My daughter is a huge Dora the Explorer fan and has been for 3 years and she is only 4 now! But with two older sisters she saw her from an earlier age and when ever we went shopping she had the eyes of a marksman and could spot anything with Dora on at 50 paces!

I have to be honest and say that I have never ran out of Dora things to buy for her as Dora has her name on everything and I have decided to review some of them as I have become an authority on all things Dora thanks to my little expert.

The product that I am reviewing now is the Dora big sister doll. I actually bought this as my daughter was complaining that she would not be a big sister like her older sisters were and after a discussion my hubby and I decided it would be cheaper to buy her that rather than have another baby!!

====== The Product =====

Dora big sister comes in a colourful box with plastic on the front so that you can see the doll inside and it also has a round hole in the plastic so that you or your child can press it to see what sounds it makes as all children seem to like to try before you buy!

I did want to make a note about the packaging, I know that they do everything for safety reasons but my god I hate it!, you need the dexterity of a teenage texter and the patience of mother Teressa to get through it all!. Every part is attached to the backing cardboard by the small plastic catered wire that is then wrapped around 1000 times and surgically attached to the cardboard. Anyway rant over and I'll get onto the actual doll itself.

The Dora doll is a heavily padded doll with the a rather big back which is where the battery pack is stored for the sounds that she makes. She has the usual hair style that Dora has and the hair is made from that horrible synthetic hair you know type that needs to be brushed 100 times a day or it ends up a tatty mess (Not unlike my good self!)
The doll face is made of hard wearing smooth plastic and everything else including the feet and arms and hands are padded.
She is wearing a cute outfit of pink t-shirt and blue shorts and the yellow baby carrier is attached to her top.
The baby carrier on her front has two little pockets where both the babies sit with the legs pocking out the bottom, this is attached to Dora and can not be removed.
The doll also has a plastic milk bottle which is attached to one of Dora's hands.

The little twin siblings are a baby brother and baby sister. These are made from quite strong plastic and the are quite solid. There are no movable parts on the babies and they are designed to be removed from Dora although they are styled with the right arms slightly bent so that they sit comfortably inside the pocket on the Dora.
The little boy has a pale blue top on and the little girl has a pink top on and a cute bow in her hair.

You also get a spoon and a small plate with pretend food which is not removable and you use this to fed the babies along with the attached bottle in Dora's hand.

======== What Does It Do? =======

The left hand on Dora activates the phrases that she says by gently pressing the button that is concealed in her hand.

The phrases are all said in Dora's voice and there are six different ones including, "I love being a big sister!"
"Will you help my feed my brother and sister?" , "Are they babies getting sleepy?", "Time to feed the babies" and "It's to give the babies a nap" . The babies also make gurgling and cooing noises and this comes from pressing Dora's hand as I said before the babies are just plastic.

Dora also sing the song "It's great being a big sister" which is featured in a few of the Dora TV show episodes.


======== Conclusion =======

I think that all in all it's a great product if you have a Dora fan in your house, I think it's also a great gift if you have a little girl and are expecting another baby as I know a few friends who have done this to ease the way for introducing a new baby into the house.

I have to say that because the doll is padded and the head is plastic you can not sit Dora upright as the weight of her head makes her fall over! So she needs to be leaned against something if you want her to sit up.

My daughter has had this since last Christmas and still plays with it now and it's still in good condition unlike some of hat other toys and dolls so it is durable although the hair is slightly tatty now!

The battery pack is accessible from the dolls back, the Velcro strips come apart and you can replace the batteries , it takes 3 AAA batteries.


======== Cost And Availability ======

Big Sister Dora is available in most toys stores including Toys r us, Argos and also on Amazon for approx £24.50.
Suitable for ages 3 and over.