This product was sent to us in exchange for our honest review. All opinions remain our own. 

Moose absolutely loves Dinosaurs. His favourite CBeebies programme is Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures and he can happily reel off a whole list of obscure Dinosaur names at any given opportunity. As well as Dinos. he also loves collectables and surprise eggs. You can imagine then how pleased he was to receive the new Smashers Epic Dino Egg to play with!

What’s inside the Smashers Epic Dino Egg?

The egg itself is a plastic casing which can be reassembled so you can use it to store stuff inside. When you smash it open you will find a yolk bag and a small map. On one side of the map is a list of the collectables you might find and on the other side a a scratch and reveal style map.

Inside the yolk bag you will find 5 compounds hiding Dino binos. To discover which Smashosaurus Dino you might have you need to scratch the panel off the map and use the compound. As well as this you will also find 6 of the smaller Smashers eggs, an egg stand to help when rebuilding the eggs and an excavation tool.

The rebuilder tool is SO handy. We have played with Smashers previously and I found them difficult to put back together again. With the rebuilder, it’s a cinch! I would recommend also purchasing the collectors tin. This comes with one smashers egg plus an exclusive dino inside. It’s great for storing all of the smaller Dinos inside.

How to find your Dino bones

Dino Dirt: Yellow kinetic sand style substance which you pick apart to find the bones! This comes in a resealable bag.

Fossil Rock: This was a solid bit of what I think was chalk. We eventually had to call for back up in the form of a big sister to help with this one though. It took a long time for Moose to use the tool to get into it and he did start to get a bit frustrated.

Fizzy Lava: This was Moose’s favourite. Basically an orange bath bomb. He dropped it into a bowl of water and watched in delight as it fizzed and bubbled away.

Glowing Slime: Moose described this stuff as Bright green Dinosaur snot. I couldn’t prove otherwise so I just nodded along and thanked my lucky stars that I had chosen for us to open the Smashers Epic Dino Egg outside!

Ice Age Putty: Moose quite liked this stuff. Not as sticky as slime but still nice and tactile for little ones to search through for the hidden Dino bones.

What Did We Think

This toy was pleasantly surprising. There was a lot to do. Loads to keep Moose occupied for well over an hour. I would highly recommend opening the Smashers Epic Dino Egg outside. A Tuff Tray would be ideal for it. The Fossil Rock in particular creates a lot of chalk dust. I really liked the little collectible dinosaurs. The larger Dinosaur was really nice quality, easy to assemble and Moose will definitely get a lot of play out of it.

The Smashers Epic Dino Egg is not a cheap toy but I do think it is good value. There is a lot going on here and the toys that you get to keep after all of the activity is over with is a good quality one.

We found Crazy Eyes the Brachiosaurus inside this one but there are also a T-Rex and a Triceratops (my favourite) to collect.

Although we were sent this Smashers Epic Dino Egg I am planning to purchase another to give to Moose for his birthday. I have no idea how I will wrap it mind you.

The Smashers Epic Dino Egg retails at RRP: £24.99, is suitable for ages 5+ and is available at Smyths, The Entertainer, Argos, Tesco, Asda, B&M, SAINSBURY’S Supermarket and all the major retailers.   https://smashersworld.zuru.com/

We were sent this toy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

STEM toys and blind bag collectable toys have been seriously on trend for the last year or 2 and their popularity certainly doesn’t seem to be waning. The Beaker Creatures Whirling Wave Reactor is a toy aimed at children aged 5+ which combines these two trends in a really cool and engaging way.

Moose absolutely loves simple experiments and anytime he is asked if he wants to choose a toy he will usually opt for a blind bag so I was interested to see whether the Beaker Creatures Whirling Wave Reactor would hold his interest.

What’s in the box?

This 12-piece set includes:

• 1 Reactor Pod with mystery Beaker Creature
• 1 Limited-edition colour-change Beaker Creature
• 5-Piece Whirling Wave Reactor
• 2 Classification cards
• 2 Mini-posters with amazing science facts
• 1 Experiment guide

How does it work?

It’s actually quite a simple concept. Basically a bath bomb with a toy inside is placed inside a plastic pod and whirled around after water is added to the chamber to extract a surprise creature.

So simple in fact that Moose set the whole thing up all by himself.

Moose loved turning the handle to swirl the water around in order to excavate his creature. He was excited to find out which character he would reveal!

Extracting the character is just the first of the 5 experiment ideas on the instruction sheet included in this set. We will definitely give a couple of the others a try! You will need additional items for the other experiments but they are things you will have in your kitchen cupboards so no other major outlay is required.

After your creature has been revealed there is a character sheet so that you can identify him or her.

What did we think?

