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Disney Pixar Cars 2 Skittles
by xmum2threex
My son is cars mad, and as the second movie came out just days before his birthday a lot of the presents he received were car branded. To be honest I hadn't planned to buy these skittles as we have owned a number of different sets in the past, but it was a choice of paying £3.95 for delivery or paying the extra £1 to receive this skittle ... set with free delivery instead. They are only available from the Disney store as I believe they are exclusive to them.
The skittles
The skittle set comes with 6 soft pins and a soft ball to match. The outside of the skittles are a shiny thin layer of plastic that holds the soft cushion of the pins inside. The ball is also soft meaning the whole set is very light and great for younger children. The bright colours mixed with the characters from the film means my son recognised that these were Disney cars skittles straight away. They are based on the second film, so your child will only recognise the characters printed on these skittles if they are a fan of the second movie. The age recommendation is three years plus which I do agree with as they can be difficult to set up even for older children. My two year old son can chuck the ball at the skittles once it is set up, but he finds it impossible to set the whole thing up without knocking down the rest of the pins. There is nothing for younger children to hurt them self on, no choking hazard, and because the ball is soft I don't even need to worry about it hitting the wrong target.
In use
The skittles are a lot smaller than other sets that we own. I was surprised at the size of them when they arrived but this did not seem to bother my son. As the material is prone to creasing, and the shapes of the skittles are not solid it is difficult to set them at the floor. There has been some effort made to keep the bottom as flat as possible, but as there is only a small area to balance on the floor my children found it challenging to set all the pins in place. This means it takes a while to set the game up and prolongs the fun, but it can also become very frustrating for little one having to pick them up over and over.
Outside the skittles were even worse. As you need an extremely flat piece of ground it limited the places that they could be played with. Then even on a warm day in July, the skittles were falling over with even the slightest bit of wind. My son decided to give up trying to play with them outside, and so they were put back inside while he occupied himself with something else. As the skittles are a lot smaller than other sets it also means they are a smaller target. There is still a wide enough area to aim at, and it is more challenging than other sets we have owned. My children actually loved this and it means each game is more interesting.
What my 5 year old son loved is that there were a mix of characters on the skittles, rather than just a few of the better known ones. He thought it was amazing and began finding his cars that matched the skittles so he could learn how to read their name. Not a usual way to play with skittles but it still provided a lot of fun for my son. He also used them at the side of his race tracks, or to form road blocks so he definitely gets his use out of them. They also have numbers written on each pin so that they can be placed in order. This proved to be very important to my little girl, and she would not allow anyone to play if the numbers were not in the correct order.
Summary
We purchased these for £5 from the Disney store website. There are different character options so if your child is not a fan of cars you should be able to find something to suit them. Usual price is £10 but they are often on sale. I would recommend these skittles but only for indoor use. They proved to be useless outside and are difficult to use inside but my son loves them and that is all that matters. All three of my eldest children like this set and they do use it a lot. It can become frustrating as the pins are difficult to stand up, but practise and persistence mean this set still receive a lot of use. I was a little worried as the stitching looked a little rubbish when we first received them, but they are as good as new and can even be wiped down.
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Disney Cars Space Hopper
by xmum2threex
**The hopper**
For my son's birthday we decided we would purchase this cars 2 hopper. We have had a peppa pig version previously which they really enjoyed, but after leaving it in our garden in the summer it disappeared. While shopping around we found this for sale at Littlewoods on a three for two toy offer and we paid £10 ... for it. It comes deflated in a reasonable size box, and it does need to be inflated. Also inside the box are three different stoppers to plug the hopper once you have pumped it up. I thought this was handy as if one becomes loose and you lose it the toy is still useable.
After blowing up a number of balloons I was dreading pumping this toy up. Our previous hopper took a life time to inflate, so we ended up using an electric pump on it. We actually found this was so much easier than we had expected. We used the balloon pump we had purchased from asda, and as soon as I began using the pump the hopper began to come to life. After all of two minutes it was completely inflated and ready to go. We placed the stopper in the bottom of the toy and sat it in front of my sons presents ready for the morning. The hopper is bright red in colour just like lightning McQueen. It also pictures the star on the front of the hopper so it is instantly recognisable to little one. It feels very well made, and we have had no problems with quality. There are a few scratches on it, but nothing overly troublesome.
**In use**
Once this hopper is inflated my first thought was that is tiny, and there was no way that my taller than average five year old was going to be able to use it. It really is small and seems just a little bigger than a large football! In comparison to the Peppa pig ones we owned it was over half the size of it. When my son came down in the morning as this along with his bike were the two presents already opened he jumped on it straight away. He did look overly large for it, but he began jumping around straight away. He didn't seem to care about the side and he was still able to use it without any problems. He only played with it for a short while, but this was because he was so excited to open the rest of his presents.
