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Advertisers’ Review

Written on July 15th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Gross motor, Music, Organisation, Preschool aged, Reviews, Saving money, School aged, Toddler

I’ve been lucky enough to have awesome advertisers at Hear Mum Roar. I always choose companies that sell products I would actually buy and use myself. If you only saw some of the rubbish I’m asked to advertise and actually knock back.. Anyway, some of my advertisers have been lovely enough to send out some samples of their wares, so I felt it was time to shine the spotlight upon them.

Little Dance Invitations are a fantastic place to go for everything party related. They have the cutest themes for kids, ranging from tv characters, to cute little Kokeshi Doll lollipops and everything else that interests children. They also do invitations and party supplies for adult parties. What I also love about this online store is that they can customise party goods with the birthday person’s photo.Next time we have a birthday party, I’ll be definitely going through Little Dance.

Bright Star Kids sell cute kids labels, wall stickers, bag tags, and all sorts of other cool stuff. I recently was sent some small name labels for all of my three kids…

I’ve blocked out parts of their names privacy reasons, but I left part of the lettering there so you can see the different fonts used. Missy 3 loves the fairy on her labels and always tells me it’s going to fly away! So cute.. I also love that if I put a name label on anything of hers, she’ll drink it, for example, water. She wasn’t keen on water for a while, but now she has a label on her water bottle, she’s drinking lots of water and is much healthier for it.

I’m also pleased to find these labels as Mr 5 is starting school next year, and it’ll be much easier with two kids at school if I can be prepared with labels now. It’s helping to build the excitement in him, also.

Forever Clover sells a new range of school-aged girls’ swap cards.

When I first saw these, I fell in love with them instantly! These cards were created as an antidote to the sexualisation of girls in our society. Your daughter can join the free Forever Clover Club online. Missy 10 has joined and loves it! You can read their Forever Clover girls’ blog with stories of their adventures. If your daughter is a member of the club, she can even comment!

The cards and packaging are made from renewable resources and starting a collection is very wallet-friendly, so anyone can start collecting and swapping! All three of my kids have been given some, and they absolutely love them.

KelliOne is the home of handmade toys. Simple concepts that kids will love and very cute too! Kelli was kind enough to send out three ribbon wands for the kids to play with.

Here, you can see Mr 5 happily fishing with his. This is a brilliant, open-ended toy for toddlers, preschoolers and school aged kids alike. They can get exercise as they twirl around in or outdoors, dance to music, draw shapes in the air, pretend they’re walking a dog on a leash, in short, they can do whatever they can imagine! KelliOne also can make these wands for weddings, and I’m thinking when we get married one of these days, I’ll order some for the guests! I can imagine how beautiful the wedding photos would be with ribbons swirls from happy guests, in our custom colours.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these companies. They all have such great stuff and are lovely people to deal with.

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Announcing the Winners

Written on April 9th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in April 2010, Giveaways, Reviews

Ok, I’ve drawn three prizes this week: two prizes of the LEGO Star Wars games and one pair of Ginsy wedges. This is pretty exciting, huh?

I’ll start with the two Star Wars winners. They are…

#16, which is Jeff Burns! The winner of the second copy of Star Wars is…

#3, which is Fiona@ohgorgeousbaby!

Lastly, the winner of the Ginsy wedges is….

#6, Alvina Singh!

Congratulations to the three of you, I’ll be emailing you very soon!

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Smart Trike – the Bike Stroller

Written on December 13th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, December 2010, Gross motor, Preschool aged, Reviews, Toddler

Sponsored by The Mother Media

I was fortunate enough to receive the Rolls Royce of bikes. And prams. All in one. I’ve seen these tricycles before with the pram handle at the back, and always coveted them.

The model I’m reviewing is the Smart-Trike 3 in 1. There’s already been fights over it between Missy 2 and Mr 4. Luckily, it can be adapted to suit them both!

Some of you would already be familiar with the original Smart-Trike Deluxe. The Zoo 3 in 1 offers all those award winning features, with a unique design that kids love. (Of course, I love the design because it’s in the Hear Mum Roar colour scheme!)

