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Tomy Aquadoodle Peppa Pig Mini Mats
by emmad5689
==Purchase==
My eldest daughter used to have a set of mini mats from In the Night Garden but they ended up being played with that much that the colour was staying on the pictures in the end. Having know how much these were played with I decided to buy a pack for my youngest daughter wa Christmas and chose these ones as she ... loved Peppa Pig at the time. There are a couple of different combinations of pictures available in these sets and depending on which you want they currently start at £4.79 a pack with free delivery on Amazon which was where I purchased them.
==Packaging==
When the package arrived I was surprised to find it is packaged in a plastic bag rather than a box however I think this is better as it is stronger to keep the mats in and the box we had for the previous set ended up battered and pretty much flat in the end so wasn't great to hold the mats in the end. The packet is mainly yellow and blue in colour and is really bright, it states on the pack that it is created by Tomy and that the set is for ages 18 months and up. On the front you can see pictures of the scenes you will get inside and a happy little girl playing with them, the packaging is most certainly designed in such a way to attract children.
To open the packet you have to cut across the top and it doesn;t reseal n any way which is pretty poor however as long as you haven;t ripped the bag then the mats are perfectly fine being stored in the packet.
==The Contents==
Inside the packet you get three mats to be coloured and the pen which is about 3 1/2 inches long and has a bright red plastic piece around the nib, the nib of the pen is made of pretty hard sponge. The mats to be coloured are 3 different scenes, you get a a picture of Peppa Pig with George Pig at a board where they have drawn pictures, A bota scene where Grandad Dog has all the children on the boat made up to look like pirates which from an epiosode of the show I remember being DannyDog's birthday surprise and thridly you have a picnic scene where Peppa Pig is with all her family in the woods haveing a picnic.
==Playing==
To play with the set you have to unscrew the nib from the pen and fill it with water, be sure to have your tap turned on low to do this as the pen doesn;t hold much and quite a few times I have found the pen has filled very fast and then a shoot of water has flew back up at me, the nib turns the opposite way than you would usually turn things but this is marked on the pen yet I still forget.
Once youhave the pen filled simply give to your child and let them loose on the pictures, I sit my daughter as the wooden table that we have so we don't end up with water all over as she is not very good at keeping the pen on the mats alone. When your child draws on certain parts of the mats with the water pen the picture underneath will appear as if by magic. Emily plays for about 15 to 20 minutes with these mats without being bored but after this time she generally has managed to colour them all in and then you have to wait for them to dry before they can be played with again.
The mats dry out pretty quickly so your child doesn;t have to wait too long inbetween playing however we find that they will only get played with once each time as by the time they have dried Emily has found something else that she wants to play with instead.
==Our Opinions==
I was very surprised to find that these mats are not to be completely coloured with the water pen and most of the backgrounds is filled in with solid colour which means that it takes even less time for your child to fill the pictures in, the old set we had were better in the fact that the whole mat was to be coloured with the water and if I was to buy a set of these again then I would watch out for the full mats instead.
Emily loves playing with these mats and often points them out on the shelf to ask for them, the mats are easy to play with and the pictures appear pretty quickly when the water hits the mats and therefore your child is rewarded for their efforts quickly. Emily loves pointing the characters out on the mats as they appear and she still seems in awe that the pictures appear from no where even though she has played with them loads of times.
The mats are pretty strong and at the moment the pictures still disappear completely when they dry, the mats haven't bent or creased in anyway ad Emily does tend to throw them when they need to dry and she can;t do anymore. These are a decent price for what you get although I would prefer a bigger set to be available as Emily would keep playing with the mats but they are all filled in too quickly, I will probably end up buying her some more in her new favourite character to keep her amused a bit longer. The mats of course are pretty much mess free which is a massive bonus and means that I can happily sit Emily to play with them at the table and use the time to get some uninterupted housework done. I would rate these 4 stars.
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Melissa & Doug Magnetic Chalk and Dry-Erase Board
by broxi3781
With all the high tech gear out today, simple learning toys like blackboards can be easily overlooked. There are a number of electronic gadgets that fill the same role, with whistles, bells and fancy features, do children still need blackboards at all? I think they do. For all that so many of the electronic toys look wonderful for ... education, I've found my sons are very exciting with the latest gadget for awhile and then quickly grow bored with it, while the more simple , old fashioned toys get brought out time and time again.
