there, the difficulty ramps up nicely to the verging-on-impossible Expert levels.
One aspect that has been thought through specifically is the packaging; Camouflage itself comes in a rigid plastic box that the individual level cards fit snugly into along with the six puzzle pieces, with a recess in the lid to complete the puzzles in.
As games go, it lacks the “fun” element present in its stablemate “Anti-Virus” that can keep younger children trying different solutions for hours upon end. However, the frustration factor of “just one more try” means that elder children are likely to return to the individual puzzles again and again until they finally crack them.
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We were provided with this game, free of charge, in order to review it for the Toyologist programme. Mr. TheBoyandMe's opinion is unbiased and honest.
LeapFrog Tag Junior Reading System
I'll admit to being sceptical about this when I heard that I was going to have it to review. I had misunderstood its purpose, thinking it was more complicated than it is, and I will retract all of my scepticism now.
Because this is fab!
The reading system comprises of the handheld device and the specially created story books. The little handheld gadget is very cute and fits nicely into the palm of a two year old (aimed at 2-4 year olds).There is a very simple on-off button and when the Tag Junior is pressed down against one of the books, the reader in it interprets the specially embedded dots in the surface of the books. Most of the books have over 150 sounds attached to them, not just the written word, but the pictures and even the background have sounds accompanying it.
Set-up is a little bit of a pain because it requires you to connect it to an Internet-accessible computer, download software for each book and then install it onto the Tag Junior. I'd say it took half an hour to do this for the five books that we were provided with, so set-up is definitely needed before letting your little one lose on it. However, I love that you can program your child's name into it, so when it is turned on it greets him, and turned off it says goodbye personally. The downside to the downloading (ooh, that was clever of me) is not only the time, but also that only five books can be stored at any point. While there is a library of over twenty books available, if you wanted to put a sixth one on, you'd have to remove one of those books to upload the other.
I've got to say how completely and utterly indestructable the Tag Junior appears to be! Ok we haven't dropped it into water or driven a car over it, but The Boy has given it a fair few drops on different surfaces and it just rolls along undamaged.
The Tag Junior comes with a book to get you started: , and we were sent four others to review.
- If I Were: This starter book, which comes with the Tag Junior, is a really endearing story of a little boy imagining his toy animals in their natural habitats. Written in prose, there are amusing sound effects.
- ABC Animal Orchestra: for each letter of the alphabet there is an illustration of an animal playing an instrument, e.g. Baboon's bassoon. The letter name is pronounced (I'd have preferred the letter sound), the musical instrument sound is played and the words are read out.
- Toy Story 3 To Imagination and Beyond: The story to this is quite an entertaining one with plenty of sound effects. Unfortunately the voices are not the original ones which doesn't affect The Boy's enjoyment but I find irritating.
- Cars 2 World Adventure: This is aimed at the older end of the spectrum for the Tag Junior system I suspect. There's not many sounds, the cars' voices are again not the original ones and quite difficult to understand. It's informative rather than fun, although it does introduce the 'reader' to different cultures around the world.
- Thomas & Friends Best Friends: This is The Boy's favourite, and mine, and daddy's! The story is really lovely, there are plenty of sounds embedded throughout to keep him entertained, and it is the one book out of all five that he keeps going back to.
I would thoroughly recommend this as a way of developing your child's enjoyment of reading books.
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We were provided with the Tag Junior reading system and software titles free of charge as a part of the Toys R Us review programme. My opinion is, as always, honest as both a parent and a teacher.
TRU Review: Rainbow Aquadraw
For The Boy's last birthday, and at Christmas time, I asked for some Aquadraw for him. You know the stuff; water pens and a special mat which when drawn on looks like you're actually using colours. At Christmas we had a similar version which paled in comparison to the real thing, and for his birthday a friend bought him some small Peppa Pig mats. He enjoyed them for a time but I knew that it wasn't really doing what it could for his enjoyment or development.
Therefore when we opened up our box for review and saw a huge Tomy Rainbow Aquadraw box, both of us were very chuffed! The mat is huge and what is even more special about this one is that it has a rainbow coloured backing so when The Boy draws it actually looks like he's using colours. 
Included in the set are two pens and three stampers with a star, a cloud or raindrops on them. There is also a squeedgy style brush and small water pot. The water pot deserves a special mention as, very cleverly, it is no-spill. You put a small amount of water to cover the base and due to the smart design, the water does not come back out again. Perfect for when your little one knocks it over in eagerness.
The Boy adores this; he has completely ignored all other aqua drawing tools that he has in favour of it, and will go and seek it out in order to play with it. This is definitely because of the coloured backing and accesories. He's not interested in the pens for the most part, although he is only 2 and I'm sure as he experiments more with mark making then this will be of more interest.