You can use the Zoo 3 in 1 with babies from the age of 10 months, as a baby stroller. Missy 2 below is sitting in the bike, set up the way it would be used for a baby. It’s still very comfortable even for a two year old with this set-up. Set up for babies, you get a quality, padded, washable seat and padded seat belt. It also has padded arm rests. I’m a bit jealous, because it looks more comfy than our lounge…

The seat has long back support, and there are these little side foot rests for when your child might not feel like pedaling. These fold up and out of the way for older children. I love all the special little extras, too. It has a cup holder on the front of the handle bars. I couldn’t believe Smart-Trike even went to the effort of providing a toy mobile phone and a cute little place to clip it onto the back of the handle bars! And the toy phone actually lights up and makes sounds. I’ve made a short video showing the phone in action:

Too damned cute…

When your child is 15 months and older, you can easily remove the padded seat, seat belt and arm rests if you like. Once your child is 24 months and up, you can take the pram handle off, letting your child ride it around like a regular tricycle:

…But it’s much trendier than your average tricycle!

For mums and dads, the steering handle can be adjusted to suit your height (being a short-arse mum, I can’t tell you how grateful I am). It has telescopic, five-point steering and a built-in clutch.I love how when I’m steering the pram, I’m actually moving the handles on the child’s part of the bike, too. This gives your child an excellent sense of steering early on. I find the zip-up pouch on the handle useful for my spare change and keys.

This bike is extremely sturdy, exceeding all European Safety Standards. It has a sun shade which can be adjusted up and down at varying angles, and makes such a cute clicking noise. I took the Smart Trike for spin, walking to the shops and around the block.

Because it has anti-slip resistance and great road performance, I was able to push my daughter along grass, bumpy rocks and tree roots. I also could easily push the bike up our local shop’s steps with no hassles. There is a little brake at the back of the trike, similar to that of a pram.

What I love about the Smart-Trike is the fact that if I’m out shopping with my daughter, she can still have some gross motor exercise as we go. It keeps her busy, what with riding and talking on her little mobile phone. I love knowing that once she grows out of the stage where I push her in the bike, she can take her gross-motor skills and co-ordination to the next level. Also, Mr 4 can ride it as a bike, too.

Now, as some of you may know, we don’t celebrate Christmas. However, if you do, this is a present that would definitely last a child through to the next Christmas, possibly even the one after that, so you’re getting value for money.

Take a look at the Smart-Trike range in this online catalogue. You’ll be able to see that this bike comes in a range of colours.

So, where can you buy the Smart-Trike? You can find it at Toys ‘R’ Us, Target and Big W. The price ranges from $179-$189.

I have received the above product for free courtesy of Smart-Trike

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Gelli baff

Written on November 18th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in In the home, Messy play, November 2010, Reviews

‘scuse the messy sink!

I’d like to start out this post by stating that I didn’t receive any free product or payment for writing this. We’ve been desperate to try out Gelli Baff for a long time, and have only just gotten our mitts on a packet now.

Now, with my partner’s petrochemical allergy, it was pretty important to us to find out what is actually in this stuff. We read the packet and were none the wiser. The listed ingredients on the box are: sodium polyacrylate, sodium chloride, parfum CI 17200.

Whatever the heck that means. It doesn’t sound as though it contains petrochemicals, but we decided to let the kids have a try of it just for fun. My man just wouldn’t bathe in it. Some of the warnings and instructions didn’t sound all that great, either:

‘we recommend the use of a moisturiser after use’

‘avoid contact with eyes, if contact occurs, rinse with plenty of cold water for 10 minutes; seek medical advice if any problems persist.’

‘Not recommended for children under 5 years of age.’ What?? Of course, I didn’t see this one, and had Mr 4 and Missy 2 in it. But then it goes on: ‘unless supervised by an adult’. Phew. At their ages, I do anyway.

By now, I was a bit miffed as to what sort of chemicals are in this stuff! Anyway, I figured one try for curiosity’s sake won’t hurt anyone if we’re careful.

First, I had to fill the bath to 6cm high of water. I planned to put all three kids in at once, and after forking out nine bucks for a box of this stuff that only makes one bath worth, I thought, this better be good. In all fairness though, it did expand quite a bit. Although, I won’t be taking their friendly tip to ‘make every night a Gelli Baff night’.

Next, I had to sprinkle the coloured crystals over the water and leave it for five minutes.

After this, you stir it, and that’s when it thickens and becomes heavy. It wasn’t actually ‘goo’, as the box describes.

It was very granular, much like the gel crystals in disposable nappies (diapers, for our foreign counterparts).

It felt pretty heavy, and quite amazing. I loved the feeling. I don’t think I’d like to sit in it though, it’d be like getting sand in your bum crack at the beach. It smelt overpoweringly synthetic.

