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Playskool Poppin' Park Elefun Busy Ball Popper
by Dundunbanza
Why I bought it
I bought this when my son was about 9 months old, I was looking for a larger interactive toy for him to play with, I had read reviews prior to buying this toy which were of a mixed reviews and decided that I would give it a go.
What do you get?
The toy came ready to use all we had to do was insert the ... batteries. It also comes with 4 different coloured light weight plastic balls.
What it does
The toy is blue and sits upright and has an elephant's trunk that acts as a funnel when you press a red button on one of the elephant's feet, the coloured balls shoot up and hover over the trunk and the balls also pop out of the elephants trunk.
The balls can be placed in the elephants ears and they then roll down the body of the elephant and pop up out of its trunk, when the red button is pressed it plays a variety of different tunes and also makes a noise like a vacuum cleaner so it's a rather noisy toy. The trunk where the balls appear can be twisted so that you can have the balls shoot out at different angles.
The red button on the toy is large enough for my son to easily push it also has an on off switch which it useful to stop accidentally turning the toy on if you rest on the red button.
Any Issues?
The only issue I have had with this toy is the vacuum cleaner type noise it makes, this is the motor used to blow the balls up into the air but my son was scared of this noise when we first turned it on he had a look of horror on his face and would back away from it. I attempted to get him to play with it a few times without turning it on, obviously you don't get the whole ball popping experience unless its turned on, and he did play with it a bit.
8 months on
My son is now 17 months old and though still a little bit wary of this toy he will now play with it with other people, generally not on his own, he's happy to put the balls into the elephants ears and watch them pop out and he laughs at this. I think the age range for this toy of 9mths plus is a bit young as in my experience my son found the noise a bit scarey.
Price
I think I paid about £30 for this toy in Toys R Us, I wouldn't usually pay this much for a toy but my son had received some cash as a gift and I thought I'd spend it on his first biggish toy. I subsequently saw it for £15 in a supermarket.
Negative
A bit noisy, vacuum cleaner noise might scare your baby a bit but they can get used to it. A bit pricey wait for it to be on offer if you would like to buy it.
Positive
Sturdy and colourful toy, entertaining for an older toddlers.
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Playskool Blocksters Blockanimals
by katyj10
Before a child turns three it can be difficult to buy age appropriate toys for them as most state that they are not suitable for under threes. I am always on the look out for new toys for our daughter but they have to be fairly hardy as she is a destruction machine! I noticed some shrink wrapped toys that were cheap and looked ... interesting but most importantly I recognised the Playskool brand and decided to buy a couple to see what they were like.
What are they?
The Playskool blocksters come in circular, square and triangular shapes and are ideal for stacking but each block is an individual toy on its own. The shapes are hinged and open to reveal a surprise inside. We now own four blocksters: the giraffe, zebra, duck and mouse.
Format
I actually discovered you can buy a whole set of these on Amazon for around £20 and they come with a carry case too but mine were sold individually for some reason (probably as clearance stock).
Packaging
Each toy came shrink wrapped with a cardboard wrap around that actually told you very little information, other than that these toys are safe for 9m +. And a bit of blurb in several languages advertising the Playskool brand!
Description
The mouse: blue and round with hinged lid. Inside is a mouse popping its head through a floorboard and you press its head down and it makes a squeaky noise. Picture of cartoon style cheese in the lid.
The Zebra: Triangle with two hinges so it flaps open. The zebra is a little toy that rustles when you move it inside but doesn't seem to do much. Pictured in a jungle scene.
The duck: Yellow square with double hinge so lid flaps back and front flips down. Duck is square inside and sort of rattles when you shake the whole thing. Duck is also on a spring so presses up and down but for no reason I can ascertain.
The giraffe: Square block with a cuboid style yellow giraffe inside, the giraffe has a telescopic neck so if you pull it, it extends a few centimetres.
My thoughts
I think this toy is suitable for boys and girls. These blocks are great for slipping in the bag to entertain our daughter when she is sat still when we are out and she is bored. Each one is different and very well made and hard to break. I spent ages trying to find out what other features these toys have, as there are two screws underneath that looked like battery panels. But they weren't!
Price and availability
As I mentioned, the full set are on Amazon which include a carry case but if you only wanted a couple, then head to Poundland where I found mine. For a quid they are good value for money, branded and would make a nice present to an infant.
Final word
I don't think these toys keep little ones entertained for a long amount of time but they are well made and sturdy enough to keep, use and pass on for others to enjoy when they are at this awkward and possibly destructive stage. It's a good way to teach animal names and noises and they do forget what is inside each one so it's a surprise every time! After I bought the first two I did go back and get a couple more to placate a screaming child whilst in town. Cheap and cheerful at least.
