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Hawkins Bazaar Jumbo Rainbow Springy
by Jcm222
As you may have noticed this review is not aligned with the category of most of my reviews, but I was returning rates and saw that this is available on the DOOYOO catalogue and considering it was less than one metre from me at the time, I thought why not?
Hawkins Bazaar is a shop I love taking my nephew into as he has lots of ... fun in there, and you can pick up cool little novelty toys for a few pounds. This rainbow springy as they call it was half price at the time, at £2.99 and was in my opinion, great value.
Slinky springs are great fun for children, and it was probably the bright colours that attracted the little one to it. If we want to be technical, it doesn't form in the order of a rainbow, but that's too serious for this review!
The spring measures 12cm when not extended and has the diameter of a pringles tube!
I think we all know what a slinky spring does. You can play a number of games with it. One we like in particular, is setting it on the top two stairs and letting it walk its way down the stairs. It isn't too bad at this and can make it down about 8 stairs before collapsing into itself.
Another thing you can do is simply swing it about and pass pulses or vibrations down it. They are all great fun little games that pass half an hour or so.
Unfortunately, as with all Slinky springs there is the unenviable task of detangling. Thankfully with this one I have only had to do it twice. They all seem to do it, and you have to sit and rearrange the coils to make it sit properly again, or it won't be able to walk down the flight of stairs...disappointment all around!
In Conclusion, this is a great toy if you have young children, or they can buy it with their pocket money! Unfortunately so many toys cost a clean fortune, whereas your kids can feel really grown up when they can afford it.
One word of caution is supervision. I am always afraid of it flying back and hitting them, but this can be avoided (hopefully) by supervising them.
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Hawkins Mr Grasshead
by Elaineee
Mr Grasshead is a head that grows grass out of the top that can be cut and styled- not quite a 'Girls World' head though (although once you cut her hair it doesn't grow back......). I don't know why but my daughter wanted one of these, it cost five quid from Hawkins Bazaar- not that cheap but cheap enough.
The 'head' came in a ... box with 'Mr Grasshead He's a pal in a Pot' written on the front. He's cute with stuck on googly eyes, a round bulgy nose and a smiley face. I'd say he's the size of a large potato. Really he's ladies tights filled with sawdust, grass seeds stuffed at the top and tied up at the bottom- so you could make your own. Also in the box is a polystyrene cup to keep him watered and to stand him on. Mr Grassy is for children age 3+.
The procedure is easy enough, we had to soak him in water for a few minutes, fill the cup, sit him in it and then make sure to keep him topped up, this needs to be done atleast once aday as you can't let him dry out. All you do then is wait.
It doesn't take long to sprout grass out of the top of his head- probably a week and a half. Once it starts it grows quite quickly ours grew to around three inches in the first three weeks. It was sparse at first but was soon surprisingly thick and grew uniformly on the top rather than sprouting all over the place.
My daughter let it get long before she cut and 'styled' it. The grass recovers quickly and just keeps growing like a lawn does. She had him for many months before his demise, I suppose he must have dried out because the grass died.
I would recommend him but I would have a go at making one myself -if there's a next time- to save a few quid.
Four stars from me, it would be five if he had cost abit less.
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Hawkins Mr Grasshead
by vickijohn2012
So my sister is the biggest pain to buy for at christmas, she has literally everything and there is nothing left that she wants. So I thought lets go novelty, I went to Hawkins Bazaar, a shop in the St James shopping centre in Edinburgh. I spotted the Mr Grasshead, and since she has had some of these growing novelty presents before I ... thought that this would be perfect. I paid £5 for this and I thought she would love it amongst other small presents for christmas. So I wrapped it up and she opened it on christmas day and sure enough she couldnt wait to get started. I did however help her to look after and to care for this toy, so I feel that I am still able to comment on this toy, as I bought and used it along with my sister.
The kit includes a grow bag around the size of a clenched fist, or around the size of a apple. The growbag contains sawdust and grass pellets, it also includes a watering tray which you stand the toy in when you water it. The grass grows out of the top of the bag when you water it, you can cut and style the grass once it has grown, so that the hair can look however you want it too. The bag also has a face on, hence the name mr grasshead, it is meant to look like a real face. The grass does not take long to grow at all, I think around 5 days and it was already starting to sprout, as long as you give it the water it needs and place it somewhere that the light can get to it easilly, this is because it is like your grass outside and needs both of these to grow.
The packaging for the toy is just a standard cardboard box, it has the picture of the Mr Grasshead on all sides of the packaging. It also has very standard writing on the side of the box, this makes the toy look rather dull and boring, however it does possess novelty value for a little while, for my sister at least who is thirteen years old. The instructions are very simple and are written on the side of the box, all you have to do is place the Mr Grasshead in the watering tray, pour water on the top of his head and a little in the tray so it is soaked up by the sawdust in the grow bag and sure enough it will start to grow.
Overall I would suggest buying this toy if you want something novel that can keep you entertained for a little while, or if you want something that actually works, unlike a few novelty toys that I have seen before. The grass on the top will keep going as long as the head is properly maintained and you keep watering it. After a while the toy does start to become really soggy and smell a bit damp due to the sawdust inside becoming wet, so in the end you do have to throw it away, but it really does work and is good value for money, just for the interest it gives, even to my sister.
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