Now you can Shake 'N' Bath! (Cuckoo Alex Tub Tunes Water Shakers)

Member Name: jo1976

Product:	Cuckoo Alex Tub Tunes Water Shakers
Date:	15/06/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Attractive brightly coloured toys

Disadvantages: Over-priced, essentially baby's rattles marketed as bath toys

Having recently treated myself to a couple of books from Amazon and finding myself with some gift voucher balance left over, I decided to treat the kids to some bath toys. There were quite a few to choose from on the site but I eventually settled on these Water Shakers which were part of a Tub Tunes range of musical bath toys from Alex.

These bath toys sounded a bit different from the run of the mill stuff available. My boys already have floating ducks, boats, squirters and so on but they don't have any musical bath toys. What made the purchase seem better was that the shakers were almost half-price at only £8 odd for two shakers with an RRP of over £16. Having two toys in the pack also made it less likely that my pair would be at loggerheads about who was going to play with the new toy first!

There wasn't a great deal of information about the product on Amazon and, when my order eventually arrived, there wasn't really a great deal on the packet either. Well, actually, there was a lot of writing on the packet but most of it was repeating the same stuff in foreign languages! The bits of English I picked out were: 'We float', 'Shake 'em up', 'Play Music in the Tub' and 'Rust-proof cymbals.' Any the wiser? No - but they sound good, don't they?

The shakers themselves are a brightly coloured blue plastic fish with yellow spots and a green plastic octopus. Both toys make noises when shaken. The fish essentially sounds like a loud baby's rattle and the octopus sounds more metallic - presumably containing the 'rust-proof cymbals.' Unfortunately, once the octopus has been submerged in water, the rattling noise is much more subdued and not exactly exciting. I think the claim that these 'make music' is a bit of an exaggeration, to be honest. They do, as claimed, float in the water - although the fish actually floats on its side so it has more resemblance to a dead fish than anything else! My oldest son was particularly disappointed that the fish didn't actually float in an upright position. My youngest son is almost two and is closer to the age that these toys are recommended for (2+) was also particularly underwhelmed with these toys and lost interest in them before the bath was over!

Aside from the (limited) hype on the packaging, these shakers are essentially two plastic rattles - why they demand an RRP of over £16 is totally beyond me! All I can think is that the company have taken a fairly basic product and believe that they can charge a premium for labelling it as a musical bath toy. These aren't bath toys, they are rattles and I wouldn't want to pay more than maybe £4 or £5 for the two. As an attractive and durable rattle for a baby aged between say 6-12 months, these would be a reasonable purchase. As a bath toy allegedly for children aged over two years, these are disappointing to say the least.

Summary: Shake 'N' Bath but put these ones back!