Toy Reviews
TechPet from Bandai.
Thinking of getting a dog? Don’t! Try this TechPet from Bandai.
My daughter has wanted a dog for years and we always said ‘not now dear’! This has ‘filled the void’ as from the TechPet arrived, there has been no mention of a dog!
![techpet01[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/techpet011.jpg)
TechPet is an app based electronic pet. You can use an iphone or ipod to interact and play games and your pet can even be taught to perform tricks by voice recognition – very cool! It will walk forwards, backwards and even turn in a circle in recognition to voice instruction.
It walks, can wag its tail, dance and bark along to songs. Touch its nose to get to the main menu to check if your dog needs fed! Its quite strange to see this little thing come walking into the kitchen with my daughters face on – yes, you can customise its face to any picture. She has played with this for hours on end and any friends who come over, its straight to the new ‘doggie’! Other children with TechPets can use Bluetooth to allow up to 6 pets to sing and dance together.
Setting up was not complicated. It requires 3xAA batteries – not included. The dog will walk after being switched on, then she was on google and u tube and within 5 minutes, the dog was trained and performing to a captive audience! The instructions in the app are all in English so we found no problems, thankfully. I am not great with technology and you don’t need to be a tech genius to use this.
So far, TechPet has never ‘wet’ in the house and we are all very pleased with this little four legged friend.
Suitable for ages 12 years and over.
Size 15.5, W11, D16cm. For ages 12 years and over. Available from all good toy stores and online. RRP £19.99
Toy Reviews
Ben 10 Figures. Khyber and Humungousaur.
From the Ben 10 Omniverse series come the aliens!
Each Omniverse figure comes with a small mini figure to be used with the new Omnitrix. The figures are for children ages 4 and upwards and I happen to have one of those! He has just turned 4 yrs and is Ben 10 mad. We have Khyber and Humungousaur, and they sure get good work outs!
![2461[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/24611.jpg)
Khyber is 10 cms tall, so a good size and not likely to get lost as easily as some of the other toys we have. Khyber wears special armour made from the bones of animal’s he has hunted!! He is fully poseable and comes with a mini figure too. He does look quite scary and exactly like his TV image, so my son gets really excited watching Ben 10 now, when he can own his own alien figure. Something else to mention, Khyber is a strong toy so likely to last as well, he has been picked up by our doggie several times and survived !
The Humungousaur has regular disagreements with Khyber in our house, and again, these toys really do survive the greatest battles! Nothing broken, and always up for the next alien invasion! Humungousaur also comes with a mini figure.
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A brilliant buy for a small price, highly recommended.
From BANDAI and available from all good toy shops or online.
RRP £7.99
Toy Reviews
Harumika.
I have asked myself how so much fun was to be had with a ‘doll without a head’?
My girls play with these sets for hours on end and think I get it at last. They instantly transform themselves into fashion designers!
The appeal with harumika is that girls can get enthralled in the design – its’ not about playing like I would have done as a child. Children can fall in love with fashion and their designs and – here’s the biggie- UPLOAD THEIR IMAGES!!
The Harumika mannequins are designed with a slot at the back and come with a stylus type pen to push fabrics in place. This eliminates the need for glue – always a good thing with kids!
![536-1144783UC1459111M[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/536-1144783UC1459111M1.jpg)
The materials are co-ordinated in a way, but varies enough to let your daughter use her imagination with her design. Uploading the images is easy and allows them to share their very own fashion design with the Harumika community on-line. Many sets are available, with different mannequins and colours, so many to choose from and collect. There are always new sets to collect with very fashionable themes so your children will love these sets, like mine do.
From Bandai, and can be found at all good toy shops and online. Prices start as low as £6.99 for smaller accessories packs.
![harumika-trip-130Wx130H[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/harumika-trip-130Wx130H1.jpg)
Toy Reviews
Ben 10 Omni-link Omnitrix
This has got to be the toy of the future – the Ben 10 Omni-link Omnitrix.
What is it?? The name meant nothing to me – but to my son – well, he was so excited. Apparently this is what Ben 10 has on television and now Ben 10 fans can have their very own!