The hopper then sat unused for over a week and I was worried it would just be forgotten about. Once the sun started shining and we were able to get in the garden this was one of the first toys he reached for. Off her went outside bouncing around like a lunatic for around thirty minutes. Again he seemed to have no problems using it other than he looked too big for it and his long legs looked really squashed pushing himself around.
There are rings around the bottom of the ball that act as a grip while little one is using this toy. We found he had no problems with slipping all over the place, and although he fell off a few times this was purely because he was sending himself flying into the air. He loves this jumper so much that every time he goes outside this is one of the first things he grabs. It can be used in the house, but I find my children get to excited and I am terrified they will knock things over so I have limited it for outside use now. There are no grips on the handles of this jumper which we were a little disappointed about. This means when it has been used for a little while my children's hands tend to slip a lot on the rubber.
My other children are three and two. Both of them can use this perfectly and look a better size for it. Looking at them on it I would definitely say the three year age range is for safety reasons. They can still use it perfectly but I become afraid they will fall off and hurt themselves. I do think they could have made the jumper a little bigger as the age recommendation is set at three years old. My son looks oddly large for it while using it, and although he is two years over the recommendation this would give the toy a very limited age range. I think it is aimed at children around 3-4 maximum, so it is not something that will receive a huge amount of use.
**Summary**
All of my children love this space hopper, and we are happy with our purchase. It is on the small side compared to similar product but my son loves it all the same. It has adequate grip although I would have liked some on the handles as well as the bottom of the hopper. It has received a lot of use in the months we have had it, and I am sure it would receive a lot more if the weather was nicer. There are other variations available using different characters if your child is not a fan of cars. It is available on amazing for around £8 which I think is a fair price, but more suited to a three year old child.
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Disney Princess Skipping Rope Fun Set
by chrisandmark
At four, Hollie is a huge fan of the Disney Princesses. It doesn't matter which princess it is, as long as she has long beautiful hair and a stunning dress Hollie doesn't seem to mind. So when I spotted this Disney Princesses Fun Set in Toys R Us it fell into my trolley seemingly on its own power as I just knew she'd love it, not least ... because of her newly found love of skipping.
It's a lovely little set and well worth the £4 I paid for it. For your money you get a skipping rope, bat and ball set plus a sweet little yo-yo featuring Hollie's beloved Belle on the front. The set has been designed in such a way that all the components 'match', it's all very pretty and girly - absolutely perfect for a child like Hollie in fact!
The skipping rope is the thing that's had the most use and it's lasted pretty well. It's not the most durable skipping rope I've ever seen due to the fact that the handles are 100% (very thin) plastic and the Princess picture appears to have been printed onto a sheet of sticky-backed plastic and stuck onto the handles - and has not-too-helpfully started peeling off in such a way that it makes the skipping rope look about 50 years old! The rope (being a 'knotted' type) has frayed slightly, although this happened while it was still pretty new and hasn't really gotten much worse despite being played with on a very regular basis. Unfortunately the rope looks really dirty now, because of it being such a pale pink/purple colour but again this isn't something that can really be helped. The length of the rope is ideal for Hollie, it's fairly short in relation to other skipping ropes she owns but is perfect for the average four year old.
The small rubbery ball is attached to the bat with a short piece of elastic, this is great and an idea I haven't seen for years! It prevents the ball from becoming lost (as balls do!) and although supervision is required, the elastic string isn't long enough to pose a strangulation hazard. One thing Hollie has learned to watch out for is the fact that the ball hurts like a bugger if it catches you in the face while being bounced on the bat - she actually had a semi-black eye through it the first time she used it so you maybe need to teach your child to be a bit more careful than Hollie is!
Whenever we've had yo-yo's in this kind of set before they've been cheap, plasticky and completely rubbish so I wasn't expecting much from this one. I had a pleasant surprise though as although it is without doubt cheap and plasticky, it's not rubbish in the slightest and spins beautifully up and down the string. There's been no kinking in the string and the small loop is perfect for a small kiddie to slide her finger into, Hollie has learned the art of using a yo-yo using this and I can't see any reason to purchase her another one as although this is fairly basic that's all she needs.
Overall I think this play set is fantastic value and wouldn't hesitate to purchase again. Yes, it's amazingly (nauseatingly, some might say) pink but it features all the Princesses that Hollie loves and isn't a quick-buck set put together to extract cash from the purses of the mums of little girly girls. The minimum age range of three years is probably about right from both a safety point of view, and also because smaller children probably wouldn't be able to make full use of the set.
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