Tonka – a brand name we’ve all heard of at some point. Whether it’s a toy that’s been handed down through generations (because we all know they’re made to last) or you’re being introduced to them via your digger loving child, I’d be surprised if you didn’t know who TONKA were.

This month we’ve been reviewing the TONKA Metal Movers range. I knew instantly my boys (especially Bear) would LOVE these toys. He’s obsessed with diggers and ‘digging’ and the fact that some of the toys he was sent had kinetic sand included was just the icing on the cake.

The TONKA Metal Movers combo pack was the first toy he ripped open. He was instantly drawn to the ‘Tonk Tough Dirt’ which is a no mess sand compound that gives you hours of creative mess-free fun.

Load up the dumper truck, or push through the piles of dirt with the bulldozer.

 

Next up we have the Micro Metals. This set includes a mini bulldozer, cement truck and dumper truck. Plus there’s a surprise toy in the mystery box – what will it be?

My son absolutly loves the miniature die cast vehicles. They fit perfectly in his pocket, meaning no matter where he goes he has a digger with him to play with.

We even had a selection on the school run recently, which I then had to walk home with as toys aren’t allowed in school!

Bear was very excited to find a mini recycling truck inside his mystery box!

The last toys he received for the review were 3 of the Metal Movers Mud Rescue play sets. Like the Combo Pack, these individual mini diecast vehicles come with a sand compound that is perfect for creating ‘real-life emergencies’ that he vehicles need to drive though!

My first tip would be to play with the sand in a shallow box or on a tray so you don’t lose the sand and can keep it safely in one place.

We sometimes use it on the kitchen floor as our tiles are large and smooth.

With Christmas coming up you might be on the lookout for gift ideas, and I genuinely think the Metal Movers range would be adored by any digger loving child. The Mud Rescue plat sets would be perfect stocking fillers at only £7.99 RRP. Or go for something slightly bigger with the Combo Pack for only £10.99.

I think the Mighty Metal Fleet 8 Inch Dumper Truck will be on Bears Christmas list this year to add to his new collection.

Ax

* We were sent these products free of charge for the purpose of this review. All words and opinions are honest and my own.

* I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.co.uk.

Earlier this year my youngest discovered a new children’s programme called Sunny Bunnies. Has your little one seen it? We were rather excited about this discovery because we actually gave our youngest the nickname ‘sunny bunny’ when he was a baby!

With our new found love for this lovely children’s show, we were more than happy to review the brand new range of Sunny Bunnies soft toys from Posh Paws.

If your kids are anything like mine, they love anything that’s a bit silly, so the large Sunny Bunnies was definitely their favourite! Press his mouth and he giggles and shakes!

 

The range of Sunnie Bunnies is suitable for ages 12+ months and is made of super soft, fluffy fabric. The large giggle and hop soft toy measures 29cm in height and requires 3 AAA batteries (which are included).

As well as Hopper, you can also get Iris, Shiny, Big Boo, and turbo. They come in 3 sizes -Giggle & Hop, Giggle & Wiggle, and a smaller Sound Slammer.

 

The large bunnies retail at £16.99, the medium at £9.99 and the little ones at £4.99. Personally I think the medium is the best value for money.

If you’re looking for something to keep the kids entertained (and that includes their friends who will laugh and giggle with the Sunny Bunnies too! ) then these are a great addition to your toy box.

Take a look at the full range here.

Ax

 

* We were sent these products free of charge in exchange for this review. All words and opinions are honest and our own.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.co.uk.

 

Hi guys, I do hope all of your little ones have settled back for the start of a new school year. My two terrors started back last week and sod’s law that they slept in past the alarm clock. Let us know how your term is shaping up; are you continuing home school, part-time or back to full-time hours of peace?

Anyways, another review is coming at you today – the Playmobil EverDreamerz.

For all of you that were unaware of this new-ish theme available from the famous brand, let me introduce you to an unboxing, creative dream!

Now, this brand is iconic, I am sure your little ones, or even yourselves, have had a playset in the past. My oldest is a keen collector of the ghostbusters range, and has his eye on the new Scooby-Doo sets in time for Christmas, whereas little lady is all about the Spirit range! So as you can see their range spans far and wide, whether you are after some spooky saviours, or horse riding duo’s this brand has it all and in between. But today specifically we will be reviewing the Playmobil EverDreamerz!