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Playskool Busy Ball Choo Choo
by xmum2threex
Trying to find a toy for children less than 12 months old seems to be difficult and so when we came across this train we decided to purchase it for my oldest son and we have been rather happy with this toy for the last few years.
The toy
With this set you get a fair sized train that is made out of durable plastic ... and has multi coloured panels on it making it bight and eye catching for little one. You also receive three balls each in a different colour to be used with the train these are a good size for little hands to hold yet and not too small so that they could be placed in the mouth easily.
The train has a number of different modes and wheels that move along freely if being pushed or in their motorised mode meaning little one can still play even if the toy is switched off. The wheels do not do to well on carpet they do move but at a much slower pace and this toy is best used on wooden flooring in my opinion.
In play
There are different ways to play with this toy which makes it great at keeping a child interested in playing with it without it becoming too repetitive. This means it is fantastic for children who are sitting unaided to play with but then can also be used to encourage them to crawl and when they are actually crawling again it turns into a fun toy for them.
There are two switches one either side of the bottom of the train if you have mode one pushed forward then when the train is switched on the balls will move around the train, down the funnel and back out of an opening in the top and then fall back into the funnel again. Little one then has to use their fine motor skills to try and catch the balls as they pass around the train and can be rather entertaining. Also in this mode the train will turn around in circles meaning it stays in one area and is perfect for children who are not yet moving around independently and cannot chase after the train.
If you have the second switch forward the train moves forward and rather than running a full cycle in the train the balls pop out a small opening in the back of it and little one has to pick them all up and put them back in the train. This is perfect for crawling children or encouraging children to crawl as they want to chase the balls and then chase after the train to put the balls back in. To get the train to start and stop there is a large button on the top of the train which is extremely easy to press and little one can do it independently almost immediately meaning they are in control of the train and my children loved this.
As the train moves along it plays tunes and makes a train noise every now and again this is another encouragement to keep little one interested in the train and keeping it fun and interesting. It does start playing the song by itself to try and attract little one back if it has been left idle for a while and this is great for reminding mummy that it needs turned off if my children have finished playing with it. There is an on off button at the bottom of the train so it can be switched on and off although there is no volume control but this is not an overly loud toy that would drive you mad anyway so this is not too much of a problem to be honest.
My children all preferred the option where the train moves around in a circle and they also love that the balls continue to move around the train over and over in an ever ending loop. As the balls move rather quickly little one has great fun trying to catch all three balls and it always makes them giggle when they miss the ball and it falls back down the funnel. They did enjoy the second mode at first having to crawl around and collect the balls as they pass though the back of the train but this did become rather boring quickly for them and as this means they have to keep setting the train back up again they would prefer it to be a continuous loop. When you hit the button on the top of the train it stays in motion for around 60 seconds meaning it is quick bursts of fun but if they do become bored and moves away from the toy it does not continue too long on its own.
Although the train is fairly simple to use once switched on and in mode it was not until my children were around two years old they were able to set the mode they wanted themselves so it does require an adult to put it on the preferred mode for little one as the switch is rather stiff.
Negatives
This toy requires 3 C batteries to work which is rather a lot for such a small toy in my opinion and they are not provided. They last a good few months but compared to other toys we have owned still run down rather quickly especially when it gets a fair amount of use.
Also the train finds it difficult to move freely on carpet we never noticed this until we moved house as the whole of downstairs was wooden flooring but now that we have carpets we have found it is very slow moving and has to work a lot harder my children tend to take it to the kitchen to use as it moves along nicely on harder flooring.
Summary
This toy is recommended from 9 months plus which I think is fairly correct as soon as a child can sit unaided they can begin to use it. The balls are not too small so that little one could put them in their moth and the train and balls are both the perfect size for little hands.
It encourages them to use their fine motor skills trying to catch the ball and then also encourages them to begin crawling when they get a little older. I found all three of my children loved this toy and began using it from around 9 months up to two years with regular play they never seemed to become bored of it. They did play with it above this age but very rarely indeed so I think the novelty finally wore off.
It is very durable I purchased this from Woolworths when they were closing down and selling all the toys off cheap for my eldest son and we have continued to use it for all three of my children over around 4 years so very long lasting. It retails at around £15 and looking around online I seem a lot of shops do not sell this anymore although I have seen it available in Tesco and it is also available on Amazon. I would recommend this toy it is durable, entertaining and great fun for younger children.
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