What a waste of money - and a big disappointment for a two year old! (Hasbro In The Night Garden Makka Pakka Bath Toy)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Hasbro In The Night Garden Makka Pakka Bath Toy
Date:	04/09/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ----------

Disadvantages: Poor quality, the toy is very hard, my granddaughter found it dull, extremely expensive

I wouldn't usually spend over £10 on a bath toy for my granddaughter when really a cup and old shampoo bottle will keep her entertained in the bath for hours. However, when I saw this Makka Pakka Bath Toy on Amazon I decided to treat her as In The Night Garden seems to be making a bit of a comeback after she got bored of it recently.

As soon as the parcel arrived I had a niggling feeling it was going to be a disappointment, however I didn't realise this toy was going to be as appallingly bad as it actually is.

I had been expecting a soft rubber type toy but Makka Pakka is actually made of a very hard hollow plastic that you fill with water. Then instead of squeezing the water out as is the focus of most bath toys you have to tip Makka Pakka upside down so that the water sprays out of his 'horns' (are they horns? Protruberances?) to give your child what the manufacturer describes as a 'silly shower'. Well, not very silly in my house when my granddaughter tipped it over her head and then made herself cry because she doesn't like the water going on her face!

The problem with this is that the holes just aren't cut sharply enough so the water doesn't come out in a nice flow but all over the place and in all different directions. Because the toy is so rigid you can't squeeze it to get a more direct shower of water either and that frustrated my granddaughter to the point of her throwing it out of the bath in temper.

Makka Pakka comes with an Uff Uff (the aqua, purple and orange thing you can see in the photograph) and a funnel. The funnel is simply used to scoop up water and my granddaughter was bored of this after two scoops because it just doesn't hold enough water to make it worthwhile for her to give up the basic plastic cup that she usually plays with in the bath.

The Uff Uff is slightly more fun as it's just a normal bath squirter. You have to push it under the water to fill it up and then squeeze the sides to squirt the water out. This works far better than the actual Makka Pakka toy although is rather smaller than the bath squirter my granddaughter already has so I doubt this will get very much more use once she realises she can get more water into Pooh Bear!

Makka Pakka looks reasonably like his character on television. Hasbro haven't really thought the design out too well I don't think though as his shape seems a little 'wrong', it's like he is taller than he should be and this means he doesn't look as rotund as he does on the television. Well, they do say that being on television adds 10lbs to your frame but I didn't expect that to extend to imaginary characters!

Joking aside, I am disgusted with Hasbro. I have bought lots of their In The Night Garden products for my granddaughter and although most of them are excellent, some of them are of absolutely appalling quality. This Makka Pakka is, frankly, a pathetic attempt at a bath toy from a company that certainly knows better. I believe in my heart that Hasbro are doing the dirty work of milking a successful children's television programme and charging extortionate prices for shoddy merchandise. And yes, I know that many companies do the same but that doesn't make me any less irritated and angry with Hasbro.

An absolute zero star product. No stars at all from me I'm afraid.

Summary: A disgraceful offering from Hasbro, a company I am swiftly losing all patience with.