Mookie are the nicest brand. Chances are that if you have any ball-type or outdoor toys then they will either be made or distributed by Mookie. The product I am reviewing today is one of their more basic toys, a Winnie the Pooh emblazoned ball.

It's a cute little thing, my children have actually owned several of these balls over the years - not because they are poor quality but Mookie balls are so cheap to buy that it's no problem to replace a ball that gets damaged either through rough play or if it becomes weathered.

The ball itself is roughly 9 - 10 inches, making it the perfect size for little hands and feet. It has a shiny surface with just a single very flat seam running around the middle of the ball. This is ideal as children young enough to specifically want a cartoon character ball will still be at the stage of rolling it, when Hollie used to use her big sisters official football she would get frustrated due to the indented seams (lots of them) catching on the edge of the slabs and not always rolling where she wanted it to. There are no problems with this extremely smooth ball and it will pretty much always go where it's supposed to.

Once your little one has moved on to throwing, the ball shows it was still an excellent buy. It's heavy enough for anyone of any age to successfully throw around, but is also light for ease of carrying around. The bounce factor is good; a strongish adult can get a bounce higher than them, a small childs bounce will look even more impressive in relation to the size of them. I've noticed that Mookie balls in general aren't much good for dribble-bouncing as they lose their momentum quite quickly, it doesn't matter to Hollie as she's rubbish at it anyway but at twelve Alice gets annoyed that she can't get the ball to produce a series of bounces.

The Winnie the Pooh design lasts well, obviously over time the colours will chip and fade a little but this isn't a problem and is actually a far slower process than with cheaper balls. Hollie has another ball (not Mookie) which featured a very bright picture of Upsy Daisy when I bought it, but less than four months later the ball has not only lost it's shape but there is hardly any colour left on it at all. Very disappointing, but maybe to be expected from a ball that gave me change from £1.

This ball, as well as the rest of the Mookie character ball range, can be purchased from independent shops such as newsagents and discount stores. You'll usually find them housed in a large cardboard or net display unit near the comics. The prices can vary quite drastically, I've paid anywhere between £1.99 and £3.99 although Mookie balls can usually be found on some kind of offer if you're prepared to wait and keep an eye on the fluctuating prices. One thing I will say is to beware buying them from theme parks and seaside-type places as the price can rocket then to £6 and above.

Mookie sell a wide range of character balls including Postman Pat, Teletubbies and Ben 10 to name but a few so you're sure to find something you child likes even if he/she isn't the biggest Winnie the Pooh fan. One thing I do like about these Pooh Bear balls is the fact that Mookie will often change the design so by buying them from different shops it's possible to develop your own (admittedly unexciting) collection on a theme.

Oh, in case you're wondering about the title. My charming bro-in-law taught Hollie that 'joke', it wasn't very amusing the first time as I though she was playing with an excrement lined ball - not so, just another tasteless joke from the Adam-repertoire!