I thought that for the price point the Beaker Creatures Whirling Wave Reactor represents good value for money. Moose really enjoyed the extraction of his creature. He also played with it all (on the draining board to save mess) for ages afterwards. I like that there are other experiment ideas but I think it’s a shame that only 1 “pod” is included. It would have been nice to have 2 in the pack to be able to try a second time but you can buy  additional pods.

Giveaway

We have teamed up with Learning Resources to offer 1 lucky reader the chance to win their very own Beaker Creatures Whirling Wave Reactor worth £16.

Terms and conditions:

(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).

Once a winner is randomly picked, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within one week, the prize will be allocated to another person.  The winner’s details will be sent to Playtime PR for Learning Resources, in order that they can arrange delivery.  Please allow 28 days for delivery.

This giveaway is for UK residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We were sent this toy to play with in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain our own.

My first encounter with Feisty Pets from Jazwares was just before Christmas. I had been searching for a gift for my niece and I spotted the unicorn but was sadly forbidden to buy it by my sister (aka lil miss party pooper). She was a bit worried that it would scare her then 3 year old. I still maintain that the niece is fiercer than the Feisty Pet – but it’s a close run thing.

Fast forward to much more recently and Moose was sent his very own Feisty Pet to play with. If you have been paying attention you may be aware that Moose has a bit of a strange taste in cuddlies… His favourites are still his Crate Creature and his Fuggler.

With this in mind I felt pretty confident that the Feisty Pets would be an equally big hit with Moose. There are several different ones to choose from. We were sent Sir Growls-A-Lot. He is a very cuddly looking bear with a fierce side!

Each Feisty Pet is undeniably cute but each has their own likes and dislikes. Just as well, so you can stay on their good side!

Sir Growls-A-Lot’s are:

Likes: Trash cans, raw meat and hibernating.

Dislikes: Waking up, loud noises, jail food.

The Feisty Pets plush is 25cm tall which is a good size I think for a toy that children will want to carry around (to play pranks on people) and best of all, they don’t take batteries! Their fierce side is brought to life using a mechanism you grip at the back of their head. It’s pretty easy to work and Moose had it sussed after a couple of attempts.

As well as the plush version, Feisty pets are also available as 4″ plastic figures. They have the same no batteries approach which is great and Moose loved taking this one to the park to surprise his friends!

Her name is Princess Pottymouth. Princess might seem like an average kitty, but do not assume anything. She is prone to sudden mood changes during human interactions. It is advised to wear thick layers of clothing before attempting to pet Princess Pottymouth. I grew up with a cat just like that – must be a ginger tabby thing!

In addition to the plush and the 4″ range there is also a Feisty Pets Mini Misfits Blind Figures range! Moose does love a blind bag and this one was a big hit. I quite like that this little 5cm collectable range comes with a mini Feisty Pet as well as a carry case/home for it.

I liked the quality of all 3 of the ranges and Moose really enjoyed pranking his big sister! Moose has been playing loads with his Feisty Pet friends and I will definitely be buying more for him to add to his collection!

Feisty Pets are available from all good toy shops.

Brio is a brand I grew up with. Some of the Brio in Moose’s toy box in fact IS the Brio I grew up with!

A few years ago my Dad decided to clear out his loft and gave me tubs of our old toys. One tub had Brio train track in it. Considering that I am <cough> nearly 40, it goes o show that this stuff seriously stands the test of time.

Recently we were sent the Brio Cargo Transport Helicopter. Moose hadn’t really played with his train track in a while and to be honest I had started to wonder whether it might be best to pack it away. Just a few days before the Helicopter arrived though he suddenly became interested again.

It’s quite nice now that he is a little bit older. It used to be that I would build the track and he would play with it but now, he really enjoys planning out where the track will go and putting it all together. He possibly enjoys that aspect more than running his trains along it even.

Inside the box

Included in the Brio Cargo Transport Helicopter are 8 pieces; 1x Cargo Helicopter, 1x Figure, 2x Wagons, 2x Wooden Loads, 2x Container

What did we think

The cockpit of the Helicopter opens to fit the figure inside which Moose loved and the figure itself is nicely detailed down to a little headset.

With a moving rotor (is it a rotor? propellor? turny bit?) on top, Moose had great fun loading up the helicopter and ‘flying’ around the room.

The back of the helicopter opens up easily for little fingers so that the cargo can be put inside. The cargo so far has consisted of the actual Brio cargo and also mini figures and even some chocolate eggs from Easter.

All Brio is made from FSC Certified wood. The Brio Cargo Transport Helicopter feels nice and sturdy. The trains, wagons, carriages, and road vehicles all feature the classic BRIO magnetic couplings allowing for easy connection to each other. Although, the helicopter itself will not fit onto the track due to having a trio of wheelbases.

I know that this will be a toy that Moose will get loads of play out of. Who knows, maybe his children will too someday! The Brio Cargo Transport Helicopter is available from the Brio website and is priced at around £34.99

This product was sent to us in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain our own.