![pTRU1-16019948reg[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/pTRU1-16019948reg1.jpg)
The Omni-link Omnitrix is worn on the child’s wrist like a watch almost, with an adjustable strap, so it’s easy to put on and remove. It will react to play sounds along with the DVD included – as well as other online games, tablet apps and video games. This really is something else!! Even my daughters love it.
It can be used wirelessly and the 3xAAA batteries are included – thank you for that – so very important! Children can now take part in Ben 10 shows and games like never before – no more sitting ‘glued’ to the television – my son is running and jumping about with his Omnitrix blasting out alien like sounds. There are 12 different alien sounds, all very realistic – not that I have spoken with an alien but they sound just like the ‘monsters’ on the show! The additional sound effects are ‘super cool’ and with imagination, any child can take part in a battle and be a hero.
The Omnitrix also vibrates and lights up with the sounds to give the full effect. This is sure to be the number one toy on many Christmas lists this year as Ben 10 continues to grow in popularity.
From BANDAI, Available from all good toy shops RRP £29.99 Suitable for ages 7yrs and up.
Homeware Reviews
OXO Twist Top Water Bottle and Cleaning brush Set.
Its’ that time of year, we are all buying uniforms, school bags, and lunch boxes etc. I usually spend ages going from shop to shop looking for BPA free water bottles for my 3 children. They are so hard to come by, or used to be! OXO had just what I needed. The Twist Top Water Bottle.
![OXO-Tot-twist-top-water-bottle-150x150[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/OXO-Tot-twist-top-water-bottle-150x1501.jpg)
They come in a good variety of colours, and hold 300 mls. Perfect for lunch boxes and after school activities, they are easy to use – a twist of the non-slip lid reveals a soft straw to drink from so clean and compact too. The opening is large enough so ice can be added – so much better than conventional water bottles.
The Twist top Water Bottle is dishwasher safe, and that ‘sold’ it to me, as well as being made from BPA free materials, so hygienic and safe to use.
Perfectly priced at £8 available from www.oxouk.com.
To compliment the water bottle range, OXO have a Water/Sports Bottle Cleaning Set.
![2360[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/23601.jpg)
This set includes a long bottle brush, straw brush and detail cleaner. There is no water bottle on the planet this set could not clean! I used to have to dump the childrens water bottles after a time, as a scum built up on the inside that was impossible to remove. This brush fits right down to the bottom of the bottles and can be twisted around to ensure all scum and debris is removed.
![91c8[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/91c81.jpg)
The straw cleaner is perfect for the Twist Top Water Bottles, as it will fit inside without damaging the actual straw, I was very impressed with this. There is no reason why water bottles should not last the entire school term with this clever cleaning set. ![4acc[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/4acc1.jpg)
All 3 brushes on the set are held together on a ring, but they can also be seperated for ease of use.
The Water/Sports Bottle Cleaning Set is also available from www.okouk.com for £8.
![ybike-blue_1[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ybike-blue_11.jpg)
Toy Reviews
The YBIKE from Kickstarter.
Check out this brilliant concept – the YBIKE, the world’s first 3-in-1 smart bike for kids launched from Kickstarter.
![d446[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/d4461.jpg)
The way that Kickstarter works is that people see a concept they would like to back and help to fund. There are several levels of backing eg £5, £20, £50. Any backer paying £50 will receive one of the first bikes to be made at that cost. Once the Bikes are launched they will be around £160 rrp. For a bike that would last for 3 years and potentially more than one child, think of the money saved! Not to mention the space – I love the idea! Plus, no technical skills are needed to change the bike, brilliant!
The evolve begins as a trike to develop peddling skills, before transforming into a balance trike, and finally into an advanced balance bike – all with a simple and easy mechanism.
Many children grow to love their bikes, learn to trust them, and are wary of new ones. The Evolve bike was designed to leverage that trust.
A truly fantastic concept.
For more information please visit http://www.ybikeusa.com/
![e52e[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/e52e1.jpg){kind=small}
Gift Reviews, Toy Reviews
Visualise.