I chose this toy because I have come to trust Melissa and Doug products. They tend to be well made toys with some educational value, and we've had a few chalkboards that were horrible, so I wanted to go with a brand I could trust. This toy is 12" x 16" which is big enough for children to draw or write, but not so big as to be very difficult to store. It has a wooden frame which is brightly painted in bright colours, and a small rope in case you want to hang this on the wall. It combines a black chalkboard with a white dry erase board. Surprisingly, the black chalkboard side is magnetic while the white board side is not. A set of wooden magnetic letters came included. You do only get one set of upper case letters which limits the words you can spell but you can buy additional sets if you wish. You also get a three pieces of chalk a dry erase pen, and a small eraser.
I did read a few complaints about this product before purchasing and had a few concerns, but these turned out to be groundless, and I found this a very well made product. One issue was the wooden letters. These are not beautifully hand carved wooden letters, but a simple press-board with a weak magnetic backing, and what looks like a brightly coloured paint over the surface. I did read that a child had managed to chew the coloured layer off, but this is not meant for children under three years of age, and we have not had any problems with the letters. They can be wiped clean with a damp cloth, but I would not want to submerge these in water. I would love beautifully carved hard wood letters, but knowing these usually sell for at least £3 each, I realise this would have increased production costs far too much to consider.
Another complaint is that the blackboard is painted on and this is quite possible, I really can't tell for certain, but it does not scratch easily and is actually quite nice. In all honesty I would prefer a genuine slate, there is a nice feel to real slate chalkboards, but I wouldn't expect it for £10. The magnets are not terribly strong, but more than adequate for the intended purpose, and many toy manufacturers seem to be using weaker magnets after the safety scares with some of the newer more powerful magnets. I did end up with piece of chalk broken when we first opened this, but chalk breaks easily. I'm sure I could have written Melissa and Doug for a replacement, but it just doesn't seem worth it for one bit of chalk. The dry erase pen is still working for us, which is quite good as these often run dry quickly. Only one colour is included, but I feel the main toy is the chalkboard/ dry erase board. I did notice some people felt the board didn't wipe clean very easily and I think this may be the chalk they are using rather than the board. I have used Melissa and Doug chalk and Crayola without problems, but I have noticed pound shop chalk can be more difficult to erase on another chalkboard. I use the good chalk for indoor use and the pound shop chalk for outdoors.
The chalk, pen and magnets give the child something to play with right away, which is lovely, especially if this is a gift, but you will need more chalk eventually. Extra pens and magnets will add to the fun. Of course it would be lovely to have a full set of thick chalk and another full set of coloured pens. A built in drawer would be nice, and a few sets hand carved letters would have been lovely, but we really can not expect all of these things in this price range. If Melissa and Doug added everything people seem to want, I'm afraid this would have been priced well out of our budget. As it is, I feel that it is an excellent product which represents very good value for money, and that parents can personalise as they wish with extra items.
We've used this primarily as a chalkboard and a place to play magnet games. It's wonderful with picture magnets from books, letter magnets for spelling, and brilliant with pattern blocks. We do have a white magnetic board for the pattern blocks, but it is nice to have two so both boys can play at once, and the children do like the fact that this a different colour. It has also been used for drawing and writing with my youngest proudly writing his name on it. It is even fun for an old fashioned game of Hangman. This would be handy to just hang up and leave messages as well. When the dry erase side has been used it has wiped clean easily, and this would be handy for messages as well. I always like toys that can be used in several different ways and this fits the bill, from basic school work like learning to write and simple maths, to drawing games, score keeping and basic art work, as well as serving as a good base for magnet games.
I got a good deal on this at £10 from Amazon Marketplace. It is currently £11.95 including postage directly from Amazon, with private sellers ranging from £11.84 to £26.68. Please note that Amazon has two ads for this, and one is £15.87 delivered but that is from another seller. For some reason, the eraser by itself is being offered by a Market place seller at a whopping £128 ! Even up to about £15 - I feel this would be good value for money. Of course the eraser at at £128 is insane, but Amazon sells it for a more reasonable £2.36 if you should need a replacement at some time. This is available from several other locations including Tesco @ £11.95 with free shipping if you collect in store.
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Charmies Hello Kitty Magic Beader
by emmad5689
==Purchase=
My eldest daughter Sophie loves making things and when I saw this for sale on the Boots website I expected it would be something she would really like, the set currently costs £12.18 n Amazon with free delivery although the RRP is £19.99 which I would say is far too expensive.
