Hope was bought this as her main Christmas present this year and she is now absoluetly obsessed with it, it definitely was the best buy of the festive season! It is only cheap, easy to stall and can be used inside and outside so it makes an ideal toy for your toddler.

I first saw one of these at a childen's party and Hope had a little try on it and seemed to enjoy herself and kept wanting to get back on so when I saw one in John Lewis' for £25 I couldn't resist buying one for Christmas. You can buy them in different colours, they are all made to look a little bit like bugs- you can get a red one with black spots, a yellow and green one and this pink and purple one. Although it doesn't look like a specific bug I think the name actually comes from the fact that it's quite skinny and speedy like abug!

***Putting it together ***


Whenever you have children and you buy them presents you expect there to be a certain amount of 'construction time' whenever you go to get the toy out of the box. You also expect that after playing with a toy and you want to take it apart it will take time too but this scuttlebug doesn't involve a great deal of effort much to my delight! As you can see from the picture there aren't many elements to it, in fact, all of the pieces are attached so you don't have to put things together. The wheels fold in to clip into slot underneath the seat and that is all. Once the wheels have been clipped away beneath the seat the handle bars are the only bit which stick up and they're not very big so once it's been collapsed down it can be stored in a small space- behind the sofa, under the stairs etc. To then put it together again you just pull the wheels back out and you're done!

I was pleased to see that literally NOTHING had to be done to make this toy work on Christmas day. Even the sticker eyes were already in place and there were no great lengthy instructions. I was also pleased to see that this is the kind of toy that you can make smaller so storing it is easier and pratical.


***What does it look like? ***

Well this one is pink and purple. It has bright pink handlebars, pink wheels, pink seat and pink face (beneath the handlebars) There are purple flowers on the seat and purple trims on the wheels. There are eyes and a mouth stuck onto the front of it which make it look a little like a bug.

The seat is only narrow so that your babies' legs can reach the floor and they can learn to balance more instead of the other ride on toys suitable from a younger age group which have wide seats. There are three wheels, these are only small but it is still very stable.

***What does it do? ***

Well this is essentially a little ride on trike. It is suitable from 24 months, before this age the ride on toys tend to be four wheeled- bulky, quite heavy affairs but this one is small, thin, lightweight and three wheeled so it's a good next step from the first ride on toys to this before your baby would eventually move onto a bike.
Your toddler sits on the back of this and uses it's feet to push themselves along. The handlebars move 180degrees so that turning corners is no problem! Because the seat is only narrow there is no problem for your child to be able to reach the floor on this. There are no brakes so banging into a wall or using their feet is what stops this from going along!

This toy can be used inside and outside. We are yet to use it outside as the weather has not been good enough but inside this ride on toy works well whether it be on the carpet or on wooden floors it still goes along well.

***Cleaning ***

This toy can be easily cleaned seeing as it is made from plastic and metal meaning that all parts to it can be wiped down. Once you use this outside I imagine that the wheels can become quite scuffed but all areas are easily accesible with a scrubbing brush so any dirt or mud should easily be removed making it clean again to come inside.

***Hope's opinion ***

Hope loves this so much that she won't let me fold it down and put it away, as soon as she sees me beginning to collapse it down she comes running over and demands to get back on it! From the moment she opened this on Christmas day she has been obsessed with it and plays with it daily.

She is able to get quite a good speed up with it but not so fast that it's dangerous! She scoots around the hallway and kitchen on this and has even started balancing her teddies and dollies on it giving them the experience of riding on this too! She likes the fact that it is a good height for her, she is almost 2 and she is now able to get on and off it herself, it took her about a day to master how to do it and now she is able to get on without any problems at all.

When she plays with this it is for quite some time, she likes to wander up and down the house and sometimes just sits on it to watch the telly on! She finds it easy to steer too, the handlebars are very easy to move so she has no difficulty in turning corners at all!

***My opinion ***

I think that this is a great toy and I am very pleased that we bought it as I can't actually find any fault. I think some people may be concerned about the safety of this toy seeing as it has no brakes or any form of straps but I would like to point out that some bikes don't have straps and that other ride on toys designed for even younger babies don't have straps or brakes so I think sometimes health and safety goes a bit far. The whole point of this toy is to help encourage your child to balance and learn how to be independent as they learn to get on and off for themselves and push themselves around.

I like that Hope is able to jump on and off without any difficulties and it is low on the ground so that if she did stumble then it's not far to fall. She has fallen off before when she was trying to get off but got her foot stuck and it hasn't caused any problems because it is so low down so I don't think that the lack of safety devices is a problem with this at all. In fact, I t hink if there were brakes then it would be more dangerous as she would put them on without realising it and could end up jarring the scuttlebug too quickly.

The bug is very light, this means that it's very easy for your little one to push themselves along on. On the other ride on toys they are heavy so they're harder to be pushed along so these are great as it means that little effort is needed to move the bug along. It is also good to be light as it means that it's easy for you to pick up and move for putting away at the end of the day.

I like that it isn't a large toy, my house is overwhelmed with pink toys so this one is great as it can easily be stored and put away.

It is a good toy to have as it helps your toddler to exert their energy, develop their muscles and have fun at the same time! It certainly does create a lot of fun, I didn't realise how much joy you could get out of pushing yourself along on a little pink scuttlebug but Hope has really shown me that an awful lot of fun can be had!
I like the fact that this toy can be used inside and outside, it wil be nice in the summer once the weather's better for Hope to scoot around the garden on it.

It's bright in colour so may look a bit tacky so if you don't like the bright pink and purple you can buy it in alternative colours although the majority are very bright too but I like that, I like that they are bold colours that stand out as it makes them interesting to look at and catches your toddlers' attention in the first place.
You can buy these from John Lewis' and Amazon for around £20-£30 and i think that they are well worth that money as they provide fun, entertainment as well as an exercising device for your toddler. They are aimed at children 24 months plus. Hope is almost 2 and I know of 18 month old babies who have these and enjoy them too so I think with supervision this toy is fine from 18 months too.