Pop Up Ball (VTech Pop-Up Surprise Ball)

Name: newby2

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Product:	VTech Pop-Up Surprise Ball
Date:	29.02.08 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap and cheerful

Disadvantages: annoying voice

Vtech Pop Up surprise Ball


Yet another one of Jack's Christmas presents up for review and this time it is the Pop up Surprise Ball from Vtech. I bought this from Argos way before Christmas and it came as part of a three toy set costing just under £20. It came with the Vtech nursery Rhyme Book and the Vtech Mobile phone. I thought this was a very reasonable price for the three toys together as I had previously seen the nursery rhyme book for sale singularly at a price of around £8 and that is pretty much the price you would pay if you went out and bought this pop up surprise call separately too.


The mound of toys that Jack received at Christmas were not really all played with on the day, as there was just too many of them, I do think I went a little overboard! Eventually Jack got around to playing with this pop up surprise ball and he rather likes it. Unfortunately I find the toy very annoying and now if he reaches out to play with it I wince in horror.


To look at toy you will see a brightly coloured ball shaped toy with colours similar to that of a beach ball. It has a simple easy to use on/off button located on the top, which is also a two-option volume control button. On the top of the ball is a yellow star shape light that flashes when the toy is turned on. This section of the toy can be pushed down to pop up a surprise (I guess that's how they came up with the name!) Underneath the yellow star is a blue animal that I think is supposed to be a dog, it doesn't much look like a dog however. To hide the dog again the star just needs to be depressed to shut it away.


No matter how annoying I find this toy there is rather a lot that can be learnt from it. There are four different animals on the ball including that one of the dog I have previously mentioned. The other three animals are a rabbit a cat and a bird. These animals all have a different colour and not the sort of colourings that you would expect these animals to have. The rabbit is pink, the bird is green, the cat is red and again as I said before the dog is blue. These animals on the toy are buttons and if pressed will tell you that you have pressed from example the cat; it will say the red cat is here. It will then go on to play a tune.


There are around nine different tunes that are played with this ball and it also has the added feature of a human voice talking and singing along with a few rhymes. The songs include, old McDonalds Farm, Row Row Row Your boat and other well recognisable tunes.


The ball is made from plastic but does have material strips but it all can easily be wiped clean with a damp cloth. There are lots of raised pieces of plastic that gives the child a sense of all-different feels and textures. Jack loves to have the pop up part pushed down and to roll the whole toy across the floor just as a ball. As it rolls it sets off the different animal buttons and it will jump from a cat to a rabbit and back to a cat. This will really make him giggle.


I think I find it annoying because of the voice that it used just doesn't agree with me. But as far as Jack is concerned it really is a great toy. It is hard wearing and the batteries seem to have a good life span. There are lots of different tunes and textures on the ball that he is learning from touch and sound.


I think for the price that it is a reasonable toy to have. It is not one of Jacks better toys and it does look a little cheap, but it is. The fact that he is gaining something from it is what pleases me and I would rather give him this than something where he is not getting anything out of it.


All in all not a bad toy and Jack does seem to like it. 8/10 (only marks down for it looking a little cheap and me finding the voice over annoying)


I hope this has been of some help to you, thanks for reading xxx

Summary: a good learning toy