Crazy Legs Scooby Doo - toy review

We all love Scooby Doo here Inside the Wendy House. Ian and I have been watching since we were children and now 6 year old Freddy is a fan. So when we received a Crazy Legs Scooby from Character to review, there was quite a lot of excitement from oldest to youngest!

The toy stands 30cm tall and is a good representation of Scooby Doo with this collar and tag. With a tap of his head, Scooby's legs go crazy! Each paw swivels independently, sending Scooby moving backwards, forwards, round and around in all directions! This random movement is quite chaotic and when accompanied by the sounds including boings and Scooby's catchphrases, it really is hilarious to witness!

Everytime you play with him, the movement is different  and unpredictable. He literally can end up anywhere: crashing into furniture, into your feet, disappearing under tables and bouncing off walls! You can't help but laugh. Take a look at this demonstration of Scooby in action.

                             


This toy is a great novelty item for Scooby fans. Little ones will chase him around giggling as he randomly spins and boings,yelps, laughs and says "Scooby Doo!!" It's a toy that puts fun before functionality, but anything that brings smiles and laughter definitely gets a thumbs up from me. Crazy Legs Scooby is completely bonkers, but that is why we love him.

It is suitable for ages 3 and up and requires 6 AA batteries (it comes with demo batteries). The RRP is £29.99 and it is available at Argos and other toy retailers.

Ben and Holly Magical Playground Playset - Swing with Holly Review

In the Little Kingdom, Holly is having fun swinging on her magical swing set.  The swings are attached to the stems of flowers making a colourful playground scene for the fairies and elves to enjoy! 

This swing playset is one of three interlocking sets, which connect together to create a bigger play area for the Ben and Holly figures.  The other two sets are a slide playset and a roundabout playset, each including a Holly figure. (It would have been nice to have each set come with a different character for variety, or you'll end up with three Hollies if you buy all three!  Freddy would have loved to see a Ben figure included.) 

The swing playset, is leaf shaped and features two flower swings and a toadstool.  Holly can sit in the swings and be pushed.  Holly also has a removable base, so when she is not being swung, she can stand up independently.

The quality is good and the playset is well made, colourful and perfect for fans of Ben and Holly, bringing the magic of the Little Kingdom to life.  I applaud the inclusion of a character so kids can play with the toy straight from the packaging.

It is priced at £9.95 and can be found alongside lots of other lovely Ben and Holly toys at Character Online.  

Freddy received the playset to review.

Heros in a Half Shell - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I fondly remember my eldest son Joe loving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in the early 90's.  Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael featured heavily in both TV viewing and playtime.  It provided some wonderful nostalgia when Freddy was sent the latest Nickelodeon TMNT toys from Character to try out. Twenty years on and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still hold the same appeal and excitement!

He received the TMNT Battle Shell Leonardo along with Shredder's underwater thug and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle adversary Fishface!  The blister packed toys were easy to remove from the packaging and the cardboard and plastic separated up nicely for recycling.

The figures stand at around 5" high and are fully articulated with more than 12 points of articulation. They are highly detailed and perfectly replicate the TV characters .  They stand up well, which I think is an important feature.  Freddy gets very frustrated when he can't stand up his action figures ready for battle!  He loved the look of his new toys and was ready and eager to test them out right away.

The Battle Shell Leonardo comes with two long swords that fit into scabbards attached to his shell.  The shell itself opens up to reveal some secondary weaponry, a dagger and two Ninja throwing stars.  Leonardo's hands grip really well, as he keeps the streets of NY city safe armed with his signature weapons. Freddy did find opening the shell a bit tricky with his little fingers, but it opens simply by pulling which is a knack I'm sure he'll master.

Fishface is a fantastic mutant fish villain with his sharp venomous toothed jaws, water-breathing rig and his robotic legs.  He is no fish out of water when it comes to being the turtles most cutthroat enemy! He has a big sword and a small dagger that fit well into into hands. Freddy loves having both heroes and villains in order to play the most imaginative games of good versus evil!

The action figures are really well made with great attention to detail.  They are sturdy and robust for battle action.  Freddy is one of those children who loves to make toys fight and really puts the workmanship to the test as he bashes them around in his games of goodies vs baddies!  He really enjoyed playing as Leonardo whilst his dad played Fishface.  The toys stood up very well to the Freddy's enthusiastic playtime as they practiced the ancient art of Ninjutsu and displayed their Turtle Power!

The action figures cost £9.99 each, are suitable for children aged 4 and up and can be found at Argos, Amazon and other good toy retailers.  They are part of a range of characters and vehicles made in celebration of this iconic kids' show.  I think it's great that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back in all their pizza eating, Nunchuck throwing, Ninja fighting glory. It's great to see Freddy enjoying them as much as his big brother did when he was his age.

Freddy was so impressed with his new TMNT toys that he has taken them into school for Show and Tell today.  That shows just how great he thinks these new action figures are!

Colour Splasherz Purse Set Review

Colour Splasherz is the cool jewellery range that you can transform with water. Dip the beads in warm water and watch as the colour of the beads instantly changes. Then when you want to change back simply dip in cold water and reverse to its original colour. The jewels will keep their colour until you reverse the temperature. There's so many different patterns to create and effects to design by dipping between the warm and cold water!  Kizzy enjoyed experimenting with techniques such as using ice cubes to draw on the beads.