At £24.97 it is quite pricey, but at the same time it has brought him a great deal of entertainment, and future learning opportunities are endless. If you only buy one Aquadraw, invest in this one!
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We were provided this free of charge to review. My opinion is, as always, honest.
TRU Review: Lettersaurus
LeapFrog have done it again! Another fun, easy to use and educational toy to help your toddler/pre-schooler learn and consolidate their development. This time in the shape of a friendly, purple dinosaur (but not an irritating one like that the one that shall remain nameless on this blog!).
There are three modes on the Lettersaurus:
- Alphabet: press a letter button and it will say the letter name and then a word that begins with it, followed by an associated item.
- Colours: press a letter button and it says the name of that colour.
- Musical: each of the 26 letter buttons has a different tune attached to it. In addition pressing the buttons on his head makes him sing the Alphabet song.
- Oh, and its head turns around.
Set-up was easy as there were no ties, but three simple plastic 'screws' through the base of the packagin; turn them 90° and the Lettersaurus is released. The toy can be personalised by following the really simple instructions to select the initial letter of your child's name; it took me ten seconds to do this. The dinosaur then says, e.g. "L! That’s the first letter of your name!" There are also two volume settings on the toy.
The Boy likes it; it was the first toy that he took out of the box when it was delivered. He likes listening to the different songs, particularly the Alphabet song, and we play with the colours section together by finding all the reds or yellows. He's not interested in the letters at the moment, the sounds that come after the letter are amusing and he likes the laughter but he's too young to really get anything from this.
I think the colours mode could have been developed by having the dinosaur say "Can you find another red? Well done", as it would have promoted more interactivity with the toy. I'm also not overwhelmed with the alphabet mode. As a primary school teacher, I do think it should say the letter sound and not just the name. This is where I find the toy confusing; it's aimed at 12 months+, so why have letters on there at all? I know it's called a Lettersaurus but to fully promote that side of it, it should work with the phonics which is what pre-schoolers use to help them learn to read.
I find its purpose confusing and think it has a limited life with The Boy at the moment, when he has the LeapTop which does basically the same thing but so much better. Younger children (i.e. 12 months+) might enjoy it more, but for us it's not challenging enough in its learning or play purpose.
A simple, fun and engaging toy for 12months+ but there are better toys around for 2years+
This toy was provided free for review as part of the TRU Toyology programme. My opinions are, as always, unbiased and honest.
Thursday 18th August 2011 – 'Moving House' (230/365)
Alphabet Lotto by Orchard Toys: a TRU Review
I am a massive fan of Orchard Toys; I think that they are one of the best toy companies around with fun, bright, attractive and educational games and puzzles for little ones. I've often seen their games in the nursery and infant departments in school, and the children are always having fun with them. I covetted them for many years before having The Boy, and since having him I have been desperate to get to the stage where he can play with them. Now he is, and we're so lucky because in last month's parcel from Toys R Us there was another Orchard Toys game to review.
Alphabet Lotto is one of their excellent bingo style games but this is one has a differentiated twist to it with four different ways to play. In the sturdy box are five lotto boards, each one a different colour, and double-sided with six spaces. One side has pictures with the object's name written underneath (the letter or phoneme is highlighted more prominently) while the other side has the corresponding letters. This piqued my teacher interest straight away, how very clever of them to have written the word underneath, but highlighting the first letter/phoneme is really genius and allows for a lot of expansion and teaching through this game.
The third and fourth ways of playing this lotto game come through the lotto cards. There are two sets: one of letters and one of pictures, each have thirty cards in the set. Yes I know there are 26 letters in the alphabet but I did mention phonemes didn't I? They have chosen four of the most common ones and have cards for 'th', 'sh', 'wh' and 'ch'. The lotto cards are not double-sided, I don't know if that was a conscious decision or not, it might have helped to connect the sound with the image more easily, but on the other hand it provides another use for them as the children can then match the sound up with the pictures which creates a fifth game! I've put the letter cards in a plastic wallet out of the way for the moment, because obviously at two years old The Boy is too young to use them.
We don't play lotto yet in a conventional way yet, he's just that bit too young to understand about taking turns although we will soon be working on it with him and this is an excellent way to promote it. Instead, he helps mummy and daddy to find the (face-up) cards on their boards. This is an excellent way to help develop his matching skills (pre-maths skills) and the recognition of images is so important (pre-reading skills). He loves it and finds it great fun!
I would thoroughly recommend Alphabet Lotto for any child who is approaching nursery or reception to help develop their understanding of letters and sounds. I would also thoroughly recommend this for anyone who just wants to have fun with their child!
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