We were actually unaware of this range. We have yet to venture to a toyshop, so perhaps it just passed us by, but basically, Playmobil has hopped on the bandwagon of unboxing toys, but with a penny-saving element; they are not blind bags. Parents rejoice! Each starter girl in the land can be chosen by the packaging, with colour accenting for each girl. She comes with a magic pet, collectable card, sticker, accessories, bracelet, charms, bead and water pen!

The packaging is typical of Playmobil with a cardboard box, but wait, once the sleeve is removed, the surprises just keep on coming. Little compartments make up the bulk of this, with both cardboard treat boxes and plastic wrapping to keep your little one invested in unlocking the magic.

Furthermore, the box itself can be used time and time again, with line drawings just crying out to be coloured in! Both children of mine are incredibly lucky to have had access to other ranges which offer the blind bag element. However, I must say, what this range manages to differ from, is the pure amount of time and intricacies to each little detail. It honestly sparked so much joy to our house with both girlies besotted by what surprise was coming next. 

The characters in this range include Rosalee, Clare, Edwina, Viona and Starleen. They all have an appreciation of art in this world! Each girl is adorned in bright, colourful outfits symbolising the land they were created from. Their accessories range from paintbrushes to easels, to gym equipment, to flags! Their magic pets are just that- magical, who doesn’t want a green, cat I ask you? The silicone bracelets with a charm are nice and stretchy, meaning even I could rock up wearing one!

The extra detail in this comic world means the accessories also have a watercolour change element; basically, the comic book which comes with each toy can be water coloured over and over again using the water pen provided – seriously they thought of everything!

We loved the creativity of this range, lending itself to art play through the uncoloured box, and the imaginative space of creating our own comic world!

As well as the five characters, there is also a surprise box available, don’t groan! At only £5.99 this is well worth it, in our opinion. There are twelve other characters to enhance play. Each doll comes with their own individual charm, card, sticker and accessory; we desperately wanted Miss Unicorn but alas Kimby with her cheerleading pom-poms will have to do!

We are completely besotted with this range, it definitely has a thumbs up in our household, and we will continue to purchase these toys, especially now knowing just how much comes in each pack.

Love Stevie x

The EverDreamerz range, which is suitable for ages 7+, will be available from August. Collectables are priced from £5.99 through to £14.99. 

To find out more about the range please visit: 

https://www.playmobil.co.uk/onlineshop/products/everdreamerz

Or visit the Playmobil English Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU8lJHOfrkQ&list=PL370E6q6rAaWHgnZrxcNOqRpZAsvEVXYi

* We were sent these products free of charge for the purpose of this review. All words and opinions are honest and our own.

We already love Little Brian Paint Sticks. We’ve been using them for a while and let’s just say, the paint brushes haven’t made an appearance in our house for a long time.

They’re just so convenient!

Transportable. Easily stored. Long lasting. And let’s not forget… mess free! They’re every parents dream arts & craft item.

They do, however, dry out easily (they are paint after all) so make sure you double check the lids have been put back on.

So for this review we’re concentrating on the new Face Paint Sticks. The kids were so excited when they realised they were “paint face” (my 7 year old still mixes those words up 🙂 )

The packet we received included 12 paint sticks as well as a design idea booked (thankfully as I had no idea how I would paint the boys faces ha!)

The paints went on pretty well and dry really quickly. As you can see in the booklet the colours look like they go over each other easily, when in fact this isn’t quite the case. The white is more like light green where it’s mixed with the darker green.Of course Bear wanted to go for the trickiest design in the booklet, the giraffe. I tried my best, but it wasn’t easier adding the brown pattern to his face. The one criticism I have of these fabe paint sticks, is it’s almost impossible to paint the finer details. So I left these out…

The boys still loved their faces though and that’s the main thing!

I’ve always wanted to buy some face paints for the boys, but the mess put me off. The water, sponges, brushes etc . So much effort for them to wash it off an hour later.

Little Brian have solved that problem with the face paint sticks. No extra equipment needed!

If you’re already a fan of Little Brian Paint Sticks then you’ll be sure to love the face paint ones too.