The Colour Spalsherz carrying case keeps everything together neatly when not in use. It opens up to become a water container for the hot and cold water needed to dip and design the beads.  It has a built in strainer so you can get creative without too much mess.  It is a very sensibly designed set with everything being integral. The set includes enough beads to make two necklaces and two bracelets.

1 x Purse Carrying Case set that opens into a dunking station with built- in strainer

2 x Colour Splasherz pendants with settings

10 x Large Colour Splasherz beads

90 x plain beads

Stickers for masking areas

2 bracelet and 2 necklace cords with built in lanyards 

The finished result can be worn as a pendant or bracelet.  If you get tired of the design, you can simply re-dip it into water and start again.

Find out more at Character Online. 

RRP £12.99

Peppa's Theme Park Party

On March 26th, between 3 and 5pm, we are hosting a Peppa Pig party to showcase the new range of Peppa Pig's Theme Park toys.  We received an amazing bundle of goodies this morning in readiness for the party, which will be taking place at the same time as fourteen other parties hosted by UK bloggers across the country.  We will all be live tweeting from the event and everyone is invited to join us on Twitter using the hashtag #peppasthemeparkparty, and in doing so, you may be able to win some great Peppa Pig prizes.

On the day, I will post some photos of the Peppa Pig merchandise and give my opinions on the toys and if anyone wants to ask about them I'll be happy to oblige. My first impression of the range is very positive.  Freddy loves Peppa Pig and the toys lend themselves perfectly to the brand.  I'll be interested to see what the children make of them.

Blingles Bling Studio Review

Sparkly, bejewelled bling  is something that never fails to impress Kizzy.  So when she was sent a Blingles Bling Studio by Character she was immediately planning which of her possessions could receive the bling treatment and get personalised with a sparkling, funky diamante design of her own making.

The Blingles Bling Studio contains everything needed to create twinkling designs using some of the 320 gems that are included in the box, and then make them into impressively, sparkling stickers.

The studio is easily put together and is quite compact.  The instructions are fully illustrated and with a bit of practice the process of making the gem stickers is quite straightforward.  It is a bit fiddly picking out the gems and getting them in the right place, but the little Gem Pen is a very handy little tool that makes the process a lot simpler!

Gem designs are made according to one of the templates.  The gems are then pressed onto the sticky transfer slide then on to the sticker glue roll before being transferred onto whatever you want to 'bling to life!'

The studio is suitable for ages six and up, but Kizzy at nine still found it a little bit fiddly getting the gems in place and aligning the transfer sheets,  and needed a lot of patience to get her bling stickers just right.  She did enjoy it though and said that she is looking forward to getting better and making lots more gem stickers to bling up her possessions!

Already both mine and Kizzy's laptops have been blinged!  The effect is pretty good!!

The amount of transfer sheets, glue roll and gems included will be exhausted pretty quickly if used up at the rate that Kizzy has been blinging!  Refill packs, accessory and theme packs are available separately so the blinging can continue after the included materials are used up.  The Blingles Bling Studio itself will fit onto a shelf and is very compact and contained which is a great feature of an arts and crafts set.  The RRP is £19.99.

Find out more here:  www.myblingles.com/

Bob The Builder Playsets

Bob The Builder Let's Go To Work Playsets from Character

Bob the Builder is one of the most well known of children's TV characters.  My little boy loves him and sings along to the theme song, watches his Bob DVD and wears his Bob hard hat.  So he was delighted to receive two playsets from the Bob The Builder - Let's Go To Work range: The Building Site and the Supplier's Yard from Character to play with.

The playsets are sturdy plastic bases complete with a figure and accessories, which allows a child to get busy and help with the job in hand.  At the Building Site they can help Bob collect concrete in the wheelbarrow or drill out the tiles with the pneumatic drill.

The Suppliers Yard is where Bob can stock up on supplies.  Charlie can load up pallets with planks and other building materials for Bob to collect.  There is an opening pair of doors and a workbench.

The playsets attach together with simple interlocking tabs and build up into a bigger playset which can be added to and expanded with additional playsets and vehicles.  However, they do stand alone so you don't need to spend a fortune to have fun!

The sets are aimed at children aged 3-5 years old.  There are a lot of accessories, tools and little pieces included, so I think this is definitely for the older pre-schooler.  Freddy is 3 and enjoyed playing with all the movable parts, wheeling the wheelbarrow and piling the planks on the pallets.  The tiled floor is a good feature encouraging dexterity.  It fits together like a puzzle and the pieces can be removed using the end of the drill.  

The attention to detail on the playsets is impressive and there is a lot to explore.  They are the perfect inspiration for some great imaginative role play.  The characters are articulated, but the hands can't actually  grip the tools. Freddy tried in vain to get Bob to hold the shovel!

I judge toys by how much my children enjoy playing with them and Freddy really has had a lot of fun with these two playsets.  I really like how the two sets attach together making a really interesting toy with lots of play value.  You can't go wrong with Bob the Builder!!

Freddy Loves Bob The Builder!