Sunday afternoons are spent either at the park or if its’ raining, playing games or building puzzles with the kids. I am always on the lookout for new games that are suitable for children and ‘not boring’ for adults! I think I have came across a winner with Visualise from Cartamundi!
![fef1[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/fef11.jpg)
This game is simply a card game. There are 31 play cards, 1 cover card and a 30 second second timer in the pack. Now – how to play? Well, how’s your memory? I love memory games – they are proven to keep mind and brain alert and I am all for that!
A card is turned over and you have 30 seconds to absorb the image, that’s the quite part. The rest is noisy and very very entertaining. We have laughed till we cried with this game. The sad fact is that my 10 year old is better at it than me, sob! The questions are fun and varied – How many beach umbrellas? What direction were the road signs pointing? The entertainment goes on and on.
Visualise is a new game and suits 2-6 players. It will challenge your observation and memory to the utmost and you will begin having fun, but by the end, you will be determined to win – we were!
A brilliantly entertaining family game that I will be recommending to my friends and family also. Visualise comes in two versions, family and junior.
Available from Tesco and all good leading toy shops RRP £4.99
Toy Reviews
Lego Friends.
My children have been playing with Lego for years and when Lego Friends arrived, they have not looked back. Both the bedroom floors now have ‘No-go areas’ – this means mum or no-one else can walk in that direction as the entire section is a ‘town’! They have loads of the sets now and birthday money that would previously have been saved or spent on sweets is spent the following day on another set of Lego friends.
From a mum’s point of view – I love it. So many toys are computerised and children had almost moved away from ‘old fashioned playing’. Not with Lego – my children sprawl on their tummy’s, and their Lego Friends girls- ‘walk’ across the floor to visit each other’s houses and mingle.
We recently received Stephanie’s soccer practice. I thought this was great as it is a girls toy but a ‘boy activity’, Lego Friends is undeniably aimed at girls, but they have sets, like the soccer set, which mixes up the gender roles – always a good thing.
![pTRU1-14766591reg[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/pTRU1-14766591reg1.jpg)
Emma’s karate class is another example – perfect for exploring a more unusual activity and although for girls, the activity is unisex. I might even admit to enjoying helping setting up the sets myself – even though they need no help – they are so intricate and the detail is brilliant. Emma has her little karate outfit, helmet and accessories including a winning trophy, a small set with a lot of play opportunities.
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Other smaller sets include the pet sets – Hedgehog’s hideaway, Poodles little Palace and Bunny’s Hutch. These have different homes and accessories for the animals and are simply the cutest sets ever.
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Thank you Lego, you have provided hours of entertainment with the bonus of helping develop imagination, hand and eye co-ordination and finger dexterity. This makes for one happy mum! Number one on my girl’s list this Christmas is definitely Lego friends.
Available from www.friends.lego.com and prices start from £2.99
Toy Reviews
Artzooka Button Mosaic.
This is a great set – loads of fun and keeps kids entertained for hours with minimal mess – I love it!
![VB_1537555[1]](http://pamperedpresents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/VB_15375551.jpg)
Artzooka Button Mosaics kit contains all kids need to create beautiful designs using their imagination. The method is simple – just match the buttons to the corresponding colours and shapes on the templates.
The instructions are easy to read and offer an additional challenge – make a frame for your mosaic! My kids loved this, and used cardboard and other household materials to create a frame for the picture. Very cheap for what it is, and brilliant for both boys and girls, so a great gift all round.
Visit the site to view the full range available.
Toy Reviews
Block Crayon Colouring Book Sets.
Having three children of my own I am the perfect person to review this product! When your child reaches that in-between age of trying to hold a crayon but not quite managing it – these are just the job!
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Block crayons are made with pre-school children in mind, thus perfect for little hands. The Block Crayon Colouring Set allows the child to play with the crayons – stack them up, toss them down, and colour too!
Then of course, they have the colouring books co-ordinated with the crayons, offering multiple playtime opportunities in one set.
The set includes 48 ready to colour pages, 3 colour assorted block crayons and 2 themed characters.
Suitable for children from 18 mths and over and yes – they are non-toxic and easy to clean – very important!! The set looks very well so would make a great gift.
See the full range at www.blockcrayon.com