The children, (who, for obvious reasons, won’t be in any photos for this post) loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. It was great in terms of sensory exploration, and discussing matter. We talked about the concepts of liquids and solids. How much heavier it is than water.

It was pretty obvious that this stuff won’t wash your children clean. In fact, because my kids were covered with lumps of jelly crystals, it had to be washed off before they could get out! The upside is that the dyes didn’t mark their skin, or the bath, for that matter.

Anyway, then I sprinkled the sachet to turn it back into water. This, my friends, as part of the nine bucks, one-time bath treat, was common salt! Mmm hmm…

You’re meant to mix it in well until the goo ‘magically turns back into water!’ My poor kids mixed and mixed, thankfully they had fun doing it, because although the substance did turn more liquid, we never quite got rid of the granular crud all over their bodies. It was all through the water, right until we finished up. The box says you can top up the bath with water and add bubbles. Ok, I thought, maybe by then all the granular bits might have dissolved. Nope. No magic there.

The kids were devastated to have to get out of the bath, this was, after all, the most fun bath they’d ever had in their lives. As my fiance dried off the two little ones, I set about cleaning the bath. Now, like I said, it didn’t stain. But we had those crystals smeared from here to kingdom come! I nearly broke my neck slipping on the crystal coated floor, and it was a bugger of a thing trying to rinse away all traces of this stuff.

So, my verdict? The most fun my kids have ever had in a bath, bar none. Even Mr 4 who is known to be a mess-a-phobe was thrilled with it. I love the whole concept of this stuff. The reality though? Not so much. I think it’s a rip-off, and the sound of the ingredients (with all the warnings, but no real explanation of what it is) really concerned me. Not that I think it did my kids any harm at all to try it out once.

I think the advertising and description on the box was very misleading as well. I would probably get it again, but not very often, and use it more for the kids to just dip their hands in, I think. All in all, my kids felt it lived up to the hype, I didn’t.

Have you tried Gelli Baff? What’s your opinion on it?

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It’s my birthday!

Written on November 4th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Giveaways, Good times, November 2010, Reviews

Well, Hear Mum Roar’s first birthday, that is. I’m surprised at how quickly time has flown. How much has changed since I first started connecting with you!

I’ve really had a blast creating this blog, getting to know fantastic people, and the opportunities I’ve had as a result.

I very much doubt though, that this blog would be anything special without such fabulous readers! As anyone who reads this knows, I’m kind of big on the reader love thing.

So, as my way of thanking you, my readers for all of your support in the past year, I have a little giveaway. The good people at Mooo were kind enough to send a special something from their beautiful store for me to try out.

I chose a cute personalised journal with dinosaurs on the cover for Missy 10. I had a special activity planned that I was going to buy her a notebook for anyway, and she’s nuts about dinosaurs. How cute is it??

Anyway, my daughter has been off school all week with the flu. She has been forced to rest and was going out of her mind with boredom. So when this turned up in the mail, it was a relief for her and I. She didn’t want to do my activity, which was more than fine. She had her own ideas…

She snuggled up in bed with her puppy, and drew pictures.

She even went to the trouble of making little dividers for her notebook.

Missy 10 and I want to thank Mooo for such a cute notebook! You can win a $50 voucher to shop at Mooo (excluding postage). They sell so many utterly cute things, I could have quite the shopping spree there. They have personalised lunch bags, wall stickers, stationery, clothing, so many things.

So if you’d like to be in the running to win, we need you to visit Mooo and come back here to tell us what you would like to spend the voucher on if you were to win. The rules are:

Mandatory entry:

- Visit Mooo, and leave your comment here.

Optional entries:

- Tweet this competition (will need to tell me you’ve done this in comments, please)

- Like this competition on facebook (will also need to let me know you’ve done this in comments)

- Give this post a thumbs up on Stumble Upon (….and let me know in comments)

And that’s it!

So again, thank you for being my reader. This blog would be nothing without you. Lots of love xxx

Edited to add that the closing date is Thursday, 11th of November.

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Mattel’s Laugh and Learn Learning Book

Written on November 2nd, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Cognitive, Fine motor, Language, Music, November 2010, Reviews, Toddler

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Look at what Missy 2 was lucky enough to receive in the post. It’s a Laugh and Learn Learning Book from Mattel. This title is called, ‘Counting animal friends’. It’s an interactive book with a cute sun button which lights up and depending on which page your child is looking at, makes different sounds. It:

- reads the story to the child
- counts the animals
- makes the animal sounds
- plays songs

I think this book is adorable, and the sound isn’t too noisy or annoying, like some toys. My kids are all obsessed with books, so this caught everyone’s attention. Anything that promotes a love of reading to my kids is encouraged by me.

