Barbie feels like part of the family! In my day I used to make Barbie a house from a cardboard box, I designed dresses for her by cutting holes in old socks and she drove around in my dad's slipper! Over the years she has been re-invented many times, with style changes and new exciting jobs and she even starred in the Toy Story films! The world of Barbie is a much more elaborate place than it was 30 years ago!
Toys R Us sent us the Barbie Puppy Water Park Playset to try out. It contained a Barbie Doll, two puppies and the water park. The water park itself consists of a plastic frame with slide, ferris wheel and water pool, that you put together yourself.
The bikini clad Barbie has a seahorse squirter that fits in her hand. Pressing a button on her back draws water up through her feet which then squirts out through her squirt gun. The dogs also squirt water by squeezing them underwater and then squirting the water out through their mouths. As you can imagine...things get a little wet!!
A resevoir of water in a little tank on top of the tower is released by pressing a flag. It sends a jet of water down the slide and makes a waterfall that drops onto the ferris wheel. The water slide works well, allowing the puppies to slide down on their little boat into the pool at the bottom. The ferris wheel is not quite as effective. It is tricky to get the dogs to sit on it and it doesn't turn too well.
It is quite tricky to pour the water into the tank at the top. We used as cup which kept glugging over the sides because of the restricted pouring space, a jug with a spout would work better. This is a very messy, wet toy. The kids loved playing with it, but their play table, the floor and their clothes were soggy by the end of their playtime! Perfect for playing outdoors in summer...not so good for the living room!
The Barbie Puppy Water park costs £19.99 from Toys R Us which is quite reasonable given that you get a Barbie Doll as well as all the accessories. It was easy to put together and can be dismantled for storage. Barbie's Squirt Gun is really effective and had 2 year old Freddy giggling as he sprayed water at everyone!!
Things will get wet and messy but the children will love it!