The Biggest Hit This Christmas! written 8 months ago

And who would have figured? A little motorized mouse toy, and I think it’s gotten as much play time as the kitchen Santa brought our girls!

It’s a good thing we bought two, because our girls are IN LOVE with these mice. My four year old has just gotten through with Beverly Cleary’s ‘Ralph the Mouse’ series, and so one of our mice is named Ralph and the other is Ralph’s unfortunate relative, Uncle Lester. Both mice must be tucked in just so at bedtime, and are invited to the kids table for scraps of cheese and juice boxes – priceless! At night our cat actually seeks them out in their little beds, yanks them out by their leather tails and throws them in the air with her fur bristled up in excitement. Whenever we can, we set them in motion for her; they’re so fast! She goes absolutely crazy over this. I don’t think I’ve seen her this excited about anything in years!

I wish I could give these little mice more than 5 stars. I think they’re the greatest!

Adorable Pencil; Great for Party Favors written 8 months ago

We bought these in all the available colors as favors for my 2 and 4 year old girls’ birthday party this month. We already own the set of four pencils (Joey, Bobby, Kenny and Ricky) and the kids really love drawing with them, so I knew we couldn’t go wrong with these. My youngest is going through a ‘monkey phase’ so I suspect these will be a huge hit with with her. They are high quality and the little characters perched atop them have huge appeal with kids!

Gorgeous Print; Great Size for Toddlers written 8 months ago

We bought this to go in a party favor bag. It’s a cute ball, the atom print is probably one of my favorites; it’s bright and very appealing. This ball is made of nice thick vinyl. It’s about the size of a tennis ball, and perfect for a one-handed toss for toddlers and babies. We own a lot of Togu balls, and I’ve actually popped one trying to inflate it with a needle. After reading on the Togu site, I finally figured out how to add air to these and thought I’d share in case anyone else is having difficulty: Attach a round plastic stem to your pump; a wide one like one you’d use for a beach ball. Moisten the opening in the ball (this will help seal it back after the air is added), then hold the stem firmly against the opening. You want to force air through the opening without tampering with the valve at all, so there’s actually no need to insert the stem into the opening and you may damage the lip valve if you do this. We have a foot pump and about one depression of the pump is enough to add sufficient air to a ball this small. The lip valve reseals itself immediately after receiving the air. I hope this of help to someone else, like me, who would have found out the hard way that a needle only pops these cool balls :)

Nice Medium-Small Ball written 8 months ago

We bought this to go in a party favor bag. It’s a sweet ball, the butterfly print is really happy and whimsical. This ball is made of nice thick vinyl. It’s small enough to fit in a stocking (we put one this size in my daughter’s stocking this year), but a fine size for tossing around. We own a lot of Togu balls in various sizes and prints, and I’ve actually popped one trying to inflate it with a needle. After reading on the Togu site, I finally figured out how to add air to these and thought I’d share in case anyone else is having difficulty: Attach a round plastic stem to your pump; a wide one like one you’d use for a beach ball. Moisten the opening in the ball (this will help seal it back after the air is added), then hold the stem firmly against the opening. You want to force air through the opening without tampering with the valve at all, so there’s actually no need to insert the stem into the opening and you may damage the lip valve if you do this. We have a foot pump and about one or two depressions of the pump are enough to add sufficient air to a ball this small. The lip valve reseals itself immediately after receiving the air. I hope this of help to someone else, like me, who would have found out the hard way that a needle only pops these cool balls :)

Cute, But Not Quite What I'd Hoped For written 8 months ago

I bought this for my 23 month-old daughter’s stocking this year. It’s hard to find a toy large enough to not be a choking hazard for a two year old – especially when it has to fit into a narrow stocking – but challenging enough to not be a complete bore.

And challenging Turnello is, really a bit too challenging. When you screw the individual pieces on, they are really difficult to line up with one another to make the cute formations pictured. Instead the end point where each piece fits tightly up against the one before it leaves the pieces all helter skelter at different angles. This can be remedied by unscrewing all the pieces a bit and re-screwing them back, while holding them all in correctly aligned positions. You have to have big (adult) hands to do this. I played with this toy myself a number of times before I stumbled onto this solution for making them line up correctly; initially I’d thought it was impossible, which is why I kept playing around with it.

That said, this toy is aimed at the 18+ age group. My 23 month old cannot screw a single piece on just yet although she’s a mastermind at other dexterous tasks; opening doors (with childproof knob covers), foiling childproof cabinet locks, removing bottle tops, etc. But this toy is, oddly, a little beyond her skill level, or at least she’s not motivated enough to overcome its difficulties. She has tried a few times. The feat of dexterity that it takes to get the pieces aligned correctly is a bit difficult even for an older child; my four year old, who can screw all the pieces on, cannot really line them up correctly.

So, bottom line, I’d definitely hold off on this toy for a really young child. My youngest is indifferent to its presence. My eldest likes it alright, but doesn’t think it’s the best. Hopefully someday it will capture their interest.