This book is aimed at babies and toddlers between 9-36 months old. Missy 2 has become utterly attached to it. She sits down playing with it for long periods, pointing at the animals and making the sounds. She likes saying the numbers, too. Her favourite part is looking at the ducks in the book, pretending to flap her ‘wings’ and saying, ‘quack quack!’. She’s even taken to falling asleep on top of it every night.

This book is highly age/stage appropriate, being very simple and appealing to this age group. Mr 4 is extremely interested in counting and numbers at the moment, and as soon as he spotted the book, asked, ‘has this got numbers? Cool!’

I’d also like to add my own little story about Mattel toys. We have always bought a lot of Mattel toys over the years, because they last a very long time. My two younger kids are still playing with a lot of Missy 10′s toys from when she was a baby. They love pushing around her push-along activity puppy and playing with her Little People dollhouse, car, bus, and of course, the dolls that come with it.

As any parent could tell you, little kids can be rough on their toys. Most of our Mattel toys have been thrown around at some time or another, either due to a tantrum, or just from excitement. But all our Mattel toys are still going strong.

But what I am really wanting to tell you about it, is what happened with some of our Mattel toys during our flood in the childrens’ playroom. We had a Mattel Flip Phone on the floor, and a Laugh and Learn Learning Home, which you can see here, both got saturated.

At first, the electronics in these toys didn’t work. But after a couple of weeks, once they’d dried out, they were working again! So please, if your Mattel toys ever get wet and stop working, don’t throw them out! Let them dry out, and they should be fine. We’re very impressed here.

Now I’m going to leave you with a quick video of Missy 2 enjoying her new book. It shows you how the book works, and how much she likes playing with it.

What’s your child’s favourite Mattel toy? Or your favourite, even?

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Beauty and the Beast DVD

Written on October 26th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in October 2010, Reviews

Sponsored by Nuffnang

It was the second week of school holidays and the day before Missy 10′s birthday party. All three kids were restless, and couldn’t wait another second for the party to start. How relieved do you think I was to find Disney’s Beauty and the Beast DVD in the mail from Nuffnang? We feel pretty fortunate, as it’s not even available until October 13th, 2010!

But I was a little mean. I made them wait until before bed-time to have a lovely pajama movie night. We had too many snacks bought for the party, so we gave our kids some chips and chocolate, and set them up so they could snuggle together on the floor.

Missy 2, Mr 4, and Missy 10 were all psyched to see this movie. My fiance was probably the most excited out of everyone! He told me it’s a beautiful movie, and that he’s been to see the Beauty and the Beast musical twice. So it appeared we had something of a fan in our midst.

He was also excited to see this DVD, because this is the first time it’s ever been available in High Definition. My man is obsessed with High-Def, I can’t begin to tell you how much he raves about it! It’s also the first time this movie has been released from the vault in seven long years, and it’s only going to be available for a strictly limited time. So, we’re feeling pretty lucky right now.

As soon as I started Disney’s acclaimed modern day animated classic, every single one of us were captivated by the clear, bright, beautiful picture. The sound quality was beautiful too. This is because the movie’s had all-new digital restoration, so it’s not like a crusty old movie crammed onto a DVD. Or Blu-Ray, if you prefer…

I’ve mentioned before that I love to utilise subtitles as much as I can when my children watch tv, as they subconsciously become more familiar with seeing how words in text look when the word is spoken at the same time. I think it’s excellent for pre-readers and for school-aged childrens’ spelling.

My children quickly became connected with the protagonist, Belle. All of my children are obsessed with books, as is Belle. They enjoyed the French setting, and I always enjoy having the children exposed to other cultures. Mr 4 laughed with a big squeal when he first discovered Lumiere, the talking candle! They enjoyed the movie’s message about how beauty is found within.

They also were extremely responsive to the songs throughout the movie. Mr 4 picks up tunes and lyrics very quickly, and we found him singing along many times. All three kids were bopping and swaying to the songs, it was so cute!

After the movie, my two older kids really wanted to check out the second disc, which had fun games for the kids to play via the remote control. Missy 10 found out that she was most like the character Belle, with her love of books and learning. She was well chuffed.

Now, having three kids of such different age groups, it can often be a challenge for me to find movies that interest them all. I can honestly say that they all really loved it and it held their attention for the entire length of the movie. Can you see what I mean?