And if it’s just the standard paint sticks you’re after why not try the Giant Storage Tube that comes with 30 assorted paint sticks.

You can buy the Little Brian Paint Stick range from Amazon, Smyths and Argos. There’s a huge variety at different price points and with a huge variety of colours, including neons and metallics.

I’ve got my eye on the fabric paint sticks next!!

Thank you to Little Brian for sending us these fab products for us to review.

Ax

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.co.uk.

Evening guys, here’s hoping everyone is remaining sane, we are almost at the end of the summer and the kids will soon return to school. Whoop whoop!

Today I will be talking about our newest review over here at Lamb & Bear. I don’t know who was more excited for this package to be delivered, honestly childlike me would have been obsessed with this!

So wait no further, let me introduce to you the Smoby Supermarket! Ah, raise your hands if you were one of those kids, that labeled everything and was regimented in shop pretend play! That’s ME! Even now, when I play with the kids, I will still use my correct pin when using the pretend card machine, I know what you’re thinking – I must be a laugh riot during play. 

So, lets begin… I’m sure if you look around your house you will find a toy produced by Smoby, and you will know how well made and realistic it is in your children’s play, whether it be a kitchen and accessories or workbench and tool belt. Our expectations were high with this new arrival to match previous products, and we were not disappointed. Okay this big old box, comes with the parts to make your supermarket till, shelves and trolly, it was quite time consuming to put together, with a lot of stickers needed. For anyone who has followed our reviews, you may remember how much I detest stickers! Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t as fiddly as say a lego set, but still guys come on, get rid of the stickers.

Okay so following the instructions with impatient children could be the reason for most of my frustration, but once complete, you should be faced with the cutest shop corner, featuring shelves for produce, weighing scales, cash register, promo deals and opening sign, credit card machine and scanner, all served with a trolley on the side! 

Our little ones were obsessed. Isn’t it nice when children play quietly, taking it in turns, handling things gently….

Wait. That never happens.

Each kid was super keen on being the shop worker; do they not know the customer is always right? So I was forced to be a customer whilst they stocked shelves and put through my shopping on the calculator till! Don’t you worry I got to be a shopkeeper eventually, and I took my time!

You are stocked with cardboard products like longlife milk and cereal, plastic fruit, cakes and cans of coke, each with their own little barcode that registers in the scanner. I was in my element. I especially love the receipt aspect where a credit card can be inserted and a receipt pulled out of the card machine. The kids eventually grew tired of me bossing at them to tidy up the shelves and exiled me to the living room.

They were besotted and it is now a firm favourite in the house, not just for our little ones but also friends who come over for garden playdates; the whole thing can be transported as it really light, so we enjoyed the August sunshine and pretended to expand the franchise with a farmers market. 

Here’s what the kids had to say:

Arabella: “Really, really good just cos it is so, so cool. The cans are like so real, I love the cans.”

Sonny: I think a bit of the pear that had pips in it but it actually doesn’t. It’s a real nice toy.

That sounds like a ten out of ten!

Now this is where my only gripe is with this product, it feels like it’s coming up short; the microphone is just a plastic pretend piece, the screen is just a sticker, the buttons don’t make noises as you are inputting, the pretend money is only printed on one side, the till doesn’t have compartments, and overall the plastic is flimsy.

Okay so this doesn’t bother children at all, they dont notice these small details, but for me it’s a big misstep, especially as it isn’t a cheap toy. Both the kids have had their fair share of pretend toys over the years, and I can’t help but compare it to these, and for that reason I wouldn’t purchase it at full price, currently retailing at £74.99. However it does seem like the sort of toy that little ones would enjoy years to come, so for the longevity of it, I can weigh up the cost to play ratio. I’m sure it will be a huge hit for toddlers to children, to slightly quirky adults who never got that dream post office as a kid! 

And guess what! It’s currently on sale at Very for only £59.99, so if you like the sound of the Smoby Supermarket grab while it’s on sale!

 

Please let us know if your little one loves pretend play as much as our whole family does here at Lamb and Bear, and if the smoby supermarket is on that shopping list for Christmas – don’t deny that you haven’t been spying that December date creeping up on you!

Stevie & Alex

x

* We were sent this product free of charge for the purpose of this review. As always, all words and opinions are honest and our own.