I remember when my daughter was about 1 year old, someone bought her this little singing alfie for her first birthday. To be honest, her dad and I had it up to here (imagine my hand at the top of my head!) with these singing toys! She already had TWO laugh and learn puppys (one was enough so we sold the second on amazon lol!) and a little green singing scout puppy thing, so this singing bear was not on the top of our gift wishlist. Nevertheless he was cute and although we couldn't always make out the words he was singing, my daughter loved it and even now at 3 years old he still lives (albeit somewhere near the bottom) in her toy box and let's us know he's still about by spontaneously bursting into a song!

Little Singing Alfie is a small brown bear, with buttons on his tummy which you can press to light and up and sing some sweet little rhymes. The section is red with a yellow heart which is our on and off button, then we have 3 big colourful buttons - red, yellow and blue (our lovely primary colours) that controls what the bear sings and says, for numbers and little catchphrases like "I'm a hungry bear" lol.

The bear is much more suited to younger children, due to his vibrant colours which are excellent for capturing little one's attention and for gradually expanding with colour recognition. The pressing of the buttons is also ideal for motor skills as pressing buttons creates a response in the bear - singing, flashing lights which is engaging and I used to find it kept my daughter really entertained!

The voice of Alfie is slightly annoying - I don't know what it is he is just a bit patronising and overly childlike with his speech (bit like that guy Mr Tumble on TV, I can't help it, he really annoys me!). He sings this song that goes ""I'm a friendly, light up bear, I'll teach you 1,2,3. A sleepy, hungry, happy bear. Hey, come and hug me." To the rhythm of here we go round the mulberry bush. I have to say, I don't know if our bear was faulty, but the sound quality was so bad we kept wondering what he was saying! We knew the words were not of the actual rhyme, and it was annoying us, as of course he sang it over and over so eventually we went on google to find out the lyrics lol. Bit crappy to have a toy where you can't make out what he's singing about! Apparently he now comes with a lyric book as I discovered when my niece had the same thing (she's 6 months old) but 2 years ago it sure didn't come with it! So I think VTech must have clocked on people couldn't make out what he was actually singing lol.

The bear sings 6 different songs, Rock a bye baby, Skip to my Lou, Please porridge hot, London bridge, Pop goes the weasel and Brahms lullaby so there is some variety but as with most toys, give it a week and you will know all songs inside out and just want to switch the darn thing off lol. Having a velcro strap, we had this attached to her pushchair for entertainment and it would help to keep her pretty quiet when we were out and about! The toy comes with 2 AAA batteries which have been in all this time and Alfie is still alive and kicking, making up noise lol!

Overall, for the benefit of the child (and not for parent's sanity) this is quite a cute little bear, which is interactive, and my daughter loved it for ages. It's fun, and interactive, and the songs are catchy which will capture little ones attention and keep them entertained no end. It costs about £10 which is reasonable so I think it is good value for money and would make a nice christmas present for anyone you know with a little one (and the patience of a saint for an incessantly singing bear!)