Have you or your children ever seen Beauty and the Beast? What’s your favourite part of the movie?

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Protect-A-Bed mattress protector review

Written on July 27th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Care, July 2010, Reviews

I’m really excited about this review. I was wanting to buy some new mattress protectors for my three kids, for all different reasons.

I have a nine year old daughter, who has a reasonably new mattress, and I want to ensure it stays well looked after for as long as possible, and protect it from those times when she vomits during an illness, situations like that.

I have a four year old son who is toilet trained but is wearing nappies to bed, but being older, often has leakages by morning. That, and I plan to night train him without nappies when Spring time comes. Anything that can keep the washing to a minimum during those first accidents, and protect the mattress is welcomed here!

I also have a two year old daughter who has the occasional nappy leak, or will sit on her bed during the day with her sippy cup and spill it, or vomit when she’s ill, basically, all the wonderful messy things that come with having kids.

When the opportunity arose to do this review, I jumped at the chance! The good people from Protect-A-Bed were lovely enough to send me the following items:

A king single Elite mattress protector for my son’s bed.
A sheet protector/drawsheet for my son’s bed also (he is the most likely to have a mess on his bed, and entering into night training, after all!)
And for my two girls, who both have regular single sized beds, two fitted quilted mattress pads.

I’ll start with the fitted quilted mattress pads that my daughters received.

These are beautiful to use, and provide a waterproof, anti-allergy surface for children to sleep on. The surface is pure cotton, and is a little like terry fabric. It’s quilted, and deliciously soft. Missy Nine informed me that night as I tucked her in that her bed felt much more soft and comfortable. The fabric is highly absorbent yet breathable too. This is the type of mattress protector in the range that is suited to bedwetting and night training.

In the picture below, you can see what both sides of the pad look like:

The shiny side is the waterproof, underside of the mattress protector. On the right hand side, is the terry cotton fabric that is the top side. The fabric you see in the middle is the soft, stretchy fabric that wraps around the sides of the bed and around the underside. I’ve always hated putting fitted sheets on beds, it’s so awkward. But this is very simple and quick to put on a child’s bed. The side pieces just seem to snap in place with ease, and I find this extremely kind on my back, as I don’t like to be bent over doing this job for too long.

I was impressed with how well the mattress pads fit on my daughters’ beds. I think there’s nothing worse than when you buy something fitted, be it a sheet or a protector, and it goes on all wonky. Protect-A-Bed’s range seems much more neat and you can’t notice it under the sheets.

Onto the Protect-A-Bed Elite. It’s described as the ‘ultimate protector for luxury mattresses’. So, if you have a super plush top, memory foam or latex mattress, this would be the protector for your bed.

The Elite is also suited to adult beds, as it protects against dust mites, stains, perspiration and accidental spill stains. It’s not as suited to protect against bed wetting, but my son’s mattress was the wrong size! It’s still good to try the different types though, and I will definitely be buying this one for my bed in future. I’ll show you a picture of how this one looks:

You can see on the left side (the top side), that it is much smoother and more sleek than the terry mattress pad. It is deliciously soft and stretchy, and again, a dream to put on without any mucking around. I hate making the bed, and there’s no way in hell I want to waste time doing it.

You can see by the fit that the sides wrap around very generously, I was surprised just how far it went under. I think it fit his bed perfectly.

Next is something I’ve always meant to try with my kids, but never got around to doing before now. A draw sheet for night training. My son (who, remember, has a king sized single bed) was sent a single sized sheet protector/drawsheet for placing over the top of his sheeting. I was amazed at how generous the sides were for tucking under even a larger bed than it was intended for! My son is a very rough sleeper, and this has never moved around or come off after a heavy sleep.

True to form, my son put this drawsheet through its paces the first night he used it. Without wanting to be graphic (but I think it’s called for to do this review properly), my son did a major puddle all over the draw sheet. This would’ve definitely gone right into the stuffing of the mattress if it had nothing to protect it. I was amazed that the drawsheet was so wide, that none of his wee spilled over onto the sheets, and both sheets and mattress were bone dry. I washed the drawsheet straight away am pleased to say that it dried incredibly quickly. Which is important if your child is saturating their bed every single night!

So, my verdict? I was utterly impressed with all the products I tried, and I plan to order some more things in the near future.

To learn more, you can visit the website: www.protectabed.com.au and follow them on twitter and facebook.

Once Spring is upon us Aussies, I’ll be writing more about potty training and night training, so stay tuned!

