Last Christmas my daughter received an absolute stupid amount of toys and presents, she had just turned one the month before so our house really did begin to look like a toy store. One present that gets used a lot is this toy vacuum cleaner from Chad Valley, she received it from my uncle who thinks it's funny to buy the loudest toys available just to annoy me.

***** The hoover *****

This vacuum cleaner comes in two parts in the box, the main hoover part and the handle, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out how to put it together as the handle just slots into the main body. The hoover then looks like any normal upright vacuum cleaner, just smaller.

At the bottom of the hoover is a foot that can be moved so that when the child is 'hoovering' it can just simply be pushed down so that it looks like it is picking up the dirt from the floor. As the hoover is being pushed the main cylinder, which looks the same as cylinders on adult hoovers, has little bead balls inside that pop around and make a huge sound. The handle has a nice shape and is easy to grip for small hands.

***** Our experience *****

My daughter wasn't really interested in the hoover for a month or so after Christmas, I think this was mainly due to the huge number of toys she had to play with. But once she started to play with it she has played with it almost daily. The handle is quite high, so when she did start playing with it the foot of the hoover wouldn't touch the floor as she was only one year old and the handle is so high so when she did push it it was at such an angle that the foot wouldn't go all the way down. Now she has just turned two and the foot of the hoover will just about touch the floor when she is hoovering so I can kind of understand where the not suitable for under three years old come from, but there are no small parts or sticky out bits that could cause a problem for younger children.

The one gripe I have with the hoover is the noise. The small beads in the cylinder make a lot of noise whilst the hoover is being pushed around as it has a popping mechanism so pops the beads up, there are so many beads that the noise is insane and unless you yourself are hoovering at the same time it's enough to drive any parent round the twist.

Kacie loves to follow me around whilst I'm hoovering, and I believe it has helped her overcome her fear of my hoover as it is so loud she never used to like me hoovering. Now she can hoover with me I think it takes her mind off the big hoover. She doesn't play with the hoover very often if I'm not hoovering which is nice, as the noise is unbearable.

***** Overall *****

This Chad Valley hoover is available from Argos for £15, and I believe it is fantastic value for money. Although the noise is loud and annoying for parents, it is mostly used to 'help' mummy with the hoovering so it is just about bearable. It has helped overcome my daughters fear of my hoover so that is a definite plus for us too. 4/5!