My little girls aunty decided to treat her to the Tomy Hide n Squeak eggs recently and it has fast become her favourite toy.

The 'Hide n Squeak' eggs, come in a bright yellow egg 'box'. This is made of strong moulded plastic with 'Tomy' slightly raised on the top. The box is clipped closed and is too difficult for my little girl to open on her own. Also she has closed the box into her fingers (as it is a hinged top) before and got them trapped, but not hurt.

Inside the box there are six slots available for the eggs. Each egg has a shape on the bottom of it which can be put into the right slot. The shapes are a star, a square, a heart, a circle, a triangle and a cross. All basic shapes. The fact that each shape needs matching up is a great learning tool for young babies.

The eggs have 'top shells' which come off. They have a jagged bottom so that the egg looks broken. The tops are can also be matched upto the right egg by the face on the front of the shell and on the actual egg. All of the tops fit on all of the eggs, these are not specific to each egg.

When the eggs are squeezed they make a quiet squeaking sound. This is not offensive at all unlike some of the toys out there!

My little girl loves to play with the eggs, she loves to be able to take them out of the box, although at the moment she isn't very good at putting them back away. I must spend at least an hour of my day, each day, collecting the scattered eggs and top shells from around the room and putting them back in the box! She is able to hold them quite comfortably in one hand (and hit things with them too! this can quite hurt on the head or in the mouth- we are trying to get her out of this habit!). In time though, as she gets a bit bigger I know that she will enjoy matching the shapes up. She is able to squeak the eggs also which is a source of delight for her, and I am sure helps to strengthen her little hands.

The idea of the toy is a very basic one, however my little girl loves these and I will be buying them for her friends children in the future.