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Disney Playhouse – Mickey Choo Choo Express DVD

Written on July 2nd, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in July 2010, Preschool aged, Reviews

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Mickey Choo Choo

Well, what can I say? My children were very excited to open up their Nuffnang parcel to find this DVD inside! Mr 4 has been rivetted by the Mickey Choo Choo ad that was on the side of this blog in previous weeks, because he loved playing the train game that was on the website! Even Missy 9 was excited, because she thought it sounded really cool too, and is a huge Mickey Mouse fan. Missy 2 could not wait to watch it, either. And as I’ve mentioned before, both my little ones are mad about trains.

Mickey Choo Choo is an interactive movie about Mickey and friends’ journey to the Easy Freezy Snow Party, and all the obstacles and adventures they face along the way. As they ride the magical railway, kids can join in on the ‘choo-choo boogie’ (which is very catchy, and my kids were all singing it long after the DVD was switched off).

Children are encouraged to help solve problems and puzzles, and at the very end, we greet Professor Von Drake and discover his surprising reward.

Mickey Choo Choo

I was impressed when I saw the part where kids were asked to guess the next colour in a colour pattern or sequence. This is especially good for Mr 4, as he is interested in these sorts of challenges, and it makes watching TV a more cognitive experience.

You can see how engrossed he was!

Mickey choo choo

All three of my kids, aged two, four and nine, were yelling out their answers to all of Mickey’s questions. The two younger ones loved calling out, ‘Choo! Choo!’ every time the train started driving. It is such a fun movie, and every time we play it, it holds their attention from start to finish.

We also enjoyed the two extra episodes that came with the movie: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Mickey’s Big Job, and Handy Manny – A Night With Abuelito. All in all, I think this DVD is great value, lots of fun for the kids whilst still being extremely educational. I must admit, it comes in very handy when they are all getting a bit wild right as we’re getting dinner ready!

I also appreciated that subtitles were available on the DVD, which I always like to utilise, because it familiarises children with words in a repetitive way. My son has now come to expect subtitles on his shows, and always asks for them.

The great news is, that this excellent DVD is out in the shops now. It was a pleasure to have the chance to view it early, and this is a DVD I would definitely buy.

Do your kids like Mickey Mouse too? Or did you love watching him as a child?

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New toy from Mattel – Peek a Boo clock

Written on June 4th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Cognitive, Fine motor, July 2010, Language, Music, Preschool aged, Reviews, Toddler

Sponsored by Nuffnang
It’s time for another Mattel review! Last time it was the adorable Flip Phone, and this time we were lucky enough to receive the Peek a Boo clock in the post. You can imagine how excited my little ones were. In case you can’t imagine, you can watch Missy Two’s reaction below.

The Peek a Boo clock is so cute! It has so many surprises for children to enjoy. This toy is aimed at children aged six months to three years old. You can press the green button on the top of the clock to see a little bird pop out of the door (just like a cuckoo clock) and light up brightly. Each time it pops out, it makes a different sound. Some of the sounds are:
Peek a boo! I see you!
Cuckoo!

Hello! Then when the door closes again, good bye!

It also plays a variety of songs when the bird pops out. My daughter also likes to pull the door open to make the bird pop out, and this is easy to do, as it has an indent for little fingers.

Little kids can turn the handles on the clock, and in the centre of the handles, is a little light-up button. This also plays a huge number of songs, Mr Three’s favourites being the alphabet song and the counting one. He enjoyed reading the alphabet displayed along the top of the toy, and counting the numbers on the clock.

There is a little disc on the side at the top, that displays a sun and a moon as you turn it, to represent day and night. Of course, this cool clock takes it one further, and actually says ‘day’ and ‘night’ at the right times! There is a little spot on the other side with little sliding shapes for the younger babies to play with; my two year old still enjoyed looking at those, too. On the other side is a key that makes a rewarding clicking noise when the child turns it.

I found even Missy Nine really thought it was cute and enjoyed playing with it, too. Her and Mr Three took turns at holding it facing each other and saying, ‘now I’m going to put on a show with the clock, who wants to watch?’ In this household, the more kids who enjoy one toy, the better. Because there’s a large age gap between Missy Nine and the younger two, it’s nice when no one feels left out. Plus, I always feel if all the children get some enjoyment out of our toys, then we’re getting good value.

I was so impressed with this clock. I love the fact that the volume can be adjusted, and that it explores the concept of cause and effect with my children. The most important thing to me is that my kids like it, and if you watch my little video below, you will see how much Missy Two loved it, and hear her squeals of delight.

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