==Packaging==
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The set comes packaged in a pretty pink cardboard box, the ends of the box are sealed simply with a piece of sellotape and then there is a Hello Kitty shaped hole on the front for you to be able to see inside. The box shows a little girl on the front with a number of creations around her and then a couple of little pictures indicating how the system will work. The box states that the set is for ages 6 and up which I would say could be about right as Sophie has had a problem with the set and she is 5.
==What You Get=
Inside the box you get the magic beader system itself, 2 metres of stretchy string, 2 key chains, 21 large beads, 28 small beads, 7 end beads and some instructions.
The instructions are A5 in size and are printed on thick glossy paper, the instructions are really good as they are seperated into sectiosn of what you get, how to use the beader, how to make a bracelet, how to remove a stopper and how to make a keychain. each of the sections has a number of different pictures to show you exactly how to work the set as well as explaining it with words and makes them very easy to follow which I think is great as if your child is a poor reader they can see easily what they have to do.
==Setting Up==
The beader is a circle shape and made of pink plastic, there is a small handle for turning which you need to slot into the top of the beader, this is realler easy to do and you will use this to turn the circle later. You have to place the threader which will help you to thread the string through the beads into place on one side of the circle and this can only go in one way so this is also easy to do so far so good.
You get a number of different beads in the set with which you can make your bracelet or keychain, in the large beads you get,
2 x Red Hello Kitty
1 x Pink Hello Kitty
1 x Hello Kitty standing
1 x Hello Kitty sitting
2 x Pears
2 x Apples
2 x Strawberries
2 x Bows
4 x Lollies
4 x Buttons with hello Kitty written on them.
Personally I find the large beads pretty poor and even Sophie said why wasn't there more Hello Kitty characters, considering how much the RRP for the set is I think that only getting 5 beads of the actual character is a rip off. The small beads you get in the set are,
4 x round pink beads
4 x pink flowers
3 x orange hearts
3 x orange stars
4 x purple round beads
4 x purple flowers
3 x yellow hearts
3 x yellow stars
The beads overall are great quality, the Hello Kitty beads have plenty of detailing on them and they don't look at all cheap. You have to make a design in the sections of the circle beader, there are so many small gaps and then so many large gaos and your child can choose which beads to put in which place. Placing the beads can be a little fiddly as each bead has a very small amount of cylinder shaped plastic at the either side of it and thse bits have to balance perfectly on the beader otherwise you are unable to thread them.
Once your child has made there design which with Sophie can take quite some time as she isn't the most decisive of children you then use the handle which you attached earlier and turn the circle at which a plastic round rod will come round and slot through all of the beads in the design and finish up at the threader, there is a small hook like a crochet hook on the end and you have to try and catch the string from in the threader with the hook and this is really not easy. Once you have managed to get the hook to catch the thread you have to turn the handle the opposite way to pull the thread through all the beads in the sequence.
==Finishing Off==
Once you have got the thread through all the beads you hold onto both ends of the string and lift the design off the beader and at this point your child has to decide if they want to make a keychain or a bracelet. To make a bracelet you get a top without a hook on it and a bottom piece, you have to lay the two ends of the string in opposite directions across the bottom piece and pull tight so that there is no string showing before puttin the top part on and pushing down hard to clip into place. once you have clipped the two parts of the stopper into place you simply have to snip off the ends and the bracelet amazingly stays together, Sophie was amazed by this and loves the fact that she can out the bracelet on and off wthout it breaking which we have had happen with cheaper jewellery making kits.
if you choose to make a keychain then the top part of the stopper has a little loop on it to which you attach the keychain to other than this it is finished off in exactly the same way as a bracelet.
==Opinions==
Adult help is certainly needed with this set which is a shame really as it has meant we have had limited time in which to play with it as Sophie has a younger sister who tends to be a pain in the bum when we do things like this and tries to run away with pieces. The set makes decent items and Sophie is really happy with what she has made from it so far, the set includes plenty of string so I don't feel this has been scrimped on however the character beads most certainly have and this I feel is a con for what they want to charge for the set.
Sophie has enjoyed making bracelets with the set and she loves to give her creations to people although obviously the standard bracelet on this kit is child size but you can always line it up a second time and put more beads on it to make it bigger. The idea of the set is really good and Sophie really loves making the bracelets however for full sized bracelets you need 5 large beads and there are 7 bits to finish them off so if you do the maths to make the full amount you would need 35 large beads alone and considering you only get 21 I think it's a con and I bet somewhere they will be selling refill kits to